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Hundreds Of Foreign Nationals Allowed Out Of Gaza; Jabalia Camp Hit By Second IDF Airstrike In Two Days; Herzog: We Have To Reject Racism, Hatred; Hundreds Of Foreign Nationals Allowed Out Of Gaza; Israel-Hamas War Sparks Protests And Fear On U.S. College Campuses; China Says A Final Goodbye To Former Premier Li Keqiang. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 02, 2023 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:33]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and a very warm welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world as we continue our coverage of Israel at war.

I'm Paula Newton. It is 2:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, 8:00 a.m. in Gaza where we're waiting to see if more foreign nationals are able to cross the border into Egypt. Now for the first time since the war began, the Rafah border crossing opened Wednesday to several 100 foreign nationals, including aid workers, who had been stuck at the border. The U.S. State Department believes about 1000 Americans and their families are still in Gaza and trying to leave. Here's U.S. President Joe Biden.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're in a situation where safe passage for wounded Palestinians and foreign nationals to exit Gaza has started. American citizens are able to exit today as part of the first group of probably over thousand. We'll see more of this process going on in the coming days. Working nonstop to get Americans out of Gaza as soon as safely as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now the agreement brokered by Qatar also called for dozens of wounded Palestinians to be evacuated to Egypt for immediate medical attention. The deal did not include wounded Hamas fighters. Now, for the second time in as many days, Israel hit the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza with a devastating airstrike. Local hospital officials say at least 80 people were killed.

The U.N. Human Rights Office said the scale of devastation and high civilian casualties, "could amount to war crimes." The IDF says a Hamas command center was the target.

CNN's Clare Sebastian is covering all of this for us from London. Good to see you, Clare. And I want to turn to that situation at the border. Again, we are awaiting to see if at this hour we see any more people being able to cross into Egypt. Is there an indication that that may happen?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is certainly the expectation, Paula. The U.S. has said that it expects to see more people certainly when it comes to foreign U.S. in particular passport holders leave in the next several days. We know from sources in Qatar that the deal that was brokered encompasses everyone, as we understand it that holds foreign passports that is in Gaza and wants to leave.

So, the expectation is that they will very slowly be allowed out. Slow being the operative word because we know from the U.S. Secretary Blinken say that Americans and their families' number around 1000. That's third country nationals number around 5000. So, the 361, who were allowed to leave on Wednesday is a small number of that. It is though a fluid situation. Case in point, we weren't actually expecting any Americans to be allowed to leave on Wednesday, a couple were allowed.

It is also very cumbersome. It was very cumbersome and bureaucratic, even before this conflict to get through the Rafah border crossing. You need permits from each side. It could take weeks to get them and we know that it is even more so now because Egypt is vetting everyone who goes through the backdrop to this as, of course, the Egyptian fear that they could end up being inundated by a flood of Palestinian refugees coming in to the Sinai Peninsula.

So, a very tightly controlled process and separate, of course, from the ongoing Qatar brokered negotiations to get those more than 200 hostages out of the Gaza Strip. We know now very clearly that the U.S. and potentially others believe that this process is being complicated by the accelerating Israeli ground and air offense if President Biden at that fundraiser that you just showed him out on Wednesday was interrupted by a protester asking him about a ceasefire and did say that he supported a pause in Gaza "to get those prisoners out."

There is no sign at the moment than any kind of pause is happening quite the opposite. We are hearing more explosions overnight over Gaza City. Paula?

NEWTON: Clare Sebastian, thanks so much for the update. Appreciate it. Now the full scope of the devastation at the Jabalia refugee camp remains unclear after those two Israeli airstrikes. CNN's Nada Bashir has more now reporting from Jerusalem.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL REPORTER (voiceover): Chaos and horror at Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp. Wounded children rushed to nearby ambulances. The latest casualties of Israel's relentless aerial bombardment. This densely populated neighborhood gripped by panic and sheer disbelief. A second Israeli airstrike in less than 24 hours.

