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Israel Expands Ground Operation; Gazans Told To Flea South; Red Sea Attacks; South Africa's Urban Surfers Work Tirelessly to Recycle; Palestine Red Crescent: 100 Aid Trucks Received on Sunday; Talks Break Down over Release of Female Hostages; IDF: Several Soldiers Injured in Attack Near Lebanon Border; IDF: Vessels Attacked by Houthis Have no Israel Affiliation; U.S. to Consider Appropriate Responses to Red Sea Attacks; Territorial Dispute in South America; The Pope's Health. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired December 04, 2023 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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LAILA HARAK, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to our viewers. I'm Laila Harak. Head on CNN Newsroom.
Israel ramps up its ground offensive saying the fighting has spread throughout all of Gaza to wipe out Hamas displaced from the north and now fleeing bombing in the south is there anywhere safe for Gazans to go? Plus, the US Navy shoots down drones launched by Houthi rebels, as violence against commercial shipping escalates in the Red Sea.
We begin this hour with an expanding war in Gaza and devastation inside the Enclave as Israel pursues those who carried out the attacks on October 7.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REAR ADMIRAL DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAELI ARMY SPOKESPERSON (voice-over): The IDF continues to extend its ground operation against Hamas centers and all the Gaza Strip, in all of the Gaza Strip where there is a Hamas center the IDF is operating. The forces are fighting face-to- face with terrorists killing them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARAK: Well, Israel Defense Forces now say that ground operations are expanding to include all of Gaza, including southern areas where many have taken shelter. The IDF is warning civilians to evacuate large areas within the Enclave, but it's unclear how many are receiving those warnings given there is limited power and Internet services. And meantime, the IDF says it has destroyed some 500 tunnel shafts inside Gaza since October 7th out of more than 800 shots. It says it has located in the Enclave. But meantime, the official Palestinian News Agency report strikes hit the Jabalia Refugee Camp Sunday for a second day. CNN Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Matthew -- Matthew Chance is in Tel Aviv with the details. MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Israel continuing to carry out strikes across Gaza hitting what it says are Hamas targets up and down the densely populated territory. There are dramatic images of another Israeli strike on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. Half the strikes there on Saturday, killed dozens according to the Hamas-controlled Palestinian health ministry. Israel which is vowing to destroy a mass and secure the release of more than 130 hostages still held -- held in Gaza says it's identified and destroyed hundreds of Hamas tunnels. It's also started focusing at strikes on Southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands have fled in recent weeks to escape the the intensive military operations in the north.
In a bed to limit the mounting civilian casualties estimated by Palestinian officials at more than 15,000 people so far. Israel has issued maps dividing the Gaza strip into what it calls evacuation sectors, multiple blocks that are each assigned a number from which you know Palestinian civilians are ordered to leave ahead of any Israeli military action. But you know, poor internet and communications in Gaza means it's unclear if those warnings are getting through.
Amid international concern, Israel has been allowing aid trucks carrying humanitarian relief into the Gaza Strip with essential supplies of food, water, and medicines. But the Israeli military is continuing and vowing to continue to ratchet up its pressure on Hamas. The saying it will wage its campaign as strongly in southern Gaza, as it did in the north. Matthew Chance, CNN Tel Aviv.
HARAK: Well earlier CNN spoke with the idea for spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Conricus. He discussed the latest progress amid against Hamas and vowed that Israel would not stop until the terror group is destroyed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LT. COL. JONATHAN CONRICUS, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: We haven't defeated them totally militarily in the north yet, but we've made good progress. We have taken out enemy combatants. We have significantly degraded their enemy capabilities. As we report that stated before, we have destroyed quite a lot of underground infrastructure, tunnels, and shafts, more than 500 of them. And we have taken out a lot of combatants from the battlefield.
What I think is what we need to do and to make very clear is that until we get all of the Hamas battalion strongholds and until we work on them and take them off the battlefield there will be active fighting. And we said from the beginning to Israeli civilians and to anybody listening in the world that this unfortunately will take time. It won't be a quick and easy operation. It's a difficult operation in difficult combat terrain, where we're fighting a very committed enemy that has no issue with sacrificing civilians for their military cause.
[01:05:25]
We on the other hand, are trying to limit our force in order to get the job done without exposing the civilians to that danger. And last what I will say, we will get the job done and we will Free Gaza of Hamas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARAK: The IDF also says it killed a key Hamas commander in an airstrike Sunday. Israeli officials say missiles from an IDF fighter jet struck and killed the commander of a Hamas's Shati Battalion, adding that they believe he was responsible for carrying out some of the deadly rates in Israel in October.
