Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

Monster Category 5 Hurricane Strengthens Again as It Aims for Florida; Harris Says, Trump Needs to Stop Playing Politics With Hurricanes; Israel Marks One Year Since Deadly Hamas Attack and Hostage Capture. Milton Explodes Into Category 5 Hurricane On Track To Florida; Supreme Court Adds Major Cases As New Terms Starts. Aired 6- 7p ET

Aired October 07, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news. A monster Category 5 hurricane just strengthened even more on its potentially devastating path toward Florida. Milton rapidly intensifying as officials are pleading big time with millions of residents in the Tampa area to get out and to get out now.

Also breaking, Kamala Harris is warning that Donald Trump needs to stop playing politics with hurricanes. She's slamming the misinformation Trump has been spreading about the Biden administration's storm relief efforts, calling him, Trump, extraordinarily irresponsible.

Plus, grief, anger, and protests, Israel marks a year since the deadly Hamas terror attack and the brutal capture of hostages that triggered a multi-front war that is ongoing and escalating this hour.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in The Situation Room.

And let's get straight (INAUDIBLE) Hurricane Milton now the strongest storm on the planet this year after reaching Category 5 status with winds of 180 miles an hour.

I want to get the latest forecast right away from our Meteorologist Chad Myers. He's over in the CNN Weather Center for us. Update our viewers, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Considering, Wolf, that Category five starts at 157, I'd call this a Category 5-plus. This is a big storm. The only saving grace we have right now is that this rapidly intensified two days ahead of landfall and not 12 hours ahead of landfall, like it seems all the other ones have.

There is the eye in the visible. This is what the International Space Station would be seeing if they look down.

We don't know whether it's 180 or not because it's likely higher than that, but the hurricane hunter aircraft is almost there. We'll know in less than 30 minutes whether this is 180 or 185, because 185 is actually the forecast. We haven't had a plane in it for a few hours, but when the last plane left, it was 175 miles per hour. A crew in a C-130 aircraft flew through that cell. The violent nature of that turbulence had to be something else. And now another plane is on the way, and it's even stronger than when they left.

And it will come on shore in the western part of Florida. Somewhere anywhere north of Tampa to south of Tampa, everywhere that you see here, though, will have winds of 110 miles per hour or more and hurricane all the way to the East Coast because this is going to have such a momentum with it, 10 to 15-foot storm surge.

And think about what we had with Helene. Helene, we had six to seven- foot of storm surge and what the pictures looked like there. Even Cedar Key had 9.29 and what the pictures looked like there. The forecast is now 10 to 15, and it could even be higher than that.

The last time we've had a storm this large anywhere near Tampa as a Category 3 or higher was '19 and '21. So this is going to be a Tampa Bay-filling surge. We're going to see significant water, maybe even overtopping those barrier islands. The models are very close to agreement of what's happening here. We'll just have to see what the wind speed actually is. We still have 48 hours. You still have time to get out if you're told to do so.

BLITZER: And it's urgently being recommended by everyone. If you're in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area, get out, get out now, go south, go north, go somewhere, because it's going to be really dangerous, right?

MYERS: Listen to your officials. There are zones that do not have to evacuate. But if you're going to have a wind speed of 125, you may lose your roof anyway. Do what you feel makes you safe.

BLITZER: Chad Myers, we'll check back with you. Thank you very much.

I want to get some more right now on storm preparations just ahead of Milton's landfall. The race to get ready comes as many areas in the storm's path are still reeling from Hurricane Helene.

CNN's Brian Todd is on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In Pinellas Park, Florida, just across the bay from Tampa, residents use large pails to fill as many sandbags as they can. Hurricane Milton, which has already exploded into a Category 5 storm, could hit the Tampa Bay area directly.

[18:05:00]

It would be the first major hurricane to strike within 50 miles of Tampa in more than 100 years.

Some residents in at least six counties told to evacuate. In Hillsborough County, the evacuation order is mandatory in some places. That means authorities cannot force people from their homes. But --

CHIEF JASON DOUGHERTY, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA, FIRE DEPARTMENT: If you remain there, you could die. My men and women could die trying to rescue you.

TODD: What makes this especially dangerous in places like Tampa and Fort Myers is that those cities are still recovering from Hurricane Helene, which has killed more than 230 people in six states, with the death toll still rising. For those in the mandatory evacuation zones who decide to stay put, Florida officials have a dire warning.

