Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Israel Admits Strike on Ambulance near Gaza Hospital; U.S. Pushes for "Humanitarian Pause" in Gaza; CNN Sees Rocket Hit Israeli Kindergarten Courtyard; U.S. Expects IDF Airstrikes to Subside as Its Troops Advance; Two U.S. Carrier Strike Groups in Eastern Mediterranean; Humanitarian Crisis Growing inside Gaza; Refugees in Pakistan Pushed into Life under Taliban Rule; Appeals Court Freezes Trump Gag Order in Federal Election Subversion Case; Acapulco Struggles to Recover after Deadly Storm; Asteroid Bennu Sample Now on Display at Smithsonian. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired November 04, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And thanks for joining us on CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Michael Holmes with our continuing coverage of the Israel-Hamas war.
And we do begin in Gaza, where a horrific scene played out outside the largest hospital in Gaza City. The video obtained by CNN is extremely graphic, we do warn you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (voice-over): The Israeli military admits it was behind this airstrike, just outside the Al-Shifa Hospital, hitting an ambulance and killing at least 15 people, with scenes of carnage and chaos as you can see; worse than that on some images.
The ambulance was said to be a part of a convoy carrying patients to southern Gaza. The IDF, though, claims the ambulance was being used by Hamas, which it said, has used emergency vehicles to transport fighters and weapons in the past.
Eleni Giokos, following development for us from Abu Dhabi, joins us now.
Good to see you, Eleni. So the loss of civilian life continues. Tell us more about the hospital blast and what more we know.
ELENI GIOKOS, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
Well, this ambulance convoy was struck by Israeli fire. And we have seen the images and we showed some of that. But we saw bodies strewn across the street. We saw injured, the Hamas-led health ministry saying 15 people died, 60 people are injured. From what we understand, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent
Society, they say that this was a convoy carrying the injured, heading toward the south, which is, of course, really important information.
The IDF is alleging that they were targeting Hamas operatives. Now we also heard from the International Committee of the Red Cross that they were aware of this convoy but while they weren't involved in the movement of the injured, they say that no ambulance should be struck, that this is basically a no strike zone.
It is a hospital, its ambulances are governed by international law. Now the IDF has been warning Al-Shifa and frankly other hospitals to evacuate. They have also alleged that Hamas operatives or command centers are operating from some of these traditional safe haven places.
And of course, international organizations have specifically said, and categorically now, that it is impossible to move the injured people from these hospitals to what the IDF says, to safer areas.
Now Antony Blinken met with Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday. And there is so much pressure that is building for some kind of pause or at least consideration of a pause to try to get more aid in, because the numbers of civilian death toll is rising.
It is basically becoming untenable. And so many questions are being raised about proportionality after the October 7th terror attack. And seeing now what Israel is doing into the Gaza Strip with, basically, we know there is no real safe area and the death toll has now risen to about 9,000.
Antony Blinken also mentioned the West Bank and the attacks on Palestinians there a very big concern. So all of these issues and, of course, we saw earlier this week, we saw Jabalya refugee camp that was struck over a three-day period.
Of course, the death toll there being really high. And we have seen these images; we have seen bodies being pulled out of rubble. We have seen the civilians stuck in the middle and really no consideration right now by the Israelis for a pause or a cease-fire because they want to see all the hostages released.
That is what they are putting on the table.
HOLMES: Yes, exactly. I wonder if I could get an update, too, from you on -- you know, it is really still just a trickle of aid in. And I suppose a trickle of people getting out of Gaza.
What is the latest you are hearing on that?
GIOKOS: And it is really important to say this, right?
It is a drop in the ocean in terms of the aid trucks that have entered Gaza. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, they're talking about 374 aid trucks that have entered Gaza since October 7th. On a good day before October 7th, you would have 450 aid trucks going into Gaza, carrying essential supplies. And what hospitals need right now, anything from just general disinfectant to anesthetics.
[01:05:00]
GIOKOS: We are hearing that women are being -- pregnant women are being in hospital, getting a cesarean section without anesthetics. It is really difficult to even find my words in terms of what that basically means.
Hospitals are saying they are running out of medical supplies. The food and water situation is absolutely dire. Antony Blinken reiterated the point that aid needs to go into Gaza, needs to happen very quickly.
They need to find a way for that to occur at a mass level and mass scale. Apart from what you are seeing hospitals experiencing, the average people there, not able to find water, Michael, just goes to show the dire situation that is playing out, that is being reiterated by international organizations on the ground there.
