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IDF: Evacuation Route To South Gaza To Open Sunday; IDF: At Least Six Rockets Fired From Gaza Intercepted; IDF Video Shows Chief Of Staff Inside Gaza. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired November 05, 2023 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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MICHAEL HOLMES, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Thanks for joining us on CNN Newsroom. I'm Michael Holmes with our continuing coverage of the Israel-Hamas war. And in a few hours from now, the Israeli Military is expected to open a road corridor so people in Gaza City can flee south. At least that's the plan. The IDF is offering what it calls safe passage during a four-hour window beginning at 10 a.m. local time. But, it is unclear if people in Gaza will even get the message, given the widespread power and communications outages throughout this war, or whether Hamas will perhaps try to prevent them from leaving.
Meanwhile, this was the scene overnight, as fireballs light up northern Gaza, as seen by a CNN crew, just across the border in Israel. Israel has not yet commented on these strikes. Even as Israeli forces say they're encircling the city, Hamas rockets continue to fire into Israel. The IDF says it intercepted at least six rockets near Tel Aviv so far. No casualties reported. The IDF also released video of its Chief of Staff just inside Gaza on Saturday, more than a week into the ground operation. And the Israeli Defense Minister had this message for the people of Gaza who are bearing the brunt of this offensive.
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YOAV GALLANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (TRANSLATED): We will get to him. We will get to Yahya Sinwar, and we will eliminate him. I say here to the people of Gaza, if you get to them first, it will shorten this war.
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HOLMES: Now, CNN was part of the first group of foreign media granted access to Israeli forces inside Gaza. Journalists embedded with the IDF in Gaza operate under the observation of Israeli commanders in the field, and were not permitted to move unaccompanied within the strip. As a condition to enter Gaza under IDF escort, outlets had to submit all materials and footage to the Israeli Military for review prior to publication. We wanted to tell you that that CNN agreed to those terms in order to provide a limited window into Israel's operations there. CNN's Jeremy Diamond was there.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At this Israeli Military post on the outskirts of Gaza City, the fighting is fierce.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's finished. It's OK. It's us.
LT. COL. GILAD PASTERNAK, 828TH BRIGADE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: OK. The center of the Gaza Strip, the IDF soldiers are fighting against the militants that are using all the houses that they can in order to harm and to get to the IDF soldiers.
DIAMOND (voice-over): One week into its ground defensive, Israel's Military says it has encircled Gaza City from posts like this.
DIAMOND: We're right now at an Israeli Military post inside the Gaza Strip, about one kilometer inside of Gaza. Gaza City is just this way. And as you can hear behind me, there is a lot of ongoing fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants. What they are trying to do right now is to flank the Hamas positions. That's what the battalion commander just told me. And all of this intended to try and cut off Gaza City from the southern part of the strip as Israeli forces also move in from the north.
DIAMOND (voice-over): CNN was part of a small group of reporters given access to Israeli forces inside Gaza for the first time since the outbreak of the war, entering Gaza using the same roads Hamas militants used to carry out their brutal attack on October 7.
PASTERNAK: And today, we are going to the exact same roads, to the same neighborhoods, to their assembly area, to their trucks, in order to go there and be able to get them pay the price and to eliminate the Hamas organization that held this attack on the state of Israel.
DIAMOND: The Israeli Military is taking us into Gaza. We are inside an armored personnel carrier right now. (Inaudible) southern point of Gaza City.
DIAMOND (voice-over): But still, Israeli forces face the danger of ambush from underground tunnels.
LT. COL. RAN CNAAN, 828TH BRIGADE ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: And over there, over there, and inside the neighborhood also.
DIAMOND (voice-over): So, in just this area, there are at least three tunnels.
CNAAN: I believe, at least. Yes.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Israel says many of those tunnels lie below residential buildings, and for weeks it has relentlessly bombed those targets, killing and injuring thousands of civilians in the process. The forces here say they're now working to secure a humanitarian corridor to help civilians flee the heaviest fighting.