ASHLEY MOODY, FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: You probably need to write your name and permanent marker on your arm so that people know who you are when they get to you afterwards. And we are still seeing as we're uncovering folks on the beach who thought they could stay there and the storm surge got them.

TODD: With Milton forecast to make landfall late Wednesday, Governor Ron DeSantis warns the window for evacuation is closing fast.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): You have time to execute your plan, but you got to do it now. Time is going to start running out very, very soon.

TODD: Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane that caused widespread damage, leaving tons of debris that still hasn't been cleared, debris that residents worry could still harm people if it starts flying around when Milton hits.

KARMEN FORRESTER, BARTENDER IN FORTMYERS BEACH, FL: The debris on the beach and whatever's going on is a little cause for concern because there is not enough time and not enough manpower to take everything and put it where it needs to be off the island.

TODD: The international airports in Tampa and Orlando closing ahead of the storm. Tolls are being suspended on major highways throughout Western and Central Florida to help those evacuating. Governor DeSantis says the assets that Florida lent to North Carolina for Hurricane Helene have had to be brought back to Florida.

But North Carolina is still dealing with the horrific aftermath of Helene. More than 100,000 customers are still without power there, and around Asheville, dozens of people are still missing a week-and-a-half after Helene tore through the area.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're still working to reach communities. We still have search and rescue occurring as we speak.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): And we have this information and video just in to CNN. Hurricane Hunters has posted their latest video on X. This is video from the plane, the Hurricane Hunter flying through the eye of Hurricane Milton as it approaches the west coast of Florida. You can see the clouds swirling there. This is -- of course, these hurricane hunter planes gather critical information. They're going to be gathering critical information in the next 48 hours before the storm makes landfall on the west coast of Florida. This is information that is going to be very critical in informing us as to when and where this is going to hit, Wolf. This video we're seeing for the first time and the Hurricane Center says those pilots even spotted birds within the eye of the hurricane this afternoon. Wolf?

BLITZER: Brian Todd will stay on top of the story to be sure. Thank you very much.

Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris just spoke to the news media about the federal preparations for Hurricane Milton's arrival. The vice president urging residents to listen to their local officials and knocking Donald Trump for spreading misinformation about the government's response to Hurricane Helene. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: There's a lot of misinformation being pushed out there by the former president about what is available, in particular to the survivors of Helene. And, first of all, it's extraordinarily irresponsible. It's about him, it's not about you. And the reality is that FEMA has so many resources that are available to folks who desperately need them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: I want to bring in our political experts for some analysis. Nia-Malika Henderson, Vice President of Harris is referring to Trump's false claims that FEMA resources are being redirected to migrants in the United States who are here, undocumented migrants. Something his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, the RNC co-chair, repeated to our own Dana Bash just yesterday. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARA TRUMP, CO-CHAIR, RNC: Look, Kamala Harris did come out and say it's $750 per family right now. The idea that we've spent $650 million in fiscal year '24 on the migrant crisis that Kamala Harris was responsible for stopping and, by all accounts, she created by having an open door policy at our southern border is infuriating citizens of this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Nia, what do you make of this? Are we past the time when a crisis like these are typically above partisanship and people get together and work together to deal with it?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, listen, this is Donald Trump's effect on American politics. It's his effect on what was a normal reaction, a bipartisan reaction to tragedy in the past. These are folks who have been in a terrible situation after this hurricane, causing billions of dollars of damage and lots of lives lost, something like 230.

[18:10:04] I'm sure that death toll will rise. And then you have Donald Trump and his allies, A, suggesting that someone else can control the weather, that was Marjorie Taylor Greene, B, you have Donald Trump suggesting also that FEMA and the federal government is going to direct certain resources in certain places and not in other places, essentially ignore some of the constituents down there who might happen to be Republicans, and then, of course, this additional lie, which is that somehow they're redirecting these resources elsewhere.

Listen, Donald Trump wants to blame illegal immigrants, migrants, whatever he wants to call all those folks who are here, some of them lawfully seeking asylum. That is his playbook and we've seen it time and time again. It is dangerous, particularly in a time where these folks on the ground there in North Carolina and some of these southern states are in need of real information and they're in need of real help and to spread these lies about there being a lack of resources in the federal government not providing those resources is indeed dangerous misinformation that can impact folks lives.