In the meantime, more than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed since October 7. That's according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza. And that shocking death toll is expected to rise in the coming days especially with renewed airstrikes by Israel. As IDF says they're continuing to target Hamas. CNN's Ben Wedeman has more details on how Gaza's hospitals are struggling to help those in need and how residents are responding to the attacks and the warning. His report does contain disturbing images.
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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look around. This is Gaza City's oddly Baptist Hospital. Where the wounded are treated in the open on wooden pallets. The emergency ward is already jammed.
The courtyard is full of body bags. Dozens were killed in a series of Israeli strikes Saturday, many more still under the rubble. Israel claims one of those strikes killed a senior Hamas commander who helped plan the 7 October attacks. He was perhaps one dead among many, many others. This woman lost her daughter and grandchildren and names them all. And may God judge those watching us die, she cries.
It's a similar scene in Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza. More women, many of them children, many are dead. Many of them children. "They bombed an entire street," said Assad (ph). He pulled his brother Mohammed from under the rubble. Where his brother Mohammed was dead. Says Assad, "Let me say goodbye to him."
"My father has been killed Christ this boy after a strike on the Jabalia refugee camp Sunday. The seven day truce seems like the distant past." Ben Wedeman, CNN Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARAK: The United Nations estimates up to 1.8 million people in Gaza nearly 80% of the area's population is internally displaced from Israeli airstrikes. And that estimate comes as the IDF warns Gaza residents they needed to evacuate further south for their safety while many have already fled south and taken refuge in areas like Khan Yunis. The IDF released a map demarcating quotes "evacuation zones". They dropped leaflets in parts of southern Gaza, which included a QR code that connects to the map when scanned. But it's not clear how many people in Gaza have access to that information because electricity and internet access are unreliable because of the ongoing war. Well for more and now I'm joined by Shaina Low, a communication
adviser for the Norwegian Refugee. Council, so good to have you with us. I mean, let me just ask you a basic question right off the bat. Are there any safe places in Gaza? What is the reality on the ground?
SHAINA LOW, COMMUNICATION ADVISER, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: There isn't -- there aren't any safe places in Gaza and there haven't been any safe places in Gaza since Israel began its airstrikes on October 7. This is something that we have been repeating over and over and over again, even staff of ours who fled from Northern Gaza lost members of their families when seeking shelter in Rafah which was supposed to be safe. The calls now for Palestinians to flee areas of Khan Yunis to so-called safer places they aren't even calling them safe places is unlawful. It's a violation of international law. Since these people are not guaranteed their safety when evacuating. They aren't guaranteed their safety if they go to the places they are being directed to go to, and they aren't being assured that they will be able to return home once hostilities have ended.
[01:10:37]
The only way to establish safe places in Gaza is to have a permanent sustained ceasefire and to solve these issues diplomatically, not through military might.
HARAK: So what about these so-called designated safe areas that the idea for claims exists? I mean, the Israeli army dropped leaflets urging civilians in Gaza to go to the so-called Safe Zones. I mean, how would you describe those zones that they have demarcated? I mean, what are the conditions?
LOW: Well, first of all, of course, they -- as I said, they are not safe. But they are all already overcrowded. The designated emergency shelters have been bursting at the seams since prior to the humanitarian pause 10 days ago. These are places where hundreds of people are sharing a single toilet. They're lucky if they can get a shower. They are places that are ripe for the spread of communicable diseases because people are in such close quarters. There's lack of food. There's lack of clean water. There is a massive amounts of diarrhea in Gaza because people have been drinking unsafe water and are in unsanitary and unhygienic conditions.
What we are hearing now from from our staff on the ground is that they are seeing people in the streets carrying mattresses, blankets and trying to salvage whatever scraps they can to build tents will, you know, with with scrap wood and whatever materials they can find, because there simply is no space in shelters.
HARAK: Now, I'm sure you heard vice presidents, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, yesterday laying down some red lines saying that the U.S. will under no circumstances allow forced relocation of Palestinians. What's your reaction to that? I mean, it's the forced displacement of Palestinians already underway, because Gaza has now become unlivable.
LOW: We are increasingly concerned about the conditions on the ground and what we are it's we welcome hearing that from Vice President Harris. But what we need is the U.S. to another -- in other third states to be taking action to hold Israel accountable and ensure that that forcible displacement does not happen. That there isn't mass deportation. What we are seeing now and have been seeing is Israeli leaders calling on other states to take -- to take refugees from Gaza. This is unacceptable.
