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CNN International: U.S. Still Working to Revive Truce Talks; More Civilians Dying as Israel Intensifies Airstrikes in Gaza; One Ukrainian Soldier's Remarkable Story of Survival; Suspect Identified in Fatal Stabbing of 4 Family Members. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired December 04, 2023 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo. And if you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with our top stories this hour.
The Israel Defense Forces say that its operations are continuing in Gaza with the Air Force striking approximately 200 targets. Earlier they announced that they would be expanding their ground operations to now include all of Gaza.
Both Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis spent time campaigning in Iowa over the weekend ahead of the upcoming caucuses. Trump ramped up his criticism of President Joe Biden, while De Santis chose to focus on policy change.
Meantime, U.S. officials say they're still working to get truce negotiations between Israel and Hamas back on track after talks broke down over the weekend. The U.S. National Security Council's John Kirby told NBC that Hamas was unwilling to provide the names of additional women and children to release. Here's part of that interview.
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JOHN KIRBY, US NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR: Well, there are no official 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 turn that in. So unfortunately, the negotiations have stopped. That said, what hasn't stopped is our own involvement trying to get those back on track and trying to discuss with those partners and all those interlocutors, see if we can't get it back in place.
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NOBILO: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Hamas didn't hold up its part of the agreement, which was to return all women and children who were hostages.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society says 100 trucks carrying food, water, medical supplies and more cross the border from Egypt into Gaza on Sunday. The effort to get people out of Gaza is continuing, too. CNN's Larry Madowo has the details now from Cairo, and a warning that his report contains some disturbing images.
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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 essential supplies including cooking gas and fuel, and winter weather gear as the rainy season, the cold season, sets in on the Gaza Strip.
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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 continuously 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 completely appears to be out of options.
RAFIK AL-REKEB, DISPLACED RESIDENT (through translator): Provide the 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 (voice-over): 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. MADOWO: Larry Madowo, CNN, Cairo.
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NOBILO: Turning to the war in Ukraine now. 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 multi-story building was hit. Two people have died there and seven others were injured.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): The daughter was standing here. Such a terrible explosion. She started screaming. I've never heard anything like that. I didn't understand anything of what was happening. So, I came here and then I understood.
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NOBILO: A Ukrainian soldier wounded on the battlefield shares his remarkable story of survival. He told CNN's Anna Corrin, he was able to make it out alive after two weeks of hiding alone, surrounded by Russian forces. Have a watch.
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ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the stairwell of a public hospital in central Ukraine, Serhii draws back on a cigarette. The 36-year-old soldier picked up the habit during the war, but after what he's endured these past few weeks, it's the only thing that calms him down.
Last month, he and his unit were in Khromove on the outskirts of Bakhmut, trying to hold trenches. After a few days, their dugout was shelled by Russian mortars. And Serhii was hit.
SERHII, SOLDIER, UKRAINIAN 80TH AIR ASSAULT GALICIAN BRIGADE (through translator): I was wounded in both legs. I immediately touched them to check they were still there.
COREN (voice-over): But there were far worse injuries amongst the other soldiers, broken legs and jaws. When the evacuation team arrived under heavy shelling. Serhii insisted they'd take the others first. He would wait for the next team. Another unit arrived but were pinned down because of constant Russian bombardment, so supplies were sent in by drone.
SERHII (through translator): Our commander dropped snacks, painkillers, water from drones, even cigarettes, and the lighter. We wanted to smoke.
COREN (voice-over): As another soldier scrambled out to collect the supplies, water had become an issue as almost every bottle burst on impact. But their problems were about to get a lot worse. When an enemy drone dropped a grenade into their small dugout, landing on the soldier next to Serhii.
SERHII (through translator): I was wounded again, but he was in really bad shape. Two people from his brigade took him away, and I realized I was alone.
COREN (voice-over): For the next three days, Serhii hid in his dugout alone, surrounded by the enemy, who he could hear just meters away. Whispering on the radio he gave his commander their coordinates, basically calling in artillery on his very own position.
He says multiple evacuation teams had tried to reach him over those two weeks, but some of those soldiers were killed. In the end, his commander said the only way out was to pray and crawl, which he finally did.
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With the radio in one hand and his unit's drone overhead, he crawled back to safety, dragging his legs that were now beginning to rot.
SERHII: Only one way to escape and I even didn't hope that I'd survive.
COREN: As Serhii recovers in this hospital in central Ukraine, eager to go home, he maintains his story is nothing special and that it's the soldiers now fighting on the battlefield that deserve the world's attention.
SERHII (through translator): What I have seen cannot be expressed in words. Every guy in this world has gone through something like this. Our guys are paying a very high price.
COREN (voice-over): A price Ukrainian soldiers are continuing to pay as this war painfully grinds towards its second year.
Anna Coren, CNN, central Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NOBILO: 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 others -- dozens of others injured in the blast. A survivor recounts the moment of the explosion and the chaos that ensued.
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REINA MAE FERNANDEZ, BLAST VICTIM (through translator): 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 and 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 VIDEO CLIP) NOBILO: The Philippines President condemned the attack and added that additional security personnel have been deployed to assist in the area.
Still to come for you on the program, a suspect has been identified in the tragic stabbing rampage that left four family members, including two children, dead in New York.
