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Israel Remembers 1,200 People Killed in Oct.7 Terror Attacks; Families of Israeli Hostages Protest Outside Netanyahu's Home, One Year After Hamas Attacks; Milton Strengthens Into a Category 5 Hurricane. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired October 07, 2024 - 13:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Today, Israel marking one year since the devastating October 7th attacks by Hamas. A somber day of commemoration mourning those lost in the assault. Even as the country braces for the next phase in a conflict that's reportedly killed more than 41,000 people in Gaza and has now spread into Lebanon.

Plus, Milton is morphing into a monster. Now a Category 5 hurricane, the highest category possible, with landfall in Florida just two days away as Tampa lies directly in the storm's path.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And going where the voters are. Vice President Kamala Harris sitting down for an interview with a podcast better known for conversations about sex and relationships, but one with a humongous following. Will the gamble pay off?

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

SANCHEZ: Across Israel and the world today is a day of mourning, marking the deadliest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust one year ago today. Israel holding a national ceremony in the last hour. October 7th will live forever in infamy.

Hamas' horrific invasion into Israel killed more than 1,200 people. Hundreds more were then taken hostage. And a year later, more than 100 are believed to still be held captive.

Across Israel, people are gathering to commiserate and reflect, holding memorials at the Nova Music Festival and the Kibbutz, Nir Oz, sites where so many people were slaughtered. The survivors reliving their shared trauma on this solemn day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NOA ARGAMANI, FORMER HAMAS HOSTAGE (through translator): The entire country is in mourning. We've all lost someone close to us and we are all left with a huge hole in our hearts. I still don't know where to start picking up the pieces, how to find hope and how to look forward. I'm still asking why, why this happened, why it happened to our loved ones, to those dearest to us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: But there are also protests. Israeli families frustrated with their government's response and their inability to bring all the hostages home, making their voices heard by the officials that they hold responsible.

That was the sound outside of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home. Protesters sounding a two-minute siren, urging him to bring back their loved ones. The pain, the frustration, the exhaustion all so evident.

CNN's Erin Burnett is live in Tel Aviv.

Erin, tell us what it's been like today.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: It's been an incredibly somber day. And right now, Boris and Brianna, we're in Hostage Square. And you can see the memorial service and the screen behind me.

Right now, where David is, our photojournalist, is showing you just some of the people who are here. We've got definitely more than 2,000 people who have gathered here over these past couple of hours. The ceremony began about an hour ago with one of the most painful moment of silences that I have ever experienced.

And as Americans, we all understand the pain and the emotion of a moment like that on 9/11. And here it is, so raw, with so many tears and so much pain. I will say the only time that there was an applause in this crowd tonight, Boris and Brianna, was when there was a call for a national investigation into what happened.

And when you said that just a moment ago, Brianna, the frustration and the outrage, the anger at the fact that this happened, and that there are still 97 hostages who were taken hostage on October 7th, a year ago today, who are not home.

And even now, we are learning that Israeli intelligence seems to have less and less intelligence every day about where those hostages are. That is a huge problem for so many people.

A third to a half of them may not be alive. Their families do not know. It is a desperation and an anger. And a moment ago, when you played that siren, which they played outside the Prime Minister's home today, there were also sirens across Israel, here in Tel Aviv.

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Incoming ballistic missiles, which were intercepted, which seem to have been coming from Yemen. And even now, the Israeli IDF saying 120 are projectiles that they have fired into Lebanon, that they are now trying to clear more areas and evacuate areas that just south of where we are, in Gaza, where two-thirds of the buildings have been leveled in these past 365 days of horror in this war. Mass evacuations continue with a mass IDF operation in Gaza. So Boris and Brianna, that is the reality. And even hostage families that I have spent time with and gotten to know over this past year that have had a happier ending. With people coming home, they say we will never be the same.

And that is certainly the collective reality here of a country that will never be the same from what happened one year ago and the very raw pain of 97 people who are not here tonight, who are in Gaza, alive and suffering and struggling, or perhaps dead.

And we're here, and what you see on the screen behind us is actually where Jeremy Diamond is live. That's where all the family members and the friends of the hostage families are very near to where we are in Tel Aviv, and Jeremy is there with them.

