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CNN's Continuing Coverage on the War in Israel and the Arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden in Tel Aviv. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired October 18, 2023 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world as we continue our breaking news coverage of Israel at war. I'm Rosemary Church at CNN Headquarters in Atlanta.

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Becky Anderson in Tel Aviv for you where we are standing by for U.S. President Joe Biden's arrival here.

Well, Biden is stepping directly into a geopolitical minefield made even worse by a blast at a hospital in Gaza that the Palestinians say has killed hundreds of people. The subject matter and the video that we are about to show you are graphic.

Palestinian officials say the hospital was hit by an Israeli air strike. Israeli military officials blame a rocket misfired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. They are presenting video evidence which they say backs up their case. The World Health Organization says that the hospital has been caring for patients and sheltering thousands of people displaced from their homes. The hospital blast has brought condemnation from around the globe. A meeting between President Biden, the King of Jordan, and the Egyptian and Palestinian Authority presidents has now been canceled.

Well, let's go live to London where journalist Elliot Gotkine is following developments for us and we have just been hearing from the IDF that there is an awful lot of noise about what happened with this blast at this hospital in Gaza yesterday. What do we know at this point?

ELLIOT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Becky. All we really know at this point is that there were a large number, possibly hundreds of people killed in the blast at this hospital in the Gaza Strip. Now, as you said, the Palestinians have been pointing the finger at the Israelis saying it was an airstrike. Israel, and right now Israel's -- the Israel Defense Forces Chief Spokesman Daniel Hagari is still speaking at a press briefing to journalists where he is presenting evidence that he says proves undoubtedly that Israel was not responsible for this strike.

What they're saying is that it was an Islamic Jihad rocket, they misfired, and that the reason there was such a fireball there was because it didn't travel its full distance, so there was a lot of propellant still within this rocket that set this explosion in motion.

Now, my colleague Jeremy Diamond is at that press conference and he asked Daniel Hagari about the evidence and the reason why it took so long for Israel to come out with what it says was evidence that it wasn't responsible and that instead it was Islamic Jihad.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Jeremy Diamond of CNN. Thanks so much. (inaudible) that you could first explain how an Islamic Jihad rocket could have caused this much death and destruction. And then second of all, I'd also like you to address the question of credibility, because frankly the IDF has a less than perfect track record with the issue of credibility. Among other incidents, the Israeli government initially claimed that it was armed Palestinian militants who killed the journalist Shireen Adler Ackley, which we know is not true. So why should the world trust you now?

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: Because of the importance of credibility. And in the past, we had our -- ourselves were fast to go to conclusions. This is why in this event we took the time -- took us more than five hours. We wanted to double check everything, make sure we're credible. Again, we wanted to double check everything, make sure we're credible, opposed to the other events that you mentioned.

And I will answer your first question. I'm saying it again. What I understand the assessment is there were people in the parking lot probably taking refugees or whatever that came into the parking lot, staying in the parking lot, not inside the hospital itself. This is what we understand.

Then what we understand, because the rocket flight, due to the rocket flight, it was very, very short, because the launch has failed. The existence of propellant made a larger explosion than the warhead itself. And this caused the damage of explosion that we see of the burning cars here, okay, because of the existence of a large amount of propellant inside. This is the reason all those cars have been burned, and probably the people were in this parking lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:05:07]

GOTKINE: And as part of his presentation, Daniel Hagari saying that there was no IDF fire by land, sea or air that hit the hospital, saying that their radar systems also picked up rockets that were fired by Islamic Jihad inside the Gaza Strip and saying they'd analyzed the trajectory and that this was also showing along with independent videos that it was a misfired rocket.

And also saying they'd intercepted communications from Islamic Jihad militants talking about and making specific reference to this hospital being hit, coupled with the lack of a crater that would normally be there after aerial bombardment from Israel. They are saying quite categorically and very adamantly that this was not the IDF and that this was Islamic Jihad. But ultimately, Becky, I think the issue for Israel is that Palestinians will not believe them and neither will the Arab strait. And that clearly, as Israel is, we assume, still preparing for some kind of ground invasion and President Biden is just about to visit, that this really complicates matters both militarily and politically as well.