We saw yesterday, the Times of Israel reported that they're -- that members of the U.S. Congress have been briefed on a proposal to condition U.S. humanitarian funding to other states, on the condition that they take Palestinian refugees from Gaza. This is unacceptable. We need the U.S. to be doing more than just speaking out. We need them to be holding Israel accountable. Because we are concerned that there's the potential for mass deportation across the Egyptian border. And with 60% of Gaza's housing damaged or destroyed, 80% already internally displaced, that these are the conditions that could potentially lead to mass mass displacement outside of Gaza, which would just be a catastrophe.
HARAK: If the Israeli army does not change, its current tax tactics, what do you anticipate will happen in the coming days and weeks?
LOW: Well, we are very concerned that that Palestinians in southern Gaza and in Gaza in general will have no choice but to flee to Egypt, into the Sinai, regardless of whether the Egyptian Government opens the -- opens the gates and lets them in. People are seeking safety for their families. They're seeking shelter for their kids. They're trying to protect them as best as they can. And I and I worry that that Palestinians will face another wave of displacement as a result of this, but it the violence needs to stop. We need to keep pushing for a ceasefire, and we need to allow for unrestricted humanitarian assistance to reach all areas of Gaza to help those who have lost so much money.
[01:15:02]
HARAK: Shaina Low and (inaudible), thank you very much for talking to us. And Israeli officials say they arrested 34 People in the occupied West Bank overnight. The Israel security agency and Israel Defense Forces claim that eight of those people are Hamas operatives. Israeli forces see attackers fired on them during the overnight raids. And they responded with live fire. And Israeli forces say they also opened fire on people in one town who threw rocks and fireworks. They say quote, "the hit was identified." And the suspects in a knife and hammer attack in Paris on Saturday swore allegiance to the Islamic State in a video posted to social media. French officials saying while police arrested the 26-year-old after one person was killed and two others injured in the attack. A French anti-terrorism prosecutor says an investigation is underway.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN-FRANCOIS RICARD, FRENCH ANTI-TERRORISM PROSECUTOR (voice-over): The investigation is immediately open based on the counts of murder in connection with a terrorist organization attempted murder in connection with a terrorist organization and terrorist criminal association with a view to prepare crimes against people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARAK: And officials say the two people who were injured have left hospital following treatment. ISIS is claiming responsibility for a deadly explosion that ripped through a Catholic mass service in the southern Philippines on Sunday. Authorities say at least four people were killed and dozens of others were injured in the blast. A survivor recounts the moment of the explosion and the chaos that ensued.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REINA MAE FERNANDEZ, BLAST VICTIM (voice-over): At first, we were singing during mass then there was a sudden explosion behind us. We thought it was just the speakers but then everybody started running. I stumbled in my friend told me to keep running. That's all I can remember. When I got out of the gym, I fell and my friends started crying because they saw I was wounded in the back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARAK: The Philippine President condemned the attack and added that additional security personnel had been deployed to assist in the area. Oil companies are making a big promise which was announced at the COP 28 Summit in Dubai. Ahead will tell you what it could mean for the fight against global warming. Plus, a look at a group in South Africa known as urban surfers making the country one of the best locations at recycling in the world.
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HARAK: The Philippines are continuing to feel aftershocks from a powerful quake over the weekend. The U.S. Geological Survey says a 6.9 magnitude earthquake shook the southern city of Tandang on Monday morning. There are no initial reports of damage or injuries and no tsunami threat. It comes after a 7.6 magnitude quake struck the region Saturday. Climates scientists and advocates are alarmed after the presidents of the COP 28 Climate Summit claimed there's no science behind phasing out fossil fuels to limit global warming.
Sultan Al Jaber is the UAE's climate envoy and also has the Abu Dhabi national oil company. He made the comments November 21st at a climate panel event. He said phasing out fossil fuels was inevitable, but that the world needs to be pragmatic about it, suggesting the shift could negatively impact global economies. While some countries at COP 28 are calling for a fossil fuel phase out, others want a phase down, which was weak language though the head of one climate advocacy advocacy group says Al Jaber's statements raised deep concerns over his ability to lead UN climate talks.
It's finance day at the COP 28 Climate Summit that means more financial discussions and the potential for climate action and disaster support funding to be announced in the coming hours. In addition, Saudi Arabia will host a side event promoting its clean energy plans and the UN climate agency could publish a new draft showing what kind of progress countries have made in the latest push to fight global warming.