[02:05:01]

I lost my whole family, Abdul Kareem (ph) says. Holding a list of those killed just today. My sister's house was struck with her children inside. My brother's house too, with all of his children. There is no one left except for me and my younger brother. They were innocent. What did they do to deserve this? Israel's defense force says it was targeting a Hamas command and control complex in Jabalia.

Hamas fighters said to be among those killed but Jabalia is home to more than 100,000 civilians according to the U.N. And while the full extent of the civilian death toll remains unclear at this stage, Gaza Civil Defense authority has described this latest disaster as a massacre, with more casualties and more fatalities added to the list of hundreds said to have been killed or wounded on Tuesday's airstrike.

This situation is beyond belief. Many have been killed, bodies have been burned and charged by the airstrike, this doctor says. There isn't a hospital in the world that could cope with this kind of situation. We're having to treat patients on the floor and in corridors. The scale of the destruction at Jabalia is difficult to grasp. Many residents are still buried beneath the black and rubble.

Rescue workers and civilians dig side by side. Desperate to find survivors. This house had 15 people in it, we still haven't been able to find any of them, Hassan Akhmad (ph) says. We have no equipment, we are digging alone.

Northern Gaza continues to come under heavy bombardment. Its residents warned by Israel to evacuate southwards. But airstrikes continue to rain down across both central and southern Gaza too. And for the more than two million Palestinians living under an Israeli blockade, the fear is that there is nowhere safe to turn.

Nada Bashir, CNN in Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: And meantime, Israeli forces are defending the strikes as key to the war against Hamas and they're also claiming progress in their ground offensive. One IDF commander now says the Israeli military is "at the gates of Gaza City." And an IDF spokesperson says the military has breached Hamas' defensive frontline in northern Gaza and is expanding its fighting. Israeli forces both troops and tanks are now advancing toward Gaza City from several directions just days after launching their ground offensive.

The IDF has also released this video. See it there. Showing Israeli Navy missile boats arriving in the area of the Red Sea. Now on Tuesday, the Israeli military said it stopped an attempted drone and missile attack in that area. The Iranian -- the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have claimed responsibility for that attempt.

Ayelet Shaked has served both as Israel's Minister of the Interior and Minister of Justice. And she joins us now from Tel Aviv. I really appreciate you joining us to give us more insight into that ground operation. And I want to ask you first up, what convinces you that this ground invasion is something that is necessary given not just obviously all the civilian casualties, but the price that will be paid by soldiers -- IDF soldiers killed and injured?

AYELET SHAKED, FORMER ISRAELI MINISTER OF INTERIOR: Just don't have a choice, you know, Hamas launched a barbaric genocidal attack on Israel. They murdered and slaughtered our babies, our children. They kidnapped small babies, small -- little girls, women and, you know, just realize that it either us or them. We must eliminate them. And in order to eliminate them we need -- unfortunately to have a ground assault.

NEWTON: In terms of an (INAUDIBLE) then though, that kind of binary approach, some people are already saying will not help in terms of what happens after the war when Israel wants peace. I want you to listen now, though, to Israel's President Isaac Herzog and what he said in the speech on Wednesday. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ISAAC HERZOG, PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL (through translator): The enemy six to kindle hatred between us, between Jewish citizens and Arab citizens. We have to fight back against this without compromise, and single mindedly, we have to reject every urge toward hatred and racism toward different groups among us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: And I asked you again, given the spirit in which the President delivered that address, is this really about us and them?

SHAKED: I guess there's no other choice. Once we realized the horrible atrocities they did, you know, they murdered small babies in their bed, they cut out off with access limbs -- children's lives. Horrible things.

[02:10:05]

And they can't (INAUDIBLE) you know, there's like -- people are talking about the Hamas and the people. Well, the population in Gaza support the Hamas. So, you know, they can push them to surrender and then to prevent a bloodshed. But as long -- as long as they are there, we can't give up. You know, it's like we tried for many years to live next to each other. But after the horrible terror attack, we can't do it anymore.

So, from our perspective, all the Hamas leadership from the leaders until the last soldiers, they're all dead men walking.

