Return to Transcripts main page

Isa Soares Tonight

Biden, Harris, and Trump Marks One Year Since Hamas Attacks; Israel Marks One Years Since Hamas Terror Attacks; Anguish for Mothers in Israel and Gaza; Hurricane Milton Reaches Category 5 Strength; Florida Braces for Hurricane Milton. Aired 2:00-3p ET

Aired October 07, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

ISA SOARES, HOST, ISA SOARES TONIGHT: A very warm welcome to the show, everyone, I'm Isa Soares. Tonight, one-year on from the October the 7th

Hamas attacks. Commemorations are held across Israel as hostage families demand a deal to bring their loved ones home.

It has been a year of pain and suffering with tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza and Lebanon now in the firing line. We are live

for you in Beirut. Plus, Hurricane Milton becomes a Category 5 storm as communities still picking up the pieces from Hurricane Helene prepare to

get it again.

But first tonight, it was the worst attack on the Jewish people since the holocaust. Today, the world is remembering the one-year anniversary of the

October the 7th massacres as Israel vows, it will never happen again. Solemn commemorations are stretching into night, as you can see there in

Israel, as people honor all the lives lost.

More than 1,200 people were killed, and hundreds more taken hostage when Hamas militants stormed across the Gaza border one year ago. This vigil is

now taking place in Tel Aviv, and we are expecting to hear remarks from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Just a short time from now, of course, we'll bring that to you as soon as that gets underway. Well, earlier, families of hostages sounded a siren

outside Mr. Netanyahu, demanding he do more to bring their loved ones home. This anniversary is taking place in the shadow of course, of an escalating

regional conflict.

Israel responded to October 7th with a blistering warn Hamas that has no end in sight. Tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza have been killed,

some 2 million others are displaced, and that war has now expanded to include Hezbollah in Lebanon, leaving the entire Middle East on edge.

Well, one survivor of the Hamas attack, the Nova Music Festival says we came here with friends and some didn't come back. Many of the survivors

along with friends and relatives of the victors returned to the festival site today amid heart-wrenching grief that remains with them just a year

later. Our Nic Robertson was there and has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Before dawn, a day of pain about to break. A minute 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 by guilt.

RAZ GROFI, OCTOBER 7TH SURVIVOR (through translator): Unequivocally crazy guilt feeling. 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, OCTOBER 7TH SURVIVOR: Nothing will bring us back what we lost. We came back here with other friends that we were together, some didn't

come back.

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

DERY: It bring memories every time we remember another piece.

ROBERTSON: Nova today, a sea of sorrow, sadness, tears and suffering are ruinous, but knows no easing.

RINAT LIOR, AUNT OF OCTOBER 7TH VICTIM AMIT LAHAV: It feels like yesterday, and we still -- we still haven't accepted that she's gone.

ROBERTSON: Anto Vanit(ph), 23 when she was murdered.

LIOR: She was murdered with her best friend here, and that's very difficult to be here.

[14:05:00]

ROBERTSON: You smell the war going on in Gaza, I mean, what are your thoughts about that?

LIOR: We didn't anticipate that it's going to be one year. We thought it's going to be one week. We're going to bring all the hostages back, 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. Nic Robertson, CNN, Re'im, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOARES: Well, let's go to Tel Aviv, Jeremy Diamond is at the memorial attended by many of course, who lost loved ones in October the 7th. And

Jeremy, it has been a day as we've been showing viewers here of profound sorrow and anguish with the backdrop, I think it's important to point out

of incoming rockets. Just give us a sense of what you've been hearing now on the ground today.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Isa, you know, a year ago when we were covering the aftermath of the October 7th attacks, you had

such a sense of how tight-knit of a community this entire country really is, the extent to which there was not a single person in Israel who didn't

-- wasn't affected by the horrific events of that day. Didn't know someone who was killed or injured, were taken hostage on October 7th.

And tonight, we are certainly once again feeling that sense of community tonight as this country is very much in mourning as has been an extremely

emotional ceremony throughout the night. We have heard from some of Israel's biggest singers, and yet, there hasn't been any applause for those

performances because this is a bit somber moment.

The only lines of applause that we did hear tonight was when we heard several of the folks on stage who gave speeches, talked about the lack and

the need for accountability for the security failures of October 7th. And so, because this is a country that a year later is still in war, a country

that a year later still has nearly a 100 hostages still stuck in Gaza.

