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Day Three of Four-Day Truce now Underway; Qatar Hoping to Extend Hostage Deal; 13 Israelis, 4 Thais Released on Saturday after Delay; Four Thai Hostages Released Saturday; Nephew of Released Hostage on her Ordeal and Strong Spirit; Rain & Show Spreading East Across the U.S., Cold to Follow. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired November 26, 2023 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

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LAILA HARRAK, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak. Its day three of the four day truce between Hamas and Israel and the Israeli government now has the names of the hostages will be freed on Sunday.

13 Israelis and 4 Thai nationals were released Saturday, but only after an hour's long delay threatened to up end the exchange. Following preliminary medical checks, all of the former hostages were taken to Israeli hospitals for care and to be reunited with their families.

Well, the deal also called for the release of 39 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Saturday. Earlier Hamas had stalled on releasing hostages in a dispute over which Palestinians Israelis were willing to release. Aid groups say 187 trucks made it into Gaza Saturday with food, water, fuel and medical supplies.

It's only a small fraction of what's needed. 61 of those trucks reached heavily damaged Northern Gaza, the most trucks in one day since the war began. Elliott Gotkine is following all of this for you from London. A very good morning, Elliott the second hostage prisoner exchange completed but after a nerve wracking delay?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: That's right Laila. And you can imagine the anxiety among Israelis as a whole and especially among the families of abductees who were due to be released all of those hours they were waiting to see if it was actually going to happen.

In the end it did, and a further 13 Israelis were freed after 50 days in captivity, when they were abducted during Hamas's murderous rampage of October the 7th. They are now safely back in Israel. And that takes it to 26 Israelis in total, who have been freed so far by Hamas.

This is out of a total of 50, which the agreement calls for at the same time, as you say, there are a further 39 Palestinian prisoners, women and minors who were released from Israeli prisons, that takes that to 78 out of 150 in total, who are expected to be released under the terms of this agreement.

Now this delay apparently, according to Hamas at least was bought about over disputes over the amount of aid that was going into Israel into the Gaza Strip from -- into the Gaza Strip, excuse me, and also the identity of the Palestinian prisoners due to be freed. I think Israel was also a bit concerned about the identity of all of the Israeli captors being free.

This particular concern I think about one of the hostages Hila Rotem is a 13 year old girl who was freed yesterday on Saturday by Hamas, but there was no sign of her mother Raaya. Now we don't know the precise details of the agreement between Israel and Hamas to the forces brokered by the Qataris.

It's not been published. But Israel says that part of the deal is that mothers are not separated from their children when they are freed. And that is something Israel says that happened yesterday when Raaya Rotem the mother of Hila was not freed at the same time Israel saying its unknown where she is, and what happened to her.

So that's something that's obviously causing more anxiety. And I suppose amid the joy of course among the Israelis and Israeli families of those who have now been reunited with their loved ones are of course, is a bittersweet emotion because there are still all of those hostages some 200 or so remaining in captivity with Hamas inside the Gaza Strip. But as we say, as we enter day three of this truce, it does seem to be holding, Laila.

HARRAK: It seems to be holding but as the deadline for the end of the truce nears, I'm wondering, will it make things more difficult?

GOTKINE: I think as we get nearer of course, we've seen these negotiations for this deal in the first place were incredibly complex. And we've also seen that the mechanics of the Israeli captors being freed and the Palestinian prisoners being released is also incredibly complex and all manner of things could throw this truce off and bring it to a premature end.

Of course, it's also possible that under this agreement Israel says that for every 10 additional hostages that Hamas releases there will be another day of truce. So it's possible that it could actually go on beyond the four days that has initially been agreed.

[02:05:00]

But as you say, as we get closer to that deadline and we've seen this on a smaller scale with previous flare ups between Israel and militants inside the Gaza Strip but as you reach or you get close to the end of a truce or a ceasefire, that there is always the possibility that things will start to unravel before they are meant to do so.

But as we say, the hope and so far we've seen this happening. This truce is holding the freeing of the Israeli captives and also foreign workers being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip is continuing and the free and the release of those Palestinian prisoners is also continuing. And our hope is that today on day three of this truce that things continue to go off as planned.

And of course, the hope is that this truce will continue and more hostages will be freed as well. But for now, the focus is on day three of this truce and to see if there are any more delays or any more surprises of the sort that we saw on Saturday or if things will go a little bit more smoothly, Laila.

