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CNN International: China Mideast Envoy: Risk of Large-Scale Conflict is Rising; Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Intensifies Amid Conflict; IDF Official: No Ceasefire Amid Efforts to Free Hostages; Nine Republicans Enter the U.S. House Speaker's Race. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired October 23, 2023 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome now to our continuing coverage of Israel at War. I'm Max Foster.

A senior Israeli official says there will be no ceasefire in Gaza and that the U.S. and Qatari efforts to free some 200 hostages held by Hamas. U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on Sunday and confirmed that humanitarian assistance will continue to flow into Gaza.

At least fourteen aid trucks pass through the Rafah crossing -- the border crossing on Sunday. A convoy of at least 20 trucks entered the territory through the same crossing on Saturday. Hamas says its Political Bureau Chief, Ismail Haniyeh, spoke by phone with Iran's foreign minister on Sunday. The two men met face to face in Qatar just a week ago.

A Telegram post says on Sunday they discussed ways to stop Israeli strikes in Gaza. And U.S. officials have said there is no direct information linking Iran to the October 7th attacks, but they believe Iran is broadly complicit in Hamas strikes in Israel.

China's special envoy to the Middle East says the situation in Gaza is severe and the risk of a large-scale ground conflict is rising significantly. According to Chinese state media, Zhai Jun warned of a armed conflict spreading along Israel's border with Lebanon and Syria. Zhai's visiting the region this week to promote peace talks and pushed for a ceasefire as well.

CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me live from Hong Kong. China's Middle East Envoy in the Middle East. And tell us why and specifically, what's on their agenda?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this envoy is in the region to push for peace. Zhai Jun says that China is willing to do, quote, whatever is conducive to promote dialogue, to reach a ceasefire and to restore peace. And he adds that the risk of a large-scale ground conflict in Gaza is significantly rising.

Look, China wants to present itself as a neutral mediator, but it has very little experience in mediating such a long running conflict. China also has deep economic interest in the Middle East, especially access to oil. In fact, about half of China's oil imports come from Arab states. Which also happen to account for more than 20 votes at the UN.

Now over the weekend, Jun was in Egypt. He made remarks at the Cairo Summit for Peace. He is also visiting the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, other countries in the region. Pardon me. Now Jun says that China has provided and will continue to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians, and that China wants to promote a two-state solution. In fact, according to a foreign ministry read out of the summit, we have it, let's bring it up for you. It reads as follows. Quote:

To end this cycle of the conflict between Palestine and Israel, it is essential to implement the two-state solution. Establish an independent state of Palestine and realize peaceful coexistence between Palestine and Israel.

Unquote. And this is exactly what we heard last week from Chinese leader Xi Jinping. But what we have not heard from Xi or from China, we have not heard any condemnation of Hamas. China has not condemned Hamas for its brutal terror attack on Israel on October the 7th. Back to you -- Max.

FOSTER: Yes, and there's a bit of debate as well, isn't there? They're talking about a ceasefire and peace talks, it isn't really in the moment because you know, the two sides are so caught up in direct conflict right now. But what is the debate within China, would you say, is it a big debate? How concerned are they about the Israel Hamas war?

STOUT: Well, you could just take a look a what's been taking place online. You know, many people in China have been closely following developments in the Middle East, posting and sharing their views on social media. And on social media, there has been a fierce debate between those who support Israel and its right to retaliate, and pro- Palestinian voices. They're very strong pro-Palestinian voices inside China and there has also been a rise in more extreme anti-Semitic views. And those are views that the online censors in China who are very powerful have ignored and allowed to flare up and spread. And that has prompted a lot of concern of that translating into real world threats and danger for Israelis and Jews who live in China. Back to you.

[04:35:00]

FOSTER: OK, Kristie Lu Stout, thank you so much.

STOUT: Thank you.

FOSTER: Still to come. I'll speak with a peace activist whose group is working to restore unity between Israel and the Palestinians. Her thoughts on the war so far when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees says the people of Gaza need fuel as urgently as food and water. The communications director of Anwar told CNN recent aid convoys that entered the territory will barely help the situation. But the UN agency says they're still counting on continued access to the Rafah border crossing.

Israel has previously said fuel won't be allowed into Gaza, the IDF told CNN, many shipments meant for those in need are often taken by Hamas fighters.

Well, Palestinian author and journalist Laila El-Haddad spoke with CNN about the conditions her family's facing in Gaza. She explains why, despite the danger and the destruction, they decided to stay put.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAILA EL-HADDAD, PALESTINIAN AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST: We keep trying to justify and explain to the world why we, why our relatives, why our children are human beings that don't deserve to be killed. They're not terrorists as the flyers -- I was hearing the news report and the relatives I'm the most concerned about are the ones in Gaza City that have elected to remain. That have been given this false choice of displacing themselves, forced transfer, which is a crime against humanity. Or else be considered terrorists or an accomplice to terror. They showed me those Flyers that was referenced and they sent me a picture of it.