BLITZER: It certainly is. Scott Jennings is with us too. Scott, North Carolina's Republican Senator Thom Tillis, among many other Republican officials, has shut down these falsehoods. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): We can have a discussion about the failure of this administration's border policies and the billions of dollars it's costing, but right now, not yet. Is it affecting the flow of resources to Western North Carolina?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is not in a factor, to be clear. Okay.

TILLIS: Not at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, why do you think Trump is doing all this, speaking out against the officials on the ground in his own party?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think he's trying to draw attention to the global spending priorities of the federal government, and I think he may be doing it in an articulate way.

It is true that the government does spend money on illegal immigration operations out of FEMA. And it is also true that the vice president tweeted over the weekend, while people are still dying in North Carolina, that we're sending all this money to Lebanon. So, you know, what's going on is a conversation about what money is being spent. It's all U.S. taxpayer money.

What's also true is that the Congress is going to have to reconvene, it sounds like, and get FEMA even more money to deal with Helene and probably to deal with Hurricane Milton, which looked like it's a tragic situation. My general view is, I think you can have a conversation about spending priorities, but if you're in the path of this hurricane or you've been affected by the most recent hurricane, listen to your governor, listen to your local officials and that's the best place for you to get immediate information about how you should be reacting to the hurricane.

BLITZER: Ashley, are you at all concerned that some Americans are actually buying what Trump is saying? How does Vice President Harris counteract that?

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think we have to have folks who will speak the truth, like the senator in North Carolina. I am concerned that, really, people who are trying to survive these storms, they don't -- storms don't care if you're a Democrat or Republican. The wind and the water still hits you just the same. And so my concern is that those individuals don't know who to trust in a moment like this, because we have people like Donald Trump who are pushing falsehoods.

So, I agree with Scott, listen to your governor, listen to your local officials, but we should be able. to listen to people who are running for president. It is not the case, unfortunately, in this presidential cycle, but I would encourage folks, the federal government can walk and chew gum at the same time. We are seeing once in a lifetime type storms with Helene and now Milton.

And so we need to support our federal government to provide support to the folks who are in the path and who have experienced the storms just most recently, but we also can pay attention to priorities overseas and at our border at the same time.

BLITZER: All right. Everybody stand by. We have more to discuss. But just ahead, there's breaking news overseas, new fighting in the Middle East right now between Israel and Hezbollah, as the world marks one year since the deadly terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00]

BLITZER: Today marks one year since Hamas launched a deadly surprise attack on Israel. The anniversary comes amid growing conflict in the Middle East right now and fading hopes for a Gaza ceasefire and a hostage deal.

Let's go to CNN's Nic Robertson in Tel Aviv for us. Nic, this October 7th, today has been a day of both war and remembrance.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It has. It's been a day where the sounds of explosions have echoed both in Lebanon and in Gaza, but it's been a day that began with the sounds of a woman screaming at the moment of silence at the Nova Music Festival, of the tears and the pain and the sorrow of the parents and the families and the friends of all those who were killed there, and this while there are still a hundred, more than a hundred hostages being held in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice over): Before dawn, a day of pain about to break.

A minute's silence, commemoration where 347 were brutally killed, 40 taken hostage.

A year ago, these fields filled with fear, Hamas overrunning the Nova Music Festival.

Raz Grofi survived, missing her friends, driven (ph) by guilt.

[18:20:01]

RAZ GROFI, SURVIVOR: Unequivocally, crazy guilt feelings. I have friends who came here because of me and they are not with us. It's something you live with every day, probably forever.

ROEY DERY, SURVIVOR: Nothing will bring us back what we lost. We came back here with other friends that we were here together. Some didn't come back.

ROBERTSON: Roey Dery trembles as he talks here for his friends who didn't make it.

DERY: Yes, it's bringing memories every time we remember another piece.

ROBERTSON: Nova today, a sea of sorrow, sadness, tears and suffering, a rawness that knows no easing.

RINAT LIOR, AUNT OF VICTIM AMIT LAHAV: I feel like yesterday and we still haven't accepted that she's gone.

ROBERTSON: Aunt of Amit, 23, when she was murdered.