[00:05:00] PASTERNAK: This is a huge objective for the brigade, the battalion right here. The population will be able to go from the north to the south, surely in (inaudible) in order to get the IDF do what it need to do in order to demolish Hamas.
DIAMOND (voice-over): For these soldiers, achieving that goal may see them deploy deep into Gaza City, where the prospect of deadly urban combat awaits.
PASTERNAK: Well, the IDF will be here as long as it takes, weeks, months or years, until it makes sure that Israel is safe and secured for the long-term view period. It will be you need to get inside Gaza, house by house. This is exactly what's going to happen.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Jeremy Diamond, CNN, with Israeli forces in Gaza.
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HOLMES: CNN's Ivan Watson joins me now from Hong Kong with more. So, tell us more about what we know about this planned opening of a corridor in a few hours to allow people from the north to evacuate south, Ivan.
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Michael, this was an announcement made by the Israeli Defense Forces by their Arabic spokesperson, saying again that there is this window, local time from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and instructing civilians to move south on Salah Al-Deen Street and to move south of Wadi Gaza, which is this kind of wetland stream that cuts across Gaza laterally. Now, there are some real concerns here, though. There are widespread electricity outages in Gaza after more than four weeks of war, telecommunications outages. So, if the IDF spokesperson posted this on Twitter or X, there is a question about whether or not anybody can actually see this because of the telecoms problems.
Second, we know of at least two cases where people trying to move down that very same road have allegedly come under fire. Just last week, the Director of the Al-Quds Hospital told CNN that ambulances that were trying to move south on Salah Al-Deen Street were targeted by artillery fire, and on October 14, Hamas said that Israeli airstrikes hit convoys of evacuees, also trying to move on Salah Al-Deen Street. So, there are real questions about how safe this transit route could be for people moving south.
Now, in the meantime, there is also the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe where we're hearing about just the ominous drumbeat of warnings coming from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah in the West Bank, talking about how the hospitals are under such pressure. This is something we've been hearing about for weeks, but announcing that at least 150 healthcare professionals have been killed in this war in Gaza since this started that some 16 hospitals are basically out of service right now.
There is an organization called MedGlobal, it's based in the U.S. that is helping with medical care in Gaza, saying that it's been getting messages from a pediatrician, for example, saying that at the Kamal Adwan Hospital, surgeries have stopped and the departments are without electricity and water, and that a two-year-old girl died due to the dire situation there. We've been hearing repeated warnings about the lack of fuel, and the fact that hospitals cannot run their generators, and they're being overwhelmed with casualties with the Palestinian Ministry of Health saying more than 24,000 people have been wounded in more than four weeks of fighting. At least 9,425 people killed. That's as of Saturday in Gaza.
Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Minister, he announced and maybe quadrupled or quintupled down on his decree that no fuel will be allowed into Gaza through the Israeli blockade. So, expect that situation in those beleaguered hospitals to just get worse.
HOLMES: All right. Appreciate the update there. Ivan Watson in Hong Kong for us.
Now, violence has also been escalating, of course, in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since Israel declared its war on Hamas. The Palestinian Ministry of Health says dozens have been killed, at least 150 wounded there in the past few weeks. As CNN's Nada Bashir reports, some Palestinians also say they're being forced off their land and attacked by Jewish settlers.
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NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Armed and threatening, this is the face of Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank. It's these acts of aggression which are chasing Palestinian families out of their homes. Piece by piece, Palestinians in the village of Kibbutz Zanuta pack their lives away, never to return.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATED): The settlers come in night while we're sleeping.
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They beat us and try to kill us. They try to force us out of our homes. I can't sleep anymore. I'm too afraid.
BASHIR (voice-over): Families in this village, once home to 140 Palestinians, tell us they have been left with no choice but to flee their homes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATED): What's happening now is another Nakba, a catastrophe. I'm 60-years-old. I've lived here my entire life.
