Transcripts For CNNW CNN 20240703

Here in the United States and Around The World. Im wolf blitzer. This is a Special Edition of the Situation Room, israel at war. We begin this hour with the Breaking News out of israel. Hamas militants pouring across the gaza border in a Surprise Attack. Listen to one israeli womans terrifying firsthand account of the raid. Translator suddenly out of nowhere shots are coming in. They started shooting in every direction and i took the car keys and just drove and started moving forward to get out of the shots. Out of the shots. And at some point, they overtook us. We were overtaken by the shooters. They started shooting at our vehicles. We got out of the vehicles. I didnt keep driving. We took cover. Nic robertson is on the ground for us right near the gaza border in israel. So far, what have you seen tonight . Reporter this is the point where that area of israel that the Defense Forces are still going through confronting the hamas militants is taking place. We can hear it. We can see it. About 10 or 15 minutes ago we saw a reinforcement of military come down this road, stop at the cheng point here, get clearance and go further toward gaza. Were about two and a half miles from the northern end of the gaza strip here. You can hear maybe a helicopter above me. Thats become an increasingly dominant sound here in the night sky. It is hard to see. Then at times, it will open up with its heavy machine gun. That does appear to be in support of those israeli troops who are on the ground still confronting the militants. That is going on within our earshot just over there. Were hearing over this way, out toward the sea heading toward gaza that way. Were Hearing Fighter Jets fly over. Were seeing flashes on the horizon. We just heard a couple of big detonations. They appear to be coming from gaza or around gaza where the israeli Defense Forces are still confronting those hamas militants. A priority for the government is take back control of this area here around gaza. Seal off gaza. Make sure that they are no more hamas militants in that area. What were seeing here in essence, were hearing and seeing the battle play out over there. The shelling in gaza and reinforcements coming down the highway here. What else do you expect to see tonight . Reporter i think realistically there will be an increase. This is what the Israeli Defense spokesman was saying earlier. Expect the attacks to ramp up. I think well see more israeli Defense Forces arriving here, going toward gaza, and likely to hear, until those hamas militants are killed or back inside gaza, we will continue to hear the helicopter in the sky above us. The gunship, the Helicopter Gunship Firing its heavy machine guns. It will be a very active and fluid night down here, wolf. Do you get the sense as i do that this is going to be a protracted fight . That this war for all practical purposes is only just beginning . Reporter very much so, wolf. We both know, weve been covering these sorts of situation in israel and other countries for many, many years together. It takes time for the government to make its decisions. For the military to enact that. To mobilize the the reservists. To get all the heavy Military Hardware required for a potential incursion, which is the expectation for what will happen in gaza. When that happens, it will be coming down roads like this here. It will probably take at least several days for that flow of Military Equipment and the support for it. The fuel. The ammunition, to get it all here in place. To get the plans mapped out. For the Israeli Defense force and israels Intelligence Services to map out as precisely as they can where hamas is. Where any hostages are being held, and how the recovery of those hostages might take place. None of those sorts of decisions can happen quickly. From what we are seeing, the movement of troops coming down tonight. Already some decisions have been taking place. Heavy equipment, we havent seen that arriving yet. Nic robertson in zakim, israel. Well get back to you later this hour. Here in washington the Biden Administration is condemning the attacks and reaffirming its strong support for israel. Im joined by Senior Correspondent who has reaction from President Biden. What are sources telling you first of all about the conversations that are happening right now over at the white house and across, indeed, the u. S. Government . The white house has been working around the clock to assess the scope of israels needs as it responds to this situation, which officials are calling appalling and unprecedented. A Senior Administration official says this evening that the focus is on keeping the violence contained, and on assessing what military aid is needed. With conversations up and down the Military Chain to that effect, that there could be an announcement as soon as tomorrow. This official says there are unique challenges posed by the fact the u. S. Lacks a speaker of the House Of Representatives as well as a permanent ambassador to israel. That obstacles in providing timely support to the israelis. President biden in no Uncertain Terms said that that support will be unwavering. Do you have the number, Lieutenant Colonel, of how many israelis i believe we have the wrong sound bite there. President biden said that the u. S. Will provide rocksolid support to