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CNN Coverage of "Israel at War."; IDF Advances Into Gaza; U.N. Security Council to Hold Emergency Meeting; Israel's Prime Minister Being Pressured to Secure Hostage Release; U.S. Sends Rapid Response Force Near Israel; Family of Matthew Perry Releases Statement on the Death of the Actor; Israel Retaliates at Hezbollah. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired October 30, 2023 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NICK WATT, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Nick Watt. Israel's war against Hamas is intensifying. Israeli forces are pushing into Gaza by land and continuing heavy strikes from the air. The IDF said on Sunday that it struck more than 450 targets over a 24-hour period, including command centers and missile launch sites.

According to CNN analysis of video published by Israeli media, IDF forces have advanced about three kilometers inside Gaza. But as the ground invasion expands, there's growing concern about the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. That issue, sources say, has prompted the United Nations Security Council to hold an emergency meeting.

In the hours ahead, sources say that The UAE is expected to seek a resolution for a, quote, "immediate humanitarian pause" in the fighting in Gaza. All this, says the U.N. secretary general says the situation there is growing more desperate by the hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: The world is witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe taking place before our eyes. More than 2 million people with nowhere safe to go are being denied the essentials for life, food, water, shelter and medical care while being subjected to relentless bombardments. I urge all those with responsibility to step back from the brink.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: CNN's Scott McLean is following developments from London. Scott, I understand that there's a situation developing around the Al- Quds Hospital, the second largest hospital in Gaza.

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, so Nick, look, Israel has, of course, been telling people in northern Gaza to evacuate for weeks now, and that includes the 22 hospitals and healthcare facilities, but those hospitals, at least the major ones, have been saying, look, A, there is no safe place for people to go, and B, even if there was, there's no safe way to evacuate their sick and injured patients, some of whom are children.

The World Health Organization also said that would be tantamount to a death sentence for the sick and injured. Yesterday, one of those hospitals, the Al-Quds Hospital, second largest, as you said in Gaza, got a warning from the Israelis. They called it a threat. And according to the Palestinian Red Crescent, it goes like this, quote, "two phone calls were received with a clear and direct threat that the hospital must be evacuated at once, otherwise the Red Crescent holds full responsibility for the lives of everyone inside the hospital."

Now Israel didn't deny the accusation. In fact, the IDF says that it's called with similar warnings more than twice. It claims that Hamas is being sheltered inside that hospital and others like it. The Red Crescent is calling on the international community to protect that hospital, because the video that you're looking at right now is of recent strikes in the immediate vicinity of that hospital.

In fact, the Red Crescent says these strikes were so close that the actual building itself, hospital building itself sustained some damage. You can see the hallways sort of filling up with dust in the aftermath of these strikes. The hospital director said, reiterated really again that there is no way to evacuate patients safely there. There are children, some of them in incubators.

He also said that there are 12,000 people who are taking shelter inside of that building, and the vast majority of them are women and children. He also denied very firmly the Israeli accusation that Hamas is being sheltered there, saying that no one who is armed is even allowed in the building, Nick.

WATT: Scott, we are hearing increasing calls from countries around the world and protesters for Israel to exercise restraint in the aftermath of those terror attacks that killed so many Israelis and of course you've got Israeli hostages being held within Gaza. What are various world powers asking Israel to do?

MCLEAN: Yes, so we heard from two world leaders yesterday who would otherwise be broadly supportive of Israel who had a pretty blunt message. First the Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahrs Store said that look, he recognizes that Israel has the right to defend itself. He knows that it's difficult to do it in a dense urban environment like Gaza and he knows that there are still rockets going into Israel, but he also said this in an interview with the Norwegian public broadcaster.

He said international law also states that it must be proportionate civilians must be taken into account. Humanitarian law is very clear on that and I believe that line has now been far crossed.