HOLMES: All right, Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi, appreciate the update, my friend. Good to see you.
Palestinians in Gaza mourning the death of Palestine TV correspondent Mohammed Abu Hatab, who was killed in southern Gaza on Thursday along with 11 members of his family. As the civilian death steadily grows, the United Nations sounding the alarm.
CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports on the humanitarian crisis in the enclave. A warning: some may find images in her report disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is every journalist's worst nightmare. While live on air, this reporter found out his colleague was killed. In his utter despair, he rips off his flak jacket.
"There is no protection at all, no international law, nothing," he says. "The safety gear, this helmet, it does nothing to keep us safe. These are just slogans. No journalist is protected at all."
Correspondent Mohammad Abu Hatab and 11 of his family members were killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike, Palestinian TV reported.
He is among at least 33 journalists killed since the start of the conflict on October 7th, the Committee to Protect Journalists says, making it the deadliest period for the news media since the group began tracking in 1992, it said.
ABDELAZIZ: Abu Hatab was killed in southern Gaza, the part of the Strip the Israeli military tells civilians to flee toward but continues to strike daily. Many families, too afraid or unable to evacuate, remain here in the
north of the Strip where Gaza City is encircled by Israeli troops, the IDF says, and some 300,000 to 100,000 civilians are trapped, the U.N. estimates.
They are stuck in a hellscape. Relentless airstrikes and an intensifying ground assault have leveled neighborhoods and left over 1,000 children missing under the rubble, humanitarian organizations say. Their parents keep digging for them.
"My four children," this father cries. "Why God, why didn't you let me die? Why?"
And there is nowhere to turn for refuge. U.N. shelters, where nearby Israeli firepower has claimed lives, are no longer safe. Now many Gazans live on the streets of a war zone.
"We are humans, we are not terrorists," he says. "Look, we have our children around us. Not even the U.N. shelters can protect us. Only God can protect us."
And with Israeli troops closing in, their plight seems increasingly more precarious -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, in the region, he is now in Jordan, where the foreign minister is expected to tell him that the, quote, "Israeli war on Gaza must stop."
It follows that visit to Israel we were talking about before, where Blinken met with the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and other top officials on Friday. Mr. Netanyahu says he will not agree to a cease- fire in Gaza unless Hamas releases all of the hostages.
Sources telling CNN, Israeli officials have been frustrated with Hamas releasing only one or two at a time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): I clarify that we, Israel, is going with all its force and refuse to any cease-fire which does not include bringing back our hostages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: CNN's Becky Anderson with more now on Blinken's trip.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): U.S. secretary of State Antony Blinken arriving in Tel Aviv on Friday with a forceful message.
[01:10:00] ANDERSON (voice-over): America's top diplomat reinforced Washington's support for Israel's right to defend itself after the brutal October 7th Hamas attacks. But he also said this.
BLINKEN: How Israel does this matters and it is very important that when it comes to the protection of civilians who are caught in the crossfire of Hamas' making, that everything be done to protect them and bring assistance to those who desperately need it.
ANDERSON: In his meeting with Israel's war cabinet, Blinken pushed for a humanitarian pause to help get the hostages released, some of whom are American citizens.
BLINKEN: A number of legitimate questions were raised in our discussions today, including how to use any period of pause to maximize the flow of humanitarian assistance, how to connect a pause to the release of hostages, how to ensure that Hamas doesn't use these pauses or arrangements to its own advantage.
ANDERSON: But after meeting with Blinken, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted his government opposes any temporary cease-fire unless Hamas frees all the hostages. And sources tell CNN the defense minister directly told Blinken there will be no pause without their release. Those directly involved in the Qatar-led talks say negotiators need a, quote, period of calm to facilitate the hostage release.
MAJED AL-ANSARI, SPOKESPERSON, QATAR MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Obviously, when there is bombardment, constant bombardment on the sector, you can't even expect for the hostages to be safely from one place to another. So the best situation for us, the best scenario would be a period of calm, a considerable period of calm that would allow for the hostages to be taken out of Gaza but at the same time would allow for humanitarian aid to go in.