israel. It will be unwavering. He had a message to the rest of the world saying this is not a moment for any party hostile to israel to exploit these attacks to seek advantage. The president says the world is watching. While he didnt specify the target of that message specifically, it was seen as a Shot Across The Bow to iroan. A senior official said theres no indication at this stage that iran was directly involved in the violence overnight, although the Administration Says irans role is a longtime been factor of hamas cannot be ignored. Thank you very much. Lets discuss what is going on. Cnn National Security analyst beth, National Security analyst david sanger, and a contributing correspondent for. This was a Surprise Attack by hamas. How unprecedented was todays assault . Well, wolf, i think it is the most deadly invasion israel has endured since the 1973 Yom Kippur War. I guess you know israel very well. I guess when you saw those pictures of what was going on Inside Israel, you couldnt believe your own eyes. I think many people Around The World are watching what was going on and they just couldnt believe that israel was that surprised of this huge attack by hamas with some assessments say 1,000 hamas operatives entered israel from the border with gaza, and just, some of them managed to reach five miles into israel, into whole cities, driving around the cities with pickup trucks, shooting everybody they see. This is something i think that will, that is shocking for many, many israelis and will have at least the same ramifications as the Yom Kippur War domestically, maybe even more. And kidnapping a lot of israelis. Men, Women And Children and bringing them back to gaza. Very, very Serious Development as well. Beth, let me get your reaction to what an Idf Spokesperson told me in the Situation Room about the Hostage Situation that has now developed. Watch and listen to this. Do you have the number, Lieutenant Colonel of how many israelis, men, Women And Children for that the matter have been kidnapped by hamas and taken from Inside Israel to gaza . I can say that it is a significant number. I cannot yet say the official number. But i can say that it is unfortunately a significant number of both israeli civilians and Military Personnel. Some of them alive. Some of them presumed not to be alive. It is an extremely delicate situation. It is unprecedented in our history that we have so many israeli nationals in the hands of a terrorist organization. So beth, what is your reaction and what kind of impact do you see this having . Well, i think it is a totally, totally unprecedented. It will lead to israel having to take actions against gaza that they really havent wanted to take in the past. In the past they havent wanted to go in with ground troops. Now that you have hostages, i kind of feel that first, this was clearly planned. You dont take that many hostages just by happenstance. This is part of what hamas wants. And i think it will drive the israelis to do a Ground Operation. And then i think were really again looking at a real risk of an escalation of this war to include maybe hezbollah coming in with attacks from the north as they have warned. Thats what israelis are clearly concerned about as well. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning that israel will exact a huge price from the enemy. A huge price from the enemy. What do you anticipate that will be . I think the big question is, do they go to a Ground Operation to go into the gaza . Something that as betted pointed out, they have been hesitant to do. Once youre in, obviously, then you run into all the problems that weve seen happen time and again with occupation forces. It was interesting that when we got a briefing from the Senior Administration official just a few minutes ago, they did not, would not take a position on whether or not the u. S. Would support a Ground Operation into the gaza. They said they obviously are 100 behind the israelis. They will provide the israelis with enhanced intelligence. It sounds like tomorrow theyll be announcing, making something other defenserelated announcements. This question is a very big one. You can imagine a situation in which President Biden and Prime Minister netanyahu are divided on this. It will be President Bidens position, i suspect, fairly quickly, that they need to deescalate and calm things down. And yet Prime Minister netanyahu is going to want to reestablish deterrence. And clearly deterrence failed here along with the Intelligence Failure. So i think we could see the u. S. And israel differ on the tactic of where to take this next. Interesting. Barack, is this from your perspective, youre an expert on this, is this the biggest Intelligence Failure in the history of israel . No doubt. It is clear to everybody, gaza is a small place. It is right around the corner for israel. It is not something that is, you know, thousands of miles away. The Israeli Intelligence is watching gaza all the time. It built a technological fence around gaza. Exactly for that kind of a scenario. It all failed. Nobody had a clue. There was no Early Warning. And i think it also shows something about where israel, the Israeli Government and the Israeli Military attention was in the last nine months. It was not in gaza. It was not in iran. It was all domestically, in the domestic