Joining me now is Fred Krupp, the president of the Environmental Defense Fund. He's joining us from COP 28. Sir, a very good day. Great to have you with us. Let's start with some good news. The U.S. agreeing to cut methane emissions? Is it a pledge? How will it be enforced? And is there an accountability mechanism?
FRED KRUPP, PRESIDENT, ENVIRONMENT DEFENSE FUND: Yes. Well, on Saturday, the United States announced that we will -- we have finalized Michael Regan of the Environmental Protection Agency that will finalize the strongest methane rules on the planet. And it will cut about 90%, 80% to 90% of the greenhouse gases from the oil and gas industry. There will be strict enforcement in the United States. So that is very good news. But the United States is only 14% of the world's emissions. So equally good news is that 50 major oil companies announced that they are pledging to within just five years by 2030 reduce their emissions by 80% to 90%. With accountability built in their measuring and monitoring will have to go to an independent third party, international agency. And beyond that, the Environmental Defense Fund is launching early in the new year, a satellite called methane sack that is able to look at their emissions multiple times per week. And that will -- the information will be posted on the web, every human on the planet will be able to see if these pledges are made, because we can't count on it without robust accountability. The last thing I'll say on that is thanks to the Bloomberg -- Bloomberg Philanthropies. That effort will be very robust.
HARAK: Very robust. And that's that's indeed good news. Just very broad strokes and briefly, what impact does cutting methane have on temperature rises? And is it just enough to focus on cutting methane? Presumably, we still have to deal with that much bigger problem CO2.
KRUPP: You're absolutely right. First of all, cutting Methane is a great first step, but it's nowhere near enough these oil and gas companies haven't done enough to decarbonize. We have to move as fast as we can, out of fossil fuels. There's no way we can solve global warming without doing that.
Second, methane, though is extremely important. It's 83 times more powerful pound for pound over the first 20 years and warming the planet. So the cuts announced by the United States government and by these oil companies are important, not enough to solve global warming, but they will mean that the temperatures and the ferocity of storms that we experience in the next 10 years will be less than they otherwise would be.
HARAK: Now, I want to ask you about a related and startling development. There has been what we've noticed a backlash towards a climate action. In the UK for example, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak wants to pump the brakes on some green policies because of the costs involved. And today's finance day I understand at COP 28. How worried are you about that?
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KRUPP: Well, look, we haven't been moving fast enough. So we've got to move much faster. And it just to emphasize is that we have to figure out what are the least cost ways to do it. So that will continue to have public support. But I will say this not acting on climate change is far more expensive because these devastating catastrophes that keep hitting us cost billions and billions of dollars. So the best thing we can do is act and of course, be practical about it act quickly, that figure out the least cost ways.
KRUPP: A final question. I mean, are we still on track to limit global warming warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius?
KRUPP: Oh, no. We are off track the world has gotten started much too slow. And that's why we have to do everything we can about CO2 and methane. Methane offers us the opportunity to make cuts that will slow the warming right away because it's so powerful in the short term. And that can help us avoid some of these catastrophic tipping points where we have complete climate chaos. If you can imagine. It's going to get worse before it gets better. And we have to do everything we can with urgency.
KRUPP: All right. I hope everyone's listening to your message of Fred Krupp in Dubai. Thank you so much for joining us.
KRUPP: Thank you.
HARAK: And in other COP 28 News, Kenya's president has strong words for the U.S. over its pledge to support nations impacted by climate change. President William Ruto told CNN's Becky Anderson that the loss and damage fund is not a promise the U.S. can just run away from. Hhere he is speaking at COP 28. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILLIAM RUTO, KENYAN PRESIDENT: Today they are putting money. It means tomorrow, their whole story will have changed because they realize that we are unrelenting. They realize that we're not going to shut up. And they realize that this is not something that they can run away from. They are squarely responsible. We must do this together. And it's just a matter of time for all of us to realize that there is no north, there is no south, there is no east, there is no West. We're all in it together. And therefore everybody must bring their resources onto the table. Those who have financial resources like the U.S. to bring them on the table.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARAK: And you could watch President Ruto's a full interview with Becky Anderson on Connect the World later today. While leaders debate the future of fossil fuels at COP 28, CNN's Elisa Raffa has more now on how rising sea levels could impact cities like Dubai and New York over the next three decades.
ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Cop continues this week in Dubai as global leaders try to put climate goals into climate action. This is a Climate Central simulation on what inaction could look like at 3 degrees C of warming, that who city of Dubai just gets inundated by sea level rise. And our sea levels have already risen about three centimeters on average per decade over the last century. So in the last 100 years, we've added 30 centimeters of ocean rise.
Now going forward, we could add that same 30 centimeters but just in the next three decades. So rising just as much in the next 30 years as we did in the previous 100 that rise can amount to about a foot as much as a foot toward that 30-centimeter mark. More profound coastal flood events from tides and storm surge could be an issue. Moderate flooding could occur 10 times as often. Major cities are already vulnerable to sea level rise like Boston, New York, Charleston, Miami, New Orleans, they all deal with something called sunny day flooding. Sometimes it doesn't even take a storm anymore to get that water to go inland. Just a regular high tide that's higher now than it was before.
Here's a look at another simulation 3 degrees C of warming water coming into the National Mall there at DC Lady Liberty standing around even more water if that warming continues to rise. But like I mentioned COP is all about action, right? So if we look at a place like New York City, if that carbon pollution continues, future generations like Gen Z and Gen Alpha could see 6 to 7 degrees of warming if we keep these emissions as business as usual as they are right now. But if we caught them, look at how significantly the warming could be cut to closer to two degrees of warming, which is much closer to that Paris Climate Agreement goal of 1.5.
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HARRAK: New data shows that last month was the warmest November on record. Japan's Meteorological Agency says it beat the previous record set three years ago by 0.3 degrees Celsius.
It's a disturbing trend of late with every month since June being the hottest such month on record. Scientists blame this year's exceptional warmth on the combined effects of El Nino and human-caused climate change and say 2023 is almost certain to be the hottest year on record.
Well, recycling can have a huge impact on global emissions as the U.N. says more than 90 percent of single-use plastic is produced from fossil fuels or unrecycled material.
Well, in South Africa, there is an extraordinary and surprising group of people making the country one of the best recycling nations on earth.
CNN's David McKenzie reports.
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DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Lamoki Mokoka (ph) and his cart are on the move. His job goes by many names here -- reclaimer, hustler, even urban surfer.
It's dangerous work in a dangerous city. There are thousands Mokoka fanning out well before dawn. After an hour on the road, he's in the neighborhood south of the city.
LAMOKI MOKOKA, SOUTH AFRICAN URBAN SURFER: I'm looking for the plastic.
MCKENZIE: "I'm looking for the plastics, cardboard boxes, metals and cans," he said.
MOKOKA: Metal.
MCKENZIE: And it's a dirty job, do you mind?
MOKOKA: I don't mind.
MCKENZIE: What they discard, he recycles, earning about $150 a month. It's steadier than his old construction job, and Mokoka likes being his own boss well
"There aren't any jobs here," he says. So we've made our own work.
Making their own work with the scale and impact that's hard to overstate. Just look at the sorting zone near Joburg (ph), where thousands live. It's informal, but hardly simple. Everything is carefully separated. Everything has value.
Towards the top of the pecking order are cans. Now, a bag of these will get reclaimers almost $40 U.S. As they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure.
"I'm always surprised how rich people throw away so much rubbish," says (INAUDIBLE). But I'm happy they do. This collection took him weeks.
"Don't know much about climate change," he says. Of course I'm glad that we can help. But what matters is to survive."
We today's payday. And every bag is carefully weighed.
"There's always trust amongst us," says middleman Motsama (ph). Though, he seems a little skeptical.
"I have to double check they didn't put any water in the bottles to make them heavier," he says. "It must just be the plastic bottles."
What reclaimers don't find, end up in a nearby landfall. Even here, the desperate salvage what they can.
Back in the neighborhoods, Mokoka is in a race against the dump trucks.
MOKOKA: Done. We're done. Done, done.
MCKENZIE: Are you done.
Just in time.
Today, they arrive a bit late.
MOKOKA: I have more stuff today.
MCKENZIE: More stuff?
MOKOKA: More stuff than other days.
MCKENZIE: Mokoka is proud of his work, proud of his effort.
MOKOKA: Yes, I feel so happy.
MCKENZIE: "I feel so happy. I feel so happy," he says. "Because I'm going to put bread on the table."
David McKenzie, CNN -- Johannesburg, South Africa.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: And still to come, why hundreds of trucks are needed every day to solve Gaza's humanitarian crisis.
Plus, how the U.S. Is combatting attacks on international shipping vessels in the Red Sea. That's ahead.
