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Israel-Hamas Truce Set to Take Effect This Hour; Israel Strikes Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon; Video Blogger Documents Life Inside War- torn Gaza; Prominent Men Named in Sexual Assault Lawsuits in New York. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired November 24, 2023 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
[00:00:33
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Well, hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Becky Anderson in Doha, in Qatar.
And breaking news as we come on the air. A four-day truce between Israel and Hamas is set to take effect at this hour. Nearly seven weeks of punishing air and ground campaigns to root out the militant group now on hold.
This is part of a deal to secure the release of Israeli hostages captured in the October 7th terror attack. According to Qatar, which helped broker the deal, the first hostages are expected to be released at 4 p.m. local time, about nine hours from now. Women and children, some from the same families, will be turned over to the Red Cross.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the deal is not without its challenges. And the Israeli military warning there could be changes at any moment.
Well, Israel's military operation, of course, prompted by the Hamas terror attacks back in October that killed around 1,200 Israelis and foreign nationals.
It could take some time before we know just how successful this pause in fighting will be. Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson says the aim is for a lasting truce that would extend beyond four days and lead to negotiations to end the violence.
The Israeli government said earlier this week an extra day could be added to the pause in fighting for every ten additional hostages released.
Well, meanwhile, the Israeli military kept up the bombardment of Gaza in the hours leading up to the truce. CNN crews witnessed explosions across the border from their vantage point in Southern Israel.
And Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the military campaign could go, quote, "forcefully" for at least two months more after this pause.
Well, I asked Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson -- of course Qatar, has mediated these talks, this negotiation. I asked Majed Al- Ansari what would constitute a breach of this truce. This is what he told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MAJED AL-ANSARI, QATARI FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON: I don't think I can get into the technicalities, you know, tactically on the ground. Of course, this is to be handled by the, you know, people on the ground.
But what I can tell you is that the agreement is about full cessation of hostilities within the four days. So obviously, any resumption of hostilities of any kind would be a breach.
And I think it's very important that lines of communication remain open so that any possible breach, however it is defined, is communicated immediately to both sides and there is a way to walk back from it and make sure that we continue with -- with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond, live this hour in Sderot in Israel. And it is at this hour, Jeremy, that the guns are expected to go silent. What can you see and hear at this point?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, just as you are coming to me, I just heard another loud boom. We are still hearing what sounds like artillery. It is -- these are the kinds of sounds that we have been hearing throughout this war, and we are still hearing them, with less frequency. But up until 7 a.m., we were hearing a very, very steady drumbeat of small arms fire, artillery fire, perhaps even tank fire, as well.
When the clock struck 7, those sounds did not stop altogether, and I am still hearing some booms in the distance coming from inside the Gaza Strip. You can even see behind me here, that there is some smoke in the distance, and you're still hearing those booms. I don't know if you can hear them through my microphone, Becky, but it is remarkable.
I mean, we are four minutes now into what was supposed to be this -- the beginning of this truce between Israel and Hamas, and the fighting doesn't seem to have stopped altogether.
And so that raises a norm as questions, obviously, about whether or not this truce between Israel and Hamas will indeed go forward. Is this just errant fire that is going to be accepted or disregarded by one or the other side?
[00:05:16]
Big questions, especially as the lives of these hostages, the possibility of them to get out of Gaza, to come back to their families rests on this questions of whether Israel and Hamas are able to respect this truce.
ANDERSON: Four minutes in, you hear these sound of booms, at least. I had asked the spokesperson for the Qatar foreign ministry, who was talking about the deal just yesterday, what a breach would look or sound like, and he said, this is about stopping the hostilities on the ground completely. That is not, from your vantage point, what is happening as we speak?
DIAMOND: That's right. Just as you were speaking, Becky, another loud boom in the distance. I'm trying to see if there's any -- any impacts from that, any particular smoke.
But we are hearing the sounds of war. And we're not supposed to be hearing the sounds of war after 7 a.m. local time. So again, it raises enormous questions about the viability of this truce.
Again, we want to be super cautious about attributing the sounds of the fire, but in my mind, the sounds that I'm hearing sounds very much like the artillery fire that we have been hearing constantly for weeks and weeks now.