This is also a country that even as it is grieving, we are also hearing from so many, calling not only for accountability for the security failures

on October 7th, which the Israeli Prime Minister has refused to green-light a commission of inquiry. And we are also of course, hearing calls for the

release of the hostages and for this Israeli government to reach a deal to free those hostages, some of whom, former hostages we have heard from on

this stage and who I talked to earlier today.

But certainly, this is a profound day of sorrow, of mourning, but also of action from the Israeli public tonight.

SOARES: Jeremy Diamond there for us in Tel Aviv, thanks very much, Jeremy. And later this hour, we'll hear from the mothers whose children are caught

in the middle of this war. Have a listen to what one mother told our Jeremy Diamond about the way the day her daughter was abducted by Hamas. Have a

listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was very afraid because you can tell from the way that she said they take me, they take me, she was really afraid --

DIAMOND: She was on the phone with you when she was being taken?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, and we don't know nothing about her, what happened with her, we don't know if she's alive, we don't know nothing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: And we'll bring you that report from Jeremy Diamond in about 20 minutes or so. Well, Israel's Prime Minister is vowing to continue the wars

against Hamas and Hezbollah, saying Israel's fighting for its very existence. But in Gaza, Palestinian civilians are paying the heaviest

price.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed, many of them women and children. Residents tell CNN, they're living in fear, terror, hunger and

tragedy. One woman says we are bodies without souls. Lebanon is also reeling from crushing Israeli attacks from Beirut to its southern border.

The IDF is locked in a war with Hezbollah with the exchange of fire showing really no signs of letting up. We are also seeing increasing violence in

the West Bank. Palestinian authorities say a 12-year-old boy was killed today during an Israeli raid, that follows an airstrike targeting militants

Friday that killed 18 people.

One of the deadliest Israeli attacks in the West Bank in years. Let's get more on all these strands, our Ben Wedeman is in Beirut, also have Nada

Bashir joining us in the studio. And Ben, let me go to you, first, we have seen today pretty much intensified action, not just in Beirut, but also in

the south where we're seeing further evacuation orders.

[14:10:00]

Is this a sign, just wondering if you can give me your assessment of a broader ground invasion. How do you read this?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Now, we see all the signs that we saw back in 2006. It's been walked a bit slower by the

Israelis. But what we're seeing is the latest evacuation or rather warning put out by the Arabic spokesman for the Israeli military are warning

beachgoers and anybody with a boat, including fishermen, to stay away from the beaches and to go out into the sea, all the way up to the Awali River,

which is well inside Lebanon.

Now, this warning followed a bomb dropped on Tyre Beach front in Tyre this afternoon, very near to a hotel where journalists were staying. And this

comes after in the morning, the same spokesman coming out with evacuation orders for 25 villages and towns in south Lebanon, the number of towns that

have received these orders now, well over 125, we're talking about a huge swath of Lebanon, perhaps about 25 percent of the territory, because

everybody's been told to go north of the Awali River.

So, we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people, many of the people who are south of the Awali River have already fled their homes as we saw

the other day in the city of Sidon, where we went to a parking lot where hundreds of Syrian migrant workers and refugees from the war in Syria were

camped out.

So, we're talking about essentially the Israelis indicating that they may go well beyond the border area where they say they're currently conducting

localized, limited and targeted raids in the words they use. Meanwhile, here in Beirut, we saw another night of heavy airstrikes followed during

the day by sporadic airstrikes.

But one of them, huge explosion right next to Beirut International Airport, an airport that despite everything, we are seeing planes continue to come

in and take off from there, even as huge columns of smoke go -- are right next to the airport. So, it's a very strange situation here, many people

still trying to function.

But Beirut itself, particularly the western part of the city is just full of thousands of people displaced from the southern suburbs, from the south,

from the Beqaa Valley. We were on the corniche, which is this long promenade along the sea here yesterday. Normally, on a Sunday, you'll see

people jogging, riding bicycles, children playing, but now it is just packed with people, some of them sleeping intense on the sidewalk.