BASHIR (voice-over): And despite the fact that settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal by many in the international community, they continue to grow and expand with the backing of Israeli authorities.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATED): We inherited this land from our forefathers. We've lived here for generations. Now, it's only getting worse. The war in Gaza has only encouraged the settlers. BASHIR (voice-over): According to Israeli rights group B'Tselem, at least 15 Palestinian farming communities have been forcibly displaced since October 7.
YEHUDA SHAUL, ISRAELI HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: The real thing that is influencing the life of Palestinians here is the outpost up there.
BASHIR (voice-over): Yehuda Shaul, an Israeli human rights activist, says encroachments on Palestinian land are rapidly advancing, and personal attacks in the occupied West Bank have only intensified.
SHAUL: The next stage is not only attacking Palestinians when they're out in the field, going into the communities, into the homes, burning houses, slashing water tanks, beating up people, threatening women, children, elderly, and the result of it is what you see in front of your eyes.
BASHIR: People leaving.
SHAUL: Entire community is packing up and leaving. Settlers are taking advantage that all eyes are in Gaza to accelerate their violence, because there is no protection from the Israeli Army. There is no protection from the Israeli Police. In many cases, the Israeli Army is accompanying the settlers, and in many cases, the settlers are the Army.
BASHIR (voice-over): In the nearby village of Tuba (ph), a remote Palestinian community, Israel's Military keeps a watchful eye, IDF soldiers never too far away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. You need to go. You need to go.
BASHIR: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because (inaudible).
BASHIR: Sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You need to go. You need to go right now.
BASHIR: Why?
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BASHIR (voice-over): This village knows the price of settler violence all too well. Palestinians here say their attacks are edging closer each night.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (TRANSLATED): They come and threaten us, saying we have to leave, or they want to do back to target us. They're all armed. They never come here without weapons.
BASHIR (voice-over): In the last week alone, residents here say Israeli settlers have slashed this village's water tanks and cut through local power lines. In (inaudible), NGO workers say to pressure Palestinian families to leave the area. ELAD ORIAN, COFOUNDER & GENERAL MANAGER, COMET-ME: What we're seeing now is that under the cloak of the war that's happening now, the settler activity is -- settler violence has increased tremendously over the last few weeks.
BASHIR (voice-over): This crisis is not new to the Palestinian people. But, it's a crisis that is deepening. Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip set to be emboldening violence settlers. Across the southern Hebron Hills, there are now fears that smaller, more remote Palestinian villages could be next. But, for Palestinians in Kibbutz Zanuta, it is already too late. Nada Bashir, CNN, in the occupied West Bank.
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HOLMES: Khaled Elgindy is a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute where he directs the program on Palestine and Israeli-Palestinian affairs. He joins us now from Washington. Good to see you, sir. I wanted to start with this. The Jordanian Foreign Minister on Saturday said this. He said "The whole region is sinking in a sea of hatred that will define generations to come." A few days ago, we heard the U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin say a lesson that the U.S. learned in counterterrorism is that actions could "create a resistance to your effort that lasts for generations". Do you see that developing now that while Israel is trying to destroy Hamas after its terror attack in Israel? But, while trying to do that, it will create more radicalization, not less.
KHALED ELGINDY, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: I think it's certainly on that path right now, the trajectory that events are headed towards -- certainly point in that direction. There is a real sense of anger across the Arab world at the United States, in particular, obviously also Israel, but the United States as Israel's primary backer, militarily and otherwise. And of course, there is quite a lot of anger and rage even among Palestinians, certainly in Gaza where there really is no place that is safe for the two plus million people who live there, and across the Palestinian territory, I mean, in the West Bank as well.
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So, it certainly looks like we are creating the precisely the kind of conditions that will ultimately backfire. The enormity of the death and destruction in Gaza is really unprecedented.