crisis over the judicial, and i think what we see now is one of the results that the domestic crisis israel was engulfed in the last few months, and i think that hamas saw what was going on and decided to take advantage. Interesting indeed. Beth, israel as we all know, has a very sophisticated air Defense System called the iron dome. Why did this system fail to protect the country today . I think it is just volume. They just, it overwhelmed the system. That number, and where they fired, i think it was very, very carefully planned. And to baraks point, all those Early Warning systems also failed and i think it goes beyond gaza. We know that iran has been meeting with hezbollah and hamas for months since last april. And doing a lot of joint planning. And specifically regarding israel. So there should have been more information about this. And i think that there is going to be quite a bit of Soul Searching once theres enough room to breathe after this incredible challenge is passed. A major challenge indeed. David, do you think an idf assault into gaza right now could spark even more attacks on israel by hamas . Well, it could spark them by hamas. It could bring hezbollah in from the north. It could bring the iranians in. So certainly israel is not going to want to do that unless it thinks it has a fairly good ability to deter having this war spread to multiple borders. Thinking back on the intelligence question youve been discussing with beth and with barak. What was supposed to happen in the last couple years was that the technological improvements that israel had from satellite, from the ability to get into cell phones, from drones, was all supposed to go toward increasing warning. But not only has this current government been focused on the judicial reform, it has been focused on the expansion of settlements elsewhere in the country. So there is going to be, i suspect, a lot of Soul Searching over the question of whether they were looking in the wrong place. My guess is there will have to be some kind of commission. An equivalent to the 9 11 commission to ask, how could you have spent so much money and so much time over the last couple years and been so taken by surprise . Excellent analysis indeed. Thank you very, very much. Just ahead, the braus will continue in the Situation Room. Well get another live report from israel. This is a Special Edition of the Situation Room. This is a picture posted by the german chancellor olaf schwartz. The Brandenburg Gate in berlin showing solidarity with israel. This is in germany. Look at that picture. Were following the Breaking News out of israel. At least 200 israelis are dead after a truly shocking raid by the terror group hamas. Lets get to more right now from the editorinchief from the jerusalem post. Thank you for joining us. What can you tell us about the situation on the ground now . Is the fighting ongoing . Are the Hostage Situations ongoing as well . The fighting does seem to be ongoing in at least several locations in southern israel. It is unclear how many. There have been reports some of the Hostage Situations have been resolved but we are getting conflicting reports on exactly what is happening on the ground. The situation is extremely ten tenuous. There is a lot of confusion about what is actually happening on the ground in southern israel, which to be perfectly frank, reminds me of the day of 9 11. I was a High School Senior in the d. C. Area. I remember just how devastating that day was and how much confusion there was during the course of the very tenuous and scary hours. This is numerically the equivalent of three 9 11s. You take israels Population Size into account. This is a devastating day for so many israelis who are wondering whether their loved ones are kidnapped or killed and dont have that information at this time. Theyre comparing it not just to 9 11 but to pearl harbor as well. Hamas launched this very complex Multipronged Attack. Do these tactics represent from your perspective an entirely new type of assault against israel . It does seem so. Certainly with regard to the skill of the attacks. The audacity of Multipronged Attack that took place by land, by air and by sea. This is totally unprecedented. Weve never seen anything like this. Certainly with the number of casualties and the number of israelis that have been abducted and taken into gaza which include elderly men and women, Women And Children, young people who are partying in the desert. They were dragged by hamas into gaza, being held there at this time. Weve never encountered anything like this in israels long history. Do you have any sense of how many israelis have been abducted and kidnapped and taken into gaza . Well, i dont want to parrot hamas Talking Points but i will tell you that the numbers appear to be quite high and they include not only civilians but also soldiers. Perhaps even some senior commanders. We dont know whether thats the case. Thats some of the information, or misinformation that has been circulating in recent hours. We probably wont have clarity on that for hours or perhaps several days as it becomes clearer and we get a clearer sense of how many israelis are being held in gaza and how many unfortunately lost their lives in the early hours. We are told it is a very significant number, although specific numbers are not being