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Tens Of Thousands Flee Northern Gaza; Uncertainty For Americans Trying To Leave Israel; Growing Humanitarian Crisis In Israel-Hamas War; U.S. House GOP Divided And Angry Over Leadership Fiasco; Victims Honored At England-Australia Match At Wembley. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 14, 2023 - 01:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to our viewers in the United States. I am Michael Holmes with CNN's continuing breaking news coverage of Israel at war.

It has been a day since Israel issued the ultimatum to evacuate northern Gaza immediately, warning that increased Israeli military activity against Hamas could be imminent.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been seen leaving their homes in Gaza City, throughout Friday, carrying what they could. But most are deciding either not to evacuate or simply do not have the means to do so. Most say they have no safe to go, either.

And on top of that, Hamas told them to stay in their homes. But with so many people suddenly streaming into southern Gaza, the only place to actually leave Gaza is the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.

Egypt says they have not closed it on their side but the status is unclear due to Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza side. The Israeli military says they carried out a limited raid into Gaza on Friday, primarily to seek out intelligence, they said, on the estimated 150 hostages in Gaza.

An unknown number of the hostages are Americans.

And on Friday, U.S. president Joe Biden spoke with their families by video call, saying, in his words, "The United States is working like hell" to get their loved ones home"

Besides sending a U.S. carrier group to the region, the Pentagon has called up a rapid reaction Marine unit -- excuse me -- in case they are needed to move closer to Israel.

About an hour ago, I spoke with an Israeli military spokesperson about that warning to civilians in Gaza and asked him if it is feasible to expect so many people to move when they do not have a place to go to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, SPOKESPERSON, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: I think it is feasible. And I think it can and I think it should be done. Anybody who wants to prioritize his safety should heed our warnings and go south of the Gaza River.

I completely understand that it is far from an ideal situation. But this is the situation that we find ourselves in. And we are doing our best to minimize civilian casualties. That's why we're calling on them to leave, out of concern for their safety.

HOLMES: Israel has cut off food, water, electricity and fuel for Gaza.

Will it allow aid to come in for those who do go south and find themselves without anything?

CONRICUS: Well, the problem with the Gaza Strip, ever since 2007, is that it's governed by a crazy fundamentalist organization called Hamas.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Israel controls everything that goes in or out.

Will you allow aid in for those who do make it to the south and have nothing?

CONRICUS: Yes, I was about to answer. The problem is that aid that goes in, intended for civilians, is taken by Hamas. Water pipes are turned into rockets. Cement meant for buildings is turned into tunnels. Food for orphans and people in need is given to Hamas operatives. And fuel for the hospital is taken to Hamas bunkers.

So we are in a state of war. And in a state of war, I don't think it could be really expected or demanded of us to provide sustenance and the combat capabilities to our enemies.

HOLMES: So you wouldn't allow aid groups to take materials in, tents even, for people to stay in?

Because there isn't room for a million people in southern Gaza.

CONRICUS: I think that there is room. But let's not go into -- and by the way, I'm not saying we are categorically not going to; I'm saying, that at this stage, what we are focused on is on our combat operations.

HOLMES: OK.

CONRICUS: And again, let me please remind everybody how this started, because that's the bit missing from the coverage of the last day.

This started with a war that was forced upon us, not our initiative, and we didn't start by killing 1,300 civilians and soldiers and wounding 3,000. They did that. Hamas bears responsibility for the situation. That is too absent from

the discussion here. Hamas is sovereign in Gaza. Hamas has made the decisions here. They launched the attack against us. Now we are responding against their atrocities. And we are doing our best to execute our tasks without killing civilians.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: CNN's Nada Bashir is covering this for us from London.

Good to see you. Now this Israeli warning to leave Gaza City came Friday morning, even though so many people would not have the means to do so.

Where do evacuations stand right now?

[01:05:00]

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Michael, we are talking about a population in northern Gaza of about more than 1 million people. As you mentioned, this literally happened Friday morning.

So far, according to the U.N.'s humanitarian office, we've seen tens of thousands of people, now, fleeing and evacuating to the south, as ordered in that warning by the Israel Defense Forces on Friday.

But this comes in addition to more than 400,000 Palestinians and civilians in Gaza, already displaced by the Israeli airstrikes since they began one week ago. We are talking about, as you know, an area that is very small, densely populated, an area that has been under a land, sea and air blockade and continues to be since 2007.

