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Heavy Fighting In Gaza As Humanitarian Crisis Worsens; U.N. Security Council To Vote Friday On Demand For Gaza Ceasefire; Political Battle Rages In Washington Over Ukraine Aid; Iran's President Calls War In Gaza A Genocide; U.S. University Presidents Face Firestorm Over Evasive Answers On Antisemitism; Israel-Hamas War; IDF Search for Hamas Leader after Surrounding His Home; Trump Expected to Testify in Own Defense Monday; U.S. and U.K. Condemn Venezuela's Attempts to Annex Guyanese Land; Indonesia Aims to Be a Leader in Electric Vehicles at a Price. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired December 08, 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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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Coming up here on CNN Newsroom, the hunt for Hamas. Israeli forces now focused on the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Everyone in Gaza is hungry. The blood assessment for the World Food Programme as you U.N. aid operations no longer function to the south.
Former el presidente Donald Trump has made no secret of his admiration for dictators. And if he wins a second term, it seems he wants to be one as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: Thanks for joining us, two months since a deadly surprise attack by Hamas on Israel and IDF ground forces are now focusing on Khan Younis, the second biggest city in Gaza as they hunt down Hamas leadership. Israel says hundreds of terrorist suspects have been arrested and interrogated in recent days. But so far, most of the senior leaders of Hamas are still alive and have avoided capture.
Fighting continues in the north as well. In video geo located by CNN, heavy gunfire can be heard at the Jabalya refugee camps. Palestinians seen running through the streets with their hands in the air. And now a word from Gaza City that 17 members of the same family were killed in a series of air and missile strikes by Israel. Civilians in Gaza say nowhere now it's safe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They told people to leave Gaza City and to go to Khan Younis. We are in the city of Khan Younis, and we were supposed to be in unthreatened areas, the blocks that were not threatened. Israel should have given a warning that they will strike this
building. There were hundreds of residents in the building behind you, and they left just one day before the strike.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Images on social media appear to show a mass detention of men in Gaza, carried out by the Israeli military, and the image is a large group stripped down to their underwear see kneeling and sitting also blindfolded. Just when in the circumstances of the detentions remain unclear.
But some of the detainees identities are being confirmed either by family members or employers who say some of the men are civilians not affiliated with any military group. The IDF has yet to respond to CNN's requests for comment but a spokesperson says Israeli forces are checking who has ties to Hamas and who does not.
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again on Thursday. The White House says he emphasized the critical need to protect civilians in Gaza. CNN's Alex Marquardt has more now on the latest military developments.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): This video of Hamas fighting against Israeli troops, which was released by the militant group shows not only how intense the battles are, but here's a propaganda message from Hamas that they are still fiercely resisting two months into this war.
Israel stated goal of eradicating Hamas has driven Israeli troops straight into Khan Younis. They believe the most senior Hamas leaders may be including Hamas is top official in Gaza Yahya Sinwar remains on the battlefield. Mohammed Deif to shadowy head of Hamas military wing is also believed to still be alive.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims Israeli forces surrounded Sinwar's Khan Younis home, though the IDF admits they believe he's hiding out underground. Two months after Hamas carried out the deadliest attack in Israel's history the response has led to a colossal humanitarian catastrophe. Experts and officials say Hamas has been degraded, but Israel still has a long way to go to achieve its goals.
OFER SHELAH, FORMER MEMBER OF ISRAEL PARLIAMENT: What the IDF has been tasked with is disabling Hamas as the military threat to Israel people by killing terrorists by destroying infrastructure. And by eventually getting to the leadership of Hamas.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): That effort is still very much underway. The IDF released this photo of leaders of Hamas' northern Gaza brigade, circling five commanders that the IDF says it killed in a tunnel. CNN reached out to Hamas for comment, Israel claims to have killed other senior and mid-level commanders as well as several 1,000 rank and file militants, which is just a fraction of what the IDF estimates is 30,000 fighters.
LT. GEN. MARK SCHWARTZ (RET.), U.S. ARMY: I think there are there have been some successes, but my point is there's going to still be a lot more ground combat to come. And I think you'll see over the coming weeks more precision targeting going after Hamas leaders as they, you know, shield themselves.