ANDERSON: Yeah, absolutely. Elliot, good to have you.

And a reminder to our viewers that President Joe Biden is due here in Tel Aviv. As we speak this hour, well, as we've been discussing, both Israeli and Palestinian officials have been trading blame for the Gaza hospital blast. You've just heard the view from the Israeli defense forces. Now hear what a top official with the Palestinian National Initiative had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI, GENERAL SECRETARY. PALESTINIAN NATIONAL INITIATIVE: My colleagues are there and I've been talking to them and they are definite about what has happened. This was not a blast. This was not an explosion. This was an airstrike. It was a deliberate war crime that Israel conducted on this hospital.

And Israel, by the way, repeated two different lies. The first lie was that there were Hamas people hiding in the place and that's why they hit it. And then the second lie came immediately after claiming that it was Jihad rocket and something like that because I think they could not deny that there was an airstrike. So the reality is that this was a war crime. This should not have happened. I do not want an Israeli or Palestinian killed, but the reality here is that Israel is conducting acts of genocide against the population of Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Well, several Arab countries have harshly condemned Israel over what happened, and thousands of protesters across the region have been filling the streets chanting anti-Israel slogans. CNN's Nada Bashir reports from Amman in Jordan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well look, from the outset of this war we have seen protests taking place in solidarity with the Palestinian people across the globe, not just in the Middle East, but here in this region we saw last night a real outpouring of both outrage and condemnation following that attack on the Al Ahli hospital inside the Gaza Strip.

So far Hamas says at least 500 people were killed in that attack they have pointed the finger of responsibility at Israel although the Israeli government has denied, categorically denied any involvement in this attack and has placed responsibility on the Islamic Jihad group inside Gaza but of course there is a real focus on the civilian toll, on the impact. This has had hundreds of lives lost killed in this devastating and

horrifying attack. We've seen the videos, those terrible images of bodies lined up outside of the hospital. And that is really what sparked these protests that we saw last night here in Amman. Huge crowds gathering in the city around the Israeli embassy. Some protesters even attempting to storm the Israeli embassy at one point. And of course, it is important to note that we have seen protests in support of Palestinian calls taking place on an almost daily basis here in Jordan.

We also saw demonstrations and protests in Lebanon, in Tunisia, in Iraq, even in the occupied West Bank in Ramallah, where there were even some clashes between protesters and security forces. And this isn't going to end here. As we continue to see these airstrikes on Gaza by the IDF, as we continue to see the civilian death toll mounting in the besieged Gaza Strip, which is of course under a complete siege. No food, no water, no electricity, no fuel is getting in.

That solidarity with the Palestinian people is only going to grow and I cannot overstate the prevalence and significance that the Palestinian cause holds in these Arab nations. It has long held a prime place of prevalence for many and of course it certainly does for these protesters taking to the streets.

[03:10:05]

Now the question is whether or not this translates from popular opinion to policy by Arab leaders. We've already seen the summit which was scheduled to take place today in Amman between King Abdullah of Jordan, President El-Sisi of Egypt, and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, as well as, of course, U.S. President Joe Biden. That summit has now been canceled. The Jordanian foreign minister condemning yesterday's attack. But of course, it remains to be seen what further action is taken by the Arab leaders.

Nada Bashir, CNN, in Amman.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON: Well, the White House has released a statement from U.S. President Joe Biden while he is on board Air Force One flying here to Tel Aviv and Israel. It says, I'm outraged and deeply saddened by the explosion at the Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza and the terrible loss of life that resulted. The United States stands unequivocally for the protection of civilian life during conflict, and we mourn the patients, medical staff and other innocents killed or wounded in this tragedy.