NEWTON: We spoke -- we spoke to people who had been actually doing a survey just before the war broke out. And it is not true that all Palestinians support Hamas. In fact, the vast majority do not. But again, if they are not going anywhere.

SHAKED: No. Just a second, it's not true -- just a second, it's not true. I didn't say that all, but the majority in Gaza support the Hamas.

(CROSSTALK) NEWTON: And they found exactly the --

(CROSSTALK)

NEWTON: I want -- I don't want to get into that kind of a debate. I do want to talk to you about obviously, the work you've been involved in in the last few years. And that is Israeli politics. And those internal divisions giving the proposed judicial reforms were arguably at their worst, right? When Hamas so brutally carried out its terror attacks. You know, can Israel afford? Some would say any needless division now going forward because we have already seen some division in the last few days.

SHAKED: You know, because of those -- this attack, I think that the Israelis today, we are all united. We united and understand that we need to eliminate the Hamas. Now, you know there are differences in the society in Israel, but at war, you see that we are all together. It doesn't matter if you're left or right, secular or orthodox, we fight together. Unfortunately, we died together. And, you know, after this war is well -- will not be the same.

You know, it's something in the history of the Jewish people. This Black Saturday is, you know, it's the day in which the most Jews were murdered since the Holocaust. So, it definitely will change things as well. And I hope that after the war will -- we will be more united.

NEWTON: All right. Ayelet Shaked, I really thank you for joining us. Appreciate it.

Still to come for us. Families are forced to endure unimaginable loss as the war in the Middle East rages on. We speak with a woman whose family has lost dozens of relatives to the obstruction in Gaza.

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[02:16:44]

NEWTON: The news that hundreds of foreign nationals were finally allowed to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing comes just a day after Hamas claimed that they would release some hostages who were foreign nationals. But 240 people are believed to have been kidnapped and taken into Gaza. One of them is a 23-year-old Israeli-American named Hersh Goldberg Polin. He was attending the Nova Music Festival when Hamas attacked on October 7th.

It was last seen being loaded into the back of a pickup truck and is presumed to be in Gaza. His parents spoke with CNN's Anderson Cooper Wednesday from Jerusalem about how they've gotten through the past 26 days not knowing their son's condition, or where he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL GOLDBERG, SON ABDUCTED BY HAMAS: It's a different dimension, it's a different type of time. It's really -- it's indescribable. The days seem -- on the one hand, they seem super-duper long. And then when we look back and think of everything that we've done in a day, because we're constantly, you know, throwing darts in every direction and trying every angle or strategy that we can think of and talking to everyone we can. And --

JON POLIN, SON ABDUCTED BY HAMAS: I want to -- I want to add that I'm an entrepreneur. I'm used to working with a plan, the daily plan. And either we hit the plan and we fall behind or we get ahead but there are milestones and we know how we're doing. Part of the torture of these 26 days is we work all day every day around the clock. And still when we lay our heads on the pillow for a few hours at night, I don't know if we've advanced the project.

The project of bring home personal hostages. There's no way to know if we are pushing this ball forward towards the goal, it's one element of the frustration in the extra days just blend together.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: When I talked to you in Jerusalem, you had made contact with several people who had been in that -- in that bomb shelter with Hersch where Hamas was tossing grenades and were -- I think as many as 17 or 18 people died in that -- in that shelter. A number of survived, you had talked to I think three of them. Have you been able to talk to anybody else? Have you gained any more -- did anybody else have any interaction with her?

J. POLIN: It's interesting timing on that question because first of all, we visit regularly with our friends Moshe and Shira (ph) parents of Anair (ph) who was first is very close friend who was killed in the bomb shelter.

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Who tossed back the -- I mean, according to eyewitnesses who told me --

(CROSSTALK)

J. POLIN: Some act of heroism.

COOPER: Yes.

J. POLIN: It just become more and more clear as time goes on. We were visiting with him yesterday and three of the survivors of the bomb shelter came over to meet Anair's parents and basically to thank them on behalf of Anair for saving their lives. We were there for the meeting. And it was -- as you can imagine, quite emotional. And then there are thousands and thousands of stories of the day October 7th and how people experienced it.