Many of them have been unable to find anywhere to stay in the many schools and other institutions that have been opened up for the displaced. So, this

crisis is just mounting. And if anything, it seems it's only going to get worse as Israel escalates its strikes and perhaps prepares for a full scale

ground invasion.

SOARES: Yes --

WEDEMAN: Isa?

SOARES: Incredibly very worrying indeed. Ben, do stay with us. Let me just go to Nada, who joins me here in the studio. Nada, we are seeing not just

fresh evacuation orders as we heard, Ben there in Lebanon, but also in Gaza. What are you hearing? Because we're seeing a new front, a new opening

now by the IDF in Gaza.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: That's right. We periodically have been hearing these evacuation orders --

SOARES: Yes --

BASHIR: From the Israeli military for civilians in Gaza, across the Gaza Strip, now, they are doubling down once again around the Jabalya Refugee

Camp in northern Gaza. Many civilians have actually returned to northern Gaza after fleeing to the south because the south had become so unsafe and

insecure that they were willing to live in these homes, which really been brought down to rubble because there's simply nowhere else to go.

Now, the Israeli military has said it will be beginning or rather re- launching a ground operation around the Jabalya Refugee Camp. They say --

SOARES: So, where are people going?

BASHIR: Well, this is the thing. They have been told to evacuate to the Al-Mawasi coastal area, a humanitarian zone that we've heard of before, of

course --

SOARES: So crammed already --

BASHIR: So crammed, it's somewhere that the Israeli military has repeatedly told civilians to go to, while at the same time, actually shrink

the parameters of the humanitarian zone. And in fact, it's important to underscore that we've seen this humanitarian area being targeted and struck

--

SOARES: Yes --

BASHIR: By the Israeli military in the past. So, you can imagine for civilians who are being told to go there once again, that there is a sense

of fear and apprehension as to whether or not they will be safe there. And of course, it's not just northern Gaza, we're now hearing fresh evacuation

orders for a number of neighborhoods in the south surrounding the Khan Younis area, again, being told to go to Al-Mawasi.

So, we're seeing the Israeli military really doubling down in both northern Gaza and southern Gaza in terms of evacuation orders.

[14:15:00]

They say targeting, of course, Hamas militants, so they are preparing to operate against Hamas militants there. But again, these are areas that are

densely populated --

SOARES: Yes --

BASHIR: With civilians. And then we look at central Gaza just over the weekend, a number of strikes targeting areas that really should be safe

zones, including the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, including a nearby mosque and even a school. All areas where people have not only been sheltering,

but of course, where many civilians go for medical treatment following injuries, following these airstrikes.

SOARES: And important to point out, too many people -- these -- many of these civilians have been displaced numerous times in the last year. Nada,

appreciate it, Ben Wedeman for us there in Beirut, thank you to you both. Well, one year after the October the 7th attacks war has engulfed the

Middle East on many fronts.

Former Israeli Consul General Alon Pinkas is weighing in on the conflict, describing the Israeli-Iranian relationship as explosive, and quote, "on

the verge of spiraling out of control, threatening to suck the U.S. involuntarily into the whirlpool it may cause." In his recent piece for the

"Independent", Pinkas also writes, "neither Israel nor Iran has a viable endgame strategy." And Alon Pinkas joins me now. Alon, great to have you

back on the show.

Look, we saw from our Jeremy Diamond at the top of the show, it is an incredibly solemn day across Israel, and we are seeing those scenes with a

backdrop of incoming rockets from Lebanon, from Hamas, even from the Houthis in Yemen, just shows that the fight is far from over. In fact, if

we go for what we heard, just heard just now from Beirut, our Ben Wedeman, it's escalating, your assessment.

ALON PINKAS, WRITER & FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL IN NEW YORK: Well, it is escalating, Isa. It's escalating because in order to de-escalate, you

need two willing parties and there aren't any. Neither Israel nor Hezbollah nor Iran are willing to or want to de-escalate. And furthermore, the only -

- the only power, the only superpower who can conceivably impose de- escalation, not that that's an easy task, is the U.S. and they seem to be reluctant to do so, or at least reluctant to use the levers that they have

at their disposal.

So, what we're seeing now is as you mentioned, as you quoted, me if I may say, it's a spiraling escalation, and the worst thing about these kind of

escalations is that everyone has the arrogance to think that they control the escalation, that they can, you know, they can regulate the heat, they

can't.