Well joining me now from London is Michael Stephens, an Associate Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Royal United Services Institute. It's good to have you with us. I mean I know that you will have been warning us, as much as anybody else, about the potential for serious unrest here. Over the past months we've seen, you know, real sort of unrest in the West Bank. Perhaps nobody could have expected to have seen what happened in Gaza. Michael, this has made an already high-stakes visit, this hospital blast.

This has made an already high-stakes visit even more important. What are President Biden's objectives here and how can he turn the temperature down at this point?

MICHAEL STEPHENS, ASSOC. FELLOW FOR MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE: Well I think some of those objectives probably changed while he was in the air frankly because the situation has dramatically deteriorated since the eight hours in which he left the United States and we've gone from a point in which President Biden may well have had a good, you know, solid set of meetings with Arab leaders where there was a potential for de-escalation, where there was a pathway to perhaps see some light at the end of the tunnel to emergency firefighting, quite literally and metaphorically.

We're now in a situation where Arab leaders are canceling meetings with Biden. At the moment, he's only going to be speaking to the Israelis. You've got American consulates being attacked in Beirut and threatened in Amman as well. And so we're right on a knife edge here.

So some of the plans I think he would have had to sit there and say to the Israelis, look, what's the endgame for your ground operation? How can we minimize civilian casualties? And at the same time, ensure that the region does not spill over into wider regional conflict have turned into, we need to find something very quickly to stop this spiraling out of control.

ANDERSON: I wonder what that is. I mean, the P.A. has canceled the meeting with Biden. We've seen widespread condemnation in Ramallah on the West Bank. The UAE, Israel's most important partner in the Arab world, said in a statement that it strongly condemned the Israeli attack.

It went on to say, on the international community, it calls on the international community to intensify efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire to prevent further loss of life to avoid further fueling the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and to advance all efforts to achieve a comprehensive and just peace while preventing the region from being pulled into new levels of violence tension and instability and we are hearing that echoed in Saudi Arabia in Jordan in Egypt all blaming Israel at this point.

So the question is: What is the way out of this? I mean, we've seen this meeting in Jordan canceled for President Biden. That's a really big deal, isn't it?

STEPHENS: It is a big deal and frankly it's unthinkable that a regional leader at a time like this would not want to meet the President of the United States who is still far and away the ultimate and most powerful arbiter of any conflict that occurs between Israel and the Palestinians.

I think it's important to reflect on what you've just said. Israel has spent the last 18 to 24 months building relationships in the region. There was potential for normalization with Saudi Arabia. The people that it is talking to, whether that's Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, whether that's Mohammed bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi, are now walking back and walking away from the Israelis.

[03:15:07]

So all of this work that U.S. regional diplomacy has been so focused on doing is coming apart at the seams. President Biden is going to have to find a mechanism to keep that together. You've asked what can he do at the moment? I think he needs to listen. There's no clear answer when the situation is moving this fast and when it's this delicate and when you've got clear friends of Israel saying, look, we've had enough. You need to stop this now.

Then President Biden needs to listen and then he needs to go and speak to the Israelis after his initial meeting and say, look, I think we need to find a pathway to lessen the tension and lessen the violence, because otherwise, everything is off the table now and you could be in a far less secure and safe position both in terms of your own internal security but your regional security if you do not look at ways of backing down.

ANDERSON: Meantime, as we see all of this going on, lest we forget those Palestinians and others in Gaza who are at threat of death, basically, at this point, whether under attack from airstrikes or because there is not enough fuel, water, electricity, food in the place, I guess. You know, Joe Biden will be here speaking to the Israelis about how that humanitarian corridor is safely insured. But also, we'll be looking for that opportunity to try and get that Rafah border crossing open into Egypt, not just for humanitarian aid to come in, but for people to leave Gaza. And that is not something the Egyptians nor the Jordanians want to see.

What sort of effort do you believe is going on behind the scenes to put, you know, added pressure on Egypt to open that border crossing and do you believe that they will affect that?

