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Israel Says It Has Withdrawn from City of Khan Younis, Gaza; Biden Calls for Stronger Protections of Civilians and More Aid to Gaza; Southwest Boeing 737-800 Flight from Denver Loses Engine Cover; Russian Propaganda Infiltrating the GOP; Less Than 24 Hours for Total Solar Eclipse; Indianapolis Planning Citywide Eclipse Viewing Party; "Hostages: The Road Home" Airs Tonight. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired April 07, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he's not backing down and that pressure from the U.S. will not stop his plans to invade the southern city of Rafah. The prime minister also facing significant trouble at home, with thousands of protesters coming out in force this weekend to demand his resignation, and abroad as Israel's military says it is preparing to move from, quote, "defense to attack" on its border with Lebanon after the country said it hit multiple Hezbollah targets overnight.

CNN's Nic Robertson reports from the Eres Crossing in Israel.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Jessica, what you're looking at here are tanks from the 98th Division. They were pulled out of Gaza from Khan Younis overnight Saturday into Sunday. There are dozens and dozens of tanks, dozens and dozens of armored fighting vehicles. And what the IDF is saying that it has done here is pulled its ground forces out of Khan Younis. They've been in there for the past three or more months since December. And the IDF says, this is effectively marking an end of ground operations in Gaza in their current form.

Now we've been down along the border today. The war is clearly far from over. We've seen airstrikes going into the Khan Younis area and the 162nd Division, the IDF says, along with the Nahal Brigade, will remain in the north of Gaza.

This perhaps potentially changes the dynamic a little around the negotiating table in Cairo when the CIA chief, the Mossad chief, the Egyptians, the Qataris as well all get there to discuss how a ceasefire and a hostage release can be arranged with Hamas. There have been so many sticking points. Potentially this changes the situation. However, what the IDF is very clear about that they maintain a significant force, particularly in the north of Gaza, the potential for a ground operation into Rafah remains, and that they say these troops here from the 98th are coming out to recover and recuperate, and prepare for any future operations -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Nic Robertson for us, thanks so much for that reporting. And today's developments follow Thursday's call between President

Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is following that piece of the story for us.

So, Priscilla, what more are we learning about Biden's demands?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, sources are sharing some of the pressure that President Biden placed on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to change his policies in Israel's war against Hamas. Now sources say that President Biden in his 30- minute call with the prime minister last week ticked through some of what he wanted to see. The primary focus of all of that was getting more humanitarian aid into Gaza. But that included opening land crossing that you were just talking about with Nic, as well as ramping up supplies into Gaza and opening up a port to get more aid into Gaza as well.

Now, during that call the prime minister said that he was going to get that done, but the president went even further saying that he wanted to see it done by that evening. And so that is what happened. The Israeli security cabinet did approve those measures and now the White House is welcoming those, saying that while they're happy to see that there have been changes still a lot on the horizon and still some frustration.

Take a listen to what National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby had to say earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN KIRBY, WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL ADVISER: We have been increasingly frustrated. And again, that was a core message that the president delivered to Prime Minister Netanyahu in their phone call this week, this past week, that they've got to do more, they've got to make changes.

Now, the prime minister assured the president that he would do that. We've seen some announcements in those early hours. That's welcomed. We got to see more. We've got to see it over time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now the U.S. has maintained its support for Israel and continues to say that Israel has the right to defend itself, but it was pivotal this week when the White House went further than they've gone before by saying that they were willing to change their policy if Israel didn't. What that looks like, though, still very much a big question. One senior administration official said that could look like the U.S. slowing down the U.S. supply of weapons to Israel.

But again, big questions as to what happens down the road and also what metrics the U.S. will use to determine whether Israel is making the changes that they see as necessary -- Jessica.

DEAN: And Priscilla, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is also speaking out today about the potential for Iran to attack U.S. interests within the Middle East. What is he saying?

ALVAREZ: He's saying quite simply that the U.S. is prepared to, quote, "respond swiftly" amid those concerns of a potential attack in the coming days by Iran on what officials anticipate would be targeting U.S. or Israeli assets in the Middle East. So the Senate majority leader saying today that the U.S. is prepared for all possibilities here and we know over the weekend that U.S. officials and Israeli officials stayed in close touch as they look toward this potential attack by Iran.