So when you think of the sheer scale, the number of people now that are being told to evacuate, some of them, of course, unable to physically do so, particularly when you think about the number of hospitals in the north of Gaza.

This is, as the U.N. has termed it, "impossible." We've heard from Doctors without Borders, who said yesterday that one of their hospitals was given just two hours' notice to evacuate. But their doctors stayed behind, in order to continue treatment to patients.

So this is very dire. We've heard condemnation from across the border and across humanitarian groups. The U.N.'s humanitarian relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, spoke yesterday. He said that the noose around the civilian population of Gaza is being tightened.

And we heard from the Norwegian Refugee Council, addressing this issue specifically, saying this could tantamount to a war crime.

And when we hear from the Palestinians inside Gaza, who are being told to move southwards, many fear that this displacement they are experiencing could lead to long- term displacement. Many fear they will not be able to return home.

As we know, these airstrikes have continued throughout the last week. They have continued as civilians tried to flee from the north. According to Palestinian authorities, in Gaza, they say schools, residences and medical facilities have been targeted.

And as we know, the death toll is steadily rising, already topping 1,900 people killed in Gaza, by Israelis, with thousands more injured so far.

HOLMES: Yes, displacement a thorny issue for so many Palestinians that were only in Gaza because they were displaced many decades ago. So the Palestinians ordered to leave head south. But now we are hearing reports that people evacuating have been hit by strikes.

What more can you tell us about that one?

BASHIR: That's right. It is a distressing statement. The Palestinian health ministry, inside Gaza on Friday, they say that whole entire families were targeted by airstrikes in the middle of the street as they were attempting to flee. Ambulance workers, paramedics were also targeted.

At least three ambulances, according to the Palestinian health ministry in Gaza, were struck by an airstrike yesterday. All of this as civilians were trying to evacuate as ordered by the Israeli Defense Forces, heading from northern Gaza to the south.

And we do have video that has been released by the Palestinian health ministry. A warning to our viewers, it is distressing and graphic.

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BASHIR: Now, of course, Michael, the Israeli Defense Forces say they are targeting Hamas targets in Gaza. But as this is, a densely populated strip of land just about two times the size of Washington, D.C., just to put it in scale.

Under a blockade, it is currently under a siege as well. So no food, water, no electricity getting in. Hospitals are relying on just a few hours of electricity each day. So of course, the human toll is growing by the day and it is anticipated that this is only going to get worse.

HOLMES: Indeed. Nada Bashir in London, thank you for your reporting.

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HOLMES: Michael O'Hanlon is a senior fellow and director of research in foreign policy with the Brookings Institution. He joins me from Bethesda, Maryland.

It's good to see you.

What is your assessment of what happens next?

Particularly the specter of a ground invasion along with this Israeli order for the evacuation of Gaza City, which, on its face, is an extraordinary request?

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MICHAEL O'HANLON, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: It is extraordinary, Michael. And I do not think it will be complied with. I doubt Israel expected that.

But it goes to show the awareness of the difficulty of what is coming and, frankly, the horror of what is coming. This is going to be unlike anything else; 15 or 16 or 17 years ago, Israel decided that it did not want to be part of Gaza and it just got out.

And it tolerated Hamas coming to power because the alternative was for Israel to try to rule this place. And that was something that Israel did not want.

And for 15 years, it sort of worked, right?

The two sides decided to occasionally oppose each other. There were some instances of violence in 2014; there was a limited set of incursions. But for the most part, it was live and let live. And now that is gone.

And Israel is going to have to rethink the entire approach to the Gaza Strip, not really knowing what to do.

I mean, when you send 1 million people fleeing and ask them to leave their homes, their neighborhoods, without any clear destination in mind, without any clear way to take care of them once they are gone, knowing full well that they probably will not leave because Hamas is telling them not to.

That is, in a way, an acknowledgment of desperation. But it is also, perhaps, a reasonable thing to do when you would like to spare the lives of as many of those people as possible.

And it is going to be very hard to vouch for the safety of civilians with what is coming next. And Israel is going to do an extremely thorough, house to house, block to block search and it is going to get ugly.

