A rush transcript of "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" airing on Sunday, June 2, 2024 on ABC News is below. This copy may not be in its final form, may be updated and may contain minor transcription errors. For previous show transcripts, visit the "This Week" transcript archive.

       MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC "THIS WEEK" CO-ANCHOR: I'm joined now by Israeli Defense Forces Spokesperson and Retired Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner.

       It is good to see you this morning, Colonel.

       We are also happy those hostages are safe.

       Give us a picture of the scale of this mission – we just heard James’ report with some of the details – but the ground troops, the air strikes, how long this lasted.

       LT. COL. PETER LERNER (RET.), ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: Martha, there was – this was a – an effort conducted and planned over several weeks in order to get the best result. And indeed it came together with extensive intelligence, a – a massive intelligence that created a good grasp of how the enemy were holding the four hostages, and an – and then was translated into an operational plan to actually bring them out. There was so much that could have gone wrong in this rescue mission.

       We need to keep in mind that all of our war efforts is crafted and designed about bringing back the hostages. So for the success of this operation, at this time, I believe that it was a – a huge feat from a professional perspective, but also in the level of moral and here in Israel and it was a very, very jubilant day yesterday where people were cheering on the beaches of Tel Aviv and dancing outside of hospital, where the hostages were brought later for their medial examinations.

       So, the operational side absolutely reflects and – and spills over into societal issues and there is a hope that we can continue to bring home the hostages, either through negotiations or in special force operations, like we did yesterday.

       RADDATZ: And – and, Colonel, part of this mission were the air strikes we saw. Buildings destroyed in a civilian area in broad daylight. There were people on the street during this attack through the air.

       Did you factor in the loss of so many Palestinians in this operation?

       LERNER: So, we don’t know how many casualties were caused in the strike in the – in the release and rescue operation. And I’d be very cautious at accepting any figures and numbers that Hamas are putting out. As the –

       RADDATZ: But even the Israelis – Hamas is putting out 274. But even the Israelis, your – another spokesman from the IDF said there were fewer than 100. That’s a significant amount of casualties. Did they come from those air strikes in broad daylight?

       LERNER: Well, for every civilian life lost in this war is a tragedy. Every civilian life lost in this war is a result of how Hamas has operated.

       Let’s think about, just for a moment, where they were holding the hostages. Within civilian houses. Within people’s apartments. In the same apartment they were being held where the families that owned the apartments. This exemplifies specifically how Hamas operating.

       And, indeed, when we extracted and snatched the hostages, Noa Argamani, Almog Meir, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv, when we extracted them out, the forces came under extensive attack in an attempt to kill both them and the hostages.

       So, the forces then had –

       RADDATZ: And – and is that the reason for the air strikes? Tell me why those air strikes were – were necessary, why buildings were destroyed in that attack?

       LERNER: The forces – the forces came under fire from a 360-degree threat. RPGs, AK-47s, explosive devices on the way, mortar rounds. It was an is a war zone. And so civilians in that – the tragedy of civilians being forces up in this is precisely because of how Hamas is battling us on the battleground.

       Our responsibility, our first and foremost responsibility is to rescue the hostages, to bring them home, to create a better security situation for Israelis. And I would say for Palestinians alike.

       Hamas has to go. Hamas cannot be trusted with the powers of government because that is what they will do. They will build a terrorist army, they will infiltrate into Israel and abduct partygoers from the Nova (ph) party and held them hostage in places like Nuseirat in apartment buildings.

       So, we –

       RADDATZ: Again – again, Colonel, I – I – I – we are all grateful the hostages are safe, but – but just one final question, would you carry out a similar rescue mission to get the other 116 hostages, no matter the cost to civilians in Gaza?

       LERNER: The 120 hostages remain in the clutches of Hamas. There can be a rescue mission like what happened yesterday. But there could also have been negotiations that create the opportunity. Our role is to create the conditions either way, that Hamas realizes that they should give back the hostages, they should set the hostages free.

       We would not have to be at war at all with Hamas. And the war can be over today if Hamas lets the hostages free. Is that too much to ask?

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       RADDATZ: We appreciate your time this morning. Thank you.

       LERNER: Good day.

       MARTHA RADDATZ, ABC NEWS HOST: I'm joined now by White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, who's traveling with the president in France.

       Good morning to you, Jake. I wanted to start with American support for this mission in Israel, in Gaza, the U.S. provided support for that mission. Was it just logistical or intelligence help, or were they part of the planning?

       JAKE SULLIVAN, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Well, first, Martha, we didn't have any U.S. forces on the ground. Second, we've been working for months to support Israel in its efforts to rescue and recover hostages from Gaza, including the American hostages. And there weren't Americans among these four, but I'm not going to speak further to intelligence or operational matters because we need to protect their sensitivity.