[02:04:59]

He was critical of the fact that civilians have nowhere safe to go, that the trickle of aid is not coming fast enough and that the situation in his words is clearly contrary to the rules of war. Now Norway was one of the countries, one of 121 countries who voted in

favor of a U.N. General Assembly resolution calling on both parties of the conflict to respect the rights of civilians. The Netherlands on the other hand abstained from that vote and yet yesterday you had the Prime Minister, the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte coming out with his own statement on Twitter or X as they call it now, that was pretty blunt. He wrote that allowing aid to reach Gaza was necessary for the world to continue to support Israel. He had a similar message to the Norwegian Prime Minister saying that Israel has the right to self- defense, but it has to be proportionate.

And we know, Nick, look, that on the humanitarian side at least, as of yesterday, there have still been less than 100 trucks filled with aid that have been allowed into Gaza from the Rafah border crossing from Egypt. This is in comparison to several hundred that used to go in there every single day.

WATT: Scott McLean in London, thank you very much. Now, amid those calls for humanitarian aid are the urgent pleas from the families of those being held hostage by Hamas. They are pushing for the release of their loved ones and pressure is building on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure their release. Families and crowds gathered in Tel Aviv over the weekend demanding swift action from the government.

Families of hostages want the prime minister to trade all of Israel's Palestinian prisoners for all of Hamas's hostages. Netanyahu vowed to exhaust all options to secure the release of those loved ones. Meantime, the U.S. government says it's also working to help American citizens in Gaza leave the Strip. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says the matter has to stay a top priority.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE SULLIVAN, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: We are in almost hourly contact with regional partners and with Israel to try to get to a point where there is a deal to have the hostages released. It is difficult. It is challenging. The Hamas terrorists have not been forthcoming about allowing these hostages to go, but we believe that there can still be a pathway to get their release, and we are going to work tirelessly to make that happen. And even though we have started to see Israel move in on the ground, that has not changed our basic view that this has to remain a paramount priority, that we have to keep working at it, and there's negotiations are ongoing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: Joining me now is Yaakov Katz. He's a senior columnist and editor for the Jerusalem Post. He's also author of "Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission, to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power." I want to start with what's going on inside Israel right now. Listen, for the past few months, we've seen a very fractured political landscape there over the judicial reforms. We've now just seen Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu post some criticism of his security chiefs and then take it down. What is happening right now inside the Israeli government? YAAKOV KATZ, SENIOR COLUMNIST & EDITOR, THE JERUSALEM POST: Well,

Nick, it's one of the problems I think that unfortunately we're seeing when a country is at war, there's also going to be small battles, political battles that are going to be fought at the top of our political echelon and in that leadership. What we saw was Saturday night, Netanyahu, for the first time together with the defense minister, as well as Minister Benny Gantz, a former chief of staff, would join his government as part of the emergency government that was formed after the outbreak of the war on October 7th.

They held the first press conference into questions and in that press conference (inaudible) Netanyahu was asked number of times by journalists are you willing to take responsibility as have the heads of all the different security agencies and the military in the past few weeks. Netanyahu has not. And Netanyahu kind of avoided the question.

And then suddenly a few hours later about 1:30 in the morning in the night between Saturday and Sunday morning, he tweeted, I was never told that Hamas was preparing for war. I was told by any single doubt specific military and security officials who had told him that Hamas was deterred and Hamas was not preparing for war. That obviously led to a major outbreak and backlash here in Israel.

And then in the morning after coming under severe criticism, he deleted that tweet. But again, what it just shows, Nick, is that people are tense. There is pressure. And we need people to be focused, especially at that high level of political leadership.

[02:09:58]

WATT: Now, I was just talking to Scott McLean there about various world powers urging Israel to exercise restraint. We've just reported on the various pro-Palestinian demonstrations around the world in Rome, Berlin, Toronto. How do the people of Israel react? They are mourning, what many in Israel are calling Israel's 9-11, the hostages, the civilians killed. How do Israelis react to the reaction from elsewhere in the world that I just described?