ANDERSON: Blinken has left Israel and the fate of the hostages remains far from certain -- Becky Anderson, CNN, Doha.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Michael Oren, Israel's former ambassador to the U.S., spoke to CNN's John King earlier and gave his perspective on Mr. Netanyahu's response to the U.S. secretary of state.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: What do you take away from the fact that prime minister Netanyahu appeared to say no to secretary of state Blinken after he visited today?
MICHAEL OREN, FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: Not surprising because among the Israeli population, the notion of a humanitarian pause is very unpopular. Keep in mind, we have the families of 140 hostages who have been taken by Hamas.
The humanitarian system, if you will, in Gaza, is their only leverage to get back from Hamas some indication of the whereabouts of their loved ones, even whether their loved ones are in captivity.
Many of these families don't even know whether their loved ones, if they are missing, have the Red Cross visit the hostages, nothing. Israel will have no leverage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: U.S. officials are predicting a new tactic in Israel's war against Hamas. Coming up, we will speak with a military analyst about how he expects the ground operations to evolve in the days ahead.
Also the Arab world watches as the leader of Hezbollah makes his first public comment since the start of Israel's war. What he said and the reaction. That is when we come back.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:15:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: At least two rockets fired from Gaza made a direct hit in the Israeli city of Sderot on Friday evening, one of them falling close to journalists, including our CNN team
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES (voice-over): That blast hit a kindergarten courtyard, with shrapnel damaging the building and nearby cars -- no casualties were reported.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Meanwhile, with Israeli forces now reportedly encircling Gaza City, U.S. officials say they expect the air campaign to subside as IDF soldiers advance on the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Retired Major General Mick Ryan of the Australian army joins me now from Brisbane, Australia.
Good to see you, Mick. Let's talk about this new reporting that the Americans anticipate a new phase in Israel's campaign, a more tactical, ground operation, if you like. And to that point, Israel says it's pretty much surrounded Gaza City.
What's your read on Israel's tactics in the military sense?
MAJ. GEN. MICK RYAN (RET.), AUSTRALIAN ARMY: Good day, Michael. I think the U.S. assessment is pretty close to the mark. What we've seen since 7 October has been heavily an air campaign.
But over the last week, with the incursions into the north and across Gaza by the IDF, they've now been able to isolate northern Gaza and advance to the ocean. They've cut it off, they will have cordoned off northern Gaza. And the focus now will be squeezing Hamas on the ground and of course, under it.
HOLMES: We are seeing more and more concern, of course, over civilian deaths in Gaza. We've heard these calls for a pause in fighting. You've said militarily this operation could take weeks or months.
With the staggering death and injury toll in Gaza, does Israel risk losing the empathy war, for want of a better description, the support of some countries, which originally were all in on Israel's right to defense?
RYAN: Clearly, the U.S. administration and others have concerns about the targeting of certain areas, particularly hospitals, ambulances; about proportionality, about collateral damage and whether these really need to be attacked with the weapons they are.
Whether there is terrorists in an ambulance or not, whether it's proportionate to attack it is a separate question. You might kill a few Hamas terrorists but you might lose the information war around the world. So I think the Israelis really need to rethink their targeting processes to balance short term payoff with longer term political needs.
[01:20:00]
HOLMES: Yes. Speak to the challenges to that point in Israel's stated aim of destroying Hamas completely.
I mean, is that even possible in the military sense as opposed to damaging Hamas' capabilities for a period of time and the rinse and repeat of the past happens again a few years from now?
RYAN: Well, the military might be useful in destroying a lot of Hamas infrastructure and killing a lot of fighters and their leaders.
At the end of the day, Hamas is not a military problem; it's a political problem. They exist because there is a perception among certain Gazans that they want to resist the Israelis.
But Israelis need to also have a political approach that solves the political issues and makes not Hamas just a terrorist organization but makes them irrelevant to the people of Gaza.
HOLMES: Yes, which reminds me, you recently wrote, and I'll quote you, "In modern war, victory must therefore include the binary approaches of winning the war as well as winning the peace."
Such must be the case with Israel's Gaza operation.
What are the risks then?
Where is the line where what's happening in Gaza to people not connected to Hamas actually creates more militants, not fewer? RYAN: That's a risk when you have a heavily military focused phase. The focus is winning the war without preparations for winning the peace. We may just be seeing a more violent version of what Israel has called mowing the grass over the last decade. Clearly, that strategy has failed. A more violent version of it is unlikely to succeed.
HOLMES: I wanted to ask you to about what you made of the Hezbollah leader's speech, basically, reserving the right, if we can put it that way, to get more involved. But not signaling that happening in any way.
