welcome to the source source. i'm jake tapper in tel aviv in for kaitlan collins. tonight israel is further attempting to defend the massive strike on the largest refugee camp in gaza, densely populated with slups. israel saying it was targeting a top hamas commander who was quote pivotal to the planning and execution of the october 7th terrorist attack on israel, someone, quote, actively coordinating and leading combat activities against israeli forces. israel says dozens of other hamas terrorists were also killed at the gentleman balance yeah camp. they don't know how many citizens were killed but palestinians were notified to leave. here is what a folks man polled wolf blitzer earlier today. >> this is the tragedy of war, wolf. i mean, we, as you know, have been saying for days, we are doing everything we can to minimize. i'll say it again. they are hiding themselves within. civilian population. you see a creator in the ground there. this comes as the fbi director in the united states warned congress today that this war has raised the threat of an attack in america, quote, to a whole other level. we will have much more on that in a moment. first, i want to get straight to cnn's nada in jerusalem for us following this israeli strike on the gaza refugee camp. what more do we know about civilian casualties in this idf strike? >> well, the authorities in gaza are still trying to confirm the extent of the civilian casualties that we have seen as a result of this israeli airstrike on the jabalaya refugee camp. we heard from doctors on the ground who have been speaking throughout the day saying that they have seen hundreds of both dead and injured being brought into hospitals in the area. the scenes that have been described, the videos that have emerged from the aftermath of this attack, this airstrike, have been horrifying to say the least. we have heard a doctor at the indonesian hospital nearby the refugee camp who has said that they have had bodies, corpses being brought to the hospital dismembered and charred. children have been brought in without their parents wondering where they are. of course, at this stage they are still trying to confirm the extent of the death toll. authority said 20 residential buildings in the jabaliya refugee camp have been destroyed. we have seen the videos of the destruction. creators in the ground. buildings destroyed. rescue workers digging through the rubble. as we know, as we have seen for more than three weeks now in these cases, there are few survivors. and we have heard from doctors without borders, they have condemned this airstrike by the idf. they have issued a testimony from one of the nurses working around the jabaliya refugee camp saying young children arrived at the hospital with deep wounds and severe burns. they came without their families. many were screaming and asking for their parents. i stayed with them until we could find a place as the hospital was full with patients. we have seen, of course, and heard from doctors that these hospitals are simply at capacity. we heard the warnings from the united nations that hospitals across the gaza strip, not just in the north, are, in their words, hanging on by a thread. and we have seen those airstrikes over the last week edging closer and closer towards at least four hospitals in gaza. so there is significant concern around the humanitarian situation when it comes to gaza's health care sector. they are simply overwhelmed. following this airstrike on the jabaliya refugee camp, we have seen corpses lined up, shrouded bodies outside the hospitals because there is simply no room left in the morgues. jake. >> and the idf spokesperson held a news briefing a few hours ago attempting to defend the strikes, saying at the goal was to kill a top hamas commander. did the idf explain why that strike had to be launched now? >> reporter: well, from the outside of this war, jake, the idf said it is targeting hamas positions inside the gaza strip. we heard today they confirmed that that they carried out this airstrike, they say they targeted successfully in thundershower words a hamas senior commander. now, we heard from lieutenant colonel -- who spoke earlier giving a statement saying that this senior hamas commander was, according to the idf, orchestrating, leading, planning an active combat against the idf as that airstrike took place. that is the explanation that has been given with regards to the timing. of course, as you mentioned, the idf has attempted to defend its actions. they say they are targeting military positions, they are targeting hamas targets, but for three weeks now the civilian toll is immense to say the least. the idf says it has warned civilians in northern gaza to evacuate. we heard those warnings now for some time. as we know, according to people on the ground, according to rights groups, according to medical staff, at hospitals in northern gaza, there are many who can't evacuate southwards as per the warnings of the idf. of course, as we know, those airstrikes are also tcontinuing in southern gaza, the safe spaces designated, including u.n. schools, are simply at capacity. and for many families in northern gaza they tell us there is nowhere to turn. >> all right. thank you so much. appreciate it. let's bring in retired army general joseph owe tell. he oversaw military operations in the middle east. general, thank you so much for joining us. idf spokesperson told anderson cooper last hour the top hamas commander was under the refugee camp in his bunker complex and that he is confirmed to have been killed. given how specific that information is, what does that tell you about israel's intelligence capability below ground and does that justify, in your view, a strike on a refugee camp? >> well, thanks. great to be with you. i think it tells us that israel as i think we have known has had a very good intelligence capability over a number of years. while there was a setback on the 7th of october, they seem to have -- they seem to be recovering from that. clearly, they have a good understanding of where hamas has operated from and are trying to target those locations. whether or not this is the value of striking this target was worth the risk to civilians i think will be something that will have to be determined in the hours and days ahead. certainly it doesn't look great. it doesn't happen messaging for the israelis. but all the details are not in. all the facts are not known. and i and many others look forward to hearing that from the israeli defense forces. >> a different idf pokes spokesperson called civilian casualties a tragedy of war. wolf