KATZ: It is very concerning, Nick, and you've reported extensively the rise and surge of anti-Semitism over the years and what we're seeing right now happening in places like London where hundreds of thousands take to the streets, many of them chanting jihad, a holy war against the Jewish people, where we see people in cities like New York and elsewhere ripping down the posters of the 240 almost now, hostages who were taken by Hamas, children, babies, older women, the elderly, men, young children, over 30 under the age of 16 who are being held by Hamas, ripping down their photos.

We see professors at universities like Cornell saying -- I've been exhilarated by what happened on October 7th with the massacre of 1,400 Israelis. There's something disturbing happening in the world. And what's happening now, I think, shows us how the anti-Semites, the haters of our people, the Jewish people are coming out of the woodwork and we have to stand as one. The Jewish people have to stand as one, but the world has to stand as

one against this surge of hate to defeat it because today, Nick, it's coming at us here in Israel into our homes and trying to kill us. But seeing what's happening around the world shows, I think, that it could happen anywhere tomorrow.

WATT: Very quickly, I just have one final question. What are your thoughts on Iran's position here and the potential for this to be a war that spreads beyond the borders of Gaza?

KATZ: Iran wants this chaos. Iran wants this anarchy. This is what they've worked for all these years. They've created these proxies that Israel's now fighting against, Hamas in the south, Hezbollah in the north, the Houthis who are firing drones as well as missiles at Israel to the south from Yemen. They've done all this because they want to get -- they want to weaken Israel, they want to weaken the West, and they want to pursue a nuclear weapon.

And right now, what we have to ensure as a world is that Iran does not get immunity for what is happening, right? We can't just let this be a battle against the proxies. We have to send a clear message. We, as being not just Israel, the whole West, a message to Iran that they will not receive immunity, and we know that they are responsible for all this chaos and death and violence in the Middle East.

WATT: Yaakov Katz, joining us from Jerusalem. Thank you very much for your time.

KATZ: Thank you.

WATT: The U.S. is moving more forces to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea amid the clashes between Israel and Hezbollah and Hamas. U.S. officials tell CNN a Marine Rapid Response Force aboard this amphibious assault ship, the USS Bataan, is heading toward the area. While it doesn't have a specific mission right now, one of the forces' tasks is to conduct civilian evacuations.

Widespread pro-Palestinian and Hezbollah rallies have erupted in Lebanon in recent days, and Hezbollah has been trading rocket and artillery fire with Israel across Israel's northern border. U.S. officials say they want to be ready should they need to evacuate American citizens.

Still ahead, Matthew Perry's family releases a statement in the wake of his death. We will have the latest on the investigation and the actor's untimely passing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:15:00]

WATT: The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner is releasing the remains of actor Matthew Perry to his next of kin, even as the agency continues to investigate the cause of death. The star was found unresponsive in the jacuzzi at his -- excuse me -- at his Los Angeles home, an apparent drowning. He was 54. CNN's Camila Bernal has more. CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Los Angeles Police Department

is investigating his death, but a source telling CNN that no foul play is suspected here. The 911 call came in at 4:07 p.m. on Saturday as a water rescue emergency. At 4:10 p.m., LAPD responded and characterized it as a death investigation. The "Los Angeles Times" reporting that he was found unresponsive in his hot tub inciting law enforcement sources, but no official cause of death has been released.

His body is now with the L.A. County Medical Examiner's Office and an autopsy is pending, but normally a complete autopsy and toxicology report takes several weeks. Now, Perry's family released a statement to "People" magazine saying they are heartbroken by the tragic loss of a beloved son and brother. They went on to say that he brought joy to the world as an actor and also as a friend.

Matthew Perry wanted to be remembered as someone who helped people and it's part of the reason why he shared his addiction struggles in his memoir that was released in November of 2022. He said he wanted to help people individually or as a group and shared this in many interviews that he done. He also said that he wanted to be remembered as someone who lived well and someone who loved well, someone who was a seeker.