What's your read on that, particularly in the context of the course of Iran's support of Hezbollah?
RYAN: It was certainly a much anticipated speech across the region on Friday. But as some have called it, it was a bit of a nothing burger. It kind of threw Hamas under the bus.
He said, this is a Hamas problem, not a regional problem, although we're reserving our right to attack. Hezbollah do not want a repeat of 2006, where the Israelis really hurt them and could hurt them again if they try something in the north.
HOLMES: Yes. And going back to Gaza, what do you think the chances with Hamas just sending its fighters south through those tunnels to fight another day?
RYAN: I think the cordon the Israelis have set up on the ground would probably be accompanied with detection of tunnels that go beneath that cordon. So there may be some potential for that.
But my sense is most of the tunnels that the Israelis are focused on at the moment around Gaza City, where the hostages are -- and a few Hamas fighters leak out there, they're probably less concerned by that than finding hostages in Gaza City itself.
HOLMES: Yes. Mick Ryan in Brisbane, Australia, always good to get your analysis, my friend. Thank you.
RYAN: Thanks, Michael.
HOLMES: Cheers.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The U.S. is helping Israel in the search for the 241 hostages held by Hamas. CNN's Oren Liebermann reports from the Pentagon on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The U.S. military is flying surveillance drones over Gaza in attempt to provide Israelis with intel about the possible location of hostages and assist in hostage rescue efforts, according to multiple U.S. officials familiar with the operations. These drones have been flying since October 7th, when the U.S. shortly
thereafter said it would help Israel in any way it could on intel and planning for a hostage rescue effort.
These drones -- and we don't know what type of drones they are -- but these drones have been a part of that. They are unarmed surveillance drones, according to the Pentagon, which acknowledged on Friday these operations that are meant to provide intel in the ongoing hostage rescue attempts by flying over southern Gaza.
Take a look at this graphic. That red line -- those numerous red lines, I should say -- show the trajectories and the flight paths of these different drones. You can see them focusing there on southern Gaza over the course of the past several days and weeks.
Now this coming as the U.S. now has two carrier strike groups in the eastern Mediterranean Sea that have been operating and exercising together.
The Defense Department putting out these images of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier strike group and the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group working together in the Eastern Med. They've been exercising together for the past several days.
And then, shortly thereafter, the Pentagon had announced that the Dwight D. Eisenhower will then go through the Suez Canal and be in the waters of U.S. Central Command -- the waters of the Middle East, essentially.
This as part of a broader effort not only to deter Iran and Iran's proxies --
[01:25:00]
LIEBERMANN: -- or others from getting involved in the fighting in Gaza but also to make U.S. forces have force protection.
We've seen a number of attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. So this is very much part of that effort to show a massive display of firepower and U.S. force in the region -- Oren Liebermann, CNN, in the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: The leader of Hezbollah says the United States is fully responsible for the war in Gaza. Our Ben Wedeman has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They turned out in the thousands to hear their leader, Hezbollah secretary general Hassan Nasrallah, speaking out for the first time since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
"All options," he warned, "are open and we can exercise them at any moment." Already, Hezbollah and Israel are engaged in a deadly exchange of fire along the border. Hezbollah has buried almost 60 of its fighters killed so far.
It was a speech watched closely across the Middle East. While other Arab leaders beseeched the U.S. to put pressure on Israel, to relent in its offensive in Gaza, Hezbollah, well-armed and battle-hardened, is the only one putting military pressure on Israel, tying down in the process, Nasrallah claimed, a third of Israel's army.
The U.S. has deployed two carrier groups to the eastern Mediterranean to deter Hezbollah and others from joining the fight.
Nasrallah's response, "I tell the Americans threats and intimidation against us and the resistance in the region are pointless."
But despite the high expectations for this speech, it ended ambiguously without a clear indication of where Hezbollah and Iran's other allies in the region will go.
In the lead-up to the speech, Hezbollah supporters put out what some called trailers with an ominous tone of what might be coming. After the speech, the word here in Lebanon was that the trailers were better than the film.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Our thanks to Ben Wedeman for that report.
I am Michael Holmes. "GOING GREEN" is next for our viewers on CNN International.
For those of you watching us here in North America, the news continues.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: Welcome back, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM with me, Michael Holmes.
The White House says it expects more Americans in Gaza will be able to cross the border into Egypt in coming days.