HARRAK: Elliott Gotkine in London. Thank you. And on the Palestinian side, 39 former prisoners are spending their first morning at home following their release by Israel on Saturday while they were freed in return for the hostages handed over to Israel by Hamas. And as CNN's Nada Bashir reports, the former prisoners received a celebratory welcome in the occupied West Bank.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, for yet another night, the crowds have gathered to show their support and welcome the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees who have been released as part of that truce agreement between Israel and Hamas. Today we have seen some 39 prisoners and detainees released among them 33 minors, children under the age of 18.

Many of them held under administrative detention meaning no clear charges were laid against them. No ongoing legal process. And throughout the day, we've seen families waiting anxiously to find out whether or not their loved ones would be listed in the 39 released on Saturday.

We've managed to catch up with the Tamimi family who are waiting to find out whether or not 17 year old Wisam would be released. And of course, we have now seen that otter relief to find out their son has now been released after being held under administrative detention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WISAM TAMIMI, RELEASED PALESTINIAN PRISONER: It's an indescribable feeling. We thank God he brought us out of the place we were in. It's a relief, praise be to God.

HUNAIDA TAMIMI, WISAM'S MOTHER: I can't describe how I feel. I seriously can't believe that. I'm in a dream. My son is with me. Praise, be to God and God willing, every mother will find my joy, God willing. I can't say anymore. May, God spread joy to all the Palestinian people. May, God grant them happiness. That is if we want to smile and laugh, thank God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Over the course of this four day truce, we are expecting to see a total of 150 prisoners and detainees at least released as part of that exchange agreement between Israel and Hamas. And there are many families still hopeful that they will see their loved ones released as part of this agreement.

But we've been speaking to many families many locals here who said that while they are happy and have welcomed the release of their loved ones have many of their friends and neighbors. Their happiness is subdued. They tell us that they have paid a heavy price for the release of these detainees and prisoners referencing the war in Gaza and the mounting civilian death toll that we have seen in the Gaza Strip.

But of course, this is a very delicate, very fluid situation. And it remains to be seen whether or not the terms of that truce are upheld over the next few days whether we will continue to see these Palestinian prisoners and detainees released? And of course, whether we continue to see the safe return of Israeli hostages currently held captive by Hamas in Gaza, Nada Bashir, CNN Al-Birah, near Ramallah.

HARRAK: Randa Wahbe is an Al-Shabaka Policy Analyst. She joins me from Oakland, California, Randa, a warm welcome to CNN. Tellingly, this group of detainees that has been released is very much like the first group that has been liberated women and children.

And tellingly while some have been sentenced for crimes, the majority had been under administrative detention meaning not charged, not put on trial, not convicted of anything. How common is that form of imprisonment by Israel?

RANDA WAHBE, AL-SHABAKA POLICY ANALYST: Yes. So just to take a step back administrative detention is a policy under Israeli military law that allows for Palestinians to be detained in military prisons indefinitely, without charge and without the ability to stand trial. They're arrested and held under secret information that neither they nor their lawyers are ever privy to.

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And since the beginning of the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967 and then -- of military law, Israel has used this policy to routinely imprison thousands of Palestinians, particularly targeting activist political leaders, students, children. Right now there are about 36 children under administrative detention, people who work for nonprofits and human rights organizations.

And this policy is above all, a policy to try to crush dissent to Israel's continued control over the Palestinians and to try to fracture and break Palestinian society so that we cannot make our demands for freedom. So right now, Israel has ramped up its administrative detention policy and it's reached a 20 year high. There are 2000 Palestinians in administrative detention 1000 of them who were arrested, sent in the last seven weeks alone.

HARRAK: Randa, just because you know when you hear administrative detention, it sounds very abstract. So what kind of evidence is required for someone a child or adult to be held under administrative detention?

WAHBE: So we actually have no access to the evidence that is used against the administrative detainees to keep them in detention. This is only shared between the military judge who is a soldier and Israeli intelligence. The lawyer nor the person in administrative detention is ever privy to this information. But what I can't tell you is how administrative detention affects the detainees and their families themselves. It's not only a gross violation of international law because of the lack of due process and the right to a fair trial. But it also has a major psychological impact on the detainees and their families because they have no idea why they're being detained. They have no idea how long they're going to be detained? And their lives are completely up ended in their futures aren't certain.