But many of course remember him by his acting career. He started with small roles and then landed more prominent roles, but it was really his role as Chandler that made him famous. It was that funny, very sarcastic character that many are remembering today. The cast of "Friends," very close on and off the screen, and many here in Hollywood remembering him and reacting, saying they are devastated, that they are heartbroken, and that they are in shock, and many saying this is a big loss for Hollywood, but also for his fans. Camila Bernal, CNN, Los Angeles.

[02:20:01]

WATT: Emily Longeretta is a senior TV features editor for Variety and she joins me now. Emily, let's start with just his acting skill. I mean, he was obviously a comedic actor, but a very, very good one.

EMILY LONGERETTA, SENIOR TV FEATURES EDITOR, VARIETY: You absolutely hit it right on the head there in very good comedic actor and dramatic actor I think a lot of people you know my might overshadow, might not realize that how good he was at the drama staff, but if you take a look closer at some of the episodes -- some specific episodes of "Friends" but also episodes of the "West Wing" and he was -- and he really, really could also add that into the drama.

But yes, most known for bringing that comedy of course in "Friends" to the character of Chandler Bing and really making that character into most people, a lot of people's favorite character who really welcomed into their living rooms week after week and still do now, decades after the show is over.

WATT: I mean, he was Chandler Bing. I mean, I was reading something this morning suggesting that basically it wasn't much of a stretch for him to inhabit that character. And when people read the scripts, they were like, it's almost like it's been written for him. I mean, he just filled that persona perfectly.

LONGERETTA: One hundred percent he brought that sarcasm and charm to it where it was just the perfect amount of that. It could -- it wasn't, you know, it never was mean but it was never boring. It was somewhere in the middle that he, only Matthew Perry can bring to that and that's something that the "Friends" creator said when they spoke out about how much he really did create that because there is only so much on the page and he created the cadence that we hear in that voice.

I mean anytime you here a Chandler Bing quote you can immediately here Matthew Perry saying it in your head and that's because of what he brought to that and his comedic timing that worked just so magically on screen.

WATT: I have to come clean. I really don't like "Friends." I never liked "Friends." I would rather watch paint dry, but, you know, he wasn't just about "Friends." There was also a real personal struggle that was very relatable and a struggle that he tried to use to help others. Tell us a little bit about that, about his off TV life and what he went through.

LONGERETTA: Yeah, he has been through so, so much and really became, you know, an open book, pun intended there, when he wrote his memoir last year about his intense use of drugs and abuse of alcohol through the years. he admitted that over the 10 seasons of "Friends" he was only sober from one of those seasons which was season nine the one that he was nominated for an Emmy for and that some of the most pivotal moments on screen he was living in a sober home and was being driven to and from set in between those times.

He talked about many times he was in the hospital multiple surgeries millions of dollars he had been spending on drug use in the extreme methods he would go to obtain drugs and that he was given a 2 percent chance to live at one point, and his family was told that. And you know, he's so heartbroken that he put his family through that, but really said in his memoir that, you know, as much as people talk about "Friends" and they talk about these amazing shows, that when he does die, he wants people to remember him as someone who loved and someone who really was able to reach out a hand and help someone else and hope --

WATT: (Inaudible).

LONGERETTA: And that's why he wanted to write that book, with hopes that he could help at least just one person.

WATT: And very quickly, I may be wrong, but I don't believe we've heard from any of his friends' co-stars. I mean, we saw them all together in that reunion, whenever that was, a year or two ago. We haven't heard anything from them since his passing. Is that odd?

LONGERETTA: That is correct. The creators have spoken out, but not the main five other cast members. Some of the supporting cast members have spoken out and, you know, of course, sent their love, but nothing from the five of them yet. WATT: Emily Longeretta in Los Angeles, we thank you very much for

your time.

Still ahead, the Israeli military says it struck more Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Why the skirmishes are sparking fears of a wider regional conflict.