An Egyptian border official said 353 foreign nationals were allowed to enter Egypt at the Rafah border crossing on Friday . According to the White House, the U.S. embassy in Cairo has helped more than 100 U.S. citizens and their families to leave Gaza in recent days.
Aid groups meanwhile are warning that there is a growing humanitarian crisis inside Gaza. Earlier I spoke with UNICEF spokesperson, Ricardo Pires. I asked him about the impact the conflict is having on children in both Israel and Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICARDO PIRES, SPOKESPERSON, UNICEF: The situation is desperate, it's catastrophic. Right now, for hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza, we need an immediate humanitarian cease-fire and also the release of all the hostages that were taken from their homes in Israel into Gaza.
And right now in the Gaza Strip, children are living a relentless nightmare. Day after day, bombs, fire attacks, death, grief, it's just unbearable for them. They have been enduring this for weeks or longer, a nightmare that no child should ever have to go through.
We have reportedly now over 3.7 thousand children killed since October 7th; 7000+ injured. That is an average of over 400 children killed or injured reportedly every day, Michael. That is an unacceptable number. It is almost one child every 10 minutes. So with these figures, you can imagine how dire the situation is.
HOLMES: They are staggering numbers. I was reading those earlier. More children are being killed in this conflict than in 18 months of the war in Ukraine. And 420 kids a day killed or injured, it is staggering.
Now Israeli kids, as you pointed out, they have been traumatized, of course; 20 are being held hostage right now as we speak.
But UNICEF said that, before this late escalation, more than 800,000 kids in Gaza -- that is three quarters of the entire child population -- were identified as needing mental health and psychological support. That, again, is before this conflict.
We know deaths, we know the injuries.
What is and what will be the psychological impact of this war on kids for probably years to come?
PIRES: It is already very heavy, Michael. You can imagine children are like sponges. So they absorb a lot of what is happening around them in their environment.
And children in Gaza but also in Israel have been enduring decades of their ancestors and their parents, decades and decades of, you know, tensions in the region, intensity, conflict, different rounds of conflict.
And these children now, in Gaza, the 800,000 that you mention, three quarters of the child population, they are experiencing nothing else but fear -- fear, grief, loss, insecurity and confusion, obviously.
So if, before this escalation, three out of four children were already vulnerable and reportedly in need of mental health support, we can only imagine what the situation is now. It is only getting worse and it will have a very long-term impact on a whole generation of children. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees in Pakistan now face a grim choice: leave or be deported. Pakistan has ordered them out of the country, which means many will have to live under brutal Taliban rule.
Many of those refugees have been in Pakistan for decades. And for some, Pakistan is the only home they have ever known. Anna Coren reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: On the side of a dusty road in Quetta, northwestern Pakistan, is a truck piled high with the belongings of an Afghan family.
[01:35:00]
COREN (voice-over): The matriarch slowly climbs up a rickety ladder. The trepidation, perhaps a sign of the life that awaits across the border.
Last month, the Pakistan government announced it would expel what it calls, quote, "illegal Afghan refugees," giving up to 1.7 million people just 29 days to leave voluntarily before being tracked down, detained and forcibly removed.
That warning set off chaotic scenes on the 1st of November, the official deadline for the mass deportations of those without documentation. Lorries backed up for as far as the eye can see, a human procession of anxiety, helplessness and desperation.
"I am 22 years old. I was born in Quetta," says Abdel Mohamed (ph).
"My father lived here for 40 years. This is the only home I know. The police harass us, threaten us with jail.
"What is the point?
"It is better we leave with our honor intact."
According to the Pakistan government, over 198,000 Afghans have returned thus far, the exodus taking place at two major border crossings, Torkham, the gateway to eastern Afghanistan, and Chaman to the south.
The cities of Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta, home to the largest number of Afghans living in Pakistan, estimated to be around 4.4 million. But already the government has begun demolishing refugee camps, making clear that Afghans are not wanted.
And there are reports refugees with legitimate documents are being harassed by authorities to leave.
For decades, Afghans have fled across the border seeking safety and sanctuary in Pakistan, starting with the Soviet invasion in the late 1970s, the first Taliban takeover in the mid-1990s, the U.S. invasion in 2001 before the return of the Taliban just two years ago.
But a series of suicide bombings inside Pakistan this year has placed Afghan refugees firmly in the government's sights. It claims more than half of the 24 attacks were committed by Afghan nationals, the most recent bombings in September claiming more than 60 lives.