HOLMES: I guess when it comes to the likelihood, I suppose, of these ground incursions in Gaza, surely the key weighing the scale of the Israeli operation is the chance of success.

But across multiple metrics -- military, of course, but also the aim of crushing the organization and not just having another one spring up in its place. They've had five wars against Hamas and Hamas is still there.

And there is also the risk of increasing public support for what they will see as a resistance if the civilian suffering is too much. It is complicated.

O'HANLON: Yes. And I think we will all have to watch what happens on the ground because it is too hard to speculate. But one possibility is that Israel is successful in fundamentally weakening Hamas and making sure they cannot rule the Gaza Strip the way it has in recent years. Who is going to replace Hamas?

And under what auspices?

And one possibility that comes to my mind is a U.N. trusteeship or perhaps a coalition of different kinds of Palestinian groups. But all of these conversations are premature when Hamas is still in power and when Israel has not meaningfully entered into Gaza, at least not in any kind of large-scale operation to overthrow Hamas.

So I think Israel is going to take its best shot. And none of us really know. Israel doesn't know how well it is going to work. They have not really made plans for this. This was the scenario they were trying to avoid. That's why they left 16 years ago.

So a week or two or three, I hope you will have me back on because we can have a more productive conversation about what the realistic options for the end game are. Right now, all we can do is speculate and hypothesize.

I think the bottom line is how well can Israel do at decimating Hamas?

It's going to try. And there are going to be collateral damages and civilian deaths along the way. But Israel is going to try. And then we will see how well it does in a week or two or three.

HOLMES: And to your point about getting you back on, everyone is understandably focused on the present.

But looking back and looking forward, has Israel made a mistake by sidelining the Palestinians for years now?

Not the militant groups but the people in terms of their situation under occupation, their aspirations, has it been a mistake to push those core issues aside?

O'HANLON: Yes, this is the most difficult question for anybody who is trying to deal with the multiple empathies we all feel for the various peoples who are suffering. I mean, Israel has suffered an abomination that no country should ever have to suffer. There is no justification whatsoever for what Hamas did last weekend.

Having said that, I think Israel has not done a good job on the peace process for a long time. I date it back to the assassination of Rabin in the 1990s. That was the last time when Israel had a consistently pro-peace government, that really did all it could've and should've done.

This is not in any way meant to be a justification for the tragedy that Hamas has inflicted upon so many innocent people. I have nothing but contempt for Hamas, to be perfectly clear and emphatic.

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O'HANLON: But Israel probably could have done much better. And we're going to have to, I think, get back to some kind of a two-state solution process in the aftermath of this. It is not to reward what Hamas has done but it's a reality that Palestinians, peaceful civilian Palestinians, deserve their rights as well.

HOLMES: A great analysis. Michael O'Hanlon, unfortunately, we are out of time. Thank you so much.

O'HANLON: Thank you, kind sir.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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HOLMES: Still to come on the program, as many time try to flee the conflict, one American charity worker shares her struggle to get her family out of the country. That's when we come back.

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HOLMES: An American charity worker living in Israel is among thousands of U.S. citizens trying to flee the country. Jessica Nagar Zandani spoke with CNN's Jake Tapper about what she describes as a lack of help from the U.S. State Department.

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JESSICA NAGAR ZANDANI, AMERICAN CHARITY WORKER: It has been days, I have been calling them for the last three days when we -- when I first was informed that they were going to be trying to get us out.

[01:20:00]

ZANDANI: There -- it's crickets.

I mean, they have us on this -- in this step program for citizens that are abroad. And it doesn't work. It basically it's for -- if you're traveling, so it doesn't actually activate if you've been here and you're not on an active trip. There's no notifications.

So you're just calling. You're just calling the embassy, calling anybody who will take a phone call. And nobody has an answer.

Today was the first day that I -- first phone call, first time in the last since Saturday that I've had any kind of answer. And this was just a shelter in place because they don't have a way of getting us as of right now. There is -- it is tentative, so...

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: So you -- and your husband plans to stay in Israel and fight. You're dual citizens.

What's the situation?

ZANDANI: I -- so I was born in the U.S. I was born and raised in Santa Monica in California. And my husband is Israeli. So he grew up here he, you know, lived through the Lebanese war; fought, you know, intifadas, everything; grew up throughout the Gulf War.

