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Israel Marks Anniversary of Hamas Attacks on October 7; IDF: Multiple Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon Hit on Sunday; Hurricane Milton Now Cat. 1, Set to Hit Florida Mid-Week; Trump and Harris Targeting Undecided Voters. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired October 07, 2024 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Everywhere you look here, this family's remembering the people that they love, that they lost, and a lot of them telling me that they can't come to terms with it still. They still wrestle with it every day. I think the images speak stronger than the words here.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): Milton is now a hurricane, so please keep an eye on this storm.

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): We're going to have storm surge, we're going to have flooding, we're going to have massive winds, and guess what it means? You're going to lose power.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Some people say you'll never have an election again, this would be your last election, and I can see it.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: We have our family by blood, and then we have our family by love, and I have both.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster and Christina Macfarlane.

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Max Foster.

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christina Macfarlane. It's Monday, October 7th, 9 a.m. here in London, 11 a.m. in Israel, where the country is marking one year since the deadly attack by Hamas that killed at least 1,200 people.

FOSTER: In southern Israel, survivors and families of those killed at the Nova music festival gathered to mark the anniversary. The day is also being marked in Jerusalem. MACFARLANE: That siren blaring outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's home where Israelis had gathered, carrying images of hostages taken by Hamas and urging him to return them home. In Tel Aviv, it was a different sound. Several people there blowing the shofar, a ram's horn used in Jewish religious ceremonies, as they held their own remembrance ceremony of this somber day.

FOSTER: And on this anniversary, the Israeli army has released this unseen footage showing troops and police near the border sites targeted by Hamas one year ago as the attack was unfolding. A surprise attack would spark a swift response from Israel, which launched its war against Hamas in Gaza. One year on, the Palestinian health ministry says the death toll from the war is nearing 42,000.

MACFARLANE: There was a poignant moment earlier during the remembrance at the Nova festival site.

FOSTER: Organizers replayed the final music track that was playing when the festival came under attack, then the music stopped and a moment of silence was held.

CNN's Nic Robertson following developments joins us now from the Nova festival site in southern Israel. You still get that sense, Nic, feelings are still utterly raw.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Max, there's quite a lot of activity in the skies above us here. Just hearing heavy detonations, sounded like a couple of large bombs dropping from the direction of Gaza. A couple of helicopters in the sky above us here, so we may be getting some interference with me being able to hear you.

But look, it's been an incredibly, incredibly painful, sad, sorrowful, emotional day here. We've talked to survivors, we've talked to families, and they all tell you very much the same thing, that their lives have stood still. This is very hard for them to move on from.

I was talking to one aunt of a 24-year-old girl who was killed here with her friend, and the aunt says every day is the same for us. We just don't feel that we can move on. Life is sort of standing still.

And I talked to a survivor. He came back. He lost a couple of friends here, but he survived and he came back. And this is what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: What does it mean to you to be back here today?

ROEY DERY, FESTIVAL SURVIVOR: It's kind of a closure, but not yet. Nothing will bring us back what we lost. We came back here with other friends that we were together. Some didn't come back. If you can see the pictures of the other friends that we were together, some didn't come back. If you can see the pictures of them, Lior Tkach, Sean Baribashvili (ph), and Evgeny Postel over there.

[04:05:00]

ROBERTSON: These were all your friends who died that night.

DERY: Yes. Those are my friends. Very close friends.

ROBERTSON: Does it bring memories? Being back here now, does it bring the memories of that night back?

DERY: Yes. I've been here a few times since then. It's like living the last moment with them again, and we want to experience that.

Yes, it brings memories every time we remember another piece and bring up the story and what we've been through here. And this place is also changing. Every time we come here, there's more flowers that people put here, more pictures.

Every time we see other people's --

ROBERTSON: I can see the emotion on you.

DERY: Yes.

ROBERTSON: When you live in that moment again, you're living it and it's bringing --

DERY: I can feel it every time I speak about it. It's part of me. I live with it. The healing process is not something that you can finish in one day. There's no magic that can heal that wound. But we're strong. We have each other.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (on camera): Yes, for some people, it's the first time they've come back here, a year anniversary, a moment they hope can help them perhaps in their own healing. But one of the things you hear from a lot of people here is that they're not just stuck in the trauma, but they feel it can't really end until the war ends in Gaza, until the hostages come back.

Even though, you know, they're here remembering friends, loved ones who are dead, this collective feeling across the country, but particularly among those who were sort of caught up in Hamas's brutal attack that day, that none of this can end until the hostages are back.