HARRAK: The other thing that I'm told is that many children picked up by the IDF will be interrogated without a parent present and can spend days in solitary confinement, is that your experience?

WAHBE: Yes, that is accurate and it's very harrowing. So when children are arrested, they're usually arrested. Actually, when all Palestinians are arrested they're usually arrested during a late night raid or an early morning raid on their home. And when they're arrested without a warrant they're taken blindfolded and handcuffed.

Their families do not know where they've gone. And oftentimes it takes 24 hours to 48 hours to even be able to locate what detention center they are in. And during that period children have said and have testified that's when they are experiencing a lot of torture, where they're being beaten, where they are being put in stress positions.

They are not treated like children or afforded any rights as children. They are criminalized like adults and they're treated with the same brutality as adults. They often go undergo long military interrogations and they are forced to make confessions under duress and torture without the presence of their parent or a lawyer.

HARRAK: And then this of course really remarkable. You know the children are being tried by military courts, which is quite unique, I understand as well. So the other thing that's quite remarkable is that military courts in Israel have I understand a nearly 99 percent conviction rate. I mean that seems you know extraordinary. I mean, these kids and people who come before the court don't stand a chance.

WAHBE: Right. Well Israel just to mention is the only place in the world where children are charged and tried in military courts. And there is an extremely high conviction rate, because this is a system that is meant to control the Palestinian population.

And so the children that are being detained in this system are it is used to intimidate and to punish them in order for more largely to suppress Palestinian demands for freedom. So you know since 1967 at least 1 million Palestinians have been arrested. That's 1/5 of the total population. So either every Palestinian has been arrested or knows someone who has it has become part of Palestinian life.

HARRAK: Randa Wahbe, thank you so much for speaking to us.

WAHBE: Thank you.

HARRAK: And there's more to come on CNN. Still ahead, U.S. President Joe Biden working the phones with Qatari Leaders regarding the delicate hostage deals the latest on that up next.

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[02:15:00]

HARRAK: The Gulf nation of Qatar which was instrumental in mediating the hostage deal negotiation says it's hoping to extend the truce beyond the agreed upon four days. Meantime, it's trying on multiple fronts to keep the current deal going. The Qatari Foreign Affairs Ministry Spokesperson told CNN.

He's working with Senior Qatari Officials to alleviate concerns from both sides that the other is not living up to the agreements. He also says he's working with Israel, Hamas, Egypt and the United States to ensure the agreed upon number of aid trucks is reaching Gaza. And as we reported aid group says 61 trucks arrived in Northern Gaza Saturday. That's the most on a single day since October 7th.

And U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Qatar's Emir on day two of the hostage release working the phones to resolve any delays in the process and to expedite the release of American hostages held by Hamas. CNN's Arlette Saenz is with the President in Massachusetts.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The White House is closely watching the coming hours waiting to hear whether any American citizens will be part of the next group of hostages that are expected to be released on Sunday. No American citizens were included in the first releases that occurred on Friday and Saturday.

But the White House says they are hopeful that at least three Americans will be coming out in the coming days. It's expected that they will be part of this larger group that had been negotiated to release 50 women and children.

[02:20:00]

And the American citizens who are officials are focusing in on our two women and also that young four year old girl, Abigail Adan whose parents were killed in the October 7th attack by Hamas. But it also comes as President Biden has been working the phones trying to ensure that this deal and the implementation of the deal, remains on track.

On Saturday, he spent some time on the phone speaking with the Emir of Qatar, as well as the Qatari Prime Minister, as there were some delays in the hostage release concerns that the release might fall apart for Saturday. The President spoke with them to talk about the potential hurdles and also ways to overcome it.

And ultimately around 1:30 pm on Saturday, the White House got word that the deal was moving forward. The release was moving forward. And the Red Cross would soon retrieve those hostages. Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to this out in California.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: There were some issues and challenges around implementation, President Biden spoke with Emir to resolve those issues and we do believe they are being resolved. We're going to continue to be diligent and vigilant in doing all that we can in that regard to ensure that there is humanitarian aid going in that hostages are going out and our highest priority of course, are the American citizens who are being held.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now the White House has been unable to pinpoint an exact day that the Americans will be released, but they are hopeful that they will be released in the coming days. And then there's also concerned about the other Americans believed to be held hostage by Hamas.