HOLMES: You mentioned the U.S., and it is interesting. Israel is essentially ignoring or rejecting U.S. calls for a pause, let alone a ceasefire. There is the U.S. relationship with Israel that's being dealt with, the relationships with the Arab world, which seem a little fractured. We saw that play out on Saturday, all while that death and suffering in Gaza grows by the minute. How precarious is the U.S. position as it balances all of those things?
ELGINDY: Well, it doesn't appear to be balancing those things at the moment. Right now, they are still very much in openly hostile toward the idea of a ceasefire. They've only recently come around to the notion of a humanitarian pause, which is not really a legal concept. No one is quite sure what exactly that means. And they -- to the extent that they're using their leverage with the Israelis, it doesn't appear to be producing any results. I mean, we're constantly told by administration officials that they are expressing their concerns about civilian casualties, and about the humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding.
We're now almost -- we are now four weeks without water, fuel and the basic necessities of life. And there is -- in addition to the bombardment, there is real humanitarian crisis going on. And the Israelis are entirely unmoved. So, we don't see whatever kind of pressure the United States might be applying, really producing any moving in the needle at all.
HOLMES: A bigger picture, I mean, shouldn't a strategy be to turn Palestinians against groups like Hamas by offering them on alternative? The Gaza Strip is not Hamas writ large. I mean, there are no longer any obvious efforts to create a pathway for Palestinians for self-rule, self-determination, let alone a state of some sort, which seems to be forlorn hope these days. How important is it to long-term peace that pathway return?
ELGINDY: It is extremely important. And it's precisely the absence of that political horizon, or hope is precisely what led us to this crisis in the first place, the growing sense of despair among Palestinians. And now, of course, that's been compounded infinitely. And the reality is, the brutal reality is that neither the Israelis nor the Americans have any clear idea of what an end game would look like. And so, everyone is certain that they don't want to go back to the status quo that existed before October 7. But, no one has any idea of what will come next other than a continuation of this assault on Gaza.
And so, what we're looking at in the future is, if the Israelis are successful in removing Hamas, we're going to have a combination of a security and governing vacuum plus enormous suffering and misery and destruction on the ground. And those are precisely the ingredients that you would expect for radical movements to emerge.
HOLMES: Yes. Always good to get your analysis. Khaled Elgindy, wish we have more time. We do not. Thanks so much.
ELGINDY: Thank you.
HOLMES: Still to come here on the program, searching for survivors in Nepal, after a major earthquake had hit in the middle of the night, flapping villages while people slept. We'll have details when we come back.
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HOLMES: All right. Let's bring you up to speed on some of the day's other new stories. Hundreds of people were pulled to safety from migrant boats off the Canary Islands on Friday, more than 700 people rescued from four boats, four of them died. Spain says the number of migrants arriving in the Canary Islands has more than doubled over the last year, as controls are being tightened in the Mediterranean.
Ukraine says its Air Force carried out successful airstrikes targeting a shipyard in the eastern port city of Kerch in the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula on Saturday. Russia claims its air defenses shot down the missiles. CNN has been unable to independently confirm either claim. Also, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is concerned that the Israel-Hamas war is taking the focus off the war in Ukraine, and he thinks that's exactly what Russia wants, adding that his country has been in this situation before and will "overcome this challenge".
Rescuers feverishly trying to get food and other supplies to a remote area of Nepal after a powerful earthquake. It struck while people slept on Friday night. Some villages almost completely leveled. Officials say 157 people being killed, but that number could rise.
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HOLMES (voice-over): Devastation all around in this village in northwestern Nepal, not a single structure in sight is still standing. Survivors say a nighttime earthquake magnitude 5.6 shook them awake.
KAMALA OLI, SURVIVOR (TRANSLATED): We were sleeping. The earthquake came when we were sleeping.
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The house was shaking, but we escaped and survived. There are three of us in the house, one got killed and only two survived.