He -- this is his home. This is where his family is. This is where our nephews are, who are -- we were just informed have gone into Gaza to start collecting people that have passed victims of the terror.

And you know, it's his -- it's a horrible conflict as somebody who has chosen to make this my home with him and grow my family. And you know, we have a farm that I have so nicely named My Little America.

But you know, it's that pull in two directions, so I don't blame him for wanting to stay. I think he's probably the bravest person I know. And it is the hardest thing and hardest decision I've ever made, to know that I am going to say goodbye.

And I don't know. I'm hoping that I'm going to come home to my home and my husband and our dogs and our plan, our loved ones. But I have no idea. I have no idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now many of you are compelled to help with humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza and Israel. So CNN has compiled resources, if you are so inclined. Head to cnn.com/impact. You will find a list of vetted organizations responding on the ground. Again, that's cnn.com/impact.

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HOLMES (voice-over): Still to come, thousands of residents evacuating Gaza on Friday, ahead of an expected incursion by Israeli troops. But for many, there is no way to leave and no hope of finding safety from an escalating conflict.

Also, civilians in Gaza taking the brunt of Israeli strikes, even though they do not necessarily support Hamas. After the break, we speak with a guest about whether civilians should pay the price for what militants did.

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HOLMES: Welcome back. You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.

The Israeli military says it carried out a strike on a Hezbollah target in Lebanon. It came in response to drones entering Israeli airspace and firing on an Israeli drone. Earlier, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for attacks on four Israeli locations on Friday.

Meanwhile, the U.N. is criticizing Israel's order for civilians to evacuate Gaza City. A senior U.N. official calls the order "outrageous" and says it, quote, "defies the rules of war and basic humanity." The official said there has been no pause in the fighting, no safe

passage and nowhere safe for civilians to go. The U.N. says tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in northern Gaza over the past day or so after Israel's military warned them to leave Gaza City.

That is in addition to the 430,000 Palestinians already displaced by this conflict. CNN's Clarissa Ward reports on a worsening humanitarian crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They grab whatever they can and set off, many of them on foot with no set destination.

After six straight days of relentless bombardment, Palestinians in Northern Gaza woke up to leaflets from Israel's military ordering them to move to the south of the densely populated enclave. The deadline given to the U.N. was 24 hours.

But there is nowhere for them to go. Efforts to open a humanitarian corridor through Egypt have so far been fruitless and shelters are completely overwhelmed.

The head of the U.N.'s Palestinian refugee agency called the order "horrendous" and said the enclave was rapidly becoming a hellhole.

The streets of many neighborhoods are already ghost towns, hollowed out by ferocious strikes, those who remain, alone with their grief.

WARD (voice-over): 'My sons, my daughters, my neighbors are all gone," resident Abu Hassan (ph) says.

"I only have one message to the Arab and Islamic world, have mercy on us. For God's sakes, there is nothing left."

In several cities across the world today, there were protests in support of Gaza but the drumbeat of an invasion is growing ever louder here. And the price that Gaza civilians are paying for Hamas' bloody attacks is already so high.

At the Shifa Hospital yesterday, some of the youngest victims lined the hallways on a stretcher, on the floor of the hospital, a young girl pants with fear.

"You're a good girl. Praise God, you're here," the man tells her. "Don't cry, my dear."

"Everyone is dead," she says. "There's only a few left."

In another bed, a young boy lies heavily wounded, reassuring his father.

[01:30:00]

WARD (voice-over): "Don't be scared. Don't be scared, Dad," he says. "I am fine."

But with no promise of safe refuge, fear is the only sane reaction -- Clarissa Ward, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Khaled Elgindy is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. He is also the author of "Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump." He joins me from Washington.

Thank you for doing so. The Hamas attack on Israeli civilians was unspeakable. It defies belief. Israel was always going to respond with great force.

But how worried are you about what that response has already been and what might be yet to come?

KHALED ELGINDY, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Like you said, obviously, it was a horrific attack that took place last Saturday on Israeli civilians. What we are seeing on the ground, in Gaza, the images, beaming to us through social media and other journalists, they are quite horrifying.

Gaza has been without power for a couple of days; no power, no water, no food, no medicines coming into Gaza. The roads, many of the main arteries have been destroyed at the very same moment that the Israeli army is calling on 1 million people from the northern part of Gaza to evacuate southwards.