There are about 10 Americans who are unaccounted for. The President told reporters on Friday that he did not know all of their conditions. Arlette Saenz CNN traveling with the President in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

HARRAK: A Former U.S. Director of Hostage Rescue and Recovery says it's common to have delays in agreements like these, especially since Hamas is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the EU. Here's what Christopher O'Leary told CNN's Alex Marquardt, earlier.

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ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Were you surprised that this plan was thrown into doubt early in the day there were questions about whether it would happen at all? There are questions about whether the Israeli military would start up their military operations again, or do you think that this was to be expected because of how fluid the situation has been?

CHRISTOPHER O'LEARY, FORMER U.S. DIRECTOR OF HOSTAGE RESCUE AND RECOVERY: I think unfortunately, the latter. This is a day to day deal. It's got -- its fragile. It could come collapsing down at any day. Earlier in the hour, you had the IDF spokesman talking about the fact that one of the principles in this negotiation is a terrorist organization.

They can use this you know cancel this agreement day to day to their advantage. They can mentally manipulate the Israeli people continue to terrorize them. Hold the family's hostages, which is exactly what happened today. And then the mental roller coaster for the victims who might have thought they were being released. And then put back in captivity, their resistance posture and ability to endure this starts to go into a spiral when that happens.

MARQUARDT: So what does that mean for how much faith you have that these four days of pause will actually happen and the possibility of several days more beyond that?

O'LEARY: I'd be shocked if it goes smoothly to be completely honest, which I know that's not what hostage families want to hear. What we generally do when I was still doing this in government, we are very direct with the hostage families. We lay out what the conditions are. And we continue to work the problem and try to find adaptive solutions. But you cannot put your faith in a terrorist organization. They are doing this because hostage taking works. You know one only has to look back to the 1972 attack in Munich. Israeli hostages were taken the athletes were killed and massacred.

And two years later Yasser Arafat was speaking on the floor of the U.N. General Assembly with a gun belt on. So hostage taking works, Hamas knows that and they're using you know this is leveraged to buy time and to gain leverage with Israel.

The other thing is they can cancel it at any time and blame it on Israel, which is what was happening today. They can use disinformation and misinformation it doesn't have to be accurate, but they look they come out on top of this.

MARQUARDT: So under this deal that was struck Hamas is supposed to release 50 hostages over four days. That means that they have to release 24 more Israeli hostages. We've frankly been surprised about the foreign nationals who have been released there 15 so far. What does that tell you about, who Hamas has, who they can find?

O'LEARY: I don't think it can tell us anything about that unfortunately. You know I think they have the large majority of the hostages. Yes. Do I believe that Palestinian Islamic Jihad has some and it's likely that some of the other disparate groups still hold some hostages, which is, why Hamas wanted the removal of the ISR, the drones so they can move around and try to collect rest of the hostages.

[02:25:00]

The release of the foreign nationals, the Thai citizens and Filipino, that is to you know continue to erode international support for Israel. It's going to put additional pressure to keep this truce going for as long as possible from the international community from the United States who is you know supported Israel from the beginning.

But now we're asking them to pause for as long as we can, so we can get our citizens home. That runs counter to defeating Hamas which is one of Israel's principal goals in this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: The number of journalists killed in Gaza, Israel and Lebanon since the October 7th Hamas attack has increased to at least 57. That's after the Committee to Protect Journalists confirmed the death of four Palestinian journalists on Saturday.

The Journalism Advocacy Group says 50 Palestinian, 4 Israeli and 3 Lebanese journalists lost their lives since the Israel-Hamas war began last month. We're going to take a quick break for viewers in North America we'll have more coverage of the Israel-Hamas war in just a moment, for international viewers "Bold Pursuits" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [02:30:00]

HARRAK: Welcome back to all of our viewers in North America. I'm Laila Harrak and you're watching CNN Newsroom. A big part of the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas is making sure more humanitarian aid trucks get through to Gaza, and it led to some tense moments and a delay in the handover of hostages on Saturday. CNN's Larry Madowo is in Cairo, Egypt with the details.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Even though Egypt celebrated the first day of the tense truce between Israel and Hamas, day two almost collapsed with Hamas warning that Israel had endangered the deal by not allowing enough aid trucks to come into Northern Gaza. That is part of the framework for the release of hostages as the Israelis describe it.