Not interwoven but I was at a meeting last night and I walked out and some young woman came over to me and introduced herself and said my best friend was in the shelter with your son and she was killed.

[02:20:14]

I want you to know that I'm so following this story and so pulling for her. I need people to just survive from that bomb shelter. It's just these inner woven stories that keep on happening from that one bomb shelter of 29 people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, you'll notice there, right? The 26 bags that Rachel Goldberg was wearing. She says she plans to wear a badge with a number of days the hostages are held captive until they are brought home.

Now a family of Palestinian-Americans is mourning the death of dozens of relatives half a world away. The people shown in this picture are just some of the 42 members of the family. The family says were killed in a single day amid Israel's war on Hamas. Mona Abu Shaban is directly related to eight of them. But the pain of those losses has driven her to act. She recently spent time in Washington lobbying for a ceasefire in the Middle East and says it doesn't matter if one is Israeli or Palestinian. Everyone is terrified for their loved ones in the region.

Mona Abu Shaban joins me now from Ohio. And I want to thank you for your time, especially given how difficult the circumstances are right now. And Mona. Firstly, I was looking at some of the family pictures, all of this must be truly soul crushing. How is your family doing, especially as you continue to see that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is still so horrendous?

MONA ABU SHABAN, RELATIVES KILLED IN GAZA: It's very difficult actually with my dad trying to reach out to the rest of the family that's still there trying to survive. Trying to cope with the loss. And just really trying to make sure, you know, who still there has everything that they need, even though it's very difficult for them right now.

NEWTON: What more do you know about how your family members died? What they went through? Did they have any warning? I mean, what details have you been able to gather?

SHABAN: I know that my uncle was seeking shelter with his daughter and her in laws in a different part of the city because they were told to evacuate their home and their area because their area was going to be bombarded. So, they reached out to their daughter and their in laws and they all decided to meet at the family complex. That's a little bit further away. And I know that they were all together, you know, several family members with their wives and their children and grandchildren.

But I don't think they had any warning from where they were that their complex was going to be bombed. Their previous home where they were at before they were told to evacuate. So, they assumed that they were going to be safe. They told them, you know, leave this is where we're going to bomb. So, they went to a safe area, safe house, basically. And they didn't have any warning.

NEWTON: Now Mona, earlier, we covered a survey from the Arab barometer, you know, talking about how the people of Gaza really didn't, you know, support Hamas. And that was in the majority opinion. You know, people in Israel, of course, are suffering, given everything they've gone through. I mean, do you think there's any way at this point in time where you can get to a point where people will come back from the brink on either side?

SHABAN: I mean, I think that Israel needs to stop their bombardment of the citizens. I think that they need to take a step back, actually several steps back. They need to lift the blockade. They need to give free range of motion to all of the Palestinians. I mean, it's not just happening in Gaza. They say it's happening there. But it's not. I mean, if you look at the West Bank, and what's going on right now, in the West thing, settlers are going in kicking the Palestinians out of their homes, telling them, you know, we're going to have another knock that if you don't -- if you don't leave.

They're giving them 24 hours to vacate their home. So, it's not a Hamas issue. It's not a Palestinian issue. Only it's a humanitarian issue. You can't have peace, you know, with all of that going on and speak from one side and say, you know, we're looking for resolution, but on the other hand, you're letting your settlers in the IDF completely destroy. The lives of the Palestinians who have been there for years and years and years.

So, this is not a one-off type thing. You know, we can't just say, OK, we're going to stop bombing and then it's over. You have to give them, you know, their dignity, you have to give the Palestinians a place to call home. You can't just keep displacing them over and over and over again.

NEWTON: To the end of trying to get to some kind of -- again, pulling away from the brink. I mean, did you think a good start would be getting the release of all of those Israeli hostages?

SHABAN: I think the Israeli hostages need to be released and I also think that all of the hostages and the false imprisoned Palestinians need to be released.