ANDERSON: And as you are speaking, we've brought up the -- the live pictures over Gaza, Jeremy, and the smoke billowing over a certain area of -- of Gaza City at present.
I want to bring you back in momentarily, Jeremy. Jeremy Diamond is in Sderot in Israel for the time being. Thank you.
Here's what we know about the deal, then, to exchange hostages and prisoners. An Israeli officials says a total of 39 Palestinian prisoners will be released on Friday but not until a group of 13 women and children, hostages from Gaza, are back in Israeli hands.
The Israeli government has notified the families of the first group of hostages set to be released on Friday. And the U.S. says it will contact families of Americans released, after it has confirmation that they are departing Gaza.
Among the ten Americans being held in Gaza is 3-year-old Abigail Edan. U.S. President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he has his fingers crossed that this little girl will be released.
Qatar says it will be receiving a list of hostages to be freed in a -- on a day-by-day basis, in a day-by-day process. Israel will also -- this is the schedule, at least, this is the plan, Israel expected to hand over a list of Palestinian prisoners expected to be released.
Here's the founder of the HOSTAGE FAMILIES FORUM in New York, speaking on Thursday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OMER LUBATON-GRANOT, HOSTAGES AND MISSING FAMILIES FORUM: I think that every soul that we'll manage to bring back, Judaism will say that every person is a whole world. So every person that we can get out of there, it's amazing and it's good. It's the good news that we are waiting for, for a long six weeks that we have only bad news, and only hard times.
But we still remember and understand that the struggle is long. We will have to help the ones who will come back and, hopefully, we'll see them come back to recover and return to a normal life as much as possible.
And we will have to keep fighting for the rest of them because Hamas is not planning on opening the gates and let people just go. It doesn't matter if they are Israeli, or American, or Canadians, or Thais. It doesn't matter. They took innocent people. They took innocent people from the houses in a vicious attack. And we are highly devoted to bringing every -- each and every one of them home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Well, that scheduled releases for the first 13 hostages is 4 p.m. this afternoon. It is 7 a.m. on the ground at this point. So there are some hours between now, when the fighting was supposed to stop, and the scheduled release of those first hostages.
It is a war zone. Don't expect things to necessarily go by the book.
[00:10:07]
The U.N. anticipates that trucks carrying desperately-needed humanitarian aid will move into Gaza, immediately once this truce begins.
Dozens of trucks lined up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing on Thursday ahead of the expected truce. The U.N. is sending food, water, fuel, and everyday items.
Meanwhile, the International Rescue Committee welcomed the pause in fighting but says the agreed-upon four days, not enough time to address, quote, "catastrophic levels of humanitarian need."
Let's get you to Jerusalem. Shaina Low, who is communication adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council standing by.
Let's start, Shaina, with what we know at present. This truce was expected to go into effect at the top of this hour. While I was talking to my colleague on the Israel-Gaza border, it was clear you could still hear the sounds of war behind him. And we witnessed smoke rising over Gaza. That suggests that there is still activity on the ground.
You must be, as so many people will be, hoping that this truce does hold, that what we are seeing on the ground there is not a breach of this pause, this humanitarian pause.
Explain why that is. Why -- why it is so important that this works at this point.
SHAINA LOW, COMMUNICATION ADVISOR, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: It's been almost seven weeks of hostilities in Gaza. A huge portion of the Gaza Strip is just leveled. At least 60 percent of buildings are damaged or destroyed. We have 1.7 million internally displaced people.
The humanitarian needs are so vast, and we and our colleagues in Gaza, and our partner organizations that we work with have been desperate to be able to -- to scale up our responses, which have been limited due to the goods available inside of Gaza and the ongoing hostilities.
So this pause in the fighting, we are planning and will take advantage of, and we desperately are pushing that this pause be extended and make -- and built up to a long-term, sustainable cease-fire.
It's so easy to destroy things, and to build things back up is going to take so much longer than it took to destroy them. We now have seven weeks of hostilities that we need to address the -- the results of.