It's a logistical impossibility, given the destruction. And at the same time, we've seen convoys, just like today, people evacuating their homes, based on the idea that they would be safer elsewhere, only to have Israeli missiles attack them in their civilian convoys. So it is really quite a dire situation.

And it is a little bit concerning that we are not seeing more international attempt to sort of rein in the Israelis and urge them, at a minimum, to turn the power back on and allow food and medicine.

HOLMES: That is one of the problems.

Send a million people south to what?

There is no food, water or shelter down there, either. I have been to Gaza multiple times and I know that not everyone -- far from it -- supports Hamas.

Do you think the world too easily sees all people in Hamas -- in Gaza as Hamas writ large?

And what are the risks of that perception?

ELGINDY: Oh, I think it is a standard perception. I think it's highly demonizing to conflate an entire population with Hamas. And frankly, even if there are supporters of Hamas, that is not a justification for killing them.

I mean, people -- I mean, we have a very extremist Israeli government. That does not make ordinary Israelis responsible for the actions of their elected government. I mean, that is sort of a twisted logic, that you can target population just because you do not like some of their leaders.

So, I think the entire premise is faulty. But what we've seen throughout this crisis, sadly, is very little concern by world leaders -- the United States, Europe, who purport to be the champions of human rights and international law.

And we see very little concern expressed -- or what are, in some cases, very clear violations of international law and war crimes.

HOLMES: You wrote to that point, really, I know you wrote in "Newsweek" about what you said was "the dehumanizing of Palestinians," a lack of empathy for them, even given what Hamas did on Israeli soil. I will just quote from that article.

You wrote, "It is possible to grieve and honor the hundreds of Israeli women, children and men killed or injured in last Saturday's brutal attack without simultaneously devaluing the lives, suffering and basic humanity of Palestinians."

Why do you think it's so difficult for many people to do that, grieve for both?

ELGINDY: Well, I think there is a natural human response to the carnage that we all saw on Saturday. I think people had a visceral reaction to that.

And then, there is this sense of, well, obviously, Israel has a right to respond and to defend its citizens. And so there was an outpouring of sympathy for Israel and also a very wide license for Israel to respond.

[01:35:00]

ELGINDY: The problem, of course, that you have is you have an Israeli government that is motivated primarily by grief, rage, anger, trauma as well as a certain amount of humiliation, given the brazenness of the attack by Hamas.

And an outright -- public cries for vengeance. And so, these are not the ingredients of deliberate, rational action. This is, I think, quite dangerous and that is why you need responsible actors in international communities, who can say, yes, what happened to you was outrageous. But the response cannot be equally outrageous.

And we are just not seeing it. We are not seeing the outcry that even we've seen in the past. In the past, we've seen the international community urging Israel to exercise restraint.

We saw today reports in the press that the State Department is actually asking its people to not use words like cease-fire or de- escalation or stop the violence to its own diplomats around the world.

That is really frightening because Israel has an enormous arsenal and can do considerable damage. And it already has.

HOLMES: Right. Khaled Algindy, unfortunately, have to leave it there. We have run right out of time. But we appreciate it. Thank you so much.

ALGINDY: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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HOLMES (voice-over): Still to come on the program, U.S. President Joe Biden says that his administration is "working like to hell" to find American hostages held by Hamas.

Also U.S. Republicans make another nomination for speaker. But Jim Jordan has a long way to go before he secures the gavel. Details on the chaos in Congress -- or one side of Congress -- when we come back.

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HOLMES: U.S. President Joe Biden says his administration is, in his words, "working like hell" to find American hostages held by Hamas. Meanwhile, the first U.S. charter flight from Israel arrived in Athens on Friday. CNN's MJ Lee with the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With so many people trying to leave Israel, among them American citizens, the State Department has started providing charter flights for American citizens and their immediate family members.

And the first charter flight leaving Israel and landing in Athens on Friday afternoon and we are told that some 20,000 U.S. citizens have reached out to the State Department since Saturday's attacks began, many of them expressing that they wanted to try to leave Israel.

Now meantime, at the White House, President Biden held a Zoom call with the family members of those that are unaccounted for in Israel. This is how he described that meeting earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This morning, I spoke with the family members of all of those Americans who are still unaccounted for on a Zoom call for about 1.25 hours.