released. The israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to, quote, destroy hamas. What will the israeli side look like . Were seeing wall to wall support for the idf and quite frankly for Prime Minister netanyahu. Both leaders of the opposition have expressed their willingness to enter into an emergency unity government with the Prime Minister. That is something currently under consideration. All israelis are standing behind their government and military as they do whatever they can to return the captives to israel and to deal a devastating blow to hamas and the leadership for having instigated this deadly attack today. The editorinchief of the jerusalem post. Thank you very, very much for joining us. Thank you. Coming up, well have more on the Breaking News coming out of israel. The deadly and unprecedented hamas attack today. Well get reaction from a key lawmaker in the United States. From chrome to duckduckgo. Duckduckgo is a browser you download to your mobile and desktop devices. Unlike chrome, the Duckduckgo Browser has privacy builtin. It comes with a private alternative to google search, which doesn■t spy on your searches, and it blocks cookies and creepy ads. And theres no catch. Its free. We make money from ads, but they dont follow you around. Join the millions of people taking back their privacy by Downloading Duckduckgo On Mobile and desktop today. The Breaking News this hour, israel reeling tonight from a Massive Attack by the terror group hamas. Joining us now, a key democrat of the House Foreign Affairs committee, brad sherman of california. Thank you so much for joining us. Youve been a member of the House Foreign Affairs committee for 28 years, ever since you came to congress. What is your reaction to this unprecedented attack by hamas against israel . This is israels 9 11. This will have to go on for some time. Israel will have to dismantle hamas. They cant just absorb these casualties. If they do, then this will happen again two months from now, four months from now. What role should the u. S. Have in dealing with all this . We should provide the tools and intelligence that israel can use in the upcoming months, but also the diplomatic support. There are already those who are telling israel to stand down, to do nothing, to absorb the casualties and not respond. In fact, israel will have to respond. You cant leave this monster in gaza any longer. As you know, the former President Donald Trump issued a support supporting israel, but he also blamed President Biden for whats going on, calling him a weak leader. How do you respond to that . Ridiculous, partisan, petty, and political. The fact is that under every president s watch, there has been terrorist action from hamas. And this effort is an effort to derail what biden is doing that is very good. Which is the normalization between israel and saudi arabia. So by coming close to a very important accomplishment, hamas has gotten desperate and theyve thrown everything they can against israel. The normalization between israel and the saudi arabia from your perspective is on hold right now. It is. Im not sure this will derail it but its clear thats the purpose. Hamas wants to kill as many as israelis as possible every day of the week. But they took an extraordinary action now because they see the possibility of normalization, and something that gets the Peace Process moving. And hamas, and the constant refrain is that they want to expel every israeli from the middle east. No peace until all jews are driven out. The House Of Representatives needs a speaker of the house to get things accomplished. You cant do anything without a speaker. How will that affect what is going on with israel right now . I dont think it will prevent us from doing what we need to do with israel. I think providing the tools is something that the president can do with moneys that have already been appropriated in that short term. The key is what we say off the floor, and on the floor in special orders. To say we stand with israel. And i think the vast majority of members will be saying that and making it clear. We dont just stand with israel when its the victim. We stand with israel when they do the necessary retaliation. Were seeing a lot of support from democrats like you, and republicans, liberals. Do you think that will be ongoing . I think it will when israel does what it has to do. Israel cant just be a victim. It has to make itself safe in the future. You would support if israel launch as massive invasion of gaza to end the hamas threat, you would support that . If thats what israel needs to do, i would support it and i would understand it. If you dont dismantle hamas today, theyll be back tomorrow. How worried are you that hezbollah in Southern Lebanon and other Terror Groups in the west bank, for example, could take whats going on in gaza and israel and begin other strikes against israel right now . You have to be concerned about that. The vast power of the israeli Defense Forces, are there civilians that are called up. I would expect israel to mobilize and to have war power on their northern border two weeks from now than they do today. I think israel has had to fight on several fronts, in 1973 and in its war of independence. I know youre briefed by the u. S. Intelligence community. What is the role of iran in all of this . Iran provides 70 of the financing for hamas. 