Plus, you'll hear from some ultra-orthodox Jews who have changed their opinion on Israel's mandatory military service. They are now rushing to enlist for the first time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:25:00]

WATT: Returning now to our top story. Israeli officials said Sunday that ramped-up operations in Gaza that began this weekend will continue to intensify. Israeli troops have advanced some three kilometers into Gaza, according to a CNN analysis of video published by an Israeli media outlet.

Also Sunday, Israel's military said it was increasing the urgency of their calls for people in northern Gaza to flee south. Humanitarian groups have criticized that demand, citing the difficulty of moving within Gaza while it is under attack. Israel says its fighter jets struck Hezbollah military infrastructure in southern Lebanon on Sunday in response to shelling towards northern Israel.

It comes as the war in Gaza has raised concerns of a wider conflict in the region. Here's CNN's Ben Wedeman with more.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The border between Lebanon and Israel remains tense as Hezbollah fired missiles into Israel, and Israel responded with air and artillery strikes. Since the 8th of October, the day after Hamas' surprise attack, Hezbollah has fired into Israel on a daily basis, with other groups including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad also launching salvos of rockets or trying to infiltrate across the border.

[02:30:00]

And Israel as hit back targeting, among other things, it says Hezbollah infrastructure. Hezbollah concedes that almost 50 of its fighters have been killed in these skirmishes.

Several Lebanese civilians have also been killed. According to the International Organization for Migration, around 29,000 civilians have fled communities along the border to safer ground further north. The continued skirmishes on the border are feeding fears that conflict in Gaza could spark a broader regional conflict.

Friday, the U.S. Embassy advised all U.S. citizens to leave Lebanon. Now, while commercial flights are still available, the U.S. just the latest country to urge their nationals to leave while they still can. A hint of where Hezbollah sees this constantly going may come this Friday when the group's charismatic. But reclusive leader Hassan Nasrallah silent until now is scheduled to make a speech. I'm Ben Wedeman CNN reporting from Beirut.

WATT: And Qatar's Prime Minister says he spoke with Iran's Foreign Minister by phone Sunday to discuss the Israel-Hamas war and stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire in the conflict. In a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said the risk of violence spilling over into other regions would have, "dire consequences".

Ultra-orthodox Jewish men who traditionally do not serve in the IDF arguing that studying the Torah is their service to the safety of Israel, but now, some are volunteering for duty after the October 7 Hamas terror attacks. Here's CNN's Sara Sidner.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR U.S. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Moti Leitner reads the Torah at least an hour every day. His family as one of the 1.2 million ultra-orthodox Jews or Hasidim, who live here in Israel, for decades, many in his community have fought against Israel's mandatory military service for every Jewish Israeli man and woman as soon as they turn 18.

This year, the ultra-orthodox tried to get a law passed to exempt them from having to enlist a major source of friction in Israeli society when, October 7th happened.

SIDNER: Have you ever fired a weapon, picked up a weapon before?

MOTI LEITNER, IDF ENLISTER: No. I've never held a gun, something like this.

SIDNER (voice-over): That is about to change.

LEITNER: The few days I will go to the Israeli army.

SIDNER (voice-over): Leitner enlisted after the murderous attack by Hamas on men, women and children in Israel.

SIDNER (voice-over): It completely shook us, broke all conceptions, he says. We thought we had the privilege to stand at the side and not be part of and now we realize it's just not sustainable. He says most of the ultra-orthodox here believe their jobs are to keep the Jewish religion alive and well spending their days studying the Torah.

The Israeli military reported between 2019 and 2021. Only about 1200 or so ultra-orthodox Jews were conscripted annually. That's out of 12,000 potential applicants. Why did the Hasidism, the ultra-orthodox not want to serve in the army?

The ultra-orthodox people in Israel have an ethos according to which studying Torah gives the nation a metaphysical layer of defense, he says. But he says he cannot see how that is enough now, and he says he knows many other Hasidim feel the same.