They are going through agony, not knowing what the status of their sons, daughters, husbands, wives, children are. You know, it is gut- wrenching. I assured them my personal commitment to do everything possible, everything possible to return every missing American to their families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Now the tone that we have heard from U.S. officials about these American hostages has been pretty grim. And information about them has been very difficult to come by. Officials say that they believe there is a handful of Americans that have been taken hostage by Hamas into Gaza but that their condition is unknown.

There is also currently no mission to try to physically extract them from Gaza although officials do emphasize that no option has been taken off of the table -- MJ Lee, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: An American family whose loved ones are held by Hamas are hopeful that U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration can bring them home. The president spoke to family members of kidnapped Americans on an emotional video conference call on Friday.

Saray Cohen, whose sister and 17-year-old niece were kidnapped in Gaza, says her brother took part in the call and shared details with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAY COHEN, RELATIVE OF MISSING WOMEN: Thank you for having us on. Actually, we are devastated. We're worried. We have no idea what is Natalie and Judith's situation.

I can tell you that we got a message a few hours ago that they are definitely in Gaza. And they're -- we know that they have been kidnapped. However, we have no idea about their situation at this time.

We don't know if they are alive or dead, healthy or wounded. But we do know for certain that they have been taken to the Gaza strip by the Hamas.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: This is so heartbreaking.

Can you tell us, Saray, more about what President Biden said to you and to other families on your call earlier today?

COHEN: Well, I can say that it was very touching, because President Biden found the time to speak to each and every one of us, each and every family of an American citizen captured.

And it was -- he reassured us that the United States will do everything in its power to get them back home and to get a sign of life from them. And we are confident that we are in good hands.

BLITZER: Saray, were you or other family members -- were you or other family members able to speak directly to President Biden?

And if so, what was your message to him?

COHEN: Actually, my brother was the one who attended the meeting with President Biden. And yes, he did speak to him in person. The message was that we want to have a sign of life from them that we are asking the American authorities to have any channel with Hamas to get a list and to know what is their situation.

We are very worried about my sister and my niece. My niece, she's not even 18. She's supposed to be celebrating her birthday on the 24th of this month. And we know that young women are being raped and injured.

[01:45:00]

COHEN: And Judith is -- she's not very, very healthy.

And what we want from President Biden is to make sure that there's an open channel with Hamas and with the Red Cross and to get any sign from them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: U.S. House Republicans are headed home for the weekend after nominating Jim Jordan of Ohio to be their next Speaker. When lawmakers return on Monday to vote on Jordan, it'll have been gone nearly two weeks without a leader and it seems likely they still will not have one.

More than 50 Republicans voted against Jordan on the House floor and he can only afford to lose four Republican votes. Lawmakers say that Jordan plans to spend the weekend trying to win over holdouts but it might not be enough.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. AUSTIN SCOTT (R-GA): We'll get a very strong group of people, that they have to have everything their way.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How does that make you guys look?

SCOTT: Makes us look like a bunch of idiots.

REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): Look, I'm angry for -- I'm angry for our troops.

REP. DON BACON (R-NB): We had five individuals today who said they would only vote for Jim and not Steve. So many of us in there feel that's rewarding bad behavior if we do that.

REP. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-SD): This is a continuation of a pretty dysfunctional disease of the 118th. We have a lot of members, who just feel like that they will let perfect be the enemy of the good. That is not how any functional government or any functional marriage or any functional business works. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Political analyst Michael Genovese joins me now to talk more.

Good to see you, my friend. The war in Ukraine, the war between Israel and Hamas, a looming government shutdown and the majority party in the U.S. House can't pick a speaker.

Is there a way to express how damaging and dysfunctional this whole process has been?

MICHAEL GENOVESE, POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, the Republicans now are the party that is running with scissors. They are masters of chaos and confusion. And the message they're sending is that we are not a stable government. We are not a reliable government.

Contrast that to Joe Biden, who has been on the world stage, has been forceful and strong and you are getting very mixed messages. So we are sending some mixed signals at a time when we really need to be unified.

HOLMES: There's significant party opposition to Jim Jordan. A lot of his own people just do not like him, particularly the moderates.

What if he does not get the numbers -- and it does not look like he will -- what then?