HOLMES (voice-over): Rescue operations are underway to try to find survivors trapped in the massive piles of bricks and wood that were once homes. Security forces have been deployed to assist in those efforts. Nepali police say it's estimated that 90 percent of houses in some villages were destroyed. But, the rocky terrain and remote location of the quake zone, some 500 kilometers west of Kathmandu, is slowing down some search and rescue teams. Officials say they can't contact some of the hardest hit areas where about 190,000 people live in villages in the hills of the Himalayan Mountains.
It's still unknown how badly some of those places were affected, though injured people are packing local hospitals. Others are sleeping outdoors in the cold without tents or gathering at shelters, some too frightened to go back to their homes, many without a home to return to. The country's Prime Minister visited the quake zone on Saturday to offer his condolences and support, both of which the country could need more of if the death toll rises, as officials have warned. The quake is already the deadliest in Nepal since 2015 when at least 9,000 people were killed when two earthquakes struck the country.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: I'm Michael Holmes. For our international viewers, The Next Frontier is coming up, and for those in North America, our coverage on Israel-Hamas war continues. Do stay with us.
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HOLMES: Welcome back. It is around 6:30 a.m. on Sunday, and Gaza right now. A CNN team near the border with Israel has seen major new explosions over Gaza City Saturday night. This coming after a CNN team saw eight rockets fired from Gaza into Israel. The IDF says six rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome system. Israeli Police saying no casualties were reported in the latest rocket attack. According to a United Nations agency assisting refugees in Gaza, a school in the Jabalia refugee camp in the north of the strip was hit by airstrikes on Saturday. The UN-run school was serving as a shelter for displaced families, but Hamas-run health ministry says at least 15 people were killed. Dozens were wounded.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken now heading to Turkey, Sunday. He met on Saturday with Jordan's King Abdullah and other Arab leaders who are calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. And he voiced his opposition to that idea. Our Becky Anderson has more on Blinken's latest diplomatic tour.
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD (voice-over): When U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with key Arab allies in Amman on Saturday, the message from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, the UAE, Qatar and Egypt, clear and consistent.
AYMAN SAFADI, JORDANIAN MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND EXPATRIATES: In the Arab countries, we demand an immediate ceasefire.
ANDERSON (voice-over): The response from America's top diplomat also consistent.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's our view that a ceasefire now will simply leave Hamas in place, able to regroup and repeat what it did on October 7.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Sharing his stage with Blinken, the Jordanian and Egyptian foreign ministers said Israel has gone beyond a justified response.
SAMEH SHOUKRY, EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (TRANSLATED): Israel targeting innocent civilians and facilities, medical facilities, paramedics, in addition to trying to force immigration for Palestinians to leave their lands. This cannot be legitimate self- defense at all.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ANDERSON: While he was in Amman, Antony Blinken made a point of stressing that the U.S. and its Arab partners share the "same fundamental interest and objective to end this war". But, if he arrived in Amman hoping to share plans and build consensus for a post- war future for Gaza, he likely left disappointed.
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SAFADI: What happens next? How can we even entertain what will happen in Gaza when we do not know what kind of Gaza will be left after this war stops?
ANDERSON (voice-over): The message from Arab leaders, no talk about what happens the day after this conflict ends until all parties agree on what happens today. Becky Anderson, CNN, Doha.
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HOLMES: The U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East and Humanitarian Issues, David Satterfield, said early on Saturday that the U.S. is looking into establishing field hospitals in southern Gaza. He says it depends on whether guarantees can be made that staff will be able to enter and exit the area safely. The official also shared that Israel is in conversations to bring hospital ships off the coast of Gaza. All of this coming a day after a blast outside the Al-Shifa Hospital, and as the Palestinian death toll continues to soar, 9,500 now. The IDF has repeatedly called on civilians to evacuate Gaza City and northern Gaza and move south. As we've been reporting, many are on the move, seeking shelter anywhere they can find.
CNN obtained exclusive footage of one such makeshift shelter at the Al-Quds Hospital in northern Gaza where thousands of displaced people are camped down. CNN's Salma Abdelaziz reports on their plight. A warning, there are images in her report which are graphic.