STEPHENS: Firstly no I don't think they will. You know King Abdullah of Jordan has said quite categorically on behalf of his own country and he's spoken on behalf of the Egyptians. He said this is a red line. If that's a red line then they're going to stick to it frankly and they have their reasons for doing that. You know, people on the outside can agree or disagree, I think, from the Jordanian point of view. They feel that they've taken enough refugees over the last 60, 70 years.

The Egyptians obviously fear destabilization in their own country. And the fact that perhaps if the fighting is so severe, then perhaps people from Gaza could never go back. The key now is the humanitarian corridor discussion. The problem is this. It reminds me a lot of what happened in Syria when rather than talking about solving the problem, we were talking about humanitarian corridors of access, which is ameliorating the problem. It's not solving anything. It's just making a bad situation slightly less bad. So you've got to have two conversations at the same time.

Talking about humanitarian access, they need water, they need food supplies, we know the World Food Program is right on the edge of that Rafah border crossing, trying to get supplies in. At the same time, you need to find a way to make sure that the fighting calls off a little bit so that there's less threat to people still in the Gaza Strip, still 2.2 million people still in Gaza, and I think that's something that has to be addressed.

The big question, of course, then is does this ground operation happen? And if it does, how long is it going to go on for? And what's going to be the ramification of that? Because you could have a situation in which these Palestinians in Gaza are pushed up next to the border for as much as a month.

In which case, it's not just about humanitarian corridors. This is a massive operation to make sure people are fed, clothed with clean water and enough electricity. So there's many, many different factors at play.

ANDERSON: And I spoke to one man who had gone south from Gaza City yesterday. They made that decision because the houses around him, the apartments around him were being bombed in Gaza City. 50 -- 50 people now in one small cabin in Gaza, 20 of those are children. He said they are working on fumes as far as their water, electricity and food are concerned. And that was yesterday, 24 hours ago. Just one anecdotal story about what is going on out there. It is shocking. Michael, it's good to have you. Thank you very much indeed.

You're watching CNN. Still to come, the IDF and Hezbollah continue to exchange fire along Israel's border with Lebanon in the north as they brace for the possibility of the conflict spreading further across this region.

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[03:20:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. More tensions are flaring ahead of the U.S. president's visit to Israel. Thousands of protesters have condemned Israel for the deadly blast at a Gaza hospital. The Iraqi government called the attack a war crime.

But the Israeli military says their intelligence shows the explosion was caused by a failed rocket launch from the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Now we have reported Israel's denials of responsibility for the hospital blast, but as CNN's Hadas Gold explains, the world is already condemning the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HADAS GOLD, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Even if this information comes out and the Americans are convinced, President Biden is convinced and he even says, you know, I believe this was an errant rocket that caused this, the damage is already done.

Look at just the media coverage over the last few hours. Look at what's happening on the streets in these cities all around the world. Israelis are being warned to immediately leave places like Turkey. Like at this moment, if you're vacationing in Turkey, get on a plane, get out now.

So even if it turns out that the Israelis are correct and that President Biden agrees with their assessment, this was an errant rocket, the damage is done. We've seen the summit that has been canceled is supposed to help with this humanitarian situation. President Biden's trip is being changed dramatically. The damage for the Israelis on the international stage is already completely done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:25:04]

CHURCH: This is a tense situation growing more precarious by the day, raising concerns of a possible second front for Israel, which could trigger confrontations across the region. CNN's Ben Wedeman reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Strike after strike after strike. And every strike is followed by an Israeli counter-strike. Combatants and Civilians killed on both sides.

Hezbollah is testing just how far it can go, hitting Israeli targets, without igniting a full-scale war. But the stakes here are treacherously high.

If Hezbollah makes a mistake, the Israeli military's chief of staff warned on a tour of the border, it risks, in his words, annihilation, annihilation, annihilation.

Hezbollah isn't wavering. We're not afraid of Israel, and we're not afraid of the Americans behind them, Hezbollah parliament member Hussein Jeshi tells me.