And in the end after mediation from Qatar, Egypt and the United States, it went ahead the hostages were released and the Palestinian Red Crescent confirming that 187 aid trucks made it into Gaza that's another record including 61 trucks that went into Northern Gaza, the largest convoy of humanitarian aid to go into the northern part of the strip since October 7th.

And that is important because the U.N. has warned that there's a risk of dehydration and diseases breaking out in the north, where people are consuming water from unsafe sources. The health care system almost collapsed since the almost 50 days of bombardment of this part of the territory.

The challenges with the deal on day two highlighting just how difficult this says it's not done until it is done. It's a day at a time even as Qatar is discussing potential extending this truce beyond the four days that was initially agreed on. That aid is going to keep coming in.

The food, the fuel, the water, the cooking gas, also badly needed for Palestinians that closely watching how much of that gets to the 200 trucks a day quarter that was agreed upon as part of this deal to a temporary pause in the fighting to allow for the 1.7 million people displaced in Gaza to receive this badly needed humanitarian aid. Larry Madowo CNN, Cairo.

HARRAK: Four hostages from Thailand were released on Saturday. That's in addition to 10 released on Friday. The Thai Prime Minister says they were taken to a hospital in Israel for a checkup and are in good health. None of them needed emergency medical care.

And Thai officials estimate that some 18 Thai citizens are still being held hostage. Journalist Manisha Tank joins us now live from Singapore, very good day Manisha. More releases, so really good news for the families in Thailand. Do we know anything more about their condition and how they have been treated?

MANISHA TANK, JOURNALIST: Well, you mentioned that they were reported to be in good health. In fact, none other than the Thai Prime Minister himself, actually posted on social media, that particular bit of information adding that none of them needed emergency care which I think you mentioned.

But also that they were able to communicate well and I think that's quite indicative of the state of their health. A CNN team has actually been speaking to hospital workers from that facility that they've been taken to. It is the Shamir Medical Center. It is reputed to be the fourth largest government hospital in Israel.

So you can imagine the infrastructure that they have at their disposal in the care of these foreign nationals who have been released, once held captive by Hamas the condition that they must have been and the kind of trauma that these former hostages would have witnessed.

We know from previous reports about the 10 Thai nationals that were released on Friday that they were undergoing assessments. We know from the Filipino National who was released on Friday that he was undergoing emotional assessments. What they must have seen, witnessed and experienced in the last few weeks would have been quite harrowing.

So this is really just the beginning of the journey of healing for all of them. What we also know from the hospital is they have translators available to help them communicate. There are officials there from the Royal Thai Embassy.

We know from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Thailand that their families will be contacted, but it isn't yet clear when they will rejoin their families again. And later a quick bit of context for those who might be wondering how come there are such a large group of Thais who were taken hostage?

[02:35:00]

Many of them are migrant workers. They come from poor farming communities in Thailand. They go to Israel to send those remittances back to their families. Many of them would have been in that agricultural belt on that southern flank near Gaza and so many of them being caught up in this.

I want to make it very clear though, that these hostages that have been released, this is part of a separate agreement between the Thai government and other parties that have been involved that have helped them the Thai government has expressed its thanks in particular to the governments of Qatar for example, for their role in these negotiations.

The details around it though, are still unclear. But yes, a lot of relief, high emotions for those families who hope to see their loved ones again very soon, Laila.

HARRAK: Manisha Tank in Singapore, thank you very much. And coming up, we'll hear from the nephew of a hostage just released about how she's coping with the trauma she faced, her heartbreaking loss and her future.

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HARRAK: Israeli security officials are looking over a new list of hostages that Hamas says it will release in the coming hours. That's according to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office.

[02:40:00]

It comes after Hamas turned over a second group of hostages Saturday after an hour's long delay. Red Cross buses carried 13 Israeli and 4 Thai nationals out of Gaza. In exchange, Israel says it released 39 Palestinian prisoners including six women and 33 teenage boys. Here's a look now at the 13 Israelis Hamas released on Saturday.