ANDERSON: Let's just be quite clear, for those who may just be joining us. This truce was supposed to go to effect in the Gaza Strip at 7 a.m. It is 7:12 a.m. at present, and there is evidence there of some lingering activity, I have to say. That was just after the top of the hour that we saw that, and it does, at least from this viewpoint, look as if it -- it may -- it may have stopped.
But we'll keep you in this picture as we talk to Shaina Low from the Norwegian Refugee Council. You said this humanitarian pause is an opportunity, a window of opportunity. How will your organization take advantage of it?
LOW: Well, over the last seven weeks, we've already been providing cash assistance to vulnerable families and managing a handful of sites for internally displaced people that are not UNRWA facilities.
We have been providing those people with food, making sure that other needs are accommodated, getting them hygiene kits. We have plans to -- to increase that amount of assistance, to be able to access areas that previously were unsafe, and to do all that we can to reach communities in need.
One of the challenges is that's unclear as of yet, which goods will be coming in in which order. So we're going to have to be a bit limber and flexible in our response, not knowing when the ten trucks worth of goods that we have waiting in Egypt will be able to make it through and when we'll be able to distribute those.
But we will search for whatever we can inside of Gaza to provide for needs.
ANDERSON: Right.
LOW: Continue to provide hot meals, and continue to try and address some of the just vast, enormous, humanitarian needs.
ANDERSON: Shaina, we know that included in the humanitarian supplies will be fuel. That fuel is designed, destined for humanitarian structure. Schools, hospitals, to run sewage plants, to ensure that the infrastructure for those who need it most is functioning.
[00:15:15] How important, and significant, is that part of the deal? The -- the concession by Israel to allow fuel into the Gaza Strip, in what is likely to be much more significant amounts than has been to date?
LOW: Well, fuel is desperately needed to -- to address and care for all aspects of life in Gaza. There's been no electricity in Gaza for over a month at this point. So everything is reliant on generators.
We ourselves can't even execute a humanitarian response without -- without fuel, to run our cars and be able to move across Gaza.
Fuel is needed for hospitals, water sanitation facilities, desalinization and wastewater treatment. Fuel is desperately needed.
And it's important to note that Israel remains the occupying power in Gaza. And has remained the occupying power since 1967. And as a result of being the occupying power, Israel has obligations to care for the well-being and provide for the basic needs for survival for Palestinians in Gaza.
They should be, they should throughout all of these seven weeks, been, if not providing those goods and needs themselves, then allowing humanitarians unfettered access without undue interference so that we could address those needs.
We are desperate to scale up this aid. We need to be able to scale up this aid. And under international law, Israel shouldn't be prohibiting that.
ANDERSON: Shaina, we thank you for joining us from Jerusalem, where the time is 7:16 in the morning. We are 16 minutes into what has been organized as a humanitarian pause. This is a four-day period, a lull in the fighting. An opportunity to get that much-needed humanitarian aid, into the near two million or so people who need it in the Gaza Strip and to affect the release of the first hostages being held by Hamas in the area.
We thank you, Shaina.
We are taking a very quick break. We will be back with more news after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:21:29]
ANDESON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Doha, in Qatar. And we are monitoring events in the Middle East, where a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas is set to take place this hour.
Here is a live look at the Israel-Gaza border right now. Our correspondent in the area reports hearing what sounds like Israeli artillery fire continuing after the truce was due to begin, though it does appear to be winding down.
It's 7:21 a.m. We're 21 minutes into what was the scheduled start of this pause in fighting. The IDF says soldiers still inside Gaza will be stationed along established truce lines.
Well, according to Qatar, which helped broker the deal, hostages held by Hamas will be released to the Red Cross in the coming hours. And Israel will, in turn, free Palestinian prisoners to the West Bank.
Israel's military warning that there could be last-minute changes because of the complicated, the very complicated nature of this deal.
Well, the exchange of prisoners and hostages is a moment that hundreds of families have desperately been waiting for on both sides. They're holding onto hope their loved ones will be freed in the coming days and they are fighting for each and every one of them to be returned safely.
CNN's Oren Liebermann reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After nearly seven weeks of war, it is the storm before the calm.