And behind Hezbollah stands Iran, whose foreign minister warns if diplomatic efforts fail to stop Israel's attacks on Gaza, the opening up of new fronts is inevitable.

And south Lebanon could be that front.

In some places a wall separates Lebanon from Israel, in others it's wide open. From a hill by the border you can peer down into Israeli border towns like Metula, now largely abandoned but for soldiers scurrying from house-to-house Israel and Hezbollah have battled here before and they may soon be at war again.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Southern Lebanon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Still to come, condemnation and concern after a deadly hospital blast in Gaza. We will dive deeper into a worsening humanitarian crisis, just ahead.

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[03:30:00]

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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Tel Aviv where it is just after 10:30 in the morning and U.S. President Joe Biden is set to arrive here in Israel anytime now for a high- stakes visit. His arrival will come a day after a massive hospital blast in Gaza which is believed to have killed hundreds of people. We must warn you that the images from the hospital are graphic.

It remains unclear at this hour who is responsible. Palestinian officials blaming ongoing Israeli airstrikes. The Israeli Defense Forces categorically deny any involvement, saying Islamic jihad is to blame. Well, a short time ago, an IDF spokesperson presented images to the media claiming they show the destruction at the hospital could not have been caused by an air strike. He said there were no visible signs of craters or damage to other buildings nearby, but the images did show fire damage to several vehicles in the hospital parking lot.

Now the IDF argues the fire damage at the hospital resulted from an errant rocket launch by Islamic Jihad. CNN cannot independently confirm what caused the blast.

Let's get you back to journalist Elliot Gotkine, who is following developments for you. So the IDF blaming Islamic Jihad. They have also released audio of a conversation between Hamas and Islamic Jihad around the time of the blast. Just tell us exactly what it is that the IDF said today in a press conference just a little less than an hour ago.

ELLIOT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Becky, this press conference has only wrapped up in the past few minutes. Israel going to great length to outline its vehement denial, but it had anything to do with this blast that has caused hundreds of people to be killed at this hospital in the Gaza Strip. And at the beginning of his press briefing, this is the chief spokesman for the IDF, Daniel Hagari outlined exactly what the IDF's perspective was on what happened last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: According to our intelligence, Hamas checked the reports, understood it was an Islamic jihad rocket that had misfired and decided to launch a global media campaign to hide what really happened. They went as far as inflating the numbers of casualties. They understood with absolute certainty that it was a rocket misfired by Islamic jihad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOTKINE: And what he says is that for some of the evidence, along with the evidence that you outlined from the IDF, that they say that there was no crater there that would have indicated an aerial bomb from Israel, that it wasn't striking from air, land or sea towards the hospital, that they have radar that indicates it was an errant missile, that they have those audio conversations intercepted. And in fact, what Hagari, the spokesman, has said in the last, towards

the end of his press conferences, they have even more intelligence on what happened, which they are sharing with the United States. And no doubt that will be seen by President Joe Biden as he arrives in the country just hours after this blast at this hospital that has caused hundreds of casualties among Palestinian civilians there. Becky?

ANDERSON: Elliot Gotkine on the story for you.

Look it's clear this tragedy will only worsen what is an already dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza described by many now as near catastrophic the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem which oversees and funds the hospital where the blast happened has condemned the attack and his statement it said quote "hospitals by the tenets of international humanitarian law are sanctuaries yet this assault has transgressed those sacred boundaries."

Well, joining us now via Skype from Ramallah in the West Bank is Hiba Tibi, CARE country director in the West Bank and in Gaza.

[03:34:55]

And I do want to discuss what's going on in the West Bank as well, because we've seen, you know, serious protests there overnight. But let's start with what happened in Gaza and this deadly blast at the hospital. What do you make of what you are hearing at this point?

HIBA TIBI, CARE COUNTRY DIRECTOR IN THE WEST BANK AND GAZA: Good morning. Thank you so much for having me. What happened yesterday is terrifying. Hundreds of people were killed in the attack on the hospital. For us as humanitarian organization and under the international humanitarian law, the protection of health workers, medical services, wounded civilians, and also all the civilian buildings is non-negotiable.