blitzer pressed him on that. >> you knew there were civilians there. you knew there were refugees. all sorts of refugees. but you decided to still drop a bomb on that refugee camp attempting to kill the hamas commander. by the way, was he killed? >> i can't confirm yet. there will be more updated. we know that he was killed. but the civilians there, we are doing everything we can to minimize. i will say it again. they are hiding themselves within civilian population. and again we are doing this stage by stage and we will go after every terrorist who were involved in that hainious attack on the 7th of october. >> how does a military make an assessment as to whether civilian casualties are worth the target when it comes to a high-value terrorist commander in this case somebody responsible for october 7th attacks, so devastating for this country. the calculation by israel, i understand, is the attacks were-so devastating and so consequential, the government, the military of israel with tremendous public support in israel decided that they cannot allow hamas to ever do that again. but how does a general make the calculation, these civilian casualties while regrettable are worth it because we have to get hamas? >> well, you know, professional militaries like the united states, israel, many of our -- all of our partners we operate with all operate under the law of armed conflict. that requires that we add here to certain prince. . the military necessity of the target, distinctiveness of the target and proportionality of the means that are being used with in. these always have to be put into careful consideration as we look at targets. and, of course, the overriding principle here is to avoid effects on civilians. that can be accomplished in a variety of different ways, as the israeli spokesman mentioned. but it has to be a constant process and there has to be extraordinary intelligence and surveillance to make sure that you are going to accomplish the military mission without inflicting unnecessary civilian casualties on this. you know, the determination on whether to accept the risk of civilian casualties is one at least in our system is often reserved through our civilian leaders and we go through a deliberate process for this. i would imagine the israelis are doing the same thing. i hope that they are. i think that's what the situation requires. but certainly i think this highlights the complexity and the challenge of operating in this extraordinary environment that is gaza, where you have an enemy operating in a three-dimensional way, above the surface, on the surface, below the surface. they are integrated among the population. in some cases, using the population to cover and protect them. so it highlights the complexity and the challenge of this situation. >> so, obviously, when hamas, which is the government of gaza, we should remind our viewers, launched the attack october 7th they have to have anticipated that the idf, the israeli government would retaliate. in your experience, commanding u.s. forces, what is the degree to which al qaeda, isis, any other terrorist group that u.s. forces were fighting, what is the extent to which they embedded in civilian populations compared to the degree that hamas does because hamas does it quite a bit to the degree that they actually have not only according to israeli intelligence, but u.s. intelligence, command and control centers embedded in actual hospitals. >> yeah, i think in this situation certainly hamas has had a number of years, decades to embed among the population in gaza, intermarrying and being woven into the threads of the society, the community there. they are doing everything into this. they certainly had a lot of opportunity to get integrated into the civilian population. we certainly saw this with isis. they didn't have as much time to do this, and i wouldn't characterize them as a government, although they tried to think of themselves as a government. they didn't really represent the people, as i don't think hamas does either. and our operations were really focused against them to, you know, dislodge them, destroy their ability to hold the caliphate that they had declared and to render them ineffective as a military force. and this is what israel is trying to do as well. of course, it's so complex by this extraordinary environment that we're seeing in gaza. >> general votel, thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. secretary of state antony blinken will return here to israel on friday for meetings with members of the israeli government and he will make other unannounced stops in the region. his first visit came after the attacks three and a half weeks ago, much has happened since then, sometimes a week's worth of news in just a day. perhaps it's understandable some people have forgotten how vicious and shocking the massacre was by the terrorist group hamas on innocent families. secretary of state antony blinken today testifying today about funding for israel, arguing that no country, no country in the world, his view, would tolerate what israel suffered, noting, quote, young people chased down and gunned down at a dance party, children executed in front of their parents, parents execute inside front of their children, families in a final embrace burned alive, people beheaded, and then he shared one shocking story of one family from that day. fair warning. it is a painful story to hear. >> a family of four, a young boy and girl, 6 and 8 years old and their parents around the breakfast table. the father his eye gouged out in front of his kids. the mother's breasts cut off. the girl's foot amputated. the boy's fingers cut off before they were executed. and then their executer sat down and had a meal. that's what this society is dealing with. >> secretary of state antony blinken then repeated himself that in his view no nation, no nation would tolerate that while empathizing it's imperative to protect civilians. he stressed that hamas, quote, cynically and monstrously hides behind civilians putting its own fighters and weapons in command centers beneath places such as schools and hospitals. he reiterated had his position and the position of the biden administration that, quote, israel has not only the right, but the obligation to defend itself and to try to take every possible step to make sure this doesn't happen again. unquote. back home, concerning warnings about threat to america since this war broke out. the fbi director describing them as threats on a, quote, whole other level. specifically, warning about, quote, historic levels of antisemitism in the u.s. and yet another