Human rights groups say refugees are making a political scapegoat. They claim it is inhumane to send people back to a country suffering an economic and humanitarian crisis, where almost 60 percent of the population is solely dependent on aid to survive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So our worry is that people who are returning now will join an already dire humanitarian situation and, therefore, they will become dependent upon humanitarian assistance as well and swell the numbers.
COREN (voice-over): There are also grave concerns for women and girls returning to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, where education and work for females is now banned.
But it was only jubilant scenes on the Afghan side of the border as the Taliban welcomed home the refugees. The Taliban have set up temporary camps. But with winter fast approaching, these people will need more than just a tent.
"I am extremely worried for us," says father of five Ubed Ula (ph), who has lived in Pakistan for 35 years.
"But I request that the government give other refugees more time. Do not send them back, it's winter. This is cruel."
For too many of these Afghans, cruelty seems all they have ever known from this life -- Anna Coren, CNN, Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Tragic.
Now in Nepal, a strong earthquake has killed at least 129 people and injured 140 and officials do expect that death toll to rise.
The U.S. Geological Survey reports the quake was a magnitude 5.6, with the epicenter in the western region of the country. People felt the tremors as far away as the capital, Kathmandu, about 500 kilometers or 300 miles from the center,
Nepal's prime minister has arrived in the area near the epicenter, that is according to his office. And India's prime minister is expressing his condolences to the earthquake victims.
A judge gives Donald Trump the go-ahead to speak freely about the federal election subversion trial against him -- for now. Details, coming up on CNN NEWSROOM. And once again, the U.S. president acting as consoler in chief. We'll have more on Joe Biden's solemn visit to the site of the latest U.S. mass shooting. We will be right back.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:40:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: Welcome back.
A federal appeals court has issued a temporary freeze on a gag order that kept Donald Trump from speaking out about his federal election subversion case. The former president can now publicly criticize possible witnesses in the criminal case. Paula Reid with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: In just over two weeks, a three-judge panel here in Washington will hear arguments about whether or not this gag order is constitutional. And while that is pending, the former president is not subject to these specific restrictions.
Now Judge Tanya Chutkan, the judge overseeing the election subversion case here in Washington, the case filed by special counsel Jack Smith, she imposed these restrictions at the request of prosecutors.
Most defendants know they are not supposed to attack witnesses or go after the prosecutor but the special counsel's office asked for a broader set of restrictions on Trump after he made a series of statements appearing to attack the judge, witnesses and prosecutors.
Now his lawyers have argued that these restrictions are unconstitutional, that they violate his First Amendment but Judge Chutkan has said that Trump's First Amendment rights must yield to the orderly administration of justice.
She points to the fact that she has a trial to put on and these restrictions are essential to protecting people, she says, who are just trying to do their jobs.
Now this case will be heard before two judges appointed by former President Barack Obama and one judge appointed by President Joe Biden. Again, that argument will happen later this month. It's unclear when we could get an answer.
But this question about whether you can restrict the speech of a presidential candidate who is a criminal defendant across multiple jurisdictions, this is something that the courts just have never contemplated before and it could possibly wind up at the Supreme Court -- Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:45:00]
HOLMES: Courts in Colorado and Minnesota are hearing lawsuits aimed at keeping Trump off the 2024 presidential ballot in those states. On Friday, witness testimony wrapped up in Colorado.
And the Denver district court is set to hear closing arguments on the 15th of this month. The lawsuits say that the former president is ineligible to hold office under the 14th Amendment insurrection clause because of his attempts to overthrow the 2020 election.
One of the sticking points in both cases is whether enforcement falls under the courts or under Congress.
On Friday, President Joe Biden and the first lady were in Lewiston, Maine, meeting with the families of victims in last week's mass shooting. A gunman opened fire at a bowling alley and a restaurant, killing 18 people before he was found dead from an apparently self- inflicted gunshot wound. CNN's Omar Jimenez with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even though it's been more than a week since these shootings, the pain is still very raw for so many in this community. That was the climate that President Biden was visiting over the course of Friday.
He met with first responders, nurses, others that were on the front lines of responding to the pair of shootings that happened a little bit more than a week ago now.
You can't go far in this Lewiston community and the surrounding areas without seeing signs of support, even just behind me where I am outside the bowling alley, which was the first site of where the mass shootings happened that night.