[02:25:05]

I think everybody has the right to freedom and I think everybody is terrified for their loved ones, whether they're Israeli or Palestinian. So, on both ends, I think that all of -- the people need to be released to their -- to their loved ones because we're all worried about everybody. So -- I mean, I feel just horrible for their families. And I'm pretty sure, you know, some of them feel horrible for our families. It's not a very, you know, one sided issue. We all feel with them.

NEWTON: Mona, we feel for you as you continue to go through what must be absolute hell for you and your entire family as you try and reach out to those loved ones in Gaza. Mona Abu Shaban, I really, thank you for spending some time with us.

SHABAN: Thank you. I appreciate your time.

NEWTON: Stil to come for us. An exclusive dispatch from CNN journalist Ibrahim Dahman in Gaza. An inside look at one refugee camp crammed with 20,000 people living off of canned food and without suitable drinking water.

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[02:30:02]

NEWTON: Those are live images at this hour at the Rafah Crossing from Gaza into Egypt, where a group of people have gathered, you can see them there, hoping to make it through again today.

Now, on Wednesday, we saw a brief opening of the gate, letting some Palestinians leave the enclave for the first time since Israel declared war on Hamas. Egyptian officials say at least 361 people with foreign passports left Gaza, the aid group, Doctors Without Borders says all 22 of its remaining staff in Gaza left, including a specialized medical team.

And ambulances from Egypt were able to take dozens of wounded Palestinians out. Egyptian officials say, at least, 45 injured people are now being treated in hospitals across the country. As Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza, there are countless civilians, aid workers and journalists caught in the crosshairs and unable to evacuate to safety, including our own CNN colleague, Ibraham Dahman, along with his wife who is pregnant and their two sons.

Ibraham brings us this report from the U.N. Refugee Camp in Khan Younis where he says there are more than 20,000 people crammed together, hungry, afraid and sleeping on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IBRAHIM DAHMAN, CNN PRODUCER: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan is a Pediatric Intensive Care and Humanitarian Doctor with MSF or Doctors Without Borders, and she joins us now from Amman, Jordan. Good to talk to you as we wait to see if more people are going to make it through the Rafah Crossing.

I mean, I want to ask you, especially now that you've had a little bit more contact with your colleagues. What are you hearing about the situation in the hospitals and clinics, given the events of the last few days. And I know, you know, you started Gaza Medic Voices to try and help give voice to some of the incredible things that so many are having to deal with right now.

TANYA HAJ-HASSAN, PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE & HUMANITARIAN DOCTOR, MSF: Yes, thank you for having me on this program, Paula. You know, every day, I feel like I am coming on the news, describing a catastrophic situation that I've never seen in my lifetime, and that I could never even imagine witnessing in my lifetime.

And then it somehow gets worse the following 24 hours, and my call gets more and more desperate. And I think that's true of every single humanitarian that I'm in communication with. Our hearts are burning. You know, this is an avalanche of human suffering, and it's 100 percent man-made. In terms of what we're seeing on the ground, and this is both in

communications with the Doctors Without Borders team, but also the colleagues that I've known over the last ten years going there teaching, all paint a picture for you.

You know, will take Al-Shifa Hospital for example, you know, there's tens of thousands of internally-displaced persons that are sheltering there right now for safety, with limited access to water, clean water, food, nowhere to sleep. They're sleeping in the corridors of the hospital. The physicians have been working for three weeks straight.

They're receiving mass casualties, scores of mass casualties all day and night. And these are injuries that myself as a critical care doctor who responds to level one trauma is normally in my job -- I struggle to look at pictures of or see videos or hear descriptions of -- you know, and I hope -- I think it's quite late in the United States, I'm hoping there are no children watching this program, and if they are, I would ask that you ask them to leave the room.

We're having children come in with the majority of their body and faces burnt. Some of their digits melted away. Limbs missing.

[02:35:00]

I mean, just catastrophic injuries. Just really horrifying injuries. And the doctors are left to treat them with limited pain control, running out of anesthetic drugs, too many patients requiring the operating room, so we're not able to get the patients in, in the speed that they need to go in. And not enough post-operative space to care for them.