So Jeremy, let me send it over to you and what you're seeing there.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, in the days after October 7th, when we were on the ground, we were talking about the fact that Israel is such a tight-knit country, that there was no one in Israel who did not experience the horrors of that day, either themselves directly or through someone they knew. And tonight that sentiment is palpable once again, as we are hearing the testimonials of so many of those who have lost loved ones on October 7th, and we have been witnessing extremely emotional scenes in this crowd as people have been breaking down, as they are continuing to grieve one year later.

In addition to that, of course, we have also heard directly from former hostages and the families of hostages. I spoke today with Aviva Siegel, a former hostage herself, whose husband, an American-Israeli named Keith, is still being held hostage today, one year later.

She told me that when they were in Gaza, he had told her not to cry when Hamas wanted to film a hostage video, and then in April she saw a video of her husband. Listen.

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AVIVA SIEGEL, FORMER HAMAS HOSTAGE: And in April the video came out of Keith and Keith's crying. And that means -- it just means that he's in very bad shape and you can see up the knees, bones are ups, and I know that he's going to come home like a skeleton, but I just so badly want him back. I'm finished up worrying about him and knowing exactly where he is and worrying about all the hostages a year. It's too much. It's just too much. It's cruel. It's the cruelest thing, you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And so even as there is grief there and sadness about October 7th and concern for the life of her husband, there is also a sense of purpose and a sense of needing to advocate, even on this day of commemoration. And a sense of frustration, of course, with the Israeli government, the Israeli Prime Minister.

She told me that she has really lost faith in the leaders of the world who have failed to bring the hostages home, but she is continuing to fight. And tonight we heard on this stage a call for a commission of inquiry as well into the events of October 7th, something that the Israeli Prime Minister has refused to agree to until now. Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for that report, and to Erin Burnett as well. They're live for us in Tel Aviv.

We're joined now by Eylon Keshet. His cousin Yarden Bibas and Yarden's wife and two young children were taken hostage by Hamas terrorists last October 7th. You probably recognize their faces here. The couple's 9-month-old son, Kfir, was the youngest hostage taken during the attack.

Eylon, I wonder, a year later, how are you reflecting on how this day has changed your family and changed Israel?

EYLON KESHET, MULTIPLE FAMILY MEMBERS TAKE HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: It's something I tend to talk about with my partner a lot, that I'm not sure, like, will it ever be normal again? Like, will we ever be able to just not be on the verge of crying, like, every day all the time? It's like a whole new life. Before and after.

KEILAR: And tell us about your cousin and what you want your cousin to know.

KESHET: Yarden is -- he's such a loving and positive person that his absence is really felt in the family. Him and his wife and his kids are just very humorous people and, you know, you feel their presence when they are there and when there is a family gathering and you know that they are coming, you are glad about it, right? Because, you know, it's going to be fun with them around.

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And I really miss him. I really miss them. And, you know, he's a very loving father. He used to talk to me when we met, like about Ariel and that he's just a little, very funny little boy that he really likes trucks. So -- and Yarden likes the fact that Ariel likes trucks and he likes to show videos of him. And according to the family, they are very private people.

And this is my memory, my last memory of them. Being with Yarden and Shiri and Ariel around the family table for the holiday and just we played with Ariel and we talked and Yarden and I watched YouTube together and he showed me like metal artists, metal like he's a welder. So like metal art that he wished he could make someday. And he talked to me about his fears because they know it's not safe and they were actually looking to move out of this area.

And, sorry. Unfortunately, they didn't make it in time. And, you know, the 7th of October happened and they didn't make it out in time. And I can't believe it's been one year already. I really miss them. And I'm so afraid that I will not see them again. And I'm really afraid that the next time I see them will be a very big funeral for all of them. This is what I dread the most. And I find it hard not to imagine it all the time. It's hard for me not to imagine like even if they're -- even if they're coming back and I so wish they do.

They lost so much. Shiri's parents have been murdered. The dog has been murdered. The house was destroyed. Their friends were murdered as well, butchered. And I know that even them coming back is only the beginning for them to heal and for them to maybe someday be able to move on from everything that happened.

Shiri probably doesn't even know that her parents were murdered. She just -- yeah, it will never be the same. It will never be the same before and after the 7th of October.