The final hours of fighting in Gaza ticking down until a pause in the conflict set for early Friday morning. Thirteen hostages, women and children, will then be freed by Hamas on Friday afternoon, transferred to the Red Cross, and then back to Israel.
GILL ROMAN, RELATIVE HELD HOSTAGE IN GAZA: We are waiting, on a day- by-day basis, to wait for a phone call to see if our loved ones are coming back.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Under the agreement, a pause in the fighting is scheduled to last four days, a total of 50 Israeli women and children will be released in stages, in exchange for 150 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons.
A spokesperson for Qatar's foreign ministry expressed hope that the deal could be the basis for a longer pause.
ANSARI: We are hoping that these four days would work as a proof of concept for further de-escalation measures, including expanding -- extending humanitarian pause. But also, getting to a more sustainable, sustainable truce.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Nearly 80 percent of Gaza's population is displaced, facing critical shortages of food, water, and fuel. These trucks will provide only a fraction of what's required.
For Gazans, the pause in fighting is a brief respite after weeks of relentless Israeli bombardment.
As of Tuesday, more than 12,700 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, based on numbers from the Hamas-controlled ministry of health, which have not been officially updated, because of a breakdown in communications.
On Thursday, Israel detained Dr. Mohammed Abu Salmiya, the director of al-Shifa hospital. The IDF says he was questioned about alleged Hamas activity at the hospital.
The IDF released footage of additional tunnels they see that were uncovered below Gaza's largest medical facility. Health officials in Gaza have consistently denied Hamas used the hospital for military purposes.
[00:25:03]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a meeting with the new U.K. foreign minister, David Cameron, said the pause in fighting is not the end of the war.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: We'll continue with our war aims, namely to eradicate Hamas. Because Hamas has only promised to do this again and again and again.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): The prime minister's office said in a statement that it had notified the families of the first 13 hostages to be released.
Joe Dickman (ph) says he's holding his breath, even though his loved ones are not in that initial group.
JOE DICKMAN (ph): And I'm actually myself very excited to hear about the kids that are coming home, and the hostages that are coming home. But, after saying that, I can't really believe anything until I see them free and home.
Oren Liebermann, CNN, in Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: I'm Becky Anderson in Doha, in Qatar. Our coverage from Israel continues after a short break.
Coming up, we'll take you live to Southern Israel as we monitor the expected truce between Israel and Hamas. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANDERSON: Well, a four-day truce between Israel and Hamas is -- was due to go into effect at the top of this hour. Israel says it has informed the families of the first group of hostages to be freed later on Friday. There are still also calls for the release of Palestinian prisoners into the West Bank.
But first, we expect to see a convoy of aid trucks begin making their way into Gaza from the Egyptian border.
[06:30:09]
A stretch of land liberated. A Qatari official conceded it's not nearly enough aid, but at least there is a pause in the fighting that might be extended.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANSARI: It would be a fraction of the need in Gaza. The need is so great in Gaza that, no matter how much aid you are going to bring in, there will be certainly more need for -- for aid.
But we are hoping to bring in as much as possible within the confines of the deal. And of course, our aim is for this deal to end without lasting truce.
ANDERSON: Well, the deal is for this truce to end with a sustained cease-fire, ultimately. That is the Qatari sort of hope here.
But in the beginning, let's start with the baby steps, as it were. This is a four-day truce scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. local time.
Let's bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond live this hour in Sderot, in Israel. It's just past the bottom of the hour, just past half past seven.
Jeremy, what can you tell us?
DIAMOND: Well, Becky, we are about half hour into this scheduled truce between Israel and Hamas, but we are really only ten, maybe 15 minutes into not actually hearing hostilities still coming from inside of Gaza.
In the first 15 minutes of this anticipated truce between Israel and Hamas, we were still hearing a loud booms consistent with heavy weaponry inside of Gaza. And about 15 minutes into that truce, we also received rocket -- incoming rocket sirens in Southern area -- Southern Israel in the kibbutzes of Kissufim and Aimhash Losha (ph), which are right along the border with Gaza.
Now, we don't know whether there were any impacts or interceptions as a result of those sirens, but clearly, in the first 15 minutes of this truce, we were hearing ongoing hostilities between the warring parties.