We don't have enough antibiotics, we don't, to treat wound infections. We don't have enough dressings. And I want to give you sort of a picture of what that means for a child for example who's coming in with the majority of their body burnt. That is a very extremely exquisitely painful injury. And if you don't have adequate pain control for it, that child is going to suffer.

If you don't have advocate dressings, you cannot appropriately clean for those wounds so that they remain clean. And if you don't have appropriate anesthetics, every single time you do, the dressing changes, the child is going to wail in pain, and is going to experience levels of pain that are completely inhumane.

And I'm using the words of the doctors that are describing what they're having to do having being completely stripped of all the tools of modern medicine to take care of these horrific injuries. They are saying it is humane. It is unbearable. It is intolerable. And we feel like the entire world is watching us being massacred live on TV and they are silent to it. This has to stop.

We have lost over 130 health care providers, many of whom I've known personally. They have lost their families. They sit at work working 24/7 to care for patients while their families are being bombarded. Well, they're worrying about being bombarded themselves as they get these constant threats to evacuate the hospital or else be bombed. And they refuse to leave, because they have decided to stay with their patients. These are people like me. And their children -- you know, the majority of the victims obviously are civilians. And the vast majority are women and children. And I -- we keep listing these numbers, but they're not numbers. You know, 3,600 children, at least, that we've been able to count in the death toll, the rest are still trapped under the rubble so they can't be counted in those figures.

Over a 1,000 of them trapped under the rubble. You're talking approximately 5,000 children killed. It sounds like a number that we've become very desensitized to, but these are -- these are individuals with personalities and characters and favorite foods and dreams. And they're somebody's everything. You know, and I want to -- I want to appeal to the humanity of everybody listening to this program.

If you are a politician or an average Joe watching TV at home, use whatever power in your means to advocate for this to stop. And I'm begging you as an individual with loved ones who I care about and I can see the people in Gaza in my family as a physician, as a humanitarian and as a fellow human.

NEWTON: As a fellow human as you said. It is excruciating, I have to say, just to listen to you, and really, we have not shown a lot of the terrible video that we see coming out of Gaza, and we have seen it day after day after day. I want to ask you the issue of even a humanitarian pause, a lot of ceasefire has become so political.

I mean, have you or your organization found a way to get beyond that, because as you say, every child, every person who's been injured or suffering at this hour is somebody's everything.

HAJ-HASSAN: You know, a humanitarian pause, and I'll tell you how some of my colleagues have described it when I've asked them what they call for, they all call for a ceasefire. And when I -- and they said, you know, don't give us food and water then just bomb us again. So I think, you know, a humanitarian truce or a ceasefire is certainly what we're calling for. A stop. A stop rather than a pause to this indiscriminate bombardment and massacre.

And humanitarian aid is urgently needed. And that's everything from the pain killers and anesthetics that I just mentioned to the fuel that is needed to power the generators that are imminently going to stop running. When they stop running, that means no ventilators, no incubate -- no ventilators. Patients who are dependent on life- supporting therapies that require electricity -- die. It also means we cannot sanitize water.

This is already happening. We cannot desalinate water, so civilians are dehydrating or are drinking unsanitary water.

[02:40:00]

And I -- you know, the bombardment has been completely indiscriminate. You know, hospitals are never a target. Health facilities are never a target. And they are being -- and they are being targeted as our Mosques and Churches and schools where people are sheltering, and warehouses where materials are being kept, humanitarian aid is being kept.

Entire families have been wiped off the civil registry. There is an acronym that was coined in Gaza in the last three weeks, and it's been used way too frequently. And it's WCNSF, it stands for wounded child, no surviving family. And it is unfortunately an acronym that should not exist in the day -- in this day and age. And it should not exist in the world that I, and I hope every -- watching your program wants to live in.

NEWTON: Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, we have to leave it there, I wish you and especially your colleagues on the ground there in Gaza so much courage to continue because they and the people you treat will need it. Thank you so much.

HAJ-HASSAN: Thank you, Paula.