And people ask me today, like today is the 7th of October. How do you feel? And I reply, I say, every day since October 7th is October 7th. It's not changed. Like, I don't need a reminder today that this event has happened. I feel it every day in their absence and I feel it every day in the grief of my family.

So I -- we really just want it to be over. We want them to be back. And it's so hard that we're not feeling heard. Not from our government. Not from the United Nations. And not from the international community.

KEILAR: Eylon, let me ask you about that before I let you go. Because we spoke in December last year, so long ago, almost 10 months ago, and you said time is running out and you don't feel heard by your government. You don't feel heard by so many global entities who you would look to for help. What do you want them to know? What do you need?

KESHET: I need them to understand that empathy is not enough. No amount of hugs and sad faces would bring back our families. We need real action from real people that has the authority to make such actions. And we don't need to fight.

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It's wasted that we have to fight for normal civilians and for, again, a baby, a child, and two very innocent mother and father, and all the others. Why do we need to fight for their right to return? Why is it politicized? Why when we talk about it, people say, yeah, but Gaza. No, it doesn't have to do with anything. This is a humanitarian issue.

These are civilians that were targeted by terrorists with brutal acts of violence. And they kidnapped them from their home. And they butchered the dog and they destroyed the home on purpose. They didn't defend any infrastructure. They didn't defend -- fear didn't defend anyone, right? Fear is not an oppressor. It's not IDF. It's not the Israeli government. Fear is just a freaking little baby.

You don't kidnap babies. Why do I need to spend a year going around the world, meeting with all these important figures, telling them the very basic moral that we all live by. No, you never kidnap babies. It's that simple.

Why so many people are silent about it? Why do I need to see posters of fear being ripped apart and then they say free Palestine? I saw it when I was in Ireland. Fear poster ripped apart and they say it's free Palestine. What the hell does it have to do with anything?

Fear is a baby that was kidnapped. He needs to go back home. That's it. There is no context for this. And this is what we've been going through. It's not just that we want our families back. We are fighting for our right to speak about this topic. The families, not the government, not officials, not politicians. Why do I have to defend my right to want my family to be back home?

We are fighting so many fights that I never thought, never imagined that in a Western, modern world I would have to do. And it's really tiring. It's really tiring. I can't believe that from the last time we talked 10 months ago, nothing has changed. Nothing, nothing changed. Only more hostages got rotten in captivity. More hostages died.

How could it be? I don't understand the government, and I don't understand the United Nations, and I don't understand all the people that actually have real power to do anything.

How can you be so ignorant? How can you be so indifferent to kidnap civilians? I don't understand it, and it drives me mad. It really drives me mad.

KEILAR: Eylon, that's completely understandable, and they deserve to be home. Eylon, thank you so much for taking a few moments with us on this day. We appreciate it.

KESHET: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: We'll be right back.

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SANCHEZ: We're following breaking news into CNN. A major hurricane is barreling toward Florida. Hurricane Milton is now a powerful Category 5 as it churns in the Gulf of Mexico. Expected to make landfall on Wednesday evening, aiming directly at an area that doesn't usually see direct hits from hurricanes like this, Tampa Bay.

Right now, Milton is threatening millions in its path with dangerous storm surge, severe flooding, and damaging winds as well.

KEILAR: Officials are warning people, get out now, with evacuation orders in place for five counties along the state's west coast. You see them there in red. And Milton will be the second major hurricane to hit Florida here in less than two weeks.

We have meteorologist Elisa Raffa tracking the storm in the CNN Weather Center. Elisa, tell us the areas that are expected to be impacted most here.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We're really worried about that west coast of Florida. No matter what the intensity is, the storm will be wide. We'll find impacts across the entire peninsula. But look at this. It's just been hard to find words to describe the eye, the symmetry, like it is just incredibly strong right now. A Category 5 hurricane with 160 mph winds gusting up towards 200 mph.

The rapid intensification this morning has been mind-blowing. We have seen an increase in the center winds, almost 100 mph in just 24 hours. It has just exploded in those incredibly warm ocean temperatures.

It scrapes the Yucatan Peninsula as this massive Category 5 storm. It weakens some as it gets towards the Florida peninsula here, but we're still dealing with a major hurricane, a Category 3 or 4, in that Hurricane Watch area there in the pink. We'll start to find those impacts again going into Wednesday. That's when we'll start to find some of those outer bands coming in, that landfall somewhere on the west coast of Florida, sometime late on Wednesday.