The most -- the most characteristic thing about escalation is that it is not subject or not amenable to control unless there are two parties willing

to do so.

SOARES: And we have heard on -- you know, on the show, I've spoken to many military analysts who have spoken at great lengths about Israel's military

successes, but very little in terms of a peace plan. This is what we haven't heard so far. You write in "Independent", I'm going to read it out

if I can find it here, "what may be even more worrying is that Israel has engaged in two fully justified wars but glaringly lacks political

objectives and an endgame strategy for both.

No ceasefire, no post-war political framework in Gaza, and now we're at war with Hezbollah -- and conceivably with Iran without a coherent political

set of goals and defined deliverables other than military degrading enemies." So, just speak to the mood in the country a year on. What do

Israelis want to see?

Because I were just hearing from our Jeremy Diamond who is at this memorial in Tel Aviv, and he said, the only applause he heard Alon, was on the -- on

the question of accountability for the failures of October the 7th, that was the only applause he had heard so far in this memorial.

PINKAS: Yes, well, look, you know, a year on and the Israeli mindset, the Israeli tight guys just still agonizing and in pain and devastated and

humiliated and driven by revenge. And you know, we can -- we can dismiss and mark revenge as a driving force or as impetus, but it exists and it's

human and it's natural.

What you expect from a government is to align the military aims of the military operations with political goals. And here, Isa, we have to draw

distinction between the different arenas. In Gaza, if you recall, President Biden, as early as December of '23, and again in January of '24, nine

months ago, presented a plan, a three-phase plan for post-war Gaza. Israel rejected it.

He then did it again in February and March, no, rejected it. First, dismissed, first, ignored, then dismissed, then outrightly rejected it.

[14:20:00]

Hezbollah presents a completely different ballgame or opera, if you will. Hezbollah is not a state, Hezbollah is a belligerent militant state within

a state that effectively took Lebanon hostage and is making decisions that affect all Lebanese who are not interested in a confrontation with Israel.

And so, there's a limit to what in this respect, I understand why Israel isn't setting political goals because there's no one to set them with

unless France, that has historical ties to Lebanon and the U.S. which has the ability to project power weigh in on a post-Hezbollah, Lebanon. But

that awaits to be seen. The third arena is obviously Iran. There, I think both the Israeli and the Iranian provocations are unwarranted(ph).

SOARES: Let me pick on your second point in terms of what more, what can we see, not just from the United States, but from other regional players,

from the likes of France, from President Macron in terms of bringing the region from the brink. Because President Biden, if you remember, Alon, just

last week said he doesn't advise -- he doesn't advise Netanyahu, he tells him, right? Something along those lines.

How do you think then as Netanyahu weighs up how to respond to Iran. Will he be listening to President Biden? Will he be weighing up those options?

Who can influence him here?

PINKAS: No, he can't. He's done some messianic ego-trip right now. The case for striking Iran back makes sense. Iran, after all launched 181

ballistic missiles into Israel in retaliation for Israel target assassinating Hassan Nasrallah who was Lebanese head of Hezbollah and has

nothing -- he's not Iranian, even though he represents a proxy organize -- in that respect, it was asymmetrical and supposedly it makes sense that

Israel will retaliate.

But toward what end? Well, if you ask --

SOARES: Yes --

PINKAS: Mr. Netanyahu, it's all about a civilizational war. It's all about a regional conflict. It's all about fighting Islamo-fascist. He's the

crusader who is going to do it on behalf of the ungrateful and entire West, OK. But no one except him sees it that way. And that being established

until now, Isa, he's been very -- Netanyahu, that is, he's been very successful in manipulating President Biden. It sounds awkward to say.

It sounds almost -- you know, heraldic to say. But this is -- this is what happened. What do you mean? What does Biden mean he's not advising Israel.

Now, the one thing that America can do is it strongly recommend that Israel not hit specific targets. Iran's nuclear infrastructure, for example or its

oil industry.

I think that toward that end, Minister of Defense, Minister Gallant, Yoav Gallant was summoned, not invited, summoned --

SOARES: Yes --

PINKAS: To Washington this week, he has meetings with his counterpart, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday. But other than that, I think

there's very little the Americans can do or are willing to do to prevent --

SOARES: Yes --

PINKAS: Israel from expanding in Lebanon and retaliating against Iran.