We've got signs of support, saying "Lewiston strong;" saying things simply like "Be nice," acknowledging the climate and the pain so many are going through still even at this point. Eighteen people killed total in these shootings and their families are still trying to figure out how to process.
Now President Biden, along with meeting with first responders, he also met with members of some of the victims' families. He also took some moments to make some remarks about his visit. Take a listen to some of what he said in regards to the political climate around some of these mass shootings.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know consensus is ultimately possible.
This is about common sense, reasonable and responsible measures to protect our children, our families, our communities, because, regardless of our politics, this is about protecting our freedom to go to a bowling alley, a restaurant, a school, a church without being shot and killed.
JIMENEZ: And another thing the president talked about is how he's had to make too many of these visits before, including in places like Buffalo and Uvalde and, of course, now here in Lewiston, Maine.
One thing we heard from a community member ahead of his visit about whether they wanted him to be here, they said they were glad he was here because it showed that the highest levels of the U.S. government cared about what happened here in Lewiston.
And another thing that my crew and I have heard overwhelmingly, even in the hours after the shooting actually happened a little over a week ago at this point, is that they couldn't believe something like this happened here in Maine.
And I say that because when you look at their yearly homicides across the state, that number is comparable to the amount of people that were lost in a single night in this community.
And that gives you an idea of the shock but also the amount that they're actually having to process over what happened, again, in just a matter of minutes at two separate locations, here at this bowling alley and just a few miles from me at that bar and restaurant as well.
Every indication we have seen has shown that they have banded together in the face of this adversity and they are going to try and move forward, stronger together.
That's why you can't go far in this community without seeing symbols like the state of Maine and a heart over where we are in Lewiston to represent the love and the strength they will have for each other moving forward -- Omar Jimenez, CNN, Lewiston, Maine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: I will be back with more news after a short break.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:50:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: Welcome back.
More than a week after powerful Hurricane Otis ripped through Acapulco in Mexico, people in the popular tourist destination are still coping without the basic necessities. The storm killed at least 46 people; dozens are still missing.
About 80 percent of the city's hotels are severely damaged. That's according to the Mexican government's preliminary assessment.
Access to drinkable water has been a real challenge for businesses and residents and only about 30 percent of power has been restored. The government has unveiled a $3 billion recovery plan for the battered region.
A tiny piece of the asteroid Bennu was unveiled Friday at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. A NASA mission brought back pieces of the space rock back in September. CNN's Kristin Fisher got a close-up look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE & DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT: This is the first time since the end of the Apollo program, 1972, that NASA has collected something from the surface of a planetary object and brought it back to Earth and then put it on public display.
Back then, it was, of course, moon rocks. Today it is a small sample from the asteroid Bennu, which returned to Earth late last month as part of NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission. And so I had the chance to see this asteroid sample at the Natural History Museum where it was unveiled on Friday.
It is a very small sample, it looks like a small rock but it is a very special rock. And the reason why it's special is because it contains water and carbon and organic molecules, the very building blocks of life.
Here is NASA administrator Bill Nelson, who was on hand for the unveiling, explaining some of the questions that scientists hope to answer from this asteroid sample.
[01:55:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Asteroids are these rocks, some of them metal, some of them rocky, some of them we don't know. They are flying through the solar system and they crash into things.
And in the evolution of the solar system and our Earth, for 4.5 billion years, first there was a star that was spit out of a cloud of dust and gas. And that became a medium-sized star called our sun.
And then all of these gases and dusts started forming into smaller planets and some of them were bigger. And then things crashed into each other and planets crashed into each other. And over that 4.5 billion years, some of these asteroids that are flying through space are the remnants of those early collisions.
And it gives us, then, when we bring a sample back or we send a spacecraft like Psyche out to an asteroid closer to Jupiter, we can determine what is in that asteroid. In this particular asteroid , Bennu, we now know it has ice crystals and it has carbon. And those are the building blocks to life.
(END VIDEO CLIP) FISHER: And for an asteroid sample that traveled billions of miles to get here, you might think that there would be some sort of pomp and pageantry associated with its arrival at the museum. But no, it actually got here from Texas in somebody's carry-on luggage on a commercial flight. It even went through a TSA checkpoint.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Kristin Fisher there.
I'm Michael Holmes, thanks for spending part of your day with me. Anna Coren will have more coverage of the Israel-Hamas war after a quick break. I'll see you tomorrow.