And so, It's -- it's, I mean, I don't know what to say. They've lost all power. They had a little bit last week. They don't have any more. They have no more water. My cousin's wife doesn't have any -- anyway to make formula for her infant twins. And yet the children keep saying to me -- you know, they, I mean, they have names, they have lives. I just want a Rubik's Cube when this is all over it. That's what he keeps saying.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[04:40:03]

FOSTER: Well, joining me now is Sally Abed. She's an Israeli peace activist who is also Palestinian and a member of Standing Together, the largest Arab/Jewish grassroots movement in Israel. Thank you so much for joining us. And I mean, you're all seeing how intransigent the two sides are on this issue right now. The Chinese diplomat currently going into the region suggesting peace talks and you know, a ceasefire. These are things a lot of people would ideally want, but the atmosphere you're trying to argue, all of this in, isn't impossible. Isn't it?

SALLY ABED, ISRAELI PEACE ACTIVIST: Listen, from our point of view here, you know, as grassroots activists on the ground within Israel, you know, Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel, we take what we have impact on, which is the people here who live here in Israel. And you are right, in many ways, you know, the Israeli public right now is extremely, you know, they're hurting. We are seeing a lot of calls for revenge for flattening Gaza. We are seeing even like criminal -- criminalization of any expression of, you know, solidarity or even human concern over the people in Gaza. We're seeing, you know, political persecutions of Palestinian citizens of Israel. We're seeing our activists who are being detained. Our bilingual signs being confiscated.

So it's very, you know, from our point of view on the field, you know, on the ground it is very hard. With that being said, we're also seeing 10s of thousands of people actually joining us, both Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel on the ground, trying to maintain some kind of space for solidarity, some kind of space for Jewish/Arab, you know, shared experience that is, you know, beyond sides and beyond this this crazy binary and, you know, division and actually understanding how we can experience this together. Because, you know, we really think that the political will from the Israeli public is critical for a ceasefire. And it's critical in the future for also ending the occupation and for peace, and that's what we're fighting for here within Israel.

FOSTER: Obviously, you know what Israel went through with that terror attack was, you know, it's hard for anyone to imagine that hasn't been involved in anything like that and the collective trauma that came off the back of that. And, you know, from outside the country, there's been a lot of talk about how Israelis want revenge for that. And we've been speaking a lot to the IDF about that. But just tell us about all those people in Israel that don't want this war and how they're feeling right now.

ABED: We're all hurting. We're all extremely afraid. We are all feeling the insecurity that this whole situation is bringing on us. We're devastated. You know, it's such a small country and literally everyone that I know has been impacted by the attack two weeks ago.

You know, I obviously work within a community that has many Palestinians like myself, and we are, you know, and us and our Jewish partners are extremely, you know, devastated for what's happening in the -- in the Gaza Strip as well as in the West Bank right now. And we are concerned about the political persecution of Palestinians here. We're trying to really understand what kind of tools we can give the, you know, students and workers who have been fired or who have been expelled from school for just, you know, expressing any kind of solidarity with Gaza.

We're seeing a lot of people who are scared, who are afraid even to go out on the streets. We are seeing a mass distribution of arms for civil organized armed groups within mixed cities and it's extremely scary and we're trying to really understand how we can deescalate the situation within Israel as much as possible.

And honestly, the only hope that I have and the only thing that is making me get up in the morning and really continue working is, these kinds of organizations and, you know, our work at standing together and seeing, you know, tens of thousands of people who actually want a different kind of reality. Who can contain, you know, the pain for both people towards imagining a better future for both peoples on this land. And you know, who understand that, you know, just expanding and extreme unproportional retaliation and completely undermining the hostages as well in -- that are in Gaza right now. [04:45:04]

And completely dehumanizing the casualties, the Palestinian casualties in Gaza are just not going to bring us any security here within Israel and that's huge that we're building.

FOSTER: OK, Sally, I really appreciate your time. We should say that, you know, obviously the Israeli military are say they're prioritizing the safety of the hostages in this, and there's just different ways of going about it, I guess. Thank you so much for joining us.

Still to come, nine U.S. Republicans have entered the high stakes race for Speaker of the House of Representatives. Hear from some frustrated party members as they struggle to elect a new speaker.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: In Washington, 9 Republicans have entered the race for the Speaker of the House of Representatives. They'll make their cases before the Republican Conference later today, after Jim Jordan failed three times to win the spot in the in the past week. The House has been paralyzed without a speaker for nearly three weeks, which ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Which and House Republicans remain in turmoil almost three weeks after the unprecedented ouster.

[04:50:00]

Manu Raju has more really on this ongoing drama.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: House Republicans remain in turmoil almost three weeks after the unprecedented ouster of a sitting speaker. Kevin McCarthy was pushed out after eight Republicans joined with Democrats and voted out Kevin McCarthy as speaker. This was initiated by House Republicans, and they have not been able to coalesce around anyone to replace McCarthy as of yet.