SOARES: And to just clarify my quote, I think the quote from President Biden was "I don't tell, I advise." This is what we heard last week. Look,

but look, let's broaden this out if we could, Alon, we're 30 or so days from a U.S. election, and we've heard Republican candidate, former

President Trump being asked today in an interview whether he thinks Biden and Harris have been holding back Israel from winning. He agrees. He says

it has. They have been holding them back.

When you listen to this and to those comments that both Trump -- both Biden and VP Harris are holding Israel back from winning. What do you --

PINKAS: No --

SOARES: Think? I mean, what is being said in political circles there about the next potential U.S. President and what that may mean for Israel and the

region here?

PINKAS: That's a completely nonsensical and unfounded argument that these people are making. If anything, Biden allowed Israel too much ladder(ph),

according to some critics. If anything, Biden provided and mitigated an unwavering support. If anything, he never except for one instance, he never

seriously deliberated curtailing unction.

As for Mr. Trump, well, look, he's in a presidential campaign and he will say anything and everything, lie, true, false, facts, to try and damage

Kamala Harris.

[14:25:00]

But here's the -- here's the twist in this plot. Mr. Netanyahu knows that he has free hands with Biden and Harris. He's afraid that he might not have

a free hand with Donald Trump. So, he's trying to do -- expand the war, broaden the war, escalate the war before Trump gets elected, if and when

Trump gets elected.

By the way, Mr. Netanyahu wants Trump to get elected, but he's also very cautious and afraid that Trump will not let him do whatever he wants to do,

and provide him with limitless maneuvering, quite the contrary. Trump does not want to be involved in a -- in a war in the Middle East.

Trump does not want the U.S. to be dragged into a war and then inherit that situation come January 20th. So, I think that while Mr. Netanyahu has this,

you know, bromance -- with a bromantic relationship with Trump as he did with Vladimir Putin for a long time, and given that he's somewhat

apprehensive and anxious as to how he will get along with Kamala Harris, he still wants Trump to win.

SOARES: Alon Pinkas, as always, great to get your insight, thanks very much, Alon, great to see you.

PINKAS: Thank you, you too, Isa --

SOARES: Thank you, take care, bye-bye. And still to come tonight, the ripple effects of October the 7th, one year on. We'll discuss the impact of

the attack and the ongoing violence on the race for the White House. That is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: Well, U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden honored the victims of the October 7th terrorist attack on Israel. At the White

House, they were joined by a rabbi to light a Yahrzeit memorial candle. President Biden spoke earlier with Isaac Herzog, his Israeli counterpart to

mark the one year anniversary.

Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will plant a pomegranate tree on the grounds of the official Vice President's residence,

and it represents hope in Judaism. Former President Donald Trump took part in an event in New York remembering the Israeli victims and the hostages

that remain in Gaza.

Well, let's speak to our politics senior reporter Stephen Collinson, who joins me now from Washington. And Stephen, you have written an article I

saw on cnn.com where you kind of outline how the October the 7th attacks have -- became kind of a turning point for U.S. politics. Just flesh that

out for us in terms of how it kind of upended U.S. politics in a year.

[14:30:00]

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: I think what we've seen over the last year is, for the first time, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

has become a domestic issue in U.S. politics over all of the span of U.S. involvement in peacemaking in the Middle East, that was never the case

before.

The only thing a president had to worry about was not being sufficiently supportive of Israel as far as political vulnerability was concerned. But

what we have seen following the October 7th attacks is that the Democratic Party has splintered over the war. There's been increasing pressure on

President Joe Biden and now Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, from the left of the party.

This conflict is playing a huge role in one of the most crucial swing states, Michigan. And it's not fanciful to suggest that anger over the

Biden administration's support for Israel and failure to do more to mitigate the cost civilian casualties in Gaza could really play a role in

the U.S. election.

On the right, we've seen this increasing alliance between Republicans, pro- Trump Republicans, and the far-right in Israel, which, in the years to come, I think will have a pretty substantial impact on the polarization of

U.S. support for Israel, and that is going to be very interesting to see how that develops in the politics in the United States.