[18:05:06]

DEAN: All right. Priscilla Alvarez from Washington for us. Thanks so much for that reporting.

And for more insight on this, let's turn to our next guest, former Middle East negotiator for the State Department, Aaron David Miller.

It's great to have you here with us, Aaron. Thanks so much for making time this Sunday afternoon. We are marking six months since this war started. And you described the Biden administration as being stuck in a, quote, "strategic cul-de-sac." Tell us what you mean by that.

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: I don't see right now -- Jessica, first of all thanks for having me. I mean, the only way out right now is an Israeli-Hamas deal, a negotiated deal, it's been on and off since mid-November during the last hostage release, exchanging 45 Israeli hostages, including whether the Americans will be part of this exchange or not is unclear. But the elderly, the infirmed, and the women for 45 days, roughly six weeks of quiet, and what you could describe as a temporary ceasefire.

That will allow more humanitarian assistance to surge into Gaza, but it doesn't solve the problem because Hamas will continue to hold 50 Israeli soldiers as hostage. And they're going to want an insurance policy for the lives of the senior Hamas leadership the Israeli are trying -- understandably trying to kill, and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. So this is going to be a very unsettled period even if, and I hope there is this exchange now being negotiated in Cairo, even if that takes place.

DEAN: And you mentioned the hostages. There's over 100 Israeli hostages that remain in Gaza after six months. And Netanyahu is facing a lot of pressure at home, especially from their families and others to cut a deal, cut any deal to get them back. Do you think that's a viable option at this point? Do you think that that is something that it can be done?

MILLER: I think the prime minster is under pressure, not just from the public, although not majority of the Israeli publicly. But clearly the hostage families and their supporters. But Benny Gantz, Netanyahu's putative successor, and Gadi Eisenkot, a former chief of staff whose son tragically was killed several months ago in Gaza, they are pushing very hard for Netanyahu to focus and perhaps become more flexible on an exchange. And that what's on the table now, I suspect. The number of Palestinian

prisoners that Hamas demands in return for the 45 or so Israelis and how many Palestinian teams will be allowed to return to northern Gaza. Hamas wants as many as possible. The Israelis are looking for much, much smaller numbers. So maybe there's a degree of urgency in the part of both Israel and Hamas to do this deal, but I have to say the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Khan Younis, if you're Yahya Sinwar, the military architect of the October 7th terror surge, you're sitting 20 meters below ground in Khan Younis or Rafah, you see the Israelis are pulling back and were pulling out, is that going to give you an incentive to cut a deal or to hold up for more? Uncertain calculation right now. But let's hope that this actually happens.

DEAN: And I did want to ask you because that is the news of the day. General Mark Hertling in our last hour described that as an inflection point in this war. With all of your experiences seeing today those forces coming out of Khan Younis and the Israeli government saying that they are going to press on, that they are now going to recuperate and maybe they look to Rafah next. What do you think, if you read between the lines, what does it really mean in your opinion?

MILLER: Well, six months of war today the Israelis initially deployed, what, 100,000 forces for the ground campaign, they've withdrawn most of those forces from northern Gaza. They maintained I think one brigade in charge of an east-west road and roughly 5,000 as an Israeli brigade. So clearly, and Mark Hertling knows what he's talking about, it's an inflection point and a transition, a downshift from a comprehensive, highly kinetic ground campaign to more mobile, perhaps more surgical airstrikes will continue or surgical efforts, intelligence driven, maybe identify where the hostages are again. Continue their search for Hamas' senior leadership and deal with whatever residual rocket capacity there exists in Khan Younis.

Rafah remains a very much an open question at this point, but I think we're literally weeks away, if not more, from any major Israeli ground campaign against that southern Gazan city.

DEAN: All right. Aaron David Miller, always great to have you on. Thanks so much for putting that all into context for us. We appreciate it.

MILLER: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: New tonight the FAA is investigating after a frightening incident. The engine cover blew off a Boeing 737-800 during takeoff.