showdown looming within the republican party with a new speaker of the house vowing to separate aid for israel from ukraine aid in stand-alone bill. one that could be dead on n arrival in the senenate. thatat's ahead. we are learning more about that person in custody in connection with the violent threats against jewish students at cornell university in ithaca, new york. the justice department says a 21-year-old junior at cornell, patrick die, was arrested today on a federal criminal complaint and charged with posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications. according to to the feds, he threatened to shoot up the dining hall on campus, among other things. he is expected to make an appearance in federal court tomorrow. this coming as the fbi director, christopher wray, issued a dire warning telling congress that the war between israel and hamas has raised the threat of an attack against americans in the united states to a whole other level. >> here in the united states, our most immediate concern is that violent extremists, individuals or small groups, will draw inspiration from the events in the middle east to carry out attacks against americans going about their daily lives. it is a time to be concerned. we are in a dangerous period. >> at home and abroad fbi director wray said the risk of violence extremism is higher than at any point since the rise of isis. i want to bring in michael leiter, the former director of the national counterterrorism center. good to see you. what about -- what do we know about who these threats are coming from and how did this war between hamas and israel exacerbate and fuel the situation? >> thanks, jake. i think christopher wray's use of alarm was very careful today. he was focused on those that were, in his words, inspired bit conflict. and that's important because the fbi and homeland security are not principally focused on either hamas or even hezbollah, based in lebanon, launching an organized attack in the united states, but they know that this conflict is absolutely setting fire to what was already a rising tide of antisemitism and anti-muslim sentiment in the u.s. and over the past several years, antisemitic events, attacks, speech, physical attacks have increased significantly. again, since october 7th in the hamas attack on israel and israel's response, those threats, those acts of violence have increased not just here in the united states, but really around the world. >> so director wray says antisemitism is reaching historic levels. take a listen. >> the reality is that the jewish community is uniquely, uniquely targeted by pretty much every terrorist organization across the spectrum. and when you look at a group that makes up 2.4% roughly of the american population, it should be jarring to everyone that that same population accounts for something like 60% of all religious-based hate crimes. and so they need our helpful. >> how does the intelligence community even begin to take on these threats, which as director wray noted, already existed, but are on the rides, left, right, and center when it comes to extremist groups? >> this is a really hard task for them. and it's not that they haven't had to do this before. we have seen these attacks, whether it was tree of life in pittsburgh or other attacks around the country. but what makes it so hard is the scale of this. especially on social media. so the fbi working with homeland security and state and local law enforcement really are focused on social media, pausebecause t where you first see the indicators of the violent speech. then the hard part is figuring out who the people are and try to link them to real-world people. and then to try to predict what speech might turn into action. like what we saw in cornell, what you just reported on. i think that's a tough step to take. i think the fbi is doing and needs to do more of is work extremely close in the community both jewish and muslim communities across the united states so they, themselves, keep their eyes out, but also harden their own targets. make sure that they do have proper security. make sure that local police have security patrols around synagogues and mosque and community centers, because these have been historically and likely will be again the places most likely to be targeted in the united states. >> and a lot of these threats are, obviously, anonymous and they are online, quite a few, and could be tough to differentiate between a serious situation, somebody who actually will act, and some twit just working out whatever issues they already had in the comfort of their mom's basement. how worried should communities be if they see something that seems like a threat? how worried they should be that it will actually become physical danger? >> this is such a hard part of the intelligence and law enforcement, especially when it's focused here in the united states because, of course, people have first amendment speech rights. to say stupid things, they don't have the right to threaten violence and certainly don't have the right to act on that violence. but the volume on social media has gone up so much since october 7th, it's getting increasingly hard for officials to actually track it all down. so i think the advice that director wray and others have given is exactly right. if communities see this, they shouldn't take the risk. report it right away because being able to actually identify those who, as you said, are in the basement and spewing hate or won't act on it and knowing who will pick up a gun or use a car or explosives and try to hurt people, that's really, really hard. and that's why we need law enforcement to object tipped off. we also need communities to be very aware and make really take that protection on, even if they don't see anything. they have to be ready for these terrible situations because, unfortunately, we do know there is a enough of this speech out there, it will eventually manifest itself into violence and given what we see going on in the ground in israel and gaza, i don't think this is going to end anytime soon. >> mike, thank you so much. coming up, not only growing antisemitism, but also growing islamophobia. my next guest writes muslims are in a painful place, and the lessonons of 9/11 1 have been n forgotteten completetely. stayay with us. here in the bays and all of our stuff where we want to go. but, our cars can't take us e with unpaid tolls. vehicles with overdue, unpaid tolls may not be able to renew their registration until outstanding balances are paid. payment assistance is available. 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