SOARES: Steve, we're going to leave it there. As you were talking, we're seeing Former President Trump in New York City, he's actually in Queens,

where they've been held holding a memorial dedicated for the victims of October the 7th. We are going to leave it for now because President Herzog,

Isaac Herzog, is speaking right now in Tel Aviv. We want to listen in. Can we just play that?

ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAELI PRESIDENT (through translator): -- proud to be a part of this country, the people who every day just keep on creating the

only Jewish nation and the democracy, Israeli democracy, which is -- has different beliefs and different ways of life. The people who pray for peace

and know to stand against its enemies. People who have amazing strength.

The State of Israel lives already a year. And this morning at 6:29 a.m. at Festival Nova, I was there in the West Negev of three days of being with

the memory. I'd like to tell you, my brothers and sisters, at what I see -- what my eyes see, I see a new building creating from the devastation. I see

people, amazing people, that the love for the country brings them, raises them from the land, and with great strength and emotions are starting anew.

I see togetherness, light. I see -- together, I see hope. I see an amazing spirit, which is not defeated.

And from here, I promise you, to all of us, that we will continue and build. And we will -- what -- we will see -- old and young -- old people

will sit in their homes in the west of the Negev and in the streets in the Galilee and they will have children playing. We will stand together, just

together, and love this, which is -- will come and blossom amongst us.

We will remember the people, the memories of the souls of our sons and our daughters, the holy and --

SOARES: Well, you were listening there to President Herzog of Israel marking, of course, saying a few words on what really was the worst attack

for the Jewish people since the Holocaust. One year, of course, since that horrific attack on Israel by Hamas where 1,200 people were killed when

Hamas stormed across the board into Gaza.

President Herzog, who we understand, spoke to President Biden today said, we will be building, creating anew from the devastation, strength and

emotion starting anew. And he really spoke to the amazing spirit that has not been defeated. And this is something that we had -- words that we have

been hearing throughout the day, a day of course of profound sorrow and prevent profound anguish, as we heard from our Jeremy Diamond at the top of

the show, as so many mark this day with vigils, with ceremonies, incredible, all very somber.

A war, of course, that started with Hamas, that has escalated to Gaza, 42,000 people dead. Now, we've got a war with Hezbollah and concerns of

wider implications of a regional war with Iran should Israel retaliate following Iran's missile strikes that came raining down on Israel.

[14:35:00]

So, incredibly moving day today for so many, not just in Israel, but right across the world as they mark this moment. But also, we heard from Jeremy

Diamond, top of the show, calls also today for accountability for the failures of October the 7th.

We will continue to monitor all the events today as we mark October the 7th and the lives lost. We are expecting to hear from Prime Minister Netanyahu.

When that happens, we will, of course, bring that to you.

Still to come tonight, questions left unanswered for dozens of families who are mourning or still searching for their loved ones captured by Hamas.

We'll hear from two mothers caught in the middle of this war. That report you do not want to miss after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: Welcome back, everyone. Today marks one year since the Hamas attacks on Israel. Dozens of people taken hostage on that day are still in

the hands of Hamas. Over the past year, Israel has launched retaliatory attacks on Gaza. They have destroyed much of Gaza's housing and

infrastructure and killed more than 41,000 people, that is according to Palestinian officials.

And it's been a year of anguish, especially for the mothers whose sons and daughters are caught in the middle of this war. Here's Jeremy Diamond with

their story. And I have to warn you, some of the images in this report are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want her back in life, not in a bag. I want her alive that I can hold her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): At night, I wish to hug my son, Jude. I always hug his pillow all night. This is all I have left of him.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (through translator): Words alone cannot capture a mother's pain, but the anguish on their faces paints

a devastating picture of the countless lives upended by Hamas' October 7th attack and Israel's war in Gaza one year later.

[14:40:00]

Faten Marej (ph) is still grieving the loss of her two sons killed in an Israeli airstrike this summer. Simona Steinbrecher doesn't know her

daughter's fate. She is being held hostage by Hamas. Stepping inside the home where she was abducted is like going back in time.

SIMONA STEINBRECHER, MOTHER OF DORON STEINBRECHER: They broke the windows. They came from the window.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Shards of glass still crunch underfoot in a home upturned and uprooted from the peace it once provided. And in the bedroom,

a mother recounts her daughter's abduction.