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NOBILO: New York Police have identified a suspect in the stabbing attack that left four family members, including two children, dead and one person in critical condition. 38-year-old Courtney Gordon is believed to have carried out the attack early Sunday morning. Two officers who were attacked when they responded to the scene have now been discharged from hospital. CNN's Polo Sandoval reports from New York.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The New York Police Department, summarizing the scene on Sunday morning as one in which they found several victims, a house on fire, and someone who they describe as a madman on a rampage and on a mission. In terms of what that possible mission was, is still unclear, as this investigation it's in its early stages. So, that there is early indication suggesting that this may have been a family dispute that took an absolutely horrifying and bloody turn.
It was just past five Sunday morning when 911 dispatchers received a call from a young caller telling police that her cousin was killing her family. It was shortly thereafter, two police officers arrived on scene and that is when police say they encountered a knife wielding suspect identified as 38-year-old Courtney Gordon.
After this altercation, investigators say that Gordon attacked these two officers. Those officers sustained non-life-threatening injuries. One of those officers opened fire shooting and killing the suspect. And it was shortly thereafter that they were able to discover an 11- year-old little girl who had been killed at the scene and that the house there in Queens was on fire. It wasn't until firefighters were able to extinguish the flames that police went inside of the home and located three additional victims. A 12-year-old little boy, a 44-year- old female and a man in his 30s. Additionally, we understand that a woman in her 60s survived the attack and is currently listed in critical condition. Here's how investigators described that interaction between the suspect and the two officers.
CHIEF JEFFREY MADDREY, NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT: So, our officers, they pull up to the driveway, as they get to the driveway, they see a male walking out. He's carrying luggage. Our officers asked to male a question or two. An encounter that lasted about 10 seconds, where the male draws a knife on officers. He stabs one officer in the neck chest area. He strikes the second officer in the head. SANDOVAL: And police say the suspect, who was from the Bronx, is
believed to have been visiting family at the time of the attack.
Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: The suspect in Saturday's Paris attacks swore allegiance to the Islamic State in a video posted to social media. French officials say police arrested the 26-year-old after one person was killed and two others injured in the attack. Officials say the two people who were injured have left hospital following treatment. A French anti- terrorism prosecutor says an investigation is underway for murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist organization.
Still to come, a gala night on the arts calendar in DC. We'll see who's in the newest edition of Kennedy Center's honorees and what President Biden is saying about it.
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NOBILO: There's controversy and anger in the world of college football after the top four teams for this year's playoffs were revealed on Sunday. Michigan coming in at number one, followed by Washington and Texas. But the big headline centered around that number four position. Here's the moment we learned that Alabama and not undefeated Florida State made the cut.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who's number four? And Alabama returns to the playoff. And so, we have another unprecedented situation as Florida State winds up at number five.
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NOBILO: You can see the reaction there from Florida State, clearly upset with the decision. A man with his face and a cap. Meantime, the school's head football coach released a statement reading.
I am disgusted and infuriated with the committee's decision today. What happened goes against everything that is true and right in college football. Adding that it's a sad day for college football.
President Biden praised the contributions of Kennedy Center honorees this weekend. And they included actor Billy Crystal, opera singer Renee Fleming and singer Dionne Warwick, saying they were an incredible group. CNN's Arlette Saenz has more.
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ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The first stop for the Kennedy Center honorees was here at the White House as President Biden paid tribute to them ahead of the official festivities, kicking off at the Kennedy Center.
Now the Kennedy Center Honors is one of the most prestigious awards that artists, musicians and actors can receive, and the president talked about each of their contributions to this country. Take a listen.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's simple as it is profound. The performing arts are more than just sound and scene. They reflect who we are as Americans and as human beings. That's especially true for more than 200 Kennedy Center honorees over the past 46 years, we've helped shape how we see ourselves, how we see each other, and how we see our world. Honors not just based on the length of the career or the scope of the work, of the height of the fame, but because of their unique place in the conscience and the very soul of our dynamic and diverse nation. You're an incredible group. You're really are. This year's -- this year's class continues that legacy.
SAENZ: The president also took some time to talk about each of these honorees individually. He really praised Queen Latifah for paving the way for so many female hip-hop artist. And in fact, Queen Latifah is the first female hip-hop artist to be honored as a Kennedy Center honoree. The president, when it came to the Bee Gees and Barry Gibb, he said that he was a big fan of the Bee Gees and also talked about how he loved that Barry Gibb was in that band with his brothers, stressing the importance of family.
The president also used the time to talk about some of their contributions beyond just acting and singing. For instance, Billy Crystal, helping to rebuild New York City after superstorm Sandy and 911.
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And the president also paid tribute to Dionne Warwick, saying that she had helped raise money for the AIDS epidemic as it was raging in this country.
And then the president also struck a very personal note, talking about how soprano Renee Fleming actually performed at a private mass for him and his family before their inauguration. The president taking a moment and participating in this tradition honoring each of these Kennedy Center honorees before the official festivities kicked off.
Arlette Saenz, CNN, the White House.
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NOBILO: Santa Claus has come to town in Liverpool, England. Maybe not the jolly old fellow that we know, but thousands of his look alike taking part in the UK's biggest Santa dash. The participants hoofed it for 5K, dressed in red and blue outfits to raise funds for a Children's Hospital. In 2005, the run earned the Guinness World Record for the largest Santa gathering. And runners say it is a lot of fun and obviously a much healthier way for Santa to get around town. Rather than riding in a sleigh leaving all those cookies.
That does it here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. "EARLY START" is up for you next.
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