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HARRAK: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm Laila Harrak. And you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society says 100 trucks carrying food, water, medical supplies and more crossed the border from Egypt into Gaza on Sunday. The effort to get people out of Gaza is continuing as well.
CNN's Larry Madowo has the details now from Cairo. And, a warning, his report does contain disturbing images. We
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Aid trickling back into the Gaza Strip through the Rafah Crossing from Egypt for a second day on the weekend. The Palestinian Red Crescent confirmed that 100 more trucks did get in bringing food and water and medical supplies and medicine for the population, 80 percent of whom the U.N. estimates are displaced.
With the truce having been collapsed, that aid is still a small percentage of what the people need there. During the seven-day truce, at least 200 trucks were allowed to come in with (INAUDIBLE) supplies including cooking gas and fuel, and winter weather gear as the rainy season, the cold season sets in on the Gaza Strip.
But keep in mind that before October 7th almost 500 trucks made it into the Gaza Strip every day. Right now, the U.N. estimate is that they would need it least 200 trucks coming in every day, for two months continuous to meet the needs of the people there. But that is not what is coming in. And for a lot of people across the Strip, they are out of options with the fear that nowhere is safe for them. Listen to this man who is completely appears to be out of options.
RAFIK AL-REKEB, DISPLACED RESIDENT: Provide means, grant the people tents, and designate actual safe areas. The safe areas should be equipped with all necessities.
But simply indicating that some areas are safe, where are these safe areas? There aren't any safe areas in Gaza. Am I supposed to sleep on the streets with my children in the rain in this designated safe area?
MADOWO: As the Israeli military actions continue in southern Gaza, people fear that there's nowhere safe for them. That is why you hear these dire warnings.
The U.N. says that people have lost everything, everywhere and that tracks. But the World Health Organization is warning that people everywhere have dire health needs. On top of the UNICEF statement that the Gaza Strip has become the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.
A few wounded people have been making across the Rafah crossing into Egypt to receive medical treatment, just over 400 so far. That is a tiny drop in the ocean, considering the scale of the injuries across the Gaza Strip.
Over the weekend also, 871 people dual nationals made it from the Gaza Strip into Egypt. 17 Americans, 130 Turkish nationals, also nationalities from Canada and Australia, and South Africa, and a couple of other places.
Larry Madowo, CNN -- Cairo.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: The British government says it will deploy surveillance aircraft over Israel and Gaza to help locate hostages taken by Hamas. The U.K. says the aircraft will be unarmed and have no combat role. It did not say, when or how many flights will be conducted.
And Qatar's Prime Minister spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Sunday to discuss the situation in Gaza, emphasizing the need for de-escalation and a ceasefire according to Qatar state news agency.
[01:39:55]
HARRAK: This comes at the U.S. is working to bring Israel-Hamas back to the negotiating table after a breakdown in talks.
CNN's Arlette Saenz reports from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A senior administration official insists the U.S. is pursuing every effort possible to try to get the remaining hostages out of Gaza. But what remains unclear, is whether that could even be done in the immediate future, as those talks between Israel and Hamas have completely broken down.
Now those talks broke down due to differences of opinion when it came to the release of female hostages. Israel, insisting that Hamas still has more female hostages to release while Hamas was arguing that these women who are being held, should be considered as IDF reservist, something that Israel and the U.S. have both very forcefully pushed back upon.
A senior administration official saying that the onus is on Hamas to live up to the terms of the deal and release all of the women they have without delay.
But the U.S. even as these talks between Israel and Hamas have completely collapse, the U.S. is still remaining in contact with their counterparts in the region, trying to get people back to the negotiating table.
The special envoy for hostage affairs Roger Carstens met over the weekend with his Israeli counterpart in Israel.
And then Vice President Kamala Harris on the sidelines of a climate summit in Dubai had phone calls and meetings with Arab leaders including the Emir of Qatar, as well as the Egyptian president. And in those conversations she once again stressed the need to try to get these hostages out.
Now, John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesperson said that the U.S. is doing everything they can to try to get these talks back on track.
JOHN KIRBY, SPOKESPERSON, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Well, there are no officials negotiations going on right now Kristen, and that's because of Hamas. Hamas failed to come up with yet another list of women and children that could be released. And we know they're holding additional women and children, not combatants, not female IDF soldiers but innocent civilians -- women and children that they have that they couldn't put on a list and turned that in.
So unfortunately the negotiations have stopped. That said, what hasn't sopped is our own involvement trying to get those back on track, and trying to discuss with those partners and all those interlocuters, to see if we can't get it back in place.