And what we are asking for and what we are looking at is that the terrifying moment that we have seen can be used as an inflation where we can request an immediate pause, where we can allow for humanitarian assistance to access civilians and those in need of medical support are evacuated.

ANDERSON: It's not clear what President Biden's objectives are in this visit, whether or not he is trying to prevent further Israeli retaliation at this point. But as you understand it, as far as these humanitarian corridors are concerned, what's been achieved at this point?

TIBI: Unfortunately, there was not a lot of achievements when it comes to accessing humanitarian services, which is the basic requirement of all the international organizations, humanitarian organizations working on the ground.

There is lots of shortages of basic and essential requirements, necessities, including food, water, shelter, medicine, and fuel. If all of these requirements are not made available, as you have seen from different officials on the U.N., this will lead to a catastrophe and will have the highest, biggest impact on civilians, including women, kids, elderly, those who are very vulnerable. And as we all know, they are the ones paying the highest price of the war.

The turning point of all the events happened back in October 13th when there was the order for evacuation of the north of Gaza. 100 million moved to the south. And in that, with that movement, the already exhausted resources in the south were overwhelmed. And the people, the civilians who tried to seek shelter in U.N. schools and other clinics, U.N.-owned clinics, they are still facing all of these very harsh, severe circumstances.

And just like everyone who tried to evacuate towards the south, I also have my colleagues in the south who are also living the same conditions. So far, services are almost shutting down in terms of accessing to water, medical services. And over the last period, you would find all of the attempts by international humanitarian organizations who are trying to facilitate the access to basic needs are focused basically on two things, water and medical supply.

And for instance, I can give you an example of what we have achieved over the last period is simply to secure water, drinking water for instance, or medical supplies, hygiene kits for the civilians, which is not going to solve the issue.

What we all request and we hope for is an immediate ceasefire where all parties are abiding with the international humanitarian law and allowing all of the humanitarian organizations to fulfill their mandates and support the civilians to meet their basic needs that are really running short in this very tough time.

ANDERSON: And Hiba, we know because we've seen the images and we've got reports of what is built up on the Egypt side of the Rafah crossing, you know, an enormous amount of aid, medical supplies, fuel, water, sort of building up on that side of the Rafah crossing. And it's just a question of how, how at this point the conversations go in order to get that in. We've just been showing pictures of Ramallah overnight. That is where you are. The big fear, of course, was what is going on in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, but clearly now massively affecting Palestinians in Gaza.

There was real concern about how this may spread, how this may escalate across the region. And let's start with Ramallah. I mean, what do you make of the protests that you will have witnessed last night in the West Bank?

[04:40:10]

TIBI: So very frankly speaking, the tension is building up. And as a humanitarian organization, we also don't forget the situation in West Bank. It's not only in Ramallah, but across all West Bank. Over the last days, we have seen increased number of violence incidents and casualties, which make all of us really running against time to make sure that we are prepared, although no one can be prepared for war are prepared to also potential interventions, humanitarian interventions in West Bank as in Gaza. That has been said, very frankly, we are focusing all of our work, all

of our energy now on Gaza, trying to secure as much as we can in the West Bank. There are some measures that we have taken, especially in our field of intervention related to health supplies and health services, where we have our mobile clinics, for instance, on the standby and medical supplies are secured and we will try to as much as possible, or again, no one can be prepared for war, but try to also coordinate with different actors who is going to do what, what are the different roles so that we can avoid an additional or a bigger situation where we have to fight over or find our ways as humanitarian organizations for saving lives on two or both sides, West Bank and Gaza.

ANDERSON: Hiba Tibi, just getting to the root of just how tough this is for an organization like yours, looking at what is going on in Gaza, trying to ensure that you can provide sort of, you know, substantive logistical support in Gaza. So what is going on in the West Bank, of course, very much in focus for you as well. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. I know times are very tough for an organization like yours and for you and your staff.