[18:10:06]

You're looking at new video taken by a passenger who was on board Southwest Airlines Flight 3695. We know the plane took off from Denver, was headed to Houston. It had to quickly turn around, though, and go back to the Denver airport.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 3695. No problem. Fly present heading. Do you need to run some checklists?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we're going to need some time. For now everything is OK. And we don't even know the nature of it. But apparently several passengers and flight attendants heard something loud hit the wings so we're just going to take our time getting set up and be ready to go. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Southwest 3695, no problem. You can expect vectors. Just keep me advised of the situation and let me know if you want to start emergency, but I assume we'll probably do that anyways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Yes. I'll get back to you. Stand by.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Here now to discuss this is safety analyst and former FAA safety inspector, David Soucie.

David, thanks for being with us this afternoon. A lot of people, this is kind of on people's minds because these types of incidents, varying in degrees of how extreme they are, keep kind of popping up. If you were investigating this incident, where would you begin?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: First thing I'd look at, apparently there's two different things that could have happened here. One is there are three cowling latches that hold that cowling in place. So it appears that either one of those was not left latched properly or the mechanical piece itself failed. Southwest Airlines has said it's a mechanical issue, but we haven't determined which one it was. But that's where I would start is, have those latches failed.

DEAN: And who does it fall on in terms of the checklist to look at these sorts of things before takeoff? Is that something that would be looked at before takeoff?

SOUCIE: Absolutely. There's two different things. If there's maintenance performed, if those cowlings are opened then when they're reassembled and they're put back in place, there's a latch mechanism that clicks as you put it in there and it gives you an indication, a visual indication that it's latched properly. So whoever did maintenance on it last would have checked that to make sure. And then the second set of eyes would look at it to make sure that it was done.

But the last line of defense is the preflight inspection. The pilot is supposed to do the walkaround before each flight, and check those latches. They check a lot of things on the airplane, but that's one of the things that pilots need to look at. And it's not easy to do. You've got to get down and look underneath and feel underneath to see if those latches are done, and those are the two things that I would look for right now, were those two things accomplished during that pre-flight and if there was maintenance, was it accomplished properly and signed off properly as being re-secured?

DEAN: Scary, but glad nobody was injured in all of that.

David Soucie, thanks so much for walking us through it. We appreciate it.

SOUCIE: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, Russian propaganda infiltrating the Republican Party? What a top GOP representative says about how his colleagues are, quote, "infected."

Plus, will it be cloudy for tomorrow's solar eclipse? Mother Nature may have a few unwelcomed surprises. We're going to track that forecast.

And the battle of the number one seeds in tomorrow's NCAA championship. We are previewing the matchup between the UConn Huskies and the Purdue Boilermakers.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:17:57]

DEAN: Today the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Republican Mike Turner, confirmed that Russian propaganda has, quote, "absolutely seeped its way into Congress."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): It's absolutely true. We see directly coming from Russia attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even here being uttered on the House floor. I mean, there are members of Congress today who still incorrectly say that this conflict between Russia and Ukraine is over NATO, which of course it is not.

To the extent that this propaganda takes hold it makes it more difficult for us to really see this as an authoritarian versus democracy battle, which is what it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: He's talking about members of his own party, the House GOP there. It comes after House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Michael McCaul said Russian propaganda has also taken root inside his party, saying, quote, "I think Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States. Unfortunately, it's infected a good chunk of my party's base."

Both Congressmen Turner and McCaul had been outspoken advocates of passing additional aid to Ukraine, which at the moment has been met with fierce resistance from some Republican House members.

Joining me now to discuss this and other issues of the day, CNN political analyst Carl Bernstein.

Carl, great to have you here with us. Let's start first with the clip I just played. Two very prominent Republican lawmakers in the House saying that Russian propaganda has infiltrated parts of the GOP. Why do you think the GOP has been susceptible to this?

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It is no surprise following the lead of Donald Trump that there are a number of Republicans. A great number actually who are willing to sacrifice Ukraine and this struggle for democracy versus not just autocracy and authoritarian reason, but this really is about playing into Putin's hands. And it's no surprise that there's a great amount of Russian propaganda that's seeping into all kinds of channels in this country.

But what is amazing is to see one of our two political parties, particularly the political party that has been the strongest in being not susceptible to Russian propaganda through the whole Cold War.