LEITNER: I personally sat in my living room and just cried for a day. We can't just go on with our daily lives. We said never again after the Holocaust and if we want to be able to say that again to next generations and promise our children a sustainable future. We have to solve this issue.

SIDNER: In Hebrew, this sign says together we will win. It's very rare to see this kind of nationalistic language in ultra-orthodox neighborhoods like this one in Israel. You're also seeing a lot of Israeli flags plastered all over the place. That just doesn't really happen during normal times. It gives you some sense that opinions among the ultra-orthodox have changed.

SIDNER (voice-over): Leitner's wife's opinion has certainly changed but she does worry about one thing.

AYALI LEITNER, WIFE OF IDF ENLISTER: I worry more if we don't know how to hold the weapon. And I also want to know how to I want to license for a gun also. You know we are not in Switzerland.

[02:35:00]

SIDNER (voice-over): There is one more difficult thing he has to do with his family before he goes to serve. Tell his children Yehuda, Elizabeth and Abigail, 9, 7 and 6 years old. They play oblivious to the changes they are about to experience at home due to war. Sara Sidner, CNN, Bet Shemesh, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: Still ahead, Mike Pence is out and Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail. We'll look at what he's saying about his rivals inside and outside the party.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATT: Former President Donald Trump is lashing out about a gag order just reinstated by the judge presiding in the federal case over Trump's alleged attempts to overthrow the 2020 presidential election. Sunday, Trump posted on his online platform truth social, claiming his right to free speech was being infringed and claiming the gag order is not constitutional.

Trump also blamed the Biden administration for this latest ruling by the judge. The gag order was first issued earlier this month, Trump appealed the order was posed. Prosecutors had warned that Trump could intimidate witnesses through his public comments and encourage harm to prosecutors.

The Former President also stepped back onto the campaign trail. This weekend Trump hit the stage at an event in Sioux City, Iowa. Now he did not mention his Former Vice President Mike Pence dropping out in the race but he did take aim at his Republican rivals Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley.

[02:40:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, 45TH U.S. PRESIDENT: It's like a wounded bird falling from the sky. Oh, there he is Ron DeSanctimonious he's falling, falling beautifully from the sky. Its beautiful thing to watch, because I got him elected, because anybody knows who Bird Brain is, he said, you can never.

I will never run against top President. He's one of the greatest Presidents we've ever had. I will not run against our President under any circumstances.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: Earlier I asked Loyola University Law Professor and Political Commentator Jessica Levinson, about the Republican candidates trying to break Trump's hold on the party and why they all seem to be struggling.

JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR OF LAW AT LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: People know him the base continues to like him. And I don't think any of his rivals have been able to make the case for why they would be better. And you saw that struggle with Mike Pence, where he was trying to thread this needle of on the one sense kind of running away from the Former President.

But by the same token, try not to alienate his voters. And I think that's exactly the same challenge that Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis have had too, which is they want those voters, but they want to tell those voters why they're better than Trump and those voters are pretty comfortable with Trump.

WATT: You know, he didn't even mention Pence, because Pence is irrelevant to him. Now Trump tends to kind of mock people who might have some sort of impact on him, mocks DeSantis, the sanctimonious stuff. We also saw him on Saturday, doing a sort of weird impersonation of President Biden as a kind of doddering old man who doesn't know where he's going when he tries to get off stage.

Is that going to be a continued theme for Trump that he will really attack Biden? Is that something that his base responds too? Or do they just want Trump the show?

LEVINSON: I think both. So this is something that Trump has done and will continue to do. And we saw this in the 2016 election, and that he made fun of disabled people. He made fun of military veterans of Gold Star families. He mocks people with various types of disabilities.

And this is a continuation of that theme. He also mocks people who don't have disabilities, but he's trying to claim that they do. Now, will this help? I think, again, he is a known quantity, and the polling indicates that the base is very much behind him. Does it help him to target Joe Biden as opposed to his rivals?