They include seven children, the youngest is three-years-old. But mystery surrounds the release of 13-year-old Hila Rotem. This is Hila reunited with her uncle, but her mother was not released with her. An Israeli official tells us under the deal mothers and children were not supposed to be separated, so where her mother is and why she wasn't released is unknown.

And 72-year-old Adina Moshe is among the hostages who now are safely back in Israel. But her loved ones say coping with the trauma she endured for almost seven weeks. And the news that her husband was murdered in the attack will take time. CNN's Kaitlan Collins spoke with her nephew about how she's doing, what she experienced and what lies ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 72-year-old Adina Moshe was among Friday's releases. She is now in the hospital recovering tonight. Her family is giving her information about what happened slowly, because these hostages were kept entirely in the dark in the last several weeks, nearly 50 days.

Adina's family has had to tell her, her husband was killed in the October 7th attack. Her Nephew Eyal Nuri joins us now. And let's just start with, I'm so glad that she's home. And I know that this has been such a tough process for you. How's she doing tonight?

EYAL NURI, NEPHEW OF RELEASED HOSTAGE: She's emotional. The feeling I'll mix because she learned yesterday for the first time that her son -- Moshe together with his wife -- with five children and the life she had no clue what happened to them.

COLLINS: And were they in near house as well?

NURI: They're in near house as well. Their house is nearby. But they survived the attack because Hamas was powerful enough to hold the handle of the safe room and not let the terrorists penetrate.

COLLINS: Wow.

NURI: But she also learned that we buried her husband after she living here for 52 years. And she learned that her house is completely burned. Nothing left. No house, no town, no history. So it's emotional, everyone that has been under in the tunnel for seven weeks to go out and first see the sunlight. And she didn't know what's going to do -- what they're going to do with her if they're going to execute her or release her? COLLINS: When she was being released, she didn't know if there was --

NURI: She didn't know, until they saw the Red Cross vehicle. They didn't know where they're taking him.

COLLINS: And she was kept, she told that she was kept underground the whole time in darkness.

NURI: She was in the tunnels. Yes.

COLLINS: And has she been able to tell you any more about -- I mean, we've heard about how complex these tunnels are that they go on for miles underneath Gaza?

NURI: Well, first of all, this information is still classified. I cannot talk about this.

COLLINS: OK.

NURI: I want to talk only about Adina. And also the reason I'm here is to mention that even though my uncle was murdered by them.

COLLINS: Saied (ph)?

NURI: Saied, she's survived. And still families there. There are still families and we are still holding this one, because we care about the other. Over 200 families that there'll be loved one I've seen there. And after this interview, we will go to the hostages square in order to support all the other families.

COLLINS: How's she processing just everything? I mean learning not -- she knew her husband was killed, but learning about what's happened to her neighborhood and also just the totality of what happened on October 7th. You must be giving her the information just not all at once because you don't overwhelm her.

NURI: You're right. We don't give it all the information at once. There are professional teams that supporting her in order to grasp whatever happened to Israel. This is not only a private catastrophe. This is a national and people are supporting her. She needs to get strength back physically, even though her mind is very strong.

COLLINS: She's physically weak.

NURI: She's physically weak, but mine is very strong. We saw yesterday when she get out of the car with the terrorists of the Hamas; the terrorists gave her a hand. She slap him on his hand and walk alone. This is the spirit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRAK: Ukraine's capital takes a hit from Russia's largest wave of drone attack since the war began. And now people whose homes were damaged are trying to pick up the piece, that's ahead.

[02:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRAK: We're now to Russia's war on Ukraine, where the Capital Kyiv is reeling from a Russian attack unlike what the city has seen before. Anna Coren has the story from Kyiv.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Russia has launched the largest number of attack drones on the Ukrainian Capital ever since it launched its invasion on this country in February of last year. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says this attack was a deliberate act of terror.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COREN (voice-over): In the early hours of Saturday morning, loud explosions could be heard all over Kyiv. As the capital air defense systems worked in overdrive. Just after 2:30 am an unprecedented swarm of drones began to attack Kyiv from multiple directions, terrorizing it's more than three million residents.

[02:50:00]

75 Shahed drones were launched by Russia. Authorities say 74 were shot down. Debris from one of the downed drones hit this kindergarten in the city suburbs, meters away hundreds of residential apartments. Shattered windows a sign of how close the war had come, too close for Yuvgeniya (ph) and two her two young daughters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We heard the sirens and drain into the hallway and we're waiting for this to pass like always. But then we've had a huge explosion. As such our house was going to be destroyed.