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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Where do you go when the bombs won't stop? Where do you shelter your family when the shelters are full? For many Gazans, the answer is a hospital. The head doctor shows us around.
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All that separates these families in the ICU is this store, he explains. These are not proper sterile conditions. Some 12,000 displaced people are camped out in Al-Quds Hospital in northern Gaza. And every single person you see here has been told by Israel's Army to leave and move south, an evacuation order the UN previously called inhumane. This is not a place for children to play. This is a disaster, the doctor says. Look, these are sick people. How can a man on a walker be evacuated? Hospitals are protected under international law. But, Israel claims Hamas uses medical facilities as command centers. Aid groups and Palestinian officials deny these allegations. Either way, this is still not a safe place. Step outside the doors and this is what you face, non-stop Israeli artillery and airstrikes. Everyone here fears the explosions will only get closer, but there is nowhere else to run.
Across the street, desperate people steal basic supplies. The war in a suffocating sea just causing civil order to break down, the UN says. Families cannot be expected to flee into this chaos, this father says. This is a war against our children. See how scared he is from the bombs. Now, we are alive but tomorrow we could be dead. Please save us, he pleads. Less than a quarter mile away from the hospital, this is the aftermath of one of those strikes. Residents pulled people out of the rubble of their homes. They can depend only on each other. Comms are down. No one can call an ambulance.
Just try and carry him out on your shoulder, someone shouts. Are my mom and dad alive? The wounded man asks. The sound of war never ceases. You could die trying to help the living. This is one neighborhood during one hour in Gaza, a tiny glimpse into the horror. The humanity and dignity of more than two million people that live here, a casualty of a war so many did not choose. Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
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HOLMES: I want to talk now about the particular plight of pregnant women in Gaza with the enclave's healthcare system crumbling as they need it most. Here to tell us about it is Laila Baker, the United Nations Population Fund's Regional Director for Arab States. She joins me from Cairo. And thanks so much for making the time. The numbers are pretty staggering, 50,000 pregnant women I think it is in Gaza, perhaps 150 births every day. Babies don't stop coming because there is a war on. What are conditions like for these women?
LAILA BAKER, REGIONAL DIRECTOR FOR ARAB STATES, U.N. POPULATION FUND: Good morning. I think you described it very well with, even one woman trying to give birth, imagine that you are in this context that was just described by the previous reporter. Bombs continually raining down on Gaza relentlessly. There is nowhere safe to flee, over 130 attacks on healthcare facilities, 70 percent of the primary care that women need for -- to deliver safely are gone. And in those conditions, women are not only subjected to the physical deprivation of good healthcare, but also the mental anguish of what will happen next to me to, my baby, to my family.
HOLMES: A doctor and one guy is in a hospital, I was reading. He said he has delivered babies by emergency C-section with no power, using the light of a mobile phone, no anesthetic. I mean, a natural birth would be difficult enough in this situation. What about those who need interventions, cesarean section, surgery and so on?
BAKER: We are critically concerned about the entire population of 2.2 million people living in Gaza. But, for those 5,500 women who have to give birth, among them the ones who will have complicated labor, like you were talking about, put yourself in the shoes of that woman and her family. She goes to a hospital, and if she can find a qualified surgeon, someone who can help deliver her baby under those circumstances, which is not a given anymore. We're working with one third the personnel after all of the attacks in the last four weeks on Gaza. She may have to make the choice of having that delivery with no anesthesia.
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I can't imagine the trauma and the decision of those poor women to have to do that, for the surgeon who has to choose whether or not he or she will intervene and cause pain to a patient. And even in the event that she could deliver safely at that moment, there is no water. There is no fuel. There is no transportation for her, and nowhere safe to flee.
HOLMES: Yes. Yes.
BAKER: We have accounts for many of our people who say, we can feel the bombs. We know our babies feel that. Imagine the anguish and the anxiety of having to live with that even if you could deliver your baby safely.