Absolutely, because it makes it look like this is a fait accompli that he is going to be in the general election against Joe Biden. And he really doesn't need to bother with those other rivals even though we do see he is mentioning them in a way not taking for granted that he'll win the primary, but by the same token keeping his eyes on the general.

WATT: Now to the aftermath of that recent mass shooting in Maine. Troubling new details shared with CNN reveal. Authorities were warned about the gunman weeks before his rampage that left 18 dead. Police tried to conduct a welfare check on Robert Card after concerns that he would "snap and commit a mass shooting".

The shooter had a history of mental health issues and violence and his family and the Maine National Guard shared disturbing details with law enforcement. Police in Tampa, Florida say a suspect is in custody after 2 people were killed and 16 others injured in the shooting early Sunday.

Hundreds of people were leaving bars and nightclubs when the gunfire erupted. Police say the shooting started after a fight broke out between two groups of people. They say the youngest victim was only 14 years old. Investigators found 2 handguns at the scene and are trying to figure out if other shooters were involved.

At least 13 people are dead and 50 are injured after two trains collided in Southeast India on Sunday. That's what police officials tell CNN. A railway official says one of the trains stopped after an overhead cable broke and an oncoming train slammed into that stop train derailing at least two of its carriages.

India's Railway Minister says the early indications are that human error was to blame. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his condolences in a message on X. Next on CNN "Newsroom", returning to a place they barely escaped alive.

[02:45:00]

CNN joins 2 of the survivors of the attack on the Nova festival in Israel as they return to the scene of the massacre.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WATT: Three weeks after Hamas launched an attack on an Israeli music festival that killed at least 260 people. 2 of the survivors returned to the site and retrace their steps from that tragic day. CNN's Jake Tapper reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is an uneasy journey back to a place you barely escaped from alive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know how I feel.

TAPPER (voice-over): To a place where so many others did not.

SHYE WEINSTEIN, NOVA FESTIVAL SURVIVOR: I don't believe I traveled here after almost three weeks.

TAPPER (voice-over): This is the first time Shye Weinstein.

WEINSTEIN: It's so hard to tell where everything was when it's not standing.

TAPPER (voice-over): And Dor Kapah.

DOR KAPAH, NOVA FESTIVAL ATTACK SURVIVOR: I was over there something like that.

TAPPER (voice-over): Have been back to the site of the Nova music festival.

[02:50:00]

Since 260 people were slaughtered here on October 7. It was an overnight party to celebrate peace and easy place to make new friends. Shye was taking photos with his vintage camera.

WEINSTEIN: And I remember I saw your white jacket. I'm like, oh, he looks like a cool guy. And I tapped on your shoulder.

KAPAH: Around 3:30, 4 in the morning it was.

WEINSTEIN: Yes.

TAPPER (voice-over): The next memory is more permanent.

TAPPER: It started right at 6:27, 6:28.

KAPAH: 6:28 yes, but I saw I didn't 6:29.

TAPPER (voice-over): And that's when they say the terrorist attack began with rockets.

WEINSTEIN: You know 1 rocket, 2 rockets 3, 4, 5 makes me nervous. But these rockets weren't stopping.

KAPAH: And I saw from there, all the missiles flying like hundreds to this side, the other side. And all the sky became to be fireworks.

WEINSTEIN: So between 6:30 and 7:30, 7:45, we were here packing up deliberating whether or not we should leave or we should wait for the Iron Dome or what.

TAPPER (voice-over): And then came, the sound of gunshots.

KAPAH: We heard so far wage guns like I know what they said in English.

TAPPER: Machine guns.

KAPAH: Machine guns like -- we heard it.

WEINSTEIN: Gunfire, like really fast -- and nothing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're driving.

WEINSTEIN: I'm absolutely OK to drive.

TAPPER (voice-over): Shye and his friends began to flee along with so many others.