Still to come, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping reunite in Beijing. How their no limits friendship is faring amid two major global conflicts. More on that, after this.

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[03:45:00]

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back everyone. Well, as U.S. President Joe Biden prepares to visit Israel today, Chinese President Xi Jinping is hosting other world leaders in Beijing, including Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two reportedly met earlier on the sidelines of a global infrastructure summit. Both leaders addressed the crowd in an opening banquet, but all eyes were on the two presidents for any possible reactions to the conflicts in both the Middle East and Ukraine.

And CNN's Beijing bureau chief, Steven Jiang, joins me now. Good to see you, Steven. So what more are you learning about the Putin-Xi meeting? And what have we heard from the two leaders so far?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah, Rosemary, we understand the meeting is now over with the Russian convoy has left the meeting venue, the Great Hall of the People, but we are still waiting to hear more details. But in his opening remarks to Putin, Xi Jinping made a point of saying this was their 42nd meeting since 2013 and bilateral ties have grown tremendously in the past decade, especially when it comes to bilateral trade soaring to new highs in the past few years and on track to hit their mutually agreed target of $200 billion every year.

Now this is perhaps not surprising given Beijing is increasingly providing Moscow with an economic lifeline since Russia is still very much under severe Western sanction after Putin invaded Ukraine.

But despite that war and despite China's claim of neutrality, the two sides really have become more in sync on multiple policy fronts, not just economically, but also politically, militarily, and in terms of global messaging. That is reflected in their responses to the latest crisis in the Middle East. Both sides very much focused on the Palestinian cause and heartening their position on Israel and not mentioning Hamas in any of their statements and condemnations. Now strategically speaking, analysts have pointed out this crisis in the Middle East may be beneficial to both Russia and China as it could potentially divert U.S. attention and resources away from Ukraine as well as the Indo-Pacific region.

But even though the two men are no longer touting their so-called no- limits partnership that much in public, their relationship very much remains strong. So is their country's relationship growing more robust and more substantive because at the end of the day, they're very much bonded over their shared grievances against the U.S. by their desire to reshape U.S.-led world order.

That is also very much the underlying theme of this forum celebrating the 10th anniversary of Xi Jinping's signature foreign policy, that global investment scheme you talked about, Belt and Road Initiative, Xi Jinping in his opening ceremony speech without naming the U.S., very much taking a swipe at the U.S. saying his program is not about geopolitical rivalry, not about ideological confrontation, but common prosperity. That seems to be an idea and an argument Putin is very much on board with. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Alright, our thanks to Steven Jiang, joining us live from Beijing. I appreciate it.

And we'll be right back with more news after a short break. Do stay with us.

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[03:50:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. In Washington, U.S. aid for Israel is just one issue under threat from the chaos currently engulfing the House of Representatives. It remains effectively paralyzed without a speaker almost two weeks after Republican lawmakers ousted Kevin McCarthy from the job.

Multiple sources tell CNN House Republicans are divided over a backup plan if conservative Republican Jim Jordan fails to win the speakership on a second vote. The most popular plan is to grant more power to the interim speaker, Patrick McEnry.

Jordan has scheduled that second vote in the coming hours after he lost the first vote Tuesday when 20 Republicans voted against him. He's now scrambling to win over those Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): We're going to keep going, have great conversations, great discussions with our colleagues. And frankly, no one. No one in our conference wants to see any type of coalition government with Democrats. So we're going to keep working and we're going to get to the votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Earlier, I spoke with CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein about the chaos in the House and what's at stake. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: 20 votes against him was certainly more than Jordan and his allies expected. And that is a big hill to overcome in a single vote. You know, the magnitude of what is involved here really can't be overstated, not only in terms of the immediate chaos that House Republicans are in as the world is burning, as we are showing on the program for the last half hour, but also the possibility of elevating to the speakership the single member, a member of Congress in Jim Jordan, who was not only defended and supported Donald Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 election, but according to the January 6th committee was more personally involved in Trump's campaign to subvert the election result than any other single member of Congress.

