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Israel Marks One Year Since Hamas Attacks on October 7; Gaza Residents Face Humanitarian Crisis as War Rages On. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 07, 2024 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Israelis are paying tribute to the victims of the Hamas terror attacks on October the 7th. They are gathering at the site of the Nova music festival. That's where Hamas militants killed 347 people and took 40 others hostage, turning a joyful festival into a scene of horror and death.

The images of the October 7 hostages were projected onto the walls of Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday. The friends and families of those still held captive in Gaza are demanding the Israeli government bring their loved ones home.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Israel's military launched a new ground operation in northern Gaza saying their troops have encircled Jabalia after seeing signs of Hamas regrouping. That's despite nearly a year of fighting in the densely populated refugee camp which Israel previously said was rid of Hamas.

FOSTER: And we're now learning that three people have been killed at another refugee camp in central Gaza as the Israeli military claims it struck multiple Hamas targets across the enclave overnight.

Nada's with us and obviously the Israelis would have been much more sensitive to any movements on the behalf of Hamas because of the anniversary.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, there's been a huge amount of security focus. We know that the Israeli military has stationed additional troops around the border fence surrounding the Gaza Strip.

But of course what we've also been seeing over the last few days is a real intensification of the strikes across the Gaza Strip a year on and we are still seeing the bombardment of Gaza in areas where civilians are known to be sheltering.

As you mentioned this later strike overnight around the Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza at least three killed there. And what we've also seen is the targeting of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital compound and this is one of the last remaining hospitals really still functioning in Gaza.

It's somewhere where we receive video from on an almost daily basis of the casualties arriving at this hospital.

[04:35:00]

And as we understand it at least eight people were injured following an Israeli drone strike on the compound surrounding the hospital. This is an area where many civilians have taken shelter in these makeshift tents.

Now the Israeli military has said it was targeting what it has described once again as a Hamas commander control center but this is the hospital that works very closely with Doctors Without Borders. It is somewhere where we have seen dozens of civilians countless civilians on a daily basis arriving to receive treatment and this really follows a series of strikes in the surrounding area.

We've seen the targeting of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Mosque just nearby at least 21 people killed there. This is somewhere where at least 40 people were believed to have been taking shelter because they have been displaced. And then of course there is a nearby school where at least four were killed in a strike there.

So the situation in central Gaza is growing increasingly desperate. But as you mentioned we're also seeing a troubling situation in the north as well the Jabalia refugee camp. This is somewhere where civilians have been told now by the Israeli military to evacuate they've been told to flee.

Where there is to evacuate to is a real question there's simply nowhere safe left to go. But what we do know is that the Israeli military has begun airstrikes on this area in preparation for a full- scale ground operation in this area and the Israeli military has said that they've already encircled the Jabalia refugee camp on the ground already.

MACFARLANE: All right Nada thank you for that update.

I want to bring in Sarah Davies who joins us now. She's a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross. Sarah thank you for joining us.

We were just hearing from Nada there that on this one year anniversary we are once again seeing an intensification of strikes in Gaza, especially in the north. Over 40,000 killed now 97,000 injured. Just talk to us about the situation facing Gazan's at this point and what you are seeing in your work there right now.

SARAH DAVIES, SPOKESPERSON, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS: Max, Christina, thank you so much for having me. Right now as we know Palestinians in Gaza have lived through 12 months of intense hostilities. Many people have been displaced multiple times.

I am currently in the south of Gaza in Rafah and you walk down the street here and you just see haphazard -- you can't even call them tents they have sticks with tarps over them trying to where families are desperately trying to provide shelter for their children. You have toddlers walking down the road with containers waiting for water trucks to try and get some safe drinking water for their families. We know there has been a fluctuation and a very severe shortage of food, medical equipment.

The healthcare system across Gaza has been decimated. People are actually not sure where they can go to receive medical treatment because they never know which healthcare centers or which hospitals will potentially be open and functioning and able to provide that kind of service. They don't know if they have the supplies.

It has been a consistently deteriorating situation and people are exhausted. They don't know where to go next and they don't have any security or safety.