[18:20:11]

And now we find for a very narrow partisan interest in following the lead of Donald Trump, that the interest in democracy has taken a backseat to the interest in domestic politics, and we're seeing that in what the member of the committee said there. But the real danger is from Donald Trump, who's trumpeting this line. He's Putin's puppy. He continues to be Putin's puppy. And we see it in this issue, which is one of the three great issues facing the United States and the democracies of the West.

DEAN: Yes, I mean, it is ironic that that party for so long came out so strongly against Russian propaganda and to now see it develop into what has happened today is ironic.

I also want to ask you about the war in Gaza. We are marking six months of Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza. What do you think at this juncture that this war means both for Israel and also the United States?

BERNSTEIN: First of all, it's a terrible tragedy for Israel. Its very existence is threatened. By this war Israel is becoming a pariah amongst many countries in the world as a result of the way it has conducted the war. There can be a great debate about that, but there's no question about the effect, but the real difficulty or among the difficulties is that Iran is turning out to be the great beneficiary of this war.

Iran does not want to see the moderate Arab, so-called moderate Arab states succeed in having relations with Israel and right now those moderate Arab states, whether you're talking about Saudi, whether you're talking about the Emirates, whether you're talking about Bahrain, all of those countries have had to put their hand into the sand because the Arab street is enraged by the way Israel is conducting this war, as well as the Arab street hates Israel.

And so but of all things, we find ourselves. And look, the long range goals of Iran are to be the dominant player in this part of the world. They don't want to see Saudi succeed. They don't want to see -- they want to see Israel obliterated. We see no signs from the intelligence that Iran wants to send its own troops to fight this war, to be a participant in this war. It's got proxies on five sides of Israel doing that. Hezbollah, look at the Houthis in Yemen, et cetera, et cetera.

Iran is really going to town on this terrible, terrible tragedy. Tragic for the Palestinians, tragic for the Israelis, and we don't know where it's going to go.

DEAN: And Carl, before I let you go, just to follow up on that. Now Iran has said that it is going to retaliate after the Israeli strike that happened in the last several days that killed some Iranians. What do you think that position -- what position does it put the U.S. in if they do? The U.S. has said we didn't do -- we didn't have anything to do with this. This was Israel. But Iran is saying we still think we could retaliate against U.S. interests in the Middle East. What does this do? What kind of position does this put America in if that does happen?

BERNSTEIN: Well, we don't know what it is, and I don't think we necessarily have to predict that it was going to be something that strikes at the heart of the United States. Again, I think that Iran wants to show that it can retaliate and at the same time restraint in such a way as to not provoke a counterattack from the United States. So I wouldn't get too far in front of our skis on this question this early in the game.

DEAN: We'll see what develops. Carl Bernstein, it's always great to have you on. Thanks so much.

BERNSTEIN: Good to be with you.

DEAN: Still ahead, counting down to a coast-to-coast total eclipse. We're going to Indiana and Vermont, two of the places that will get the best view with all the excitement.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:29:05]

DEAN: Millions of Americans are getting into place to witness tomorrow's total solar eclipse when the sun is totally blocked out by the moon. But where you're viewing it from could impact just how well you're going to be able to see it.

Meteorologists Elisa Raffa joins us now, and Elisa, along the path of totality, it looks like some people are going to get a great clear view, but others maybe not so much.

ELISA RAFFA, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we've got this storm system that's developing over parts of the Southern Plains. A lot of people headed to Dallas to see this and that's where we've got a severe threat that's growing on the southern end of the path of totality.

We now have a level three out of five and enhanced risk for strong and severe storms with large hail, damaging winds, and isolated tornadoes. Now when we put the storms in play, it looks like they do fire up after the eclipse. So this is 1:00. You can see you've got that path of totality. They are pretty dry and then they do fire up about one or two hours after. We're looking at after 3:00 or 4:00 for those storms to fire up in Texas.

[18:30:00]

But it will, though, of course, come with clouds as those storms are getting ready. So we're looking at some mostly cloudy skies in Dallas as you hit that path -- that peak of totality at 1:40. For places like Indianapolis, you've got much more clearing, fewer clouds in the sky as you hit your peak time at 3:00. It's all because we've got this front that kind of stalls out right along that path of totality just a little bit south of there where we'll have some showers going into Monday.