And the House can't do any business, no legislating at all, until a speaker is elected. And they have been unable to unite behind any candidate. First, they nominated Steve Scalise, the House Republican Majority Leader. He was unable to get the votes to be elected speaker. He bowed out before going to the floor.

Jim Jordan, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, was nominated then to be the next speaker of the House. He did go to the floor three times, and he failed to win over enough support. He could only afford to lose four Republican votes on this party line vote. He lost 25 on his third ballot. Ultimately, he bowed to reality and stepped aside.

Now, nine Republican candidates have filed to run for speaker. Unclear which of those nine will ultimately get the Republican nomination, and more importantly, who can get the 217 votes that they would need on the floor of the House to be elected speaker. It is unclear if any of them can, given the sharp divisions within the ranks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the biggest FU to Republican voters I've ever seen.

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): This conference is absolutely broken.

REP. DUSTY JOHNSON (R-SD): Americans are sick of it, and I know most members of the House are sick of it. It is time for big boys and big girls to stop with the nonsense.

REP. MATT GAETZ (R-FL): It's as swampy as swamp gets.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to get over it, and we need to move on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We cannot have an entire branch of government offline.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got to get our act together, because I'm getting calls from my constituents and saying, what the hell is going on with you Republicans?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think history will assign the blame in the right places.

RAJU: Now, a bit here about the timing. On Monday evening, that's when the House Republicans will meet behind closed doors yet again. Those candidates will try to make their pitch to the conference. They'll answer questions from their members. They'll do that one by one, and we'll see how that ultimately goes.

And Tuesday morning is the significant vote. Behind closed doors, Republicans will have a secret ballot leadership election. That means a majority of their conference will vote to nominate the next speaker candidate. That person -- it will be a secret ballot election. So it's unclear exactly who's the front runner and who might emerge here. But we'll see how close that person who gets the nomination is to the magic number on the House floor -- 217 votes to be elected speaker.

This is challenging for any Republican candidate because in the narrowly divided House, there are only 221 Republicans. Democrats are going to vote for Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader. That means that person, the candidate, the Republican nominee, must limit defections in the ranks. And it is unclear if any of them will be able to do that after we've seen just Republicans going after each other after McCarthy was pushed out. Unable to get behind anyone. Unable to do the nation's business and much businesses waiting, giving the aid to Israel, calls for aid to Ukraine, avoiding a government shutdown by mid-November.

None of that can be dealt with. The Republican agenda is completely stalled amid this GOP leadership infighting. Can they get it resolved this coming week? That remains a huge question. But a possibility, it could still be unresolved and slip into another week if they can't get their act together behind a nominee.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE) FOSTER: The Philippines have summoned the Chinese ambassador over a ship collision in the disputed area of the South China Sea. Both countries are blaming each other for Sunday's collision. The Philippines says the Chinese Coast Guard caused it by carrying out provocative blocking maneuvers. While China says it took appropriate action.

The Philippines has ordered an investigation. In a statement, the U.S. State Department said that China violated international law by conducting dangerous maneuvers.

Now a 27-year-old Israeli American medic is heading to Israel to help victims impacted by the war. Kenya Levine says she plans to work at a hospital and nursing homes. While she was there, she spoke with CNN national correspondent Camila Bernal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kinaret Levin says that going to Israel is a calling. She says that after seeing what happened on October 7th, she was reminded of a feeling she had when she was six years old at the time of the September 11th attack. So she says that as an American going to Israel is her way of pursuing justice.

She says she will go to volunteer at a hospital and is hoping to do so for as long as she's able to stay in Israel. She also told me that she's made peace with a number of possible scenarios, including deaths. She says she may not be able to return home to the United States when she plans to in about a month but is willing to risk her life to leave everything behind at her home in Fredericksburg, Texas, leave her family, job opportunities, to go and do what she described as a calling as something that she needed to do.

[04:55:06]

Here's what she told.

KINARET LEVIN, MEDIC TRAVELING TO ISRAEL: One of my ways of coping with this loss, this tragedy of what happened on October 7th, is to go to Israel and help. This is doing my part, and this is my values and who I am as a person and who I am as a nurse and a medical professional.

BERNAL (voice-over): And we talked to her on her layover here in Los Angeles before going to Israel. But she has texted us to say she's landed safely in Israel. She plans to spend about one or two days with her grandmother before beginning her volunteer work.

BERNAL: Now there are a number of organizations that we've talked to here in the U.S. who say it is very difficult for civilians to travel to Israel right now. There is limited space on charter flights that are normally prioritizing IDF members. And then in terms of commercial flights, it is expensive and it is limited. But there are many, many here in the U.S. that are wanting to travel to Israel to help.

Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles. (END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, thank you for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. "EARLY START" with Kasie is up next right here on CNN.

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