And I think that's one of the reasons why there is such a unified voice of pressure on the Prime Minister, why you had people outside of his house today letting the sirens go as well. But this country still feels the trauma and of course it feels the war is still very much on, which of course it is.

MACFARLANE: And Nic, we understand that the site of the Nova festival, there are great efforts to ensure that that was going to be a safe site for mourners, for families to return to today. Can you talk to us about the efforts that have gone into securing that and also President Herzog, who was there earlier today, what he had to say, how he interacted with mourners there. ROBERTSON: Yes, he was here and he was comforting families from the moment that he sort of stepped off the tarmac path that weaves its way through the site -- which by the way, the tarmac path wasn't here a year ago when the festival happened. It's something that's been built because so many people come here. This has really turned into a place of national mourning, not just for the families that we've seen here today, but national mourning.

But you ask, in fact, just as you were asking about how this site is secured, I could hear the heavy machine gun fire rattling off from an Apache gunship in the sky above me. I heard what I think was an air- launched missile being launched from one of those Apache gunships a little time before that. We've heard some heavy bombs falling in Gaza.

There's been artillery fire. There's been an increased troop presence around Gaza. The Gaza commanders, IDF commanders have said that.

And we've seen as well a large presence of troops here, a lot of police, a lot of security around this site from the hours before anyone arrived here today. So it's taken a lot. And I think that's a statement, a testament to the level of the war, the fact that Hamas is not beaten, that they maintain, albeit a limited military capacity, but an ability to launch rockets, not when they want, but occasionally, and the threat very real here.

And we've seen the IDF ramp up operations over the past couple of days inside of Gaza. Just yesterday, the U.N. has reported and the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported 25 people were killed when the IDF struck a mosque that they said was being used by Hamas, but it was women and children that were being reported killed there. We know almost 42,000 people, according to health officials in Gaza, have been killed.

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So the war goes on. And when you're standing here, you hear it. And we also hear what it takes to suppress the possibility of Hamas attacking here.

It's very clear the government wanted this event to be able to take place for everyone, you know, who lost somebody here, for families, relatives to come back. But in central Israel, for example, the risk is too great, they say, to have gatherings of more than 1,000 people. So the commemorations there this evening will largely be without crowds. They'll be carried on television. People can watch them at home.

But there's a risk not just of missile attacks. I mean, those sirens have gone off in central Israel today. But also the very real possibility of a terrorist attack. Yesterday. Border police officer was killed. A number of other people were shot and seriously wounded in Be'er Sheva, not far from here.

And just a couple of weeks ago, there was a terror attack in Jaffa, just on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, where gunmen, two gunmen, managed to kill about eight people and injure several others. So I think that threat, that this is a day that groups like Hamas

would like to attack on, I think that's taken very seriously and very, really, particularly in the center of Israel.

MACFARLANE: Yes, that threat, the fighting clearly continuing on this one-year anniversary. Nic Robertson there at the festival site in southern Israel. Thanks very much, Nic.

FOSTER: Around the world, people are joining Israel in marking the October 7th attacks. In Paris, people denounced anti-Semitism at the memorial ceremony for the victims on Sunday. Hundreds then marched near the Eiffel Tower, calling for the release of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas a year ago. More than 100 hostages remain in captivity.

MACFARLANE: While in London, several thousand attended a vigil at Hyde Park, where the mother of Emily Damari, the only remaining British Israeli hostage, spoke. Some waved Israeli flags and held posters of hostages, while giant screens projected images of those who had died. Other demonstrators gathered on Sunday to call for an end to the violence that has unfolded in Gaza and the Middle East since October 7th.

Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters rallied across Turkey to mark a year of fighting in Gaza, with flares, flags and banners. They asked that the killings in Gaza stop.

FOSTER: In Berlin, thousands gathered at a rally supporting Palestinians and Lebanese. They waved Palestinian and Lebanese flags and demanded the end of the war in Gaza. In the wider region, in Buenos Aires, demonstrators held candlelit vigils for peace in Gaza and honored those killed in the fighting.

The Israeli military says it struck multiple Hezbollah targets in Beirut on Sunday as it continues to pummel Lebanon. The IDF says the attack focused on Hezbollah's intelligence headquarters and weapons storage facilities. At least four neighborhoods in Beirut suburbs were hit.

It comes as an additional 19 villages in southern Lebanon are facing new evacuation warnings, and people are now being told to stay away until further notice.

MACFARLANE: In northern Israel, an attack on Sunday wounded at least five people. Police say they're responding to multiple locations in the city, along with the bomb disposal experts. Hezbollah says it launched rockets targeting an Israeli military base near Haifa.

The IDF says they attempted to intercept five projectiles, but some made it through.