COREN: The residents here in Kyiv are used to hearing the air raid sirens and the explosions of the air defense systems working overtime, but nothing quite like this. For more than six hours, there was a barrage of Shahed drones targeting the Capital. And this behind me is the result of one of those drones shot down.

COREN (voice-over): Inside the kindergarten Oliga (ph) one of the teachers is distraught. All my life I've worked here. Look at the destruction, she cries. Her colleague says, everything is OK, we will clean this up. Don't worry. Thank God everyone is alive. Five-year-old Yaroslava (ph) looks through the fence at a playground she would frequent every day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's my kindergarten. I had music and dancing classes in this building. I feel sad that drone came and destroyed my school.

COREN (voice-over): Her mother Natalia (ph) in tears, thinking this was supposed to be a safe place for her only child.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very painful to see this.

COREN (voice-over): Residence in Kyiv and across the country have been expecting this. Russia has spent months stockpiling weapons, specifically aimed at targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure as the temperatures plunge. And with winter now here, these people know this is just the beginning.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We got used to this, but I don't want to get used to this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN (on-camera): Falling drone debris damaged several residential buildings around Kyiv. The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Zaluzhny says this is war. Back to you.

HARRAK: Our thanks Anna Coren. The World Health Organization says it's received more information from China about a spike in cases of children with pneumonia or respiratory illnesses. Chinese health authorities told them the rise in cases in Northern China stems from typical seasonal germs and not from any new or unknown bacteria or virus. The W.H.O. adds Chinese officials report that symptoms are consistent with respiratory infections that arrive every winter.

Derek Chauvin's Attorney says the prison where his client was stabbed on Friday is refusing to talk. The Former Minneapolis Police officer is serving time at a federal prison in Arizona for the murder of George Floyd three years ago.

His attorney says he found out about the stabbing on the news and hasn't been able to verify anything, this by calling the prison seven times. He says Chauvin's parents are getting the same treatment. Chauvin's attorney believes a lot of inmates in that prison want to make a name for them by killing him.

A mix of rain and snow is expected to spread East across the U.S. with some cold weather to follow. Here's CNN Meteorologist Elisa Raffa.

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We've got some cold settling into the Central Plains after a couple of inches of snow fell apart across parts of Kansas, that snow is now headed off to the Great Lakes. We've have some snow showers in Chicago as we go through the day on Sunday.

That will start to kick across the Great Lakes and it kind of meets up with this area of low pressure that developed off the Carolina Coast. That starts to meet up and move north creating some heavier rain from New York up to Boston.

Notice the snow showers too across the Great Lakes that starts to kick in the wake of that front, that lake effect snow could dump up to a foot of snow for some communities right off the coast of those lakes like Cleveland. You can see the rain totals from New York to Boston. Again could be on the heftier side up to about two inches.

Now after this, we'll find some arctic air start to spill south. First, up into the Great Lakes and then it starts to spread East across the Northeast, going into early parts of the week, that by Tuesday and Wednesday things get pretty chilly.

I mean take a look at some of these high temperatures. These again are the daytime high temperatures barely breaking freezing for cities like Pittsburgh, and Syracuse where average highs are in the middle and upper 40s, but again barely breaking freezing their New York and average high 51 degrees.

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You're looking at temperatures in the upper 30s all day on Tuesday, looking at the extended, you'll see that Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, some of the coldest parts of the week. Temperatures do try to rebound but overall we're going to find temperatures staying below average through the next couple of days.

HARRAK: And finally, once the "Rubber Capital of the World" Akron, Ohio is now more famous for being the hometown of basketball great LeBron James. Our visitors lined up for Saturday's opening of a museum dedicated to the 30 year -- 38-year-olds life and amazing career.

He became the league's all-time leading scorer in February. And the museum takes fans on a tour from his early days to his draft, his journey into the NBA, the Olympics, business and philanthropy. And in his 21 season so far, LeBron went on championships runs with the Cavaliers, the Heat and the Lakers as well as Olympic Gold with Team USA.

And all proceeds from ticket sales will go back into the community. Great stuff, I'm Laila Harrak, do stay with us. I'll be back with the latest from the Middle East in just a moment.

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