FOSTER: Heart's also going out to the families of hostages also obviously the hostages themselves. As someone from a group with expertise in this area what reassurance can you offer them or what advice about whether or not they'll see their family members again?

DAVIES: Of course this is also a horrific day as you say for the families of hostages, for every community in Israel that was impacted by the horrific events of last October by those unjustified attacks and for the hostages themselves.

We continually keep in contact with the families. We meet with them. I have met and spoken with some of the families of these hostages and their pain is tangible. You can feel it. We are continually working and we reiterate that we are working as one of our top priorities to see these hostages reunited with their families and of course we are always ready to play that neutral intermediary role and facilitate the release and transfer of those hostages back to their families in Israel and in some cases around the world.

But it really is such a heartbreaking situation to have 12 months of being ripped apart from your family member. We continue to reiterate that hostage taking is prohibited under international humanitarian law and that all hostages must be immediately and unconditionally released.

MACFARLANE: And Sarah, it's a summer day for civilians across the region but as you are in Gaza speaking to us from Gaza, just talk to us a bit. You mentioned there the scarcity of food, of clean water, of shelter and we know that winter is approaching. How much worse are conditions set to become for civilians there and have you got any hope that aid may increase during this time in the build-up to winter?

[04:40:00]

DAVIES: We always have hope that things can improve and we of course continue our work with all parties to this conflict. But that is really a political decision and discussion that needs to be made at the diplomatic level.

With winter fast approaching, I mean you can already feel the nights cooling here very quickly. We know that people have been living in these makeshift tents, these haphazard shelters for months and over the summer the sun beats down on this. This causes the deterioration in the tents. With winter coming it unfortunately brings rain and there is not sufficient drainage in these areas where people, so many hundreds of thousands of people are displaced and this is a huge concern for us.

There are already sanitation and hygiene concerns. There is already not enough latrines, toilets, bathrooms for people in these areas and so the flooding can bring more health, public health impacts. We are of course continually assessing the situation and responding.

We have a field hospital close to where I am. We have water wells and similar but it is a very, very concerning situation going into winter especially with the weather. People don't have the clothes. Children are fast outgrowing what they do have and families simply can't afford to provide more even if they could find it in any kind of market here.

MACFARLANE: Sarah, so important to have first-hand accounts like yours. Thank you so much for joining us on this somber day to reflect on all that has gone in the past 12 months --

DAVIES: Thank you.

MACFARLANE: -- thank you.

FOSTER: Do stay with us for more coverage from Israel as well as the country marks a year since the Hamas attack on the Nova Music Festival.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: A year after the October 7th attacks by Hamas, questions remain unanswered about warnings ignored and a catastrophic failure of intelligence.

MACFARLANE: CNN's Jim Sciutto has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[04:45:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (voice- over): One year after October 7th, visiting the Nahal Oz base in southern Israel brings Eyal Eshel both a chance to honor his daughter Roni and the most painful memories.

EYAL ESHEL, FATHER OF OCTOBER 7 ATTACK VICTIM: From here they came in -- in the October 7th.

SCIUTTO: This is where they entered the base here?

ESHEL: Yes, this is the way they came from Gaza.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Roni was one of more than a dozen IDF soldiers in an all-female observer unit who raised the alarm as Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel that morning after warning for months of an impending attack.

RONI ESHEL, IDF OBSERVATION SOLDIER, NAHAL OZ BASE, OCTOBER 7, 2023 (through translated text): Four people are running towards the fence, confirm received. I see two armed people running towards the fence, confirm received.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): As Hamas fighters overran the base, even filming themselves as they did it, Roni and her fellow observers waited six hours for a rescue that never came. They were killed along with more than 30 other Israeli soldiers at the base, while several others were taken hostage.

For Eyal today, each location inside the base brings pain.

ESHEL: Here is the table that the girls were sitting and eating and smiling and laughing.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Just what they were doing the very night before the October 7th attack, in this video recorded by Roni's fellow soldier. This week in the destroyed operations room, Eyal lit a candle to mark the Jewish new year at the very same spot where Roni issued those ominous warnings and close to where she died.

ESHEL: We don't have any holidays. We hate holidays. She's not here. She's not with us.