       RADDATZ: We're all very grateful the hostages are free, of course, but the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health says that hundreds were killed, more than 200 were killed. Do you think that is an accurate number and does that concern you?

       SULLIVAN: Well, of course, the Israeli Defense Forces have put out one number, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry has put out another number. We're looking into it. It will take some time for us to make any kind of determination. And we may never be able to definitively determine it. But we do know this, Martha, civilians were killed. And that is tragic. It is heartbreaking. I've said before that the Palestinian people are going through hell in this war.

       They're caught in the crossfire. Hamas hides among civilian infrastructure, hides underground, and puts the Palestinian people in harm's way. And this whole thing, this whole tragedy could be over, all the hostages could be home. There could be a ceasefire if Hamas would just step up and say yes to the deal that the Israelis have accepted and that President Biden elaborated a week ago. So the world should call on Hamas to take this deal.

       RADDATZ: But -- but let's go back to those numbers. The Palestinians say more than 200, the Israelis say not more than a hundred, that is a lot of people to be killed in a rescue operation. Again, does that number concern you?

       SULLIVAN: Well, every single loss of an innocent civilian in Gaza or anywhere else concerns us. It more than concerns us. It's tragic. It breaks our heart. It's awful. And that's why President Biden is working so hard to bring this war to an end. And he went out and he laid out a roadmap to achieve an enduring ceasefire, all of the hostages coming home, and the capacity for Gaza to be rebuilt so that Palestinians would not just be safe, but could have a better future.

       RADDATZ: Jake, we're talking about this --

       SULLIVAN: So as far President Biden is concerned --

       RADDATZ: -- specific operation, please. Can we talk about this specific operation? Are you not concerned with either of those numbers, whether it's 100 or 200, and I know you are concerned about loss of life, but we're talking about this military mission, not the ceasefire just yet.

       SULLIVAN: Well, Martha, as I just said, and I will say it again as many times as you ask the question, we are concerned about every loss of life, including in this operation. Any time civilians are killed, we're concerned. Of course we are. That's why we want this war to end. The only way to get all of the hostages out and to end any more civilian casualties in Gaza is to get to a comprehensive ceasefire and hostage agreement.

       So the two are not distinct issues. They're connected issues. How do we end the death of civilians in Gaza, Martha? There is only one way, it is to get to a comprehensive ceasefire and hostage deal. That's what President Biden laid out. And that is, again what he is reinforcing today because Hamas accepting that deal would bring an end to the tragedy in Gaza.

       RADDATZ: So does the U.S. support Israel doing more operations like this in the very same way, even if this number of civilians were killed?

       SULLIVAN: Look, the United States will support Israel in taking steps to try to rescue hostages who are currently being held in -- in harm, held by Hamas. And we will continue to work with Israel to do that. We will also continue to reinforce the point that all of their military operations, including hostage rescue operations, should take every precaution to minimize the amount of civilian harm or civilian casualties. That is a point we will reinforce in all of our engagements with the Israelis going forward.

       SULLIVAN: Benjamin Netanyahu said shortly after the hostages were rescued, he spoke about military missions, Israeli military missions, and he said, “our soldiers are performing in the most valiant and moral way to end this war with a victory against these killers and against these kidnappers, and we shall prevail.”

       Would you agree that these Israeli military has performed as Netanyahu said, in the most moral way in this conflict?

       SULLIVAN: Well, the first thing that I will say, Martha, is that Israel has a righteous cause in trying to bring about the defeat of Hamas, who authored one of the worst massacres in history, the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust. And Israel has the right to go after Hamas who conducted that attack.

       Now we have said all along that Israel should be operating in a way not just consistent with the laws of war, but taking extra precautions to try to protect civilians. We see individual instances that we have spoken out about where we would like to see them operate differently, where we would like them to be more precise, more targeted in their operations. And we will continue to speak out on those issues, to report on those issues, as the State Department did in a report it released a couple of weeks ago, but we will also to continue to reinforce the point that the reason this war is going on right now, that there is not a ceasefire in place right now, is not because of Israel. It's because of Hamas.

       And that point, we believe, needs to be reinforced by the entire international community, because if Hamas came and said yes to the deal on the table, there would be an end to the need for these kinds of operations, because the hostages would be coming out peacefully and not through military actions.

       RADDATZ: And -- and how do you think rescue operations like this affect those negotiations?

       SULLIVAN: It's really hard to say right now. It's hard to say how Hamas will process this particular operation and what it will do to its determination about whether it will say yes or not. We have not gotten a formal answer from Hamas at this time. We're waiting for them to communicate to Qatar and Egypt, two of the mediators involved in the hostage negotiations. And we are hopeful that with enough of a chorus, the international community all speaking with one voice, Hamas will get to the right answer.

       RADDATZ: OK. Thanks so much for joining us this morning, Jake, safe trip back.

       Up next, I'll speak with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about President Biden's move to --