Now, I've reached out to the Israeli military for comment to see whether or not they fired any munitions in those 15 minutes. They have yet to get back to me.
For now though, Becky, we are still seeing some smoke in the distance from previous strikes that happened earlier this morning. But we are not hearing any small arms fire. We are not hearing any artillery. Things appear to have calmed down, at least for the moment. The question now is whether that will hold.
ANDERSON: Yes, let's just remind viewers, from your vantage point over the past, what, six and a half weeks or so, what have you been witnessing?
DIAMOND: Yes, for weeks now, we have been witnessing, you know, all of the major military activity and the Northern part of the Gaza Strip.
And in fact, overnight was one of the most intense nights that we have seen in several days, at least. We saw heavy, heavy Israeli bombardments of parts of Northern Gaza, active fighting, small-arms fire, machine-gun fire.
This was a very, very busy night before this anticipated truce actually kicked in. Yes.
ANDESON: Jeremy, thank you.
Jeremy Diamond is in Sderot in Israel.
Well, Dan O'Shea is the former coordinator of the hostage working group at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. He's also a former U.S. Navy SEAL commander, joining me now on what is, Dan, a really important -- this is a significant day.
It is the day that the guns are expected to go silent, according to this deal that has been negotiated by a Qatar-led mediation team. And the day that we ought to see, or we are scheduled, at least to see, the first of those hostages held by Hamas released.
How did that mediation team get us to where we are now? They certainly have described what the last 45 days has been like, as intense, extremely complicated, complex at times. Just take us through what you believe they will have been through.
DAN O'SHEA, FORMER COORDINATOR, HOSTAGE WORKING GROUP, U.S. EMBASSY IN BAGHDAD: The bottom line is the negotiations to get these hostages back began almost immediately. So 47 days to get a resolution speaks to the level of that complexity.
Because Hamas and Israel did not sit across a table from each other. They both have sworn to wipe each other out, which, the level of distrust, the fact that the cease-fire did not go into effect in zero 700 at local time as was -- was the plan says everything about the level of how fragile this -- this truce will be.
[00:35:12]
And the cease-fire could end over something as simple as a skittish IDF soldier at a checkpoint if a car's coming, approaches it too quickly, taking a shot of the vehicle.
If a -- if a missile comes out of the West Bank from Hezbollah.
So this is a very challenging situation going forward, but it's a day that many sides have been demanding, especially the families of the loved ones in Israel. Because only by tremendous pressure on Netanyahu by not only these families, but also the world community.
Thirty-plus international hostages are being held in the 240 in Gaza. So there is tremendous pressure to make this happen. But it will be a challenge going forward for all the complexities involved.
ANDERSON: You're right to point out that there is absolutely no trust between these two parties. I mean, the mediation team here in Qatar has made that very clear to me and have said that that makes it even more difficult. They have real experience here in Qatar of mediation through Afghanistan, through Iran, the U.S., Sudan. And normally, they say they can find something to bring parties sort
of to coalesce around. That has been impossible on this occasion.
For that reason, Dan, they have built in certain obligations from both sides every day and have made it absolutely clear to both sides, to Israel and to Hamas, what those obligations are.
Can you just take us through what we -- what we understand this deal to include? And what you make of this deal, given that you've been -- you know, you have such experience in hostage negotiation.
O'SHEA: Well, two things that I do know. And I'm not privy to all the details of what was actually negotiated. But what has come to light is the fact that the Red Cross and Red Crescent will be able to visit the hostages within Gaza.
Conversely, the concern and fear Hamas would have is that, obviously, then it could get released where the remaining hostages are held.
But also, I've been told that drones will not be able to fly during certain hours, presumably during daylight.
So that's just part of the level of distrust these two sides have, and that's just two examples of how -- how complex and how fragile this -- this truce between two sworn enemies is.
And we can just hope and pray that it does last for four days, and there is a transfer of both the hostages on one side and the Palestinian prisoners on the other. Because if it does go smoothly, this will be a blueprint for going forward on getting more hostages released.
ANDERSON: Yes, and you make a very good point. I just want to be absolutely clear on what we do know and what we don't know.