HOLMES: Oh, that's an extraordinary thought. Yes. And we're talking about women who get to hospitals having these problems. A lot of these women aren't able to get to hospitals. I was also wanting to ask you about those pregnant women not due for perhaps a few weeks or months. I mean, what are the challenges for them of getting the basics of nutrition, prenatal care, to keep their babies healthy, because that can have an impact on that child going forward?
BAKER: Of course, it can. Maybe I can just start with a story of a colleague of mine who was in Gaza. She is a professional woman who was severely displaced under the pretext of evacuation to what should have been a "safe site". She has a nine-month-old child who stopped breastfeeding for the majority of time because she didn't have enough water, enough food or enough safety for her to be able to breastfeed with any consistency. And this is a woman who has a life, who has a home in Gaza. Imagine for the other women.
Now, UNFPA is trying desperately through the -- if there could be a ceasefire and a complete humanitarian corridor open, not a pause. This is not about a pause. We need the complete cessation of bombing of Gaza, unhindered, unimpeded access to the population to be able not only to deliver to the civilian population of 2.2 million, including the women who are pregnant right now, but also to be able to deliver in safety. Healthcare facilities are not a target. UN personnel are not a target. Humanitarian workers are not a target. And yet, we've lost 75 personnel from UNRWA alone. That is the respect for the international humanitarian law that is necessary at this point in order to intervene for the lives of those women that we are so desperately concerned about right now.
HOLMES: I mean, all the carnage and loss in Gaza, the thought of 150, 180 women having to give birth every day under those circumstances, is just bone chilling. Laila Baker, thank you so much, getting up early for us there in Cairo. It's such an important part of this story.
BAKER: Thank you so much for having me.
HOLMES: Think about that. Well, still to come here on the program, U.S. President Joe Biden losing support among a growing number of Arab Americans. We spoke to some voters who say they now regret casting their ballot for Biden.
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HOLMES: Pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets in major cities across Europe, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Have a look at the scene in London's Trafalgar Square on Saturday, as tens of thousands gathered there to show solidarity with the besieged enclave. Police say they did arrest 29 people for various offenses. In Paris, demonstrators called for an end to the violence, as they marched through the streets, holding Palestinian flags. It was one of the first big gatherings of support for Palestinians to be legally allowed in the city. There have been other marches that were not sanctioned. The scenes in Germany similar, as thousands demonstrated in Berlin. Police say more than 6,000 people attended that rally.
And in the United States, crowds of protesters marched to the White House, demanding a ceasefire. People were carrying Palestinian flags and signs that read "Stop the massacre. Let Gaza live". They were also calling out U.S. President Joe Biden.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My message to President Biden is, I voted for you and I regret it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you vote for him in 2024?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to vote for him. I'm not going to vote for him, because he is asking for $13 billion to do more killing of the Palestinian people.
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HOLMES: Now, despite being nearly a year away, the U.S. presidential election is on the minds of many Arab American voters, especially as tensions escalate in the Middle East. And that voting bloc once fairly reliable for President Biden might be looking for other alternatives after the events of October 7 and what's happened since. CNN's Dianne Gallagher explains why.
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EMAN HAMMOUD, MICHIGAN IMMIGRATION ATTY: We can't ignore history.
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not a statement Eman Hammoud ever thought she'd make.
HAMMOUD: I voted for Biden.
GALLAGHER: And are you going to vote for him again in 2024? HAMMOUD: I mean, if you would have asked me a month ago, I would have said, absolutely 100 percent. No doubt about it. But, honestly, the past few weeks have changed everything. And I don't know anymore.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): The Michigan Immigration Attorney is one of a growing number of Muslim and Arab Americans who say they're reconsidering their support for President Joe Biden due to his response to the humanitarian crisis and rising death toll in Gaza.
ABBAS ALAWIEH, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: The Democratic Party risks losing a generation of young voters and multiple generations of Arab American and Muslim voters.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Perhaps nowhere is this sentiment more pronounced than here in Dearborn, which has been called the Arab capital of North America. We sat down with Democrats who helped elect Biden.