KAPAH: Security passes through all the areas sitting and all the area with the people and said like evacuate immediately, evacuate immediately. And I stay inside because my entire weapon was here with bag and we wait over here. And then they start coming from over there. And as such start shooting everyone in this area that comes from this stage. It was here a bar here it was a small stage and friends of my brother -- down of this shot.

TAPPER: They were shot over there?

KAPAH: They hide downstairs and got shot over there they found in like four days, five days after it.

WEINSTEIN: All of us, here collective gunfire from all around not one specific place. And they're like we have to go now.

TAPPER (voice-over): As both men made their escapes, they saw the atrocities the terrorists had already committed. Scenes many survivors later shared for the world to bear witness.

WEINSTEIN: More cars on the side of the road, belongings all over the cars open. And there are bodies from left to right in the middle of the road that we have to go around. And the bodies are like, face down in their blood. Eventually we pass them cars. And there's a car facing us on our side of the road facing the -- silver car.

And I remember looking into it and I see the driver slumped back in his seat and he has a hole in his face. And this is like if we were faster, we would be dead. If we were slower, we might be dead.

TAPPER: You're driving through trees?

KAPAH: Through trees inside roads and we found IDF car, bulletproof and it was switched on. And it was half broking from the front. It's not what soldier over there. But we found a gun with M 16. You see the bathroom?

TAPPER: Yes.

KAPAH: Over there we hide.

TAPPER (voice-over): Dor would later hide a kibbutz Be'eri, or more than 120 residents were murdered.

KAPAH: We'll open this door because you don't have any lock over here. You can see no lock and no key. So hold it here. And I was in this position all the time, for six hours.

TAPPER (voice-over): Dor pulled this bloody knife off a dead body just to give himself and his friends some hope of survival.

WEINSTEIN: This is awful. It's awful is not even a good enough word to describe it. There's no word. There's no word in the vocabulary that can describe how heinous what happened here was?

TAPPER (voice-over): And later they would learn the fate of those who had stood right next to them just hours before.

WEINSTEIN: I remember as we're packing up an older guy. His name was Ron Schaeffer. And he was cool as a cucumber. He's like, in a hammock just talking to us as we're figuring out whether we should go totally relaxed, not anxious, not sweating, nothing. And he spoke to me spoke to my cousin.

I took a photo of them together. He really great guy and only later in the week after the festival did I learn because I'm trying to find people I get home from the festival Saturday, Sunday Monday. I start looking for people I post on social media, post on Facebook, I post on Instagram like, I post all my photos I get -- .

[02:55:00]

Do you know these people do you recognize them? They were first of all please put me in contact with them or their families I want to know what happened to them because I'm terrified like I now have 106 or someone photos of dead people who I just made friends with. I just connected with.

KAPAH: The lady from here, one she's to escape, one she's in Gaza right now. I know.

TAPPER: Is she kidnapped?

KAPAH: Kidnapped. Yes. And the ladies from here we can which one of them she succeeds also to run and the other one -- she's died they killed her. Yes, I buried like 40, 50 people.

TAPPER: You buried 40 or 50 friends?

KAPAH: Yes.

TAPPER: What do you think about coming back here? Was this a good idea? Or was it a bad idea?

WEINSTEIN: It helps me in a way that I can see what we went through. And that we survived and we got out. You know, my friends are all alive. Thank God. We all escaped together.

TAPPER (voice-over): Jake Tapper, CNN, Re'im, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATT: Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people turned out in cities across Europe this weekend to demonstrate against the war and show their support for the Palestinian people in Gaza. In Rome, Marchers carrying the Palestinian flag rallied near the Coliseum in Berlin. Protesters filled the streets demanding a ceasefire in the conflict.

London, so it's third straight weekend of protests. Marches, they're criticizing the Sunak government's stance on the war. It has opposed, it has stopped short of calling for a formal ceasefire. The Prime Minister says he is in favor of specific pauses to allow more aid to get in to Gaza. That wraps this hour of our coverage. I'm Nick Watt CNN "Newsroom" with Bianca Nobilo begins right after a short break. Stay with us.

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