We were expecting in this deal to hear detail of whether the ICRC could actually visit those hostages who are still held after day one, for example.
Day one, we get to hopefully see the successful release of 13 women and children from Hamas. And on -- sort of on the reciprocal basis, we are expecting to see 13 Palestinian prisoners released.
And the hope was that the ICRC would be able to -- would be given the opportunity to get around to meet those other hostages. That is actually not clear. And we did press the -- press the foreign ministry spokesman here in Qatar on that detail yesterday. He wasn't able to provide any further detail.
But you've made some really good points that this level of mistrust or distrust between these two sides is such that any misstep at this point will clearly put this entire deal in jeopardy. We're looking at a four-day window here.
Dan O'Shea, thank you very much indeed. It's a four-day window in the first instance, folks. After that, for
every ten hostages that Hamas says it can release, the deal has baked in the opportunity for an extra day's worth of pause. That is an incentive. More to come after this quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:47:40]
ANDERSON: Well, Israel and Hamas may have agreed to a truce for now, but Israel was very active on Thursday against Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon.
CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Beirut and filed this report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Lebanese- Israeli border saw some of its most intense exchanges of fire Thursday between Israel and Hezbollah a day after an Israeli strike --
WEDEMAN (voice-over): -- killed five Hezbollah fighters, including the son of the leader of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc.
According to Lebanon's official news agency, there were almost two dozen individual strikes by Hezbollah on Israel, mostly focusing on military targets.
The group claimed it fired 48 Katyusha rockets on the Israeli infantry base at Ein Zatin (ph) and also claimed it killed four Israeli soldiers in a separate attack. Israel has yet to comment.
Israeli military, for its part, said it launched multiple --
WEDEMAN: -- air and artillery strikes on what it called Hezbollah's infrastructure and rocket launch sites.
WEDEMAN (voice-over): Thursday, Iranian foreign minister Hossein Abdollahian, on a two-day visit to Lebanon, met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to consult on efforts to end the war in Gaza.
During his time in Beirut, the foreign minister interviewed on the Mayadeen satellite news channel, warned that if the truce in Gaza doesn't hold, the scope of the war will expand.
While Al Jazeera Arabic, citing a Hezbollah source, said the group would hold its fire during the four-day truce if Israel does the same.
I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Civilians in Gaza have been struggling to survive as the war intensified, of course. One young blogger's video diary has documented the struggles and tragedies that people there have endured in the enclave amid the conflict. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has that report for you.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Life before the war has felt like a distant memory for video blogger Ayat Khaddoura.
[00:45:09]
They were the days when she'd smile in her videos, taking her followers behind the scenes of her work in Gaza.
For weeks now, her posts have been about life at a time of war.
AYAT KHADDOURA, VIDEO BLOGGER IN GAZA (through translator): We now wake up at 5 a.m. to queue for bread. We now walk more than six kilometers to fill up a gallon of salty or fresh water. We charge our phones on the streets using the solar power we can find. We crave our favorite foods, but there's no power, no gas or water, so we have to make do with canned foods.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Ayat showed people how Gazans survive, neighbors sharing the little they have to bake bread in clay ovens. And at times, it was about how close death felt, as bombs rained down on Gaza.
KHADDOURA (through translator): This might be my last video. They dropped leaflets asking people to evacuate the area. Most people fled. People were running in the streets like crazy, not knowing where to go. The situation is terrifying. God have mercy on us.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): As the war intensified in the North, Ayat didn't leave. The safety they were told to evacuate to in the South was an illusion. Nowhere in Gaza is safe, she said.
KHADDOURA (through translator): Death and destruction is everywhere in Gaza. The occupation has no mercy on anyone, not the elderly, not the children, not the women, no one. All civilians are under fire in Gaza. Where are the decision-makers? Where's the world? Gaza is being annihilated. We are dying. Someone do something. Enough.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): But these desperate cries of so many like Ayat, haven't stopped this seemingly endless nightmare for the people of Gaza, where burying their dead has become their everyday. Where every moment feels like it may be their last.
On Monday, it was Ayat's, killed along with other family members in a night of intense bombardment of Beit Lahia. Her last video, the haunting words of a 27-year-old, the final message from Gaza to the world.