SCIUTTO: This is where the observer unit was based. This is where they were issuing those warnings prior to the attack that something was coming. And sadly, on the morning of October 7th, this is where many of them were killed.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): The IDF's failure not just to heed the observer's warning, but also to come to their rescue, remain crucial questions a full year since October 7th, part of a much broader security failure that day. It was on these burned up computer screens that Roni and her colleagues told their parents they'd seen worrying signs from Hamas, including accounts of fighters testing the fence line.

The Israeli military ignored other warning signs as well, including these training videos Hamas posted openly online in the months before, and earlier intelligence since uncovered by Israeli media about Hamas's intent to attack Israeli communities and even take multiple hostages.

Retired Brigadier General Amir Avivi is former deputy commander of the IDF's Gaza Division.

AMIR AVIVI, FORMER DEPUTY COMMANDER, IDF GAZA DIVISION: They saw that Hamas is mostly worried about the stability inside Gaza and the economy.

SCIUTTO: So you're saying it was a misreading of Hamas rather than not listening to internal warnings?

AVIVI: Generally speaking, yes. But I think that also at a certain point where the observer said again and again and again that I've seen things that are out of usual. At a certain point, there were commanders who said, OK, that's it. We don't want to hear about this anymore. SCIUTTO (voice-over): The IDF and Israeli government have insisted a full investigation into what went wrong that day cannot take place while the country is fighting a war on multiple fronts now.

ESHEL: We put the picture of the whole girls.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Today, Eyal and the other families have built a memorial for their lost daughters overlooking Nahal Oz base.

ESHEL: Here is Roni.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): But they're still waiting for what he wants most now, accountability.

SCIUTTO: Has anyone from the army or the government ever said to you, I take responsibility?

ESHEL: No one. No one.

SCIUTTO: Has anyone ever said, I'm sorry?

ESHEL: No one. I need answers. And I need the responsibility. And I need the truth.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): A father's simple demand after the worst loss imaginable.

Jim Sciutto, CNN, Nahal Oz, Southern Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Just stay with us for more coverage from Southern Israel as the country marks a year since the Hamas attack on the Nova Music Festival.

[04:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: A year after the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, families of the victims have been gathering at the site of the Nova Music Festival for a day of mourning and remembrances.

MACFARLANE: As you can imagine, it's been an incredibly emotional day with people sharing memories of their loved ones on this somber anniversary.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the last moment we're here. This is where she was killed. So, especially here.

We were last week, we were in the grave, but this is the ceremony. This is where she was. This is where she was happy in the last moments. It was here. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, we tried to look for her for almost five weeks, as Anat said, and we tried to look for her tattoo over here, which said, die with memories, not dreams, which gives you another meaning suddenly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, this is not something I choose. This is something I got as a fact. We lost our son here. He was at the party. He was murdered at nine o'clock and 20 minutes. And we are here, all the family.

We came to visit him after one year passed, which is amazing. We don't know. It seems to be like yesterday was the last day we saw him. For us, yesterday was the last day of the old life before we start one year in the new life. And we are here.

[04:55:02]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today, it's a closure for me. It's a -- I come from there and this is area, it's the first time that I see. And in my imagination, I see the -- all the guys run in the field. And I said, it's impossible. It's not real. And now, it's really, I afraid to come here, but I said to myself that if I were not to come, the Hamas will win me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well, as far afield as Australia, people are gathering today to mark the anniversary of the attack on Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD CHANTS: Bring them home. Bring them home. Bring them home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: From Bondi Beach to Canberra, Australians are calling for the return of hostages in Gaza, where more than 100 remain in captivity. Although warnings of the potential to inflame community tensions and tougher security measures muted some events.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX RYVCHIN, EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIAN JEWRY: According to Jewish tradition, a year after an event of trauma and loss, we are compelled to cease our mourning. But it is impossible not to mourn when 101 Israelis remain in that hell. And when our community here locally reels from unprecedented scales of anti-Semitism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, thank you for joining us here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster.

MACFARLANE: And I'm Christina Macfarlane. Stayed tuned for CNN "THIS MORNING" up after this quick break.

[05:00:00]