Well, CNN's Paula Hancocks is joining us to discuss this from Abu Dhabi. And Paula, as we're saying, these cross-border attacks continuing through this one-year anniversary.

But this marking the first time the northern city of Haifa has been directly struck. What more are we learning about the damage caused?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christina, Haifa was a city that was hit very badly back in 2006 during that war. Not so much this time around, though, but we are now seeing the longer-range missiles being used by Hezbollah, and certainly the fact that it is reaching Haifa is significant.

The Hezbollah line was that they were actually targeting a military base, the Carmel military base, but what we've heard from the Israeli side is that they did try to intercept these rockets, but some of them did hit, and we are seeing at least five people have been injured in that particular rocket attack.

Now, the Israeli military says there's well over 120 targets -- rockets that were fired on Sunday, and we know that overnight as well there have been more. We know there have been Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon overnight. There was one, for example, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, which the IAF, the air force said was targeting the intelligence headquarters of Hezbollah.

[04:15:00]

We also know weapons storage facilities have been targeted according to the military itself. And there have been a number of launches and strikes against facilities in southern Lebanon.

Now, what we're hearing from the Israeli military is that they are telling even more of these villagers along the border with northern Israel to evacuate. There's now well over 120 villagers which have been ordered to evacuate the residents from those villages being told to go north of the Al-Awali River, which is effectively a quarter of Lebanon's territory further north, and they are being told not to come back until they are given the all-clear.

So we have something like 1.2 million residents, we are being told by officials at this point, that are displaced within the country. Many have also left towards Syria.

Now, they are largely from south Lebanon. They have moved to the capital in some cases, hoping that would be safer, but they're also moving from the southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, which has really been pounded in recent days.

They are staying wherever they can. We know that some have been staying in schools. The school year has not started yet. That has been pushed back to November 2nd, understanding that normal life cannot go on at this point in Lebanon.

But some are still sleeping on the streets. Some are in parks, trying to get humanitarian aid from the groups that are within Lebanon at this point.

We've heard from the Israeli side that these attacks will continue. Let's listen to the Israeli Prime Minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): A year ago, we suffered a terrible blow. For the past 12 months, we've been changing reality from end to end. The whole world is astounded at the blows you inflict on our enemies.

And I salute you and tell you, you are the generation of victory. Together we will fight and together we will win, with God's help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: The ground offensive, we are being told, is still limited, although there is some skepticism about that. Back to you.

MACFARLANE: All right, Paula, there live in Abu Dhabi. Thanks, Paula.

Now hurricane Milton is forming in the Gulf of Mexico right now and is set to make a direct hit on Florida midweek. It comes with the state still reeling from Hurricane Helen's devastating landfall less than two weeks ago.

FOSTER: Milton quickly grew to category 1 strength on Sunday and could become a major category 3 storm before it is expected to land on Wednesday. More than 15 million people in Florida are under flood watches with up to 15 inches or nearly 400 millimeters of rain possible in some areas.

MACFARLANE: Well, Leigh Waldman has more on the preparations being made ahead of Milton's arrival.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): It seems like another week, another hurricane.

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Floridians are bracing for yet another hurricane as Milton churns in the Gulf. It's expected to intensify into a category 3 hurricane by late Monday. The storm is projected to make landfall near the Tampa area on Wednesday with 120 mile per hour winds.

Officials are warning about the threat of storm surge, rain and flash flooding.

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): I'd urge Floridians to take this storm very seriously. If you're on the west coast of the Florida peninsula, you could potentially have major impacts from this storm.

WALDMAN (voice-over): A state of emergency has been declared in 51 of the 67 counties in Florida. Officials are urging residents to make safety plans now and not wait.

SCOTT: It's going to have wind, it can kill you. It's going to have water, it can kill you. So I hope everybody right now starts thinking about what in the living daylights are you going to do?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You cannot wait and see. WALDMAN (voice-over): Milton is expected to impact areas still cleaning up from Hurricane Helene, which slammed into Florida's Big Bend region as a major category four hurricane. The storm created a 500 mile path of destruction across a number of states.

Some in the storm's path are still without power and cleaning up damage. Florida's governor is deploying the National Guard to help assist with debris removal that could cause more damage from forecasted winds.

I'm Leigh Waldman reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: We're less than a month away from the election in the U.S. Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are entering the final sprint in the race for the White House. We'll explain what they're doing with that time just ahead.

MACFARLANE: And dozens of families in Gaza are fleeing once again as Israel announces a new ground operation near the enclave's biggest refugee camp.

FOSTER: Plus, much more to come from southern Israel as the country honors those killed in the October 7th Hamas terror attacks.