So that's where it's going to clutter up some of these clouds, especially from the Southern Plains, from Texas over into Arkansas. It looks like we'll have a clearer view there in the Ohio Valley and then maybe even also up in New England. So for a place like Burlington, Vermont, you're looking at some mostly sunny sky, some pretty good visibility there with just a few clouds as you hit that peak at around 3:30 and then the eclipse ends around 4:00.

Now, something that's really cool is that the temperatures will actually dip once you get to that totality because you lose the energy from the sun there very briefly -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, something to keep in mind. Meteorologists Elisa Raffa, thanks so much for that update.

The total solar eclipse is going to pass over large areas of the country including right over Indianapolis, which is seeing a big influx of tourists as you would imagine. That is where we find CNN's Kristin Fisher. But first, let's check in with Derek Van Dam, he's live in Burlington, Vermont, another place that will be right in the path of totality.

And Derek, we just heard from Elisa that things are looking pretty good for that location.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Oh, Jessica, picture perfect really. I'm on the beautiful shoreline of Lake Champlain in Burlington, and hey, you know, not many things in this life are worth the hype. But let's say, coffee, maybe chocolate, and a total solar eclipse. This one is going to be massive. Mother Nature is about to put on its finest couple of hours and we are going to get quite a show, and people have flocked to this beautiful, beautiful shoreline to witness just that particular moment.

If you add up the cumulative populations in the path of this total solar eclipse more people will see or bear witness to this eclipse, than all I have seen and witnessed this during civilizations. So it is a significant moment and we're talking millions and millions of people feeling the impacts. And I just want to set the scene for you because 3:26 tomorrow is during totality here in Vermont.

And just imagine this, a 360-degree sunset all around you. Constellations, stars, planets become visible that aren't normally visible this time of year. Think of it like this. They're normally obscured by the sun this time of year. And so we're seeing this offset of these constellations by roughly six months, seeing them almost autumn like stars. There's even a comet that will be visible tomorrow as well.

And the hype is real. People here have changed plans. We talked to somebody earlier today that like literally blocked their flight from Dallas and came to Vermont instead because they saw the weather forecast. They knew that it was going to be clear and the ideal weather conditions here have bestowed us here across the northeast.

The big celestial dance, Jessica, it is happening tomorrow. We are prepared for it and people here are excited.

DEAN: It is absolutely beautiful where you are, Derek. Thanks so much.

Let's go now to Indianapolis where Kristin Fisher is.

Kristin, a ton of people going there as well. How are things shaping up for tomorrow?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, I have to say I'm kind of jealous of Derek who has this like guaranteed beautiful, clear sky tomorrow. But, you know, I was one of those people that was actually supposed to be in Carville, in Texas. And we made the jump to come here because we thought we'd get a better chance of seeing the eclipse, and you know, we're not alone.

We have seen so many people today say that they were planning to watch it in Texas, and now they're chasing the eclipse here to Indianapolis. And Indianapolis has a ton going on. We're here at the White River State Park where they have set up nap-ville, you know, Indianapolis, napolis, Nap-ville. That's how you get the name. And so here they're expecting about 20,000 people here tomorrow and they've set up hammock. So you can actually watch the eclipse from a hammock or from some of their chairs.

I was in one earlier. It's a pretty nice way to, you know, check out the sun and watch the spectacle of Mother Nature. And this is the largest free event that they're going to have in the state. But if you go to the Indy Motor Speedway, of course, it's 20 bucks a ticket and that's where they're expecting about 40,000 people to be all sitting around in a circle, watching this moment of totality.

And that is set to start at 3:06 p.m. here in Indianapolis, but, you know, Jessica, it really just all comes down to the weather right now. It's been beautiful, clear skies. We've just started to get our first drops of rain, hoping that the clouds clear in time for totality tomorrow, Jess.

DEAN: Well, knowing you the way I do, Kristin Fisher, you are going to be -- it's killing you if it's not going to be nice and clear, and a perfect view of totality. So I want that for you.

[18:35:05] FISHER: It is. Of course.

DEAN: All right --

FISHER: And for so many others, all the people that have come here to see it.

DEAN: I know. I know. So many people so excited about this so we wish them clear skies across the country as much as possible. Kristin Fisher and Derek Van Dam, thanks to both of you.