NEWTON: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: College campuses in the U.S. have long history of being beehives of political activism especially during times of conflict. CNN's Elle Reeve spoke to students at three American universities on how they feel about on-campus protests in the midst of the Israel- Hamas war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the river to the sea!

CROWD: From the river to the sea!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Palestine will be free!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am Palestinian, I have family in the Gaza. This has been an issue that's affected me in my entire life. Like I'm calling them and there's bombs in the background, they need to go somewhere safe.

ZOE BERNSTEIN, STUDENT, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: I have a lot of family and friends in Israel, just having so much hate thrown at, and so much misinformation as well that was going on just shared on campus and on social media has been challenging.

[02:45:00]

ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There's tension at hundreds of colleges across the U.S. At Tulane, a fight broke out after someone tried to burn an Israeli flag. At Harvard and Columbia, a Datsun truck showed up on campus, naming students who allegedly belong to organizations that released an anti-Israel statement.

EVE TROUTT POWELL, MIDDLE EAST HISTORY PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: I'm shocked at the temperature on campus. I could never have imagined it would be like this. There's a level of -- I don't want to say hatred, but anger and fear.

BENI ROMM, STUDENT, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: API(ph), the Jewish fraternity was hit with a graffiti attack of the Jews are Nazis earlier this weekend.

REEVE: CNN visited three campuses where the response to the war has had major consequences. University of Pennsylvania and Drexel, where students were part of a nationwide walkout in support of Palestine, and Cornell, which this weekend faced anti-Semitic threats.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was on my way to Kosher dining hall, when I looked down and saw the threats.

REEVE (on camera): How did you feel?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I mean, it's terrifying. Like this isn't -- this isn't anything that we thought we would ever have to deal with in the United States.

REEVE (voice-over): The post on a Greek-life website threatened to shoot up a Kosher dining hall and kill Jewish students. They were signed, Hamas soldier. But on Wednesday, Patrick Dye(ph); a 21-year- old Cornell student was arraigned on a federal charge for making online threats.

BERNSTEIN: I think that the quick response by the university really did quell a lot of student's fear. I know a lot of people are choosing to do Zoom options for their classes. They're asking for special accommodations because they just don't want to put themselves at risk.

REEVE (on camera): What did you think when these anti-Semitic threats were posted online?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think those were very hateful things to say. Well, as a Muslim, it's very disturbing to see such hateful comments being made in the name of Allah, I feel like that's very disrespectful. Anti-Semitism will never be accepted in our movement and hateful comments such as these, whether it will be Islamophobic, et cetera, have no place on our campus or anywhere really.

REEVE (voice-over): Abu Hasham(ph) is the head of Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine. A group whose national chapter has drawn a ton of criticism for saying the Hamas attack was a historic victory. And some other college chapters have posted images of paragliders. But Abu Hasham(ph) says her groups acts independently, and she doesn't get talking points from the national chapter.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cornell ASHAPI(ph), we make statements based on what our students are feeling, what needs to be said. Just having that equal treatment from administration.

REEVE: Some Muslim students say they're frustrated, they're constantly asked to denounce Hamas. That is a distraction from their message about Palestinians.

(on camera): There's a lot of concern that pro-Palestinian students are pro-Hamas and pro-terrorist --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --

REEVE: Tactics.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

REEVE: Going all the way up to national politicians --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes --

REEVE: Is that true?

MOMODOU TAAL, PHD STUDENT, CORNELL UNIVERSITY: Absolutely not true. My condemnation is inconsequential. I think it's quite racist, Islamophobic that when -- before I'm allowed to have a view on genocide, I have to condemn a terrorist organization.

REEVE: But is it so hard to say like, yes, I condemn Hamas

TAAL: But what does that do? Or why is there a media association, I support Hamas. I can say clearly, categorically, I abhor the killing of all civilians, no matter where they are and who does it. I don't go around asking white people, do you condemn the KKK? Why is the assumption that you support the KKK in the first place?

(CROWD CHANTING)

REEVE (voice-over): From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free. Heard in many campus protests has become a lightning rod.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Free Palestine is when Palestinians can live with food, water, electricity, have the equal rights that all humans deserve.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're completely ignoring the fact the people chanting up have lost all their family members, have had neighborhoods wiped out.