GENOVESE: He will have a tough weekend because he has to do a lot of persuading and cajoling and who knows kinds of deals he has to make. Kevin McCarthy had to make some deals which were dealbreakers for him. I do not know what they're going to ask of Jordan.

He has a tougher job, though, than McCarthy did. McCarthy only had to get eight or 10 more on board. Jordan has to get dozens. So if he succeeds, it would be a surprise.

If he fails, you are back to square one. There is no front-runner after that. There is no one that you look to and say, he or she is the likely person. So the Republicans would be even deeper in chaos if they cannot get this done by Tuesday.

HOLMES: Yes, of course Democrats are saying, we have a guy, Hakeem Jeffries.

But how much is this -- I jest.

How much is this impacting effective governance in the House?

What is not being done, while the Republicans are in, what one of their own said, is a circus?

GENOVESE: Well, you know, in normal times, you still have to get the government to function. But in extraordinary times -- and we are in those right now -- having no government to speak of coming out of Congress, no governance out of Congress is a disaster.

You have the Ukraine situation; funding has to be voted on. You have got aid to Israel, which is in a crisis right now. You have got the potential government shutdown just two or three weeks down the line. So you have these monumentally large, significant things that have to be done and there is no capacity to do them.

HOLMES: And just before I let you go, what of Matt Gaetz, the man who started all this by engineering Kevin McCarthy's firing?

Will he emerge unscathed by the chaos or are the knives out?

GENOVESE: Well, you know, it's hard to predict the future but you don't reward the man who burned down your House. And that is what Gaetz did. He is a liability. He is the head of the children's caucus. It's a very small one.

But the Republicans have such a narrow margin in terms of their control of the House, that just a few people can just gum up the works. And so he is showing that we are an ailing (ph) superpower. And I think the Republicans have to figure out how much longer they can and will put up with his childish antics.

HOLMES: Yes, I think it was a Republican.

[01:50:00]

HOLMES: The Congress man saying the world is laughing at U.S. politics at the moment -- or one side of it. Michael Genovese, we will leave it there. Always good to see you. Thank you for the analysis.

GENOVESE: Thank you, Michael.

HOLMES: And we will be right back.

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HOLMES: Victims of the Israel-Hamas war were honored at a football match between England and Australia on Friday. It comes as football's governing body, FIFA, speaks out on the conflict after facing a backlash for its silence in recent days. Patrick Snell with more on that.

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PATRICK SNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Friday night, a moment of silence ahead of kickoff in England's 1-0 international friendly victory over Australia at Wembley. Having opted to not light up the Wembley arch in the colors of the Israeli flag, England's Football Association with this pre-match tribute. "Tonight, we remember the innocent victims of the devastating events

in Israel and Palestine. Our thoughts are with them and their families and friends in England and Australia and with all the communities who are affected by this ongoing conflict. Tonight, we stand for humanity and an end to the death, violence, fear and suffering."

Players from both teams wearing black armbands, standing shoulder to shoulder throughout.

[01:55:00]

SNELL (voice-over): The poignant gesture, impeccably observed.

Meantime, football's governing body had received widespread criticism for its silence in recent days. On Friday, FIFA president Gianni Infantino offering his deepest condolences to the Israeli and Palestine Football Associations.

Infantino adding, "It is as heartbreaking as it is shocking to see a region whose people have known such profound suffering over far too long, suffer even more. The footballing world stands firmly in solidarity with the people of Palestine and Israel and with all the innocent victims that have paid an unspeakable price."

Israel were set to play two Euro qualifying games during the current international break. Both now postponed while Palestine's fixture (ph) with Tajikistan on Friday did not go ahead, either. With that, it is back to you.

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HOLMES: Thanks to Patrick Snell.

A New York City landmark is shining in support of Israel and those killed in last weekend's deadly attacks. The Empire State Building lit up in blue and white Friday night. This is a live look at the landmark. You can see it there, the colors of the Israeli flag.

According to the site's social media pages, the colors honor the victims of the Hamas attacks on Israel last Saturday. The posts say the colors will light up the building's tower from sunset Friday until sunrise on Saturday.

Thanks for watching this hour of CNN NEWSROOM and spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. My friend and colleague, Lynda Kinkade, picks up coverage after a short break.