And be sure to catch CNN's special coverage of the "ECLIPSE ACROSS AMERICA." It starts Monday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. You can also stream it on Max.

Still ahead here, breaking news history made. South Carolina outlast Caitlin Clark and Iowa to win the NCAA Championship and completes a perfect season. Plus, we're in Phoenix ahead of tomorrow's matchup between UConn and Purdue.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:27]

DEAN: New tonight, the South Carolina Lady Gamecocks are Women's Basketball national champions, once again beating Iowa and Caitlin Clark for the title just moments ago.

CNN's Coy Wire has been following all the action, and he joins us with more.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. The build-up to this game was awesome. The Iowa UConn semifinal had more viewers than every World Series game last year, every NBA Finals game last year, every Masters Final Round since 2013. So this game, huge.

Iowa's Caitlin Clark, Dawn Staley, South Carolina, facing off. Both driving forces behind the boom of women's sports. Clark breaking another record in the final, dropping 18 points in the first quarter, the most in any quarter of a tournament game. She finished with 30. But in the end, the Gamecocks were too much. Their bench alone scored 37 points. Iowa's bench scored zero.

South Carolina becomes just the 10th team to finish a perfect season 38. No, they are. That's Coach Dawn Staley's third title as a coach. She displayed her trademark class afterwards, giving all kinds of credit to Clark. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAWN STALEY, SOUTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH: I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport. She carried it -- she carried a heavy load for our sport and it just is not going to stop here on a collegiate tour. But when she is the number one pick in the WNBA draft, she's going to lift that league up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. Now, switching over to the men's final tomorrow night, we've got a powerhouse looking to win back-to-back titles against the team that's never won one. UConn and Purdue moments ago, I caught up with Purdue Coach Matt Painter, whose team is looking to win its first ever title, and UConn coach Dan Hurley, whose team is on the most dominant run in tournament history, 11 straight wins by double- digits. Here's what coaches had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN HURLEY, UCONN HEAD COACH: They were relentless. I think the preparation is absolutely on point, but it's a relentless group of competitors.

MATT PAINTER, PURDUE HEAD COACH: It's be great for our fans. It'd be great for our players, our former players. You know, Coach Katie, Bruce Weber, you know, all the people that have helped me be in this position. And they deserve it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. So it'll be UConn and Purdue for the title. Pre-game coverage starts on TBS and Max at 7:00 Eastern. Tip off just after 9:00.

Jessica, I'll look forward to take in an office sights and sounds and reporting back what we find after that game.

DEAN: We know you will. Look, you're in like a makeshift locker room there. Coy always get to -- he gets the full picture. All right. Coy Wire, thanks so much.

We'll be right back.

WIRE: Thank you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:47:59]

DEAN: It has been six months now since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel. And that day, more than 1200 Israelis were murdered and more than 250 were taken hostage into Gaza. Less than half of the hostages have made it home. Among them, Yarden Roman-Gat. She and her husband and her 3-year-old daughter were abducted on October 7th, but in a split moment, her husband and daughter were able to flee. Yarden was released in November during the only ceasefire we've seen in this war.

CNN's Bianna Golodryga spoke with her for a one-hour special that's airing tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YARDEN ROMAN-GAT, RELEASED ISRAELI HOSTAGE: Eventually I got to a house like civil house, most of the time I was there.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: No other hostages were held with her.

And with someone with you, a terrorist with you every day?

ROMAN-GAT: Ever second. All the time.

GOLODRYGA: Recounting her experience is not easy.

ROMAN-GAT: It's a very difficult feeling to explain.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Let's stop for a little while. OK. I'm sorry. Let's take a break.

ROMAN-GAT: What is the meaning of being a hostage? You cannot speak out. There is no certainty. You have to be alert all of the time. It's very deep aspects of humanity that they're taking away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And Bianna joins us now.

Bianna, you spoke with two families, including Yarden, that lived in the kibbutz, and you think about the people who've been able to come home. And I'm watching your interview and they are dealing with so much trauma, and you think about the families that still have loved ones being held hostage now six months later. It's hard to imagine how anyone has returned to any sense of safety or normalcy.