LIOR: She was murdered with her best friend, Sheera (ph). And that's very difficult to be here.

ROBERTSON: It's still (INAUDIBLE) in Gaza. I mean, what are your thoughts about that?

LIOR: We didn't anticipate that it's going to be in one year. We thought it's going to be in one week. We're going to bring all the hostages there, and that's it.

ROBERTSON: That war still close, helicopters overhead, deterring attack, remembrance, punctured by explosions, suffering not limited to these families and these fields.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: It's so sad. Nic, thank you for that report.

I also want to bring in CNN's Nada Bashir to this conversation, but let me get back to you, Nic. This somber moment comes as Israel is clearly ramping up the fight on multiple fronts right now.

ROBERTSON (on camera): It is. There's an expectation that sometime in the near future will respond to Iran for the strikes, the 180 ballistic missiles also that Iran fired at Israel last Tuesday. And today, there were incoming missiles into the center of Israel that were intercepted. There were no casualties, but coming from Yemen that included drones as well as ballistic missiles that came from Hamas, in Gaza, firing longest range rockets. They fired for some time into central Israel triggering alarms there, five rockets, no casualties reported. And then this evening a barrage of ballistic missiles from -- it appears from Hezbollah intercepted again, no reports of casualties there, and also reports of drones coming from the east. And that would seem to imply most likely coming from Iranian-backed Shia militia in Iraq.

So, Israel really attacked by all of its regional enemies and that sense for Israelis that the war is still on. And, of course, for the near neighbors, like Gaza, where 9 people were killed, 25 injured today and Lebanon as well, where heavy blast continue in and around Beirut and in the south of Lebanon, the wars are really intense and some may even argue intensifying north of the border.

BLITZER: Nic, I want you to stand by. I want to bring in Nada into this conversation. Nada, what toll has a year of war now, a year of war, started by Hamas exactly a year ago, taken on Palestinians in Gaza?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Wolf, just as we are hearing about the immense mourning in Israel, there is also a huge mourning for Palestinians in Gaza. And for many who have watched what has unfolded in Gaza over the last year, and it is staggering. The figures more than 41,000 people killed in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry, among them more than 16,000 Children. U.N. data estimates that more than half of the death toll are, in fact, women and children.

Of course, many others have been injured. We've seen those devastating videos emerging from the Gaza Strip from the overrun hospitals. More than 90,000 Palestinians in Gaza are now believed to be injured. And, of course, it's important to underscore that there are still thousands of people missing, believed to be still trapped under the rubble.

So you can imagine the scale, the full scale and extent of the impact of this war on Gaza still isn't fully understood just yet. And, of course, there is also the dire humanitarian situation. And for many in Gaza, they have now been internally displaced for a year, time and time again. The vast majority of Gaza's 2.2 million strong population is now internally displaced.

Take a listen to this account from one Palestinian who has had to flee their home time and time again.

[18:25:02]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAWAA ABU JAMEA, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN: We were in a destroyed school hit by a rocket in Bani Suheila, a completely destroyed school not suitable for humans. Suddenly, there was an evacuation order and people were running, so we ran with them, and we came here. We didn't know where to go, and we couldn't find a place, and the place we were in was not safe. There is nowhere in Gaza that is safe.

We are carrying our belongings. We are carrying our children. We don't know what to carry. We don't know where to go, where the world will throw us. Maybe this is the tenth time we have been displaced. There is nowhere we haven't been. There is nowhere left for us to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: And that is a feeling, a sentiment shared by so many in Gaza. And just as we speak now, marking one year since the beginning of the war, the Israeli military has issued fresh evacuation orders for civilians in parts of both Northern and Southern Gaza. Gaza and now, of course, we are seeing an intensification of those airstrikes in Central Gaza as well. Again, hospitals completely overrun. The situation is only growing more desperate. Wolf?

BLITZER: This war clearly intensifying right now. Nada Bashir and Nic Robertson, thank you very, very much.

Here in the United States, President Biden and Vice President Harris honored the victims of the October 7th attack as the war unfolding in the Middle East weighs very much on their administration and on the Harris campaign.