SAENZ: The U.S. so far, has secured the release of four American hostages since this conflict began, but there are still eight Americans who are believed to be in captivity in Gaza.
That includes one woman who the U.S. Had initially hoped to be part of the initial negotiation to release 50 women and children.
And then there are seven men, three of which are believed to be IDF reservist soldiers. The U.S. is insisting that they are still working around the clock, trying to get these hostages out. It just really remains unclear whether that is possible at this moment as those talks have broken down.
Arlette Saenz, CNN -- the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARRAK: And the Israeli military says several soldiers were injured in the missile attack near the border with Lebanon as fighting continues with Hezbollah.
CNN's Ivan Watson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The hills here in this border region of southern Lebanon were echoing with the thud of incoming artillery from Israel this afternoon.
Now this is just a continuation of basically more than a month of fighting a cross border artillery duel, if you will, between the Israeli military in northern Israel and Hezbollah militants based here in the south of Lebanon.
The Israeli military say that they also used warplanes on Sunday to strike suspected Hezbollah targets. The Israeli military said an anti- tank missile hit one of its vehicles on Sunday, likely wounding some of its soldiers and damaging that vehicle.
Now this conflict has not been as intense as the fighting and the extreme civilian death toll in that Palestinian enclave of Gaza but it has been deadly here. More than 100 people killed thus far, most of them Hezbollah fighters but also more than a dozen civilians as well as several journalists.
When Hezbollah carries out strikes against Israeli military targets, it says, it is quote, "in support of our steadfast Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. And in support of their valiant and honorable resistance".
Neither the Israeli military nor Hezbollah are using their most powerful weapons yet. The fear is that this could escalate and become a much more dangerous conflagration.
Ivan Watson, CNN -- on the southern Lebanese border with Israel.
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HARRAK: And U.S. military officials say Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched attacks on ships in the southern Red Sea. According to a statement from CentCom, the targets were civilian-run vessels with ties to at least 14 nations.
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HARRAK: The U.S. says Houthi attacks on ships traveling through the Red Sea are posing a deadly threat to international commerce as a whole. The IDF insists the vessels hit in Sunday's Houthi attacks have no
affiliation with the state of Israel. An IDF spokesman is calling for a strong response from the international community to what it calls Houthi subversion, saying negative Iranian influence in the region has severe implications that extend beyond Israel.
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REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON: We haven't defeated them totally, militarily in the north yet, but we've made good progress. We have taken out enemy combatants. We have significantly degraded their enemy capabilities.
As the reports have stated before, we have destroyed quite a lot of underground infrastructure, tunnels and shafts, more than 500 of them. And we've taken out a lot of combatants from the battlefield.
What I think we need to do and to make very clear is that until we get all of the Hamas battalion strongholds, and until we work on them and take them off the battlefield, there will be active fighting.
And we said from the beginning to Israeli civilians and to anybody listening in the world that this unfortunately will take time. It won't be a quick and easy operation. It's a difficult operation in difficult combat terrain where we are fighting a very committed enemy that has no issue with sacrificing civilians for their military cause.
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HARRAK: The Houthi-run Yemeni armed forces says it targeted the two ships after they ignored warning messages from the Yemen's navy and It warned it will continue to obstruct Israeli ships from traveling the Red and Arab Seas until aggression against Gaza ends.
And U.S. military officials say they will quote "consider all appropriate responses to keep Iran-backed militant from threatening life and trade in the Red Sea.
CNN's Zachary Cohen has the details.
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ZACHARY COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. officials telling CNN that an American war ship shot down two more drones on Sunday, both belonging to Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Now the U.S. destroyer downed the first drone while operating in the southern Red Sea. At that same time, the ship's (INAUDIBLE) missile that was launched and landed in the vicinity of a commercial ship that was operating in the area. Now as the U.S. warship responded to the commercial vessel's distress call, it shot down a second drone that was flying towards both those ships.
Not this is just the latest in a series of incidents involving U.S. forces not only in the Red Sea but across the Middle East since the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas. The Houthis have claimed responsible for attacking Israeli commercial
vessels in the Red Sea and said it launched ballistic missiles into Israel itself.
The U.S. deployed two carrier strike groups to the region in an effort to deter Iran and its proxy groups from expanding the conflict. But those same ships have constantly come under attack from Iranian-backed groups, like the Houthis. This raises the question about what more can the Biden administration do to protect American forces deployed to the region.
Zachary Cohen, CNN -- Washington.