LEXI ZEIDAN, PALESTINIAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST: I did vote for Joe Biden in 2020.
GALLAGHER: Do you plan to vote for him in 2024?
ZEIDAN: I do not.
ABDULLAH HAMMOUD, DEARBORN, MICHIGAN MAYOR: I will gladly turn it on empty ballot.
SAM BAYDOUN, WAYNE, MICHIGAN COUNTY COMMISSIONER: If the election was to be held today and President Biden is on the ballot and we have to go out and vote today, I can't promise you that he will get five votes from Arab Americans in the city of Dearborn.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Adam Abusalah, a Palestinian American worked on the 2020 campaign as a Biden fellow doing outreach to the Arab community.
ADAM ABUSALAH, FORMER BIDEN FELLOW: The man that I went out and knocked on doors for, I feel guilt, and I absolutely do regret what I did on the Biden campaign. When we thought that he would be somebody that can lead with humanity and compassion, we were wrong.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Some are prepared to boycott Biden even if it means potentially handing the election to the current Republican frontrunner, former President Donald Trump.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are no longer going to consider the lesser of two evils.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): The White House has both publicly and privately pointed to recent reach outs with the Arab Palestinian and Muslim communities, as well as the call for a humanitarian pause.
JOHN KIRBY, NSC SPOKESPERSON: -- to get aid out and to continue to work to get people out safely.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): And announcing an effort to combat Islamophobia.
KIRBY: That kind of hate has no place.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Efforts dismissed by the people we spoke with is damage control, adding the only way to maybe save their votes is by calling for an immediate ceasefire.
BAYDOUN: Enough is enough. We need to ceasefire.
GALLAGHER (voice-over): Michigan is second only to California in residents who identify as Middle Eastern or North African, according to the U.S. Census. In 2020, Biden won the state by nearly 155,000 votes. Imgage (ph), a national organization dedicated to getting out the Muslim vote says 145,000 Muslim Michiganders voted in 2020. Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud says Democrats can no longer take his community's vote for granted.
HAMMOUD: We're not here to prostitute ourselves the lowest bidder in order for us to be recognized and for our humanity to actually be seen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GALLAGHER: On the Biden campaign since CNN, a statement saying in part, President Biden knows the importance of earning the trust of every community of upholding the sacred dignity and rights of all Americans. President Biden continues to work closely and proudly with leaders in the Muslim and Palestinian communities in America to listen to them, stand up for them, and fight back against hate. But, the people I spoke to in this community say that if Democrats think they'll forget, by next November that they are wrong. This is not political for them. It is personal. These are their friends and family members they are talking about, not just something they're watching on television.
Their Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib posting on Friday night a video where she echoes their sentiments, writing at the end, Biden, support a ceasefire now, or don't count on us in 2024. Dianne Gallagher, CNN, Dearborn, Michigan.
HOLMES: You're watching CNN Newsroom. We'll be right back.
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HOLMES: Negotiators for striking Hollywood film and television actors are reviewing what is being described as a best and final offer from the major Hollywood studios. It's not clear yet that a deal will be reached. The union and studio executives have been meeting on and off since SAG-AFTRA actors went on strike on July the 14th. They asking for higher pay for streaming services, better benefits and restrictions on the use of artificial intelligence. Once a deal is reached, it would still need to be ratified by members of the 160,000 member union before going into effect.
Loved ones have been paying their final respects to the actor Matthew Perry who died last weekend. People magazine reports his funeral took place Friday in Los Angeles, and that it was a true gathering of friends. All five of Perry's co-star from their hit TV show "Friends" appeared. The LA Fire Department says the 54-year-old was found unconscious in a Jacuzzi at his home last Saturday. The cause of Perry's death has not yet been officially determined. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office is still investigating.
I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I will be back with more coverage of the Israel-Hamas war after a quick break.
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