100 for its Junior Brother who is also involved in these terror attacks, islamic jihad. There is no way this happened without help from iran. That is why in the parliament, people are shouting, death to israel gleefully as they count up the number of Women And Children killed. Congressman brad sherman of california, thank you for coming in. Just ahead, cnn is on the ground in israel covering this historic hamas attack. Well get a live report right after this. Breaking news. The massive and deadly assault on israel. Lets bring back Nic Robertson right with the Israeli Border with gaza. Do you get the sense that israel has gained control of the israeli communities right near the border . Reporter regained or regaining. It is hard to tell. Were just two and a half miles to the border at gaza. There was a Semi Cease Situation there as well. Perhaps a little further from one of the communities that was understood for civilians to be under siege there. We havent hear the gunship in the last 15 or 20 minutes, perhaps. It was quite prevalent over the previous hour which does seem to indicate that the fight that the helicopter was supporting troops on the ground in is perhaps over. It does feel as if potentially some of those situations are being eased. But really, in terms of security here, that area, this Police Check Point here, is still considered an active combat zone. We havent been here given an allclear that it is safe to go in there as of yet. The sort of battle tempo that we can hear has diminished. We are seeing bigger explosions on the horizon behind me. Those seem to be coming directly from inside gaza itself. Have you seen the change on the ground presence, for example, of israeli troops over the last few hours . I know youve been there a couple hours in zakim, israel, right near the border with gaza. Reporter it is hard to tell. Some of the buses could be evacuating civilians where we are coming away from the gaza area headed toward the north, toward tel aviv. We have seen a convoy of military vehicles, or vehicles full of soldiers toward gaza. We havent seen a maxt of heavy Military Equipment but i think it is too soon to expect that. For right now, the focus has been on regaining control of these areas here so it is safe to begin to deploy more forces into it. To ramp up what potentially could become an incursion forces. Weve seen it down here before. Just further down the road from here is where you will see the Israeli Defense force line up the Military Equipment, get ready for it and go border line and go into gaza itself. Not seeing that yet. We know the Israeli Military has activated and mobilized thousands of reservists to get ready for a potential war. Well watch as all of this unfolds. Nic robertson, stay safe over there. Well get back to you. Right near were at the magic wall to get some insights. Thank you for joining us. Give us a closer look at the places hamas has attacked. Absolutely. When you go into the area where, zakim is where Nic Robertson was in this last report that he gave. It is right close to the gaza border. These are all the areas that have been attacked. If we step out here and look at the broader map, what you can see is gaza is right here. This area right here. This is the Launching Pad for the hamas attacks into israel in this way. West bank is here. The egyptiancontrolled sinai. All of these are part of the environment that israel has to deal with as you know so well. This is the area where the attacks came from. I know youre watching all of this explode right now. Youre also keeping a very close eye on the cyber threat thats unfolding right now. Tell us about that. When it comes to the cyber threat, theyre calling it a distributive attacks against the Israeli Networks and they are ones that actually, you know, controlling the emergency services, in particular, and theyre going after police and other networks there. So hamas has been responsible for those. Theyve been using their launch sites in gaza to do this and the israelis are setting up defensive perimeters in the cyber sense to go after the attackers from hamas that are based in gaza, plus others in iran. Im worried if the israelis should be concerned about high offa and some other places. Absolutely. I think this would be one of the places we could see the possibility of folks from hezbollah coming in and potentially using this area to create diversionary attacks. So between hezbollah, hamas in gaza, the west bank, the Palestinian Authority there, all of these areas could potentially pose further dangers for the israeli Defense Forces. I know you have some Satellite Images to share as well. Absolutely. So these Satellite Images are actually quite interesting. This line right here, this is the border right here between israel and gaza. And you see, this is the Mediterranean Sea right here. And you can tell, when you look at each of these Satellite Images, and you see this one here as well. This is more of an eastwest. This is israel here. This is gaza. Agricultural land here. More crowded areas here. Also, agriculture land. This is the area in which the hamas forces came through and basically bulldozed their way through the fence line into israel proper. And when it came to that, these areas right here were the ones that were attacked by the hamas