GOLODRYGA: It's shaken the entire country, as you know, Jessica.

[18:50:02]

But specifically for those people who were impacted the most, whether it was at the Nova music festival in the south, or those that live in kibbutzim alongside the border with Gaza, like what you saw there with Yarden Roman-Gat and her family. They lived on Kibbutz Be'eri. She said that they actually decided to leave the kibbutz before October 7th.

They've been living there and she was very concerned about how frequently missiles and rockets were launched at the kibbutz. They just returned to celebrate a holiday with family and obviously they picked October 7th to come home and we know what happened. The horrors that unfolded after that. So they are not going back to Kibbutz Be'eri.

I spoke with another family, the Kalderon family. Hadas Kalderon, her two children were able to come home as well during that one week where you saw peace negotiations and a ceasefire with the hostages that were released. And she also said she lived on Kibbutz Nir Oz. She blamed herself in many ways. She said that she doesn't feel safe going back there. And then that's not even addressing what's happening in the north part of the country. Jessica, obviously a lot of concern about things escalating with

Hezbollah. The country on edge for reprisal from Iran following the strike that killed three IRGC generals on Monday. Collective 250,000 Israelis have been displaced since October 7th. And for a country of nine million people, that is just something that they cannot handle. And it's not sustainable for the long term. And here we are six months in.

DEAN: Yes. Just geographically you start to see it shrink because they don't feel safe at those borders.

Bianna, Yarden and the other returned hostages have been through so much unspeakable trauma. How are they processing that and returning to their lives?

GOLODRYGA: You could still see how emotional Yarden was during our interview. But it was important for her to speak because her sister- in-law Carmel remains in Gaza and that is one of the reasons why they are coming forward and talking to us. These families have been traumatized in such unimaginable ways. Many of them are receiving counseling and therapy. But this is something that's never happened in Israel's history. A country that's very familiar with war and nothing of this scale where you have so many hostages that remained in Gaza for 50 days until that one-week ceasefire and the return.

And now here we are six months later and there are 130 hostages, sadly, about 30 are believed to have been killed. But these families are suffering and have suffered unimaginable grief and trauma, and they are receiving therapy, but it is going to take a long, long time for them to recover.

DEAN: Yes. There's no doubt about that. All right, Bianna Golodryga, with such important reporting, thank you so much. We'll be watching tonight.

And Bianna's full report airs on "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER." It is tonight at 8:00 Eastern.

And one more programming note for you, in 2003, the 28th mission of the Columbia Space Shuttle launched a team of seven astronauts into space for 16 days in orbit. But sadly, they would never return home. The new CNN Original Series "SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA, THE FINAL FLIGHT" looks at footage shot by the astronauts while in orbit. And here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, as a kid, your imagination just like runs while, I'm like, do they just float and sleep or, you know, does he get to go out in actual space? Did he see aliens? Mostly just thought that he was an explorer, kind of like, I don't know, like a space Indiana Jones.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, we make it a point to get out and go to schools and (INAUDIBLE) all the time. And when I do that, I really tried to let them know what it was like for me when I was a kid growing up and how I had this dream of one day becoming an astronaut. And that really if you work hard and you're always persistent, you can really make those dreams come true.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He wanted to always be involved in something that was kind of bigger than him that contributed to society, that had a purpose. It was fun to watch him. He looked like he was enjoying himself. The crew look like they were doing what they needed to be doing and everything was gone off really well, and I didn't know at the time that anything concerning had happened. There were people that did, though, but I wasn't one of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: The CNN Original Series "SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA, THE FINAL FLIGHT" airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

Thank you so much for joining me tonight. I'm Jessica Dean, and up next, a CNN special, "ECLIPSE ACROSS AMERICA" with Bill Weir. Have a great night.

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[18:59:36]

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, I'm Bill Weir. Welcome to a special ECLIPSE ACROSS AMERICA here in Washington, D.C.

We are less than 24 hours away from witnessing one of the most spectacular shows to take over our skies. A total solar eclipse. Every day, the shadow of the moon bounces on countless corners of the Milky Way. And when it hits earth, odds are generally that it'll pass over uninhabited patches of ice and sea where no one can appreciate it. But tomorrow, tomorrow that shadow will launch a --