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HARRAK: And still to come Venezuelans head to the polls for a controversial referendum declaring the country should create a new state on a neighboring country's land.
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HARRAK: In a controversial, but largely symbolic vote. Venezuela says the referendum has been overwhelmingly approved to create a new state on land in neighboring Guyan. The Essequibo region has been in dispute for over a century, and the current tensions are raising concerns of a possible military conflict in the region.
CNN's David Shortell reports.
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DAVID SHORTELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A referendum held Sunday in Venezuela over the question of whether that country should essentially create a new state within the land of their neighbor Guyana, passing by a wide margin.
This is in reference to the Essequibo region, a very oil-rich part of Guyana, that actually makes about two thirds of that country's national territory.
It's land that Venezuela has long laid claim to but the borders of which were set back in 1899 by an international tribunal. So of course, leaders in Guyana very concerned in the run up to this election calling it an existential threat and an attempted annexation.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for his part had been campaigning on the issue for several weeks calling it an opportunity for Venezuelans to reclaim a part of the country that, he says was essentially stolen from them by colonial powers back in the 19th century.
Now, voters were asked five questions and in preliminary results released by the country's National Election Authority on Sunday evening voters overwhelmingly supported the initiative voting more than 95 percent of the time, yes in those five questions.
Now of course this is Venezuela, it's an authoritarian country with no independent election monitors present at the ballot box on Sunday. So these results have to be taken with the large grain of salt.
Now analysts say do not expect an invasion of Guyana anytime soon and that's because if Nicolas Maduro were to actually try to create this state within Venezuela it would likely have to involve the use of armed troops to move in to Guyana. And that's not something that he has any support for from even his closest allies.
Still it has raised the threat level considerably in the region. Brazil which shares a border with the region sending some troops up last week. And the U.S. actually sending some senior military leaders down to Guyana in recent days in a bit of a show of support for that country.
Now Guyanese leaders calling it, as I said, an existential threat to their country and the vice president there, in recent days actually invoking Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine saying that all the options are on the table when considering how to deal with this threat.
David Shortell, CNN -- Mexico City.
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HARRAK: Russia's continuous bombardment of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine killed another three people on Sunday. Authorities say a 78-year-old man lost his life when a village was attacked by Russian forces occupying the opposite bank of the Dnipro River.
And military officials say Kherson City was under heavy fire, when a multistory building was hit. Two people died there and seven others were injured.
Still to come, the latest on Pope Francis' health after he was unable to give his Sunday reflection.
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HARRAK: Pope Francis says he is getting better but was unable to read his Sunday reflection this weekend. The Pontiff, who turns 87 this month has been suffering from what he described as severe bronchitis and is avoiding being exposed to the cold weather.
Christopher Lamb has more from Rome.
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CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Pope Francis said he was feeling better, but was unable to give his traditional Sunday reflection and prayer which he does every Sunday from the Vatican at noon. The reflection was read by an aide and took place in the (INAUDIBLE)
at the Pope's home rather than from the window of the Apostolic Palace which the Pope normally gives the reflection from.
Francis has been suffering from severe bronchitis, something that he was hospitalized with earlier in the year. But we noticed that the Pope is gradually improving. They cannula that was used to intravenously administer the antibiotics has been taken out.
Francis did not travel to the COP28 summit, as he had planned to do on doctor's orders. But he did give a strong message to the COP through his senior aide, Cardinal Pietro Parolin who emphasized the Pope's call to end fossil fuels, to get agreements from countries to tackle climate change.
Francis will be 87 later this month. He keeps up a punishing schedule. But he's continuing to implement reforms within the church and to engage in all sorts of diplomatic efforts when it comes to bringing peace in response to the Israel-Hamas war.
Christopher Lamb, CNN -- Rome.
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HARRAK: And we're going to stay in Italy. One of Bologna's two famed towers is getting a little work done. The 48-meter Garisenda Tower which is half the size of his companion tower has leaned for centuries.
But experts say they're worried it could soon collapse because the materials and its base are disintegrating. The tower leans at a four- degree angle, and to protect it and the public, the area around has been locked up.
The multimillion-dollar restoration project will soon begin to shore it up but the (INAUDIBLE) say they have faith in its staying power.
Well, the people of Bologna have long-loved their tilted tower and it was even mentioned in "Dante's Home, The Divine Comedy" written in the 14th century.
And that wraps up this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks so much for spending time with us. I'm Laila Harrak.
Rosemary Church picks up our coverage next.
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