S. STEINBRECHER: She was very afraid, because you can hear from the voice that she said, they take me, they take me. She was really afraid.

DIAMOND: She was on the phone with you when she was being taken.

S. STEINBRECHER: Yes. And we don't know nothing about her. What happened with her. We don't know if she's alive. We don't know nothing.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Doron Steinbrecher 's cry for help captured in one final voice note.

DORON STEINBRECHER (through translator): They've caught me. They've caught me. They've caught me.

DIAMOND (voice-over): She was one of 251 people taken hostage on October 7, 2023 after Hamas militants stormed into Israel, killing about 1,200

people, most of whom were civilians. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in Israel's history, carried out at a music festival, in people's homes,

and against those who fled into bomb shelters.

In Kfar Aza, this small kibbutz on the Gaza border, Hamas kidnapped 19, including Simona's daughter, Doron.

DIAMOND: Did you ever imagine that you would be sitting here a year later?

S. STEINBRECHER: No.

DIAMOND: And she would still be in Gaza?

S. STEINBRECHER: No, never. But now we see that there's another days, another week, another month, and nothing.

DIAMOND (voice-over): The first sign of life came nearly four months later. Doron gaunt and pale appears in a Hamas hostage video.

S. STEINBRECHER: I was happy that I can say that she's alive. But then I can -- I look at her and I can see the difference.

DIAMOND: What does the government tell you?

S. STEINBRECHER: They tell us, the family, that they make everything that they will come back. But they are still there, so something is wrong.

Something is not working.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Those frustrations shifted into overdrive in August after Hamas executed six hostages. Families like Doron's now fearing the

worst.

DIAMOND: You feel like the longer she's there the less likely it is that she could come back alive.

S. STEINBRECHER: Yes. They don't have time.

DIAMOND (voice-over): For nearly 10 months, Faten (ph) managed to keep her family safe. Fleeing from one place to another as Israel pummeled the Gaza

Strip with bombs and missiles. A school, a relative's home, a tent.

FATEN MAREJ (PH) (through translator): We tried as much as possible to create an atmosphere in which there was no terror, no bombing. Wherever

there was safe areas, I would take the children there.

DIAMOND (voice-over): But nowhere in Gaza is truly safe. CPR cannot bring her five-year-old son Jude back to life. But Faten (ph) cannot believe it.

She had only just left the tent they were living in to buy Jude Indomie, his favorite instant noodles. But as she cradles her youngest, her eldest

son's body arrives at the morgue. Mohammed (ph) is dead too, his mother and father in agony. Amid their unspeakable grief, there is also anger, at

Israel, at Hamas, and that a world she feels has abandoned them.

This is all that is left of the tent where Mohammed (ph) and Jude were staying when a missile struck just a few feet away, where their mother now

asks what her children did to deserve this fate.

MAREJ (PH) (through translator): They are more precious to me than the light of my eyes. When I lost them, I lost a piece of my heart.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Jude would have turned six years old last month.

MAREJ (PH) (through translator): We used to celebrate his birthday every year with a cake, and invite the loved ones, because he is the youngest one

in the family. But this time Jude was not with us. There was only a box of Indomie that I was handing to children his age.

[14:45:00]

DIAMOND (voice-over): More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military over the last year, and at least 11,000 are children

like Jude and Mohammed (ph), according to Oxfam, making it the deadliest conflict for children in a single year this century.

DIAMOND: How much is too much, sir? At what point is it time to end this war?

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Well, we'll end the war when we achieve our war goals of making sure that Hamas can't repeat such

atrocities. I'm not going to change my policies, humanitarian policies, vaccination policies, combat policies to minimize civilian casualties.

DIAMOND (voice-over): But is Israel any closer to achieving its war goals?

AMI AYALON, FORMER HEAD OF ISRAELI SECURITY AGENCY SHIN BET: Even if we shall kill all Hamas activists and all their political leaders and we shall

destroy all their military installations, on the day after, two Palestinian children that lost their families will try to achieve -- to get a knife and

to kill Israelis unless you will defeat the ideology. And the only way to defeat the ideology is to present a better ideology.

DIAMOND: And so, one year later, is Israel safer than it was than it was?