We are incredibly worried about this storm surge. The current forecast is for 8 to 12 feet for parts of Tampa Bay. They have never seen storms surge that high. They just hit records in Helene, and this could surpass that.

Boris?

SANCHEZ: Elisa Raffa, thank you so much for the update. We'll keep an eye on that storm as it approaches the land, the mainland United States, I should say.

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Let's discuss the massive storm and its potential impact with former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate.

Craig, thank you so much for being with us. Before we get to Milton, I want to ask you about the recovery from Hurricane Helene because there's still some 150,000 customers without power in western North Carolina. How much longer do you expect it's going to take to restore that?

CRAIG FUGATE, FORMER FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: It's not going to go quick. Remember, these roads were washed out as you get up into the mountainous areas. They've got power back on the things they can reach. Now they're rebuilding power lines in the areas that have no roads, so it's going to take more time. But those numbers will continue to come down as they're able to get, you know, they're not even trying to, you know, repair roads as much as just make them so they can get equipment in there.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, so as Elisa mentioned, it's been fewer than two weeks since the western coast of Florida was hit with Hurricane Helene. Now, they're looking at a potential Category 3 or 4 storm shortly after. How does that sort of weaken infrastructure, having one storm come so close to another?

FUGATE: Well, probably the biggest problem is some of the debris that occurred in Pinellas County, the St. Pete area from Helene still has a lot of debris. That could be complicated, but I think we really want to focus on the evacuations. As was pointed out, this is not a storm that's just aiming at the Tampa Bay region. It's from Tampa Bay all the way down to Fort Myers.

Those counties are ordering evacuations and I think right now the most important message is get people to move out of those evacuation zones to higher grounds, take their pets, and don't delay.

SANCHEZ: Craig, what does a 12-foot storm surge mean for an area like Tampa Bay, which has never seen that?

FUGATE: Well, a lot of damages, but again we want to focus on life safety as we saw with Hurricane Ian. Unfortunately we've seen too many of these storms even in Pinellas and some of those counties with Helene is if people are in those evacuation zones and that water comes in, we unfortunately see an increased loss of life, both the drowning and blunt trauma, crush injuries. That's why it's so critical that people move.

And they don't have to go hundreds of miles. They just need to get out of those evacuation zones and move to higher ground. We can rebuild from the devastation, which I will not be surprised of astronomical numbers.

We can't get people back if we lose them. And that's why as much as everybody is talking about what's going to be happening after the storm, I think we've got to stay focused on evacuation, move to higher ground if we hope to keep the loss of life as low as we can.

SANCHEZ: On the question of recovery with these two storms first Helene and now Milton looming there's this disagreement between the White House and congressional leaders. President Biden wants Congress to return early to help select disaster funding to put disaster funding in place to allocate it before it runs out, before election day. House Speaker Mike Johnson essentially said that is not happening. What happens if Congress waits to approve additional funding?

FUGATE: Well, for, you know, the initial response, probably not a lot. And again, we'll get a better sense as FEMA starts projecting the cost of the initial response to Milton. But you've got to remember when they did the continuing resolution, they allocated about a quarter of the funding for the disaster relief fund going into next year.

So initially it looks as though they have funding for the response. They definitely don't have money for recovery and there's a lot of federal programs besides FEMA that are going to need additional funds. So if the -- again, FEMA's watching that balance they're talking to White House OMB, they're talking to the congressional appropriators and they're all watching that level in the disaster relief fund.

And if it gets down too low where it would start impacting response I would expect Congress to come back and work on something immediately. As long as that funding level continues to allow them to continue to respond, then coming back and going into this and deciding are they going to do this in the regular order of a budget or are they going to pass a special supplemental? And again I've lived this in previous disasters.

The one thing I can tell you is Congress has yet to let FEMA run out of money in response.

SANCHEZ: That is a good precedent, one that we hope does not get shaken up anytime soon. Craig Fugate, appreciate you joining us.

FUGATE: Thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: Of course. From a popular podcast to late night shows to a TV town hall, Vice President Kamala Harris is launching a messaging bonanza. We're going to talk about the strategy behind it when we come back.

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