And the prospect of the Republican Party elevating him to the speakership really at the same time that Trump has restored himself as a clear frontrunner in the GOP race really underscores the ongoing threat to what have been the pillars of American democracy at least since the Civil War.

CHURCH: And Ron if Jim Jordan doesn't win a second or even a third vote do they find another candidate or perhaps empower the interim speaker for now or do they keep going until Jordan gets the support. He needs to become Speaker, as we saw them do previously with Kevin McCarthy, just wear people down essentially?

[03:55:04]

BROWNSTEIN: I think it's harder for Jordan to wear people down than McCarthy. Jordan is a much more polarizing figure. He presents a clear risk to Republicans in more competitive districts, given his history as a, as in his involvement in the January 6th insurrection in support of a total ban on abortion, his continued unalloyed defense of Trump.

I suspect that if he can't get there, he may want to try to keep going, but if he can't get there in any intermediate time frame, there may be growing pressure to find that temporary solution of empowering the acting speaker so that the House can at least conduct the basic business of government. Don't forget the clock is ticking toward a potential government shutdown. And you have the indication from the White House that they do intend to come with a combined supplemental request for assistance to both Ukraine and Israel. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: All right, we're going to this breaking news now. U.S. President Joe Biden has just arrived in Tel Aviv in a high-stakes visit that was announced just in the last few days to show support for Israel in its war against Hamas. But the stakes are even higher now, given Tuesday's deadly blast at a hospital in Gaza, which Palestinian officials say killed hundreds of people.

The Palestinians blame it on an Israeli air strike, but Israel insists the hospital was hit by an errant rocket fired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The death and destruction further, of course, complicates the optics of President Biden's visit, which was already going to be complex given the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the region.

So let's head over to Becky Anderson, who is standing by in Tel Aviv and covering this part of the story. Becky.

ANDERSON: Yeah, Rosie, I mean, the question at this point is what are President Biden's objectives as he arrives here in Tel Aviv and have they changed over the course of his trip here, which is of course just hours, but within those hours we have seen this, you know, catastrophic incident at the hospital in Gaza where hundreds are believed dead. Now the Israelis suggesting this was Islamic Jihad, Hamas suggesting that the blast was as a result of an Israeli strike.

Certainly at this point it has absolutely raised the stakes here. And let's just be quite clear. If President Biden thought he was coming not just to Israel but to meet the kind of his best allies in region in Jordan and Egypt, the Palestinian Authority head, he was coming to meet them as well. He was going to go to Jordan, which of course is just across the river here from Israel to have a sort of regional summit.

Well, that's been canceled. The Jordanians have seen protests, significant protests in Amman overnight. Clearly there is an enormous amount of pressure on Egypt by the US to get the Rafah crossing open, not for the aiding coming into Gaza, but to get people out, both Egypt and Jordan have said that is a complete red line.

They cannot see hundreds of thousands of people flooding into either Egypt and Jordan. They just can't cope. And President Abbas just reacting to what he has seen on the ground in Gaza. So at this point, it's very unclear what the Biden trip will one achieve and two what Biden's framing will be. We know to date at this point that Joe Biden has been steadfast in his support for Israel on the back of what happened on October the 7th, the massacre by Hamas of 260 youngsters at this music festival and of course the murder of people on the southern side of the border in Israel. And of course, 199 hostages, Israeli and foreign nationals, now being held in Gaza.

Let's bring in CNN's White House correspondent, Arlette Saenz, who is standing by live in Washington. And I just wonder, as we look at these pictures and await to see President Biden come down the steps of Air Force One, how have things changed for him in the, what, 10, 12 hours he's been on this flight, Arlette. What's his objective at this point?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Becky, well, any moment now, we're expecting President Biden to set foot in Tel Aviv, marking a real historic moment as he's expected to be greeted there by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the president heading directly into an active conflict the second time he is doing so this year. You'll remember he traveled into Ukraine on that secret trip earlier in the year.