REEVE: Many Jewish student leaders see the chant as a threat, a call for Jewish genocide in Israel.

BERNSTEIN: From the river to the sea, the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, Palestine will be free. Free of what? Free from who? What will happen to the people who live there? That to me sounds like a call for genocide or an ethnic cleansing, and that really does terrify me, honestly.

ROMM: Chanting slogans of from the river to the sea, and Intifada, right, is never going to invite a conversation with Jewish students of hey, look at me, I'm also experiencing suffering as a result of the events in Israel.

TAAL: What from the river to the sea means is that, Palestinians will live freely in that region away from cellular violence. That's not calling for the extermination of Jewish people. (CROWD CHANTING)

POWELL: This organization, it works two ways. I mean, I don't hear people talking about Israeli violence pre-October 7th. I'm not hearing it. If the term makes you uncomfortable, then ask why it makes you uncomfortable.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop violence against Palestinians!

REEVE: The students at the heart of this remain proud of who they are.

TAAL: In my lifetime, it may never change. But I feel encouraged, because at the end of the day, I feel like we're on the right side of history, and I can go to bed quite comfortably.

[02:50:00]

BERNSTEIN: I am very proud to be a Jewish student on this campus, seeing the resilience of my community, seeing the unity of my community, it really has only strengthened me, and I pride -- since October 7th, and I hope that, that will continue for a very long time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: Thanks to Elle Reeve there. Up next for us, China is saying a final goodbye to its former premier nearly a week after his sudden death. More on that in a live report from Beijing.

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NEWTON: China is saying a final goodbye to former premier Li Keqiang with a cremation in Beijing. And the national flag flying at half- staff on Tiananmen Square. Now, Li died Friday of a heart attack at age 68, spurring an outpouring of grief and mourning right across the country. Li had served as Xi Jinping's second in command for a decade until this past March.

CNN's Steven Jiang has been following all of these developments for us. And I'm just fascinated by the story. I mean, of course, he died suddenly, which probably has something to do with it, but also what do you think it means, the fact that there is such a large outpouring of affection for him.

[02:55:00]

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Paula, notably, the Chinese government and state media have remained largely radio silent on the events surrounding his cremation today. Now, of course, there are protocols, Li was the former number two leader, as you mentioned, so a service arrangement or announcement surrounding his death differ, those reserved for former top leaders like Jiang Zemin, when he died late last year.

But perhaps more importantly, historically, the death of a popular former leader tends to become a galvanizing moment, uniting people and not only in their grief, but in their sheer frustration, grievances and discontent about the current regime, and sometimes, of course, that has led to protests and arrests, including in 1989.

That's why we are seeing extremely tight security in central Beijing today, and censors going into overdrive on China's already very much tightly-controlled social media platforms, and our conversation right now, of course, also being censored.

A lot of people are still in disbelief as you can imagine over the sudden death, because he was so young, just a few months after his official retirement. And this theme that seems to have emerged from a lot of the comments, sometimes subtle, sometimes not so subtle is the stark contrast between Li, a highly-educated, reformed mind, a technocrat with humble beginnings to the current strongman leader Xi, under him, as you said, served for decades, as normally, the number two beside himself, increasingly sidelined with the two.

Not seeing eye-to-eye, a lot of policy issues, and with Xi, of course, re-asserting the party's absolute control over every aspect of the Chinese society, including the economy which was supposed to be Li's portfolio. You know, Li really saw himself becoming ineffective, meeting resistance for a lot of things he supported. Like the private sector, like continued openness to the outside world.

So, in that sense, observers say, Paula, that people are not just mourning his passing, but the loss of their last glimmer of hope of what China could have been under a different leader going in a different direction.

NEWTON: Yes, certainly --

JIANG: Paula?

NEWTON: Expressing some nostalgia there. Steven Jiang for us in Beijing, really appreciate it. I am Paula Newton, I want you to stay with us, I'll be back with more CNN special coverage, "ISRAEL AT WAR", that's after a quick break.

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