[04:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MACFARLANE: Now, the first anniversary of the October 7th attack is having a profound impact on U.S. politics. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will deliver remarks later today at a remembrance event at his golf course in South Florida.

FOSTER: Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris says she's marking the occasion with a memorial tree planting at her naval observatory residence. Harris addressed U.S.-Israel relations in a 60 Minutes interview that's scheduled to air today. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. (D) AND U.S. PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles, which include the need for humanitarian aid, the need for this war to end, the need for a deal to be done which would release the hostages and create a ceasefire. And we're not going to stop in terms of putting that pressure on Israel and in the region, including Arab leaders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, election day in the U.S. is now 29 days away. How does that happen?

MACFARLANE: Coming up quick.

[04:25:00]

FOSTER: And the Harris-Trump campaigns are racing to win over undecided voters in critical swing states. Donald Trump addressed supporters in the battleground state of Wisconsin on Sunday, taking a direct hit at his opponent and questioning her intelligence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: And she's worse -- and she's worse than Biden, in my opinion. First of all, I think Biden is actually far more intelligent, if you can believe that.

Can you believe? I think he's more intelligent than she is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, a recent CNN Poll of Polls in Wisconsin shows a tight race with no clear leader, a tide the Harris campaign is looking to turn by launching a media spree this week, starting with the Sunday release of her appearance on the hugely popular Call Her Daddy podcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX COOPER, HOST, CALL HER DADDY: Throughout this election, your identity has been called into question many times. Your opponent has called you crazy, weak, fake and dumb. How does that affect you?

HARRIS: I think it's really important not to let other people define you. And usually those people who will attempt to do it don't know you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, Harris is really reaching out to voters through a series of high profile interviews.

FOSTER: Yes. Meanwhile, Trump ramping up his grim rhetoric on what he thinks will happen if he loses in November. Our Steve Contorno is with the Trump campaign.

But we begin with Julia Benbrook, who's at the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ever since Vice President Kamala Harris replaced President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, there have been calls for her to do more sit down interviews and give voters a glimpse of how she performs in those unscripted moments.

She's ramping up those efforts this week with a series of high profile interviews that each aim to reach a different type of voter. Her appearances range from a relationship focused podcast called Call Her Daddy, where the host, Alex Cooper, has millions of followers, both on Instagram and on TikTok, to 60 Minutes, which, of course, has been on the air for decades and is the most watched news magazine program in the United States.

The Call Her Daddy podcast episode aired on Sunday and the host said that no topic was off limits. But for the most part, they focused in on how the issues this election cycle will impact women like reproductive freedoms. And Harris emphasized that she believes more people support abortion access since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

HARRIS: I think that's also why in state after state, so-called red states and so-called blue states, when this issue has been on the ballot, the American people are voting for freedom because ultimately it's about, look, this is not about imposing my thoughts on you in terms of what you do with your life or your body. It's actually quite the opposite. It's saying the government shouldn't be telling people what to do.

BENBROOK: Harris' 60 Minutes interview with Bill Whitaker airs on Monday. And this is just the start of her media blitz. She'll also have appearances on The View, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Howard Stern Show. She'll be participating in a roundtable hosted by Univision.

And it's a busy week for her running mate as well. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will be speaking to the media. He's on Fox News Sunday, Jimmy Kimmel Live and several local news interviews.

At the White House, Julia Benbrook, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Donald Trump spoke for nearly two hours in Juneau, Wisconsin, picking up right where he left off this week and criticizing the Biden-Harris administration's response to Hurricane Helene. Even as Republican leaders of the states affected continue to say they're getting all the help and resources that they need. He also continued this dark rhetoric about what would happen if he does not win the 2024 election.

Take a listen to what he said.

TRUMP: But if you go four more years, you may never recover. In fact, I will say some people say it. I think it's very severe, but I can understand it. Some people say you'll never have an election again. This would be your last election. And I can see it.

Remember, I used to say we'll be Venezuela on steroids. And that's sort of what's happening. We're Venezuela on steroids.

CONTORNO: This was Trump's fourth visit to Wisconsin in just nine days, underscoring just how important this battleground state will be in the weeks ahead. Take a look at this poll that just came out from the Marquette Law School. It shows a very tight race with Vice President Harris leading Donald Trump by a 52 to 48 margin.

That is razor thin. And you can expect to see Donald Trump make even more visits to the badger state in the weeks to come.

Steve Contorno, CNN, Juneau, Wisconsin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Still to come, new strikes are being reported in Gaza overnight as Israel marks the one year anniversary of the Hamas terror attaches.