CNN's M.J. Lee has more for us from the White House. M.J., how are the president and the vice president commemorating this very sad day?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, across the federal government today, we saw that commemoration of the one year mark of the Israel-Hamas war. President Biden here at the White House lighting a yurt site candle, and he was joined by the first lady, Jill Biden and a rabbi, a rabbi who was a friend of the Goldberg-Polin family. Of course, Hersh Goldberg-Polin is one of the American hostages that was killed by Hamas.

And then later in the day, we saw Vice President Kamala Harris joined, of course, by the second gentleman planting a memorial tree at her residence at the Naval Observatory. The couple choosing a pomegranate tree to symbolize the hope that is seen in Judaism by this symbol. And this is a little bit of what the vice president had to say when she said she thinks about what she hopes for as she thinks about the Gaza conflict. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I will always work to ensure the safety and security of the Jewish people here and around the world.

We must reunite the hostages held in Gaza with their families. And I will never stop fighting for the release of all the hostages, including the American citizens, living and deceased.

(END VIDEO CLIP) LEE: And, of course Wolf, the tough reality for everyone here at the White House is that they had hoped that this war would be over by now. That proposal for a ceasefire led by the U.S. has gone nowhere. There is now also the real threat of a second war between Israel and Hezbollah that is very real, that the vice president too is having to contend with. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. M.J. Lee at the White House for us, thank you very much.

Coming up, the war in the Middle East taking center stage in the race for the White House today with Donald Trump suggesting President Biden and Vice President Harris are preventing Israel from winning.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

BLITZER: Donald Trump is weighing in on the conflict in the Middle East, slamming the Biden administration's response to the growing crisis. Listen to what the former president told Conservative Radio Host Hugh Hewitt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUGH HEWITT, HOST, THE HUGH HEWITT SHOW: Do you think Biden and Harris have been holding back Israel from winning?

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I do. I think everything they do is the opposite, in particular him. Now, she's a dumber person than him but he has the worst foreign policy of anybody in history, probably.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Let's discuss with our political experts who are back with me right now. And, Ashley, let me ask you. How much of a weakness, potentially, has this conflict in the Middle East been for Harris and her campaign as she walks a tightrope of very strong emotions in the Democratic Party?

ALLISON: Yes. Well, you know, the Democratic Party is a big tent coalition, and so there are definitely components that are feeling the pain from what happened on October 7th, but also the humanitarian crisis that is still going on in Gaza and the innocent civilians that have been killed from that, and I think most importantly, what Kamala Harris has said over and over again, is that we need a deal and we need this or war to end. And I think fundamentally, almost everybody in our coalition wants that and believes that, if not everyone.

The reality is, though, is that she also is the vice president, and this is Joe Biden's foreign policy. So, while I think she's still a supportive of him, we aren't actually able to see what a Harris administration would do in this moment, unless she was the actual president. I do think it is an issue that people really, really care about. I know this campaign has been going out and having those conversations with different components of this coalition. But it is an important topic that the reality, though, is that when they talk to Donald Trump, he does not offer a solution either, other than hurl insults at her and talk about how aggressive he would be to both parties, quite honestly.

BLITZER: You know, Scott, Trump in that same radio interview today said he should get 100 percent of the American-Jewish vote after last month, saying any Jewish person in the United States who votes for Kamala Harris should have their head examined.

[18:35:00]

Potentially, how damaging do you think that is?

JENNINGS: Well, he obviously thinks he's a bigger supporter of Israel and a bigger supporter of the Jewish people than Biden and Harris. And he has been very clear about that and obviously he's taking some rhetorical liberties with the idea of getting 100 of the vote of any constituency group out there, but he firmly believes that the Democratic Party has been co-opted by and is influenced by people who fundamentally believe Israel is in the wrong and that somehow October the 7th was a justified attack.

And, look, I mean, it makes me sick, honestly, Wolf. When I turn on the television, I see people marching through the streets of major American cities and across college campuses carrying the Hezbollah flag, flying the Hamas colors, and going out ripping down the posters of people who've been taken hostage and are still being held hostage today. It makes me sick, because I think there's a lot of Republicans and Donald Trump included that think this is fundamentally a fight for the future of western civilization. He's got strong views on it. I don't think he ought to have to apologize for making a forceful case to Jewish-Americans about why the Republican Party is better for them today.

BLITZER: Ashley, you want to respond to that?