forces right along there. A lot of israeli civilians were kidnapped, captured and taken into gaza, and theyre there right now. Thats a deep, deep source of concern for the israelis. Thank you very much. Ill get reaction to all the Breaking News out of israel from the former Defense Secretary and former cia chief, leon panetta. Were following the Breaking News. Palestinian militants from hamas have attacked israel, killing at least 250 people in israel. And a significant number of israeli civilians and Military Personnel have been kidnapped and taken to gaza. That according to an Idf Spokesperson. Joining to us discuss this and more, the former u. S. Defense secretary leon panetta. Thank you so much for joining us. First of all, what strikes you most about how hamas actually carried out this unprecedented attack against israel . Well, there is no question that it was a wellplanned attack by hamas. They were able to infiltrate some of their troops into israel without being detected by Israeli Intelligence. They were able to gather a number of missiles that they then launched, and there is no question that it was a Surprise Attack. And israel was surprised by that attack. And i can tell you, the one thing israel does not like is to be surprised by an attack. But thats exactly what happened here. Youre also the former director of the cia. What do you make, mr. Secretary, of the fact that Israeli Intelligence appears to have been completely caught off guard by this hamas assault . I think there is a problem with intelligence these days where theres very heavy reliance on kind of technology and space, and surveillance, and too often, they forget the important approach to intelligence which is human intelligence. People on the ground who are paying attention to what is happening. So hamas avoided the kind of hightech surveillance that is usually done on intelligence and it was pretty deliberate on their part. They were able to deploy these individuals without the intelligence picking any of that up. I think theres no question that the Intelligence System in israel did not do well here, and theyre going to have to take a hard look at how to improve that. Yeah. Human intelligence is so critical even with all the Technology Going on now. Prime minister netanyahu said, mr. Secretary, that israel will, quote, take mighty vengeance for this black day. How do you israel will now respond . Well, i dont think there is any question that israel will take vengeance. Particularly as a result of this significant number of Israeli Citizens that have been taken hostage. Israel is not going to stand back and allow that to happen. So make no mistake about it, we are at the beginning of a prolonged war. I think israel is going to mobilize, deploy their forces, and theyre going to do everything they can to make sure that they are able to bring those israelis back to their families. This is going to be a prolonged war. Thats what i suspect as well. With a role do you see the u. S. Playing in supporting israel as it responds to this terror attack . I think the United States obviously has a special relationship with israel. We will provide, im sure, Military Support. Im sure well provide whatever kind of intelligence they may need. I think the big challenge right now is one of intelligence, very frankly, to be able to locate where these hostages are and determine what kind of operation is going to be taken in order to rescue those hostages. This is going to be a complicated effort and i think the United States can help israel in trying to provide both the intelligence as well as the Military Support needed, in order to make that mission accomplished. Give us some history, mr. Secretary. How does this attack compare with past assaults on israel . You know, one of the thing weve seen going back to 1948. The roots of this conflict were planted then and have continued throughout the years. Weve had seven decades of wars and uprisings and efforts, failed efforts, unfortunately, to find peaceful solution. And there is no question this last past year. The tensions between palestinians and israelis continued to increase. There were attacks. There are a number of palestinians killed. Israelis that have been killed. We kind of didnt Pay Attention to the amount of tensions that were rising. So hamas took this step, this dramatic step, and nobody saw it coming. So its a wakeup call, very frankly. If israel wants to protect its security, it is going to have to Pay Attention to the efforts that hamas is involved with, that iran is involved with, that hezbollah is involved with, if theyre going to protect their country. Not only the israelis didnt see this coming. I dont think the u. S. Intelligence community saw it coming either. Well do more checking only. Leon panetta, thank you for joining us. Good to be with you. Well have more of the breaking News Coverage coming up right after this quick break. Youve been watching our special coverage of the Breaking News out of the middle east where israel has come under attack by air, land and sea. Hamas militants killing at least, this is a new number, at least 300 israelis and wounding over 1,000 more. This accccording to israeli officials. Tomorrow the u. S. Secretary of state Antony Blinken will join my friend and colleague dana bash on State Of The Union at 9 00 a. M. And noon