KHADDOURA (through translator): We're humans, like everyone else. We had big dreams. Now our dream is if we are killed, we are a body in one piece, so we can be identified, buried in a grave, not body parts in a bag. When will this war end? Who will remain to tell people what happened
to us, what we lived through, what we've witnessed?
KARADSHEH: Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:52:04]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: And welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton in New York. Becky Anderson will have more on the scheduled Israel-Hamas truce, but first, here's some other stories making headlines.
In Ireland, police say the streets of Dublin are now mainly calm after violent clashes broke out between police and protesters. It happened after five people, including three children, were stabbed in the central part of the city.
Video from Reuters shows a bus on fire, and other videos posted on social media show a group of men clashing with officers and setting a police car on fire. Some protesters were heard chanting anti-immigrant slogans. The police commissioner had strong words for those taking part in those clashes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DREW HARRIS, NATIONAL POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, I think it's disgraceful things in terms of major investigation, the maintenance of a scene, the gathering of evidence, and we have a complete lunatic hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology and also then, this disruptive tendency here, and engaged in serious violence. Now, we are drafting our resources to deal with that, and that will be dealt with properly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Police say a man in his 50s has now been detained as a suspect in the knife attack that left three children and two adults injured. Thursday was the last day for sexual assault survivors to file a lawsuit against their alleged abusers under the New York Adult Survivors Act regardless, remember, of the statute of limitations.
Now, in the days leading up to the deadline, a slew of lawsuits were filed against high-profile individuals, including the mayor of New York, rock star Axl Rose, actor Jamie Foxx, and others.
CNN's Jeanne Casarez has our story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New York City Mayor Eric Adams firing back after a document was found in New York Supreme Court accusing him of a 1993 sexual assault. MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D), NEW YORK CITY: As I indicated, it's absolutely
not true. This is something that's never happened. I -- I don't even recall meeting the person.
CASAREZ (voice-over): The three-page civil summons alleges sexual assault, battery, gender-based employment discrimination, retaliation, hostile work environment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress by Adams with defendants including the city of New York and the NYPD.
The 30-year-old claim, brought under New York's Adult Survivors Act, allowing a one-year window for victims of sexual abuse to legally come forward, regardless of the statute of limitations.
It is just the latest in an avalanche of claims against high-profile men, among others, as the look back window closes this week.
"Penthouse" model and actress and Sheila Kennedy filing suit against lead singer of guns and roses Axl Rose, alleging in 1989, in a New York City hotel room, he violently sexually assaulted her.
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The attorney for Axl Rose saying, "Simply put, this incident never happened. Rose has no recollection of ever meeting or speaking to the plaintiff, and has never heard of these fictional allegations prior to today."
JAMIE FOXX, ACTOR: It was like something you never heard about --
CASAREZ (voice-over): Academy-Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx accused in a civil suit of offensively touching a woman at a popular New York City rooftop restaurant in 2015.
A spokesperson for Foxx, in a statement, saying the alleged incident never happened, saying the claims were brought in a previously dismissed case.
"We are confident they will be dismissed again, and once they are, Mr. Foxx intends to pursue a claim for malicious prosecution against this person and her attorneys for refining this frivolous action."
Joan Tarshis, the latest to file suit against disgraced comedian Bill Cosby. She told CNN in 2014 Cosby gave her a drink. She passed out --
JOAN TARSHIS, BILL COSBY ACCUSER: When I came to, it was the next morning. And I was in bed with him naked.
CASAREZ (voice-over): Cosby's spokesperson had no comment on the allegations.
And Cassie Ventura, longtime girlfriend of Sean Diddy Combs, accused the rapper and producer of years of sexual abuse, rape, and trafficking in a suit that was resolved amicably one day after the filing. Combs' representative saying was "in no way an admission of
wrongdoing, does not in any way undermine his flat-out denial of the claims."
Jeanne Casarez, CNN, New York.
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NEWTON: I want to thank you for watching. I'm Paula Newton.
Becky Anderson will be back after a quick break. She will have the very latest on the Israel-Hamas truce and the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for Israeli hostages. Stay with us.
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