ALLISON: Yes, I don't think he's making a forceful case. I think he is insulting the Jewish community by saying, you have to get your head examined if you don't agree with me. A better way would it say, this is my policy. This is what I believe. But, again, he is trying to court a bloc of votes by insulting them. It's just something that only Donald Trump would do.

BLITZER: All right, Ashley, Allison, Scott Jennings, to both of you, thank you very much.

Just ahead, her 17-year-old daughter was murdered by Hamas in front of the family, and then her husband was kidnapped. My exclusive conversation with Gali Idan one year later, that's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

BLITZER: As Israel today marks one year since the Hamas attack, the anniversary is especially painful for the families of the hostages still being held in Gaza.

During my visits to Israel over the last year, I've had the chance to speak with Gali Idan, whose husband, Tsachi, was kidnapped from their home during the raid. I first spoke to her less than a month after October 7th. And she recounted in detail how she and Tsachi were at their kibbutz home when they realized something was terribly wrong. They grabbed their children and went to the safe room.

We want to warn you, some of the images you are about to see are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GALI IDAN, HUSBAND KIDNAPPED BY HAMAS, DAUGHTER KILLED BY HAMAS: They banged on the door really loud and said, open the door, open the door.

You could hear three or four of them shouting and Tsachi struggling the door. And they fought him to open the door and they're still shouting and then Mayan (ph) saw that there's a crack starting to open and she jumped on the door to help Tsachi close it. At that moment, there was a gunshot. I was hanging on to one of the kids, I think it was Yael, I'm not sure. And then Tsachi was shouting, who got shot, who got shot. And then he said it was Mayan. It's Mayan. Help, it's Mayan.

BLITZER: So, your daughter?

IDAN: It's my daughter. It's my 18 and 4 days daughter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go out. Go out.

IDAN: I didn't see her yet, and then Tsachi was yelling, she's dead, help her, she's dying, she's dying, because he was in a pile of her blood, he was sitting there, you know, with his hands on his head. And he was saying, Mayan, help her, Gali, help Mayan. And I went to her and I saw her on her back straight still, you know, shaking. The body was still shaking, but she wasn't there, because when I checked her, he said, check where she's bleeding from. And I checked and it was -- I went up to the head and then I felt the injury, and I said to Tsachi, she's gone. She's gone. She's not here. She's gone. And they took us out immediately. They took us, everybody.

BLITZER: The terrorists?

IDAN: Yes. And I told the kids not to look and shelter them not to look because I didn't want them to see their dead sister in a pile of blood. Tsachi went out with his hands and knees all bloody.

BLITZER (on camera): Afterwards, Gali says the terrorists held the surviving members of her family at gunpoint on their kitchen floor for hours, live streaming it on her Facebook account on her phone.

IDAN: And then the kids started crying and shouting and they said to the terrorists, that the holding us hostage said, don't kill us, please don't kill us.

BLITZER: Then Gali says the terrorist kidnapped her husband, Tsachi, taking him to Gaza with the other hostages.

IDAN: So, we stayed, we told our husbands, Lishai (ph) and me, we said, we love you. Don't do anything stupid. Don't be a hero. Just do what they say, please. And the kids started yelling, don't take him, don't take him. And they said no, it's okay, he'll be back, he'll be back.

BLITZER: I returned to Israel in August and spoke to Gali about how she and her family are holding up.

What do you miss most about Tsachi, your husband?

IDAN: I miss his voice.

[18:45:00]

And I miss his hugs. And I miss the time that we had together, and I miss him joking with the kids and laughing and making dinner with him, and watching good movie, taking a walk.

I miss every little thing. It's been too long. It's been too long. It's bearable. We have no air anymore they have to come back. It's part of us.

BLITZER: And your daughter Maayan, she was killed, murdered that day?

IDAN: Yes.

BLITZER: You miss her obviously, every day, too?

IDAN: Oh, tell you something -- I tell you something that is -- I cannot grieve about Maayan yet because I'm in an ongoing war to save my husband. I didn't went to see her grave. I couldn't -- the 7 of October is a national horrifying day, a memorial day, and I need to go and see her and I can't -- I need Tsahi to be here and we need to do it together.

He needs to see her grave. He needs to grieve with me. We need to hold each other through this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:59]

BLITZER: I want to get some more now on the breaking news we're following. Florida bracing once again tonight for a powerful hurricane. Officials are keeping a very close eye on Milton as the category five storm rapidly intensifies and barrels towards the state.