AYALON: No. No way. Israel is not safer because if you look on the day of tomorrow, no one can tell you that we shall not face a regional war in

which Hezbollah and Iran and the West Bank and Syria and the Houthis will not fight. It will be a regional war with a global impact. So, nobody can

tell you today that we are safer than on the 6th of October.

DIAMOND (voice-over): But for two mothers at the heart of this painful conflict --

MAREJ (PH) (through translator): Who knows when it will end, or what else I might lose? WOuld I lose my sister, my brother, or some relatives, or

someone dear to me? God knows. We don't know.

DIAMOND (voice-over): -- a plea for it all to end.

S. STEINBRECHER: There is no time for someone to finish wars or something like this. They don't have time.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Kfar Aza Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: Welcome back, everyone. A major weather story we are following in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricane Milton has now reached Category 5 status and

it's expected to grow in size, which means more regions along the Gulf may feel its impact. Milton is expected to make landfall along Florida's west

coast by Wednesday. This less of course than two weeks after Hurricane Helene. Communities are once again preparing for a major storm.

[14:50:00]

Tracking all of this for us is CNN Meteorologist Elisa Raffa. And she joins us now. And, Elisa, Hurricane Milton continuing to really explosively

intensify. And I'm now seeing that it is the strongest storm to occur anywhere on the planet this year. Just add some more context to what we're

likely to see here.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: So hard to even put it into words. No typhoon or no hurricane has been stronger this year. This is the strongest

storm in the Gulf of Mexico since Rita in 2005. So, just explosive the way that it has been intensifying all morning.

Winds are now at a 175 miles per hour. This satellite, you have this buzzsaw, donut, the symmetrical eyes, just showing all the signs of an

incredibly strong storm. I mean, you look at the rapid intensification. I mean, just yesterday it was tropical storm. I went to sleep and it was a

Category 1 hurricane. That is how fast this has escalated, one of the fastest intensifying storms that we have had in the Atlantic.

So, it scrapes the Yucatan Peninsula as this Category 5 hurricane. As it heads towards Florida, the intensity will wane a little bit. There's some

dry air and wind energy that will chip away at the intensity, just some. But we're still looking at a major hurricane, at least Category 3 or 4 in

strength in that pink area. The hurricane watch is what we are incredibly worried about.

We could find devastating, damaging winds of 110 miles per hour or greater from Tampa to Sarasota, down towards Fort Myers, the entire peninsula

seeing damaging winds. These winds will drive storm surge that could be up to eight to 12 feet in parts of Tampa Bay. That would be unprecedented.

They've never seen storm surge that much in the Tampa Bay area. You're taking 10 feet storm surge even down towards Fort Myers.

And again, for a hurricane of this strength, this major hurricane, even as the intensity wanes, they haven't had a close cross like this in the Tampa

Bay area in nearly 100 years, or more than 100 years. 1921 was the last time a storm took a path like this with this intensity around Tampa Bay.

So, it could be really unprecedented in the modern era.

We have flood watches in effect already for the heavy rain. The heavy rain will engulf the entire peninsula. Look at some of these rain totals, again,

some four to eight inches possible across the entire peninsula, some totals could approach a foot, that would cause flooding even inland away from the

coast. Isa.

SOARES: Scary moment. Of course, we've just seen the impact and the devastation and the death toll from Helene and now, we've got Florida

bracing for Hurricane Milton. Elisa, appreciated. Thank you very much indeed.

And still to come tonight, a spellbinding possibility for space enthusiasts. Find out why you might want to keep your eyes on the night

sky. We'll explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:00]

SOARES: Now, calling all stargazers in the Northern Hemisphere. The elusive Draconid -- apologies if I meant -- if I misspelled that, said that

wrong. Draconid meteor shower is expected to peak Monday evening into early Tuesday morning. The shower is named after direction the meteors appear to

be coming from, the constellation Draco the Dragon.

The Draconid, I'll say it differently, meteors move slower than those seen during other showers, meaning they can be visible for a few seconds, and

you can expect to see up to 10 shooting stars per hour. And the good news is you won't have to stay up late to see them, there'll be most visible

just after nightfall. I hope you get to see it.

That does it for us here tonight. Thanks very much for your company. Do stay right here. Newsroom with Jim Sciutto is live from Tel Aviv next. I'll

see you tomorrow. Have a wonderful day. Bye-bye.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:00]

END