I want to bring in the mayor of Ocala, Florida, right now, Ben Marciano.

Mayor, thank you so much for joining us. What are you bracing for? What can you tell us about your preparations on the ground right now?

MAYOR BEN MARCIANO, OCALA, FLORIDA (via telephone): Yes. We saw this coming. So we've been preparing for the last several days. Just keep getting our residents ready, you know, opening sandbag locations. We've encouraged people that are living in mobile homes or RVs to consider taking shelter. We've opened all of our schools and really just telling people to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Because we are in the middle of the year, we experienced a lot of evacuees coming into our community that were really trying to do whatever we can to be able to take them in and make sure that they're taken care of. Also, obviously, taking care of our citizens.

BLITZER: Is there still time for people to leave Ocala and escape and get out of harm's way?

MARCIANO: It is. It is. And if people feel like that's necessary to do so, you know, they can and, you know, we've seen people leaving. In fact, I have some friends that have decided to make the trek and leave. Right now, you know, we're hoping that we're going to just experience some high winds and some possible power outages.

But, you know, if it takes more, a trek north, it could come -- it could come over us.

BLITZER: So, what other advice, Mayor, do you have for everyone in the path of Hurricane Milton right now, what do they need to know?

MARCIANO: I think it can get seriously, right? I think everybody is on high alert from what just happened with storm Helene. If you're being told to evacuate, evacuate. We see it on the west coast. They're all been told to evacuate. It seems like everybody heading that, we see the interstate full right now.

To do whatever you have to do to be prepared, our community has almost -- we've been -- we've been able to miss a lot of the storm. So what I've been telling our citizens is lets take this seriously. Make sure that you are prepared to make sure that you are prepared for power outages.

Now you are in a safe place if you don't feel like you're in a safe place. Let's get you to a shelter. We've done everything we can from a community standpoint to make sure we're prepared for this, all of our first responders are on hand and ready to go, but take this seriously is what we are telling our community.

BLITZER: Yeah, good advice indeed, the mayor of Ocala, Florida, Ben Marciano, thanks very much. Good luck to you. Good luck to all the folks there in harms way.

Coming up, new insight today from the U.S. Supreme Court, with the justices making major decisions on which cases they will and won't hear as the high courts starts a new term.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:58:11]

BLITZER: The U.S. Supreme Court today deciding which cases it will and won't hear over the next few months, after a blockbuster year that included major rulings on abortion rights and presidential immunity.

CNN's chief legal affairs correspondent, Paula Reid, is here with me in the situation room.

So, Paula, what is the new term looking like for the nine justices?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this has the possibility to be a huge term with possible legal challenges related to the election looming out there. Right now, if you look at the cases that are officially on the docket, there's only a handful of the sort of political controversies that really draw national attention.

For example, they have agreed to hear a case on gender affirming care for minors.

They also agreed to hear a case on ghost guns. And for anyone who doesn't know what those are the case centers around these kits that are sold you can make your own gun that is untraceable. There's a question about whether manufacturers have to at least put a serial number on the kit itself.

They're also going to look at the issue of capital punishment and access to pornography.

Now they really made even more news up for the cases that they've declined to hear, especially this blockbuster case of brought back X, or formerly known as Twitter, where they were fighting a search warrant for direct messages on then President Trump's Twitter account.

Now, this request was made back when Jack Smith, the special counsel, was investigating Trump's efforts to subvert the 2020 election. And Twitter really thought, but in particular, the gag order, the fact that they couldn't share that this request was made. Now, a trial court sided with the special counsel. They eventually got some of his messages, but its a moot point now, really because Trump he has, of course, been charged in that case, but it was still an issue that X wanted to continue to litigate.

Now, also a big loss for the Biden administration because the court left in place in order blocking the Biden administration from requiring a hospital that receives federal funding for him performing emergency abortions. This was one of there attempts to kind of reassert some abortion rights after Roe v. Wade was overturned.

But of course, the biggest thing we're watching and waiting for is what happens in November. Will there be any case related to the election that goes up to the justices? And of course, if Trump is not reelected, it's expected some issues related to his criminal cases will likely make their way up to the Supremes as well.

BLITZER: We'll watch it all together with you. Paula Reid, thank you very, very much.

And to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. I'm wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.