MARQUARDT (voice-over): In the next month or so U.S. officials say Israel is expected to lower the intensity of its operations, which have killed thousands of civilians. So many of them children and displaced more than 80 percent of Gaza's population.
[01:05:05]
Israel hears the international pressure and global calls for a ceasefire, but insists there's still much more of Hamas to root out before the diplomacy starts.
SHELAH: We're getting to a tipping point where the major question will no longer be how many people will kill. It will be what happens in Gaza so that the situation there becomes different and nothing like Hamas can grow again to be a military threat against Israel. Alex Marquardt, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: U.N. Security Council is set to vote Friday on a resolution calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. The emergency meeting comes after U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres formally referred the matter to the Security Council and the UAE submitted a draft resolution Wednesday.
Guterres says he invoked for the first time a rare but powerful measure called Article 99, allowing him to bring any matter which in his opinion, may threaten international peace and security. In his letter, he stressed the plight of Gaza civilians who are said to be facing, quote, grave danger on a daily basis. Listen out to the Palestinian representative to the United Nations.
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RIYAD MANSOUR, PERMANENT OBSERVER TO THE U.N. FOR PALESTINE: The number of killed are now in excess of 17,000 Palestinians and killed and injured around 65,000. A large number of them 70 percent of them are women and children. This is something that is so disgusting and disgraceful to see this large number of children being killed more than any other conflict since the creation of the United Nations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The latest report from the World Food Programme says nine out of 10 people in northern Gaza are consistently going a full day and night without food. And that a quarter of all households are burning waste as their main source of cooking fuel. And in the south, U.N. aid operations are no longer functioning as they should. Because Israel's military assault. Here's Martin Griffiths in Geneva on Thursday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN GRIFFITHS, U.N. EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR: What we have, at the moment in Gaza, northern Gaza even more difficult. But in Gaza, where we have trucks still crossing daily, through the Rafah crossing is at best humanitarian opportunism, to try to reach through some roads which are still accessible, which haven't been mined or destroyed, to some people who can be found where some food or some water or some other supply can be given. But it's a program of opportunism. It's erratic, it's undependable, and frankly, it's not sustainable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Joining me now from Amman, Jordan, Tamara Alrifai, from the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees tomorrow. Tamara, thank you for taking the time to be with us.
TAMARA ALRIFAI, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS, UNRWA: Yes, of course, thanks for hosting us.
VAUSE: OK. They sit with you and operations in southern Gaza, no longer functioning properly at least. Is there any meaningful amount of humanitarian assistance, reaching what almost 2 million displaced people now living in the southern part of Gaza?
ALRIFAI: The short answer is no, no because our ability to truly function as the largest U.N. or aid agency currently, presents in Gaza is extremely limited. Our ability to distribute food, clean drinking water or protect people who are sought shelter in our own institutions, in our own buildings is very, very limited.
The intense bombing, the scarcity of the food and humanitarian supplies going in the fact that we keep losing colleagues or cells who get killed, sometimes inside their own shelters. It's really limited our ability as a U.N. agency as a relief agency, to be up to the mandate that we have, we're not able to help and protect people. What we do is very, very little in view of the acute immense, colossal humanitarian needs in Gaza today.
VAUSE: Here are some of the latest numbers from the World Food Programme. 97 percent of households in northern Gaza have inadequate food consumption. 83 percent of households in southern Gaza are adopting extreme consumption strategies to survive.
So what exactly are extreme consumption strategies? And given that there is no longer any meaningful humanitarian assistance coming into Gaza, how long can that continue?
ALRIFAI: Extreme strategies in everyday family terms, according to my colleagues, and the people who we speak to in Gaza means that if a household receives a bag of flour, they have to ration the content to last them as long as possible. So stretching the amount of flour, the amount of breads they can produce over several days because they do not know.
[01:10:03]
The family does not know when will be the next time they receive wheat flour, which basically means entire families go on for days with a piece of bread maybe equivalent to one slice of toast per day each and sometimes even less the same for water because there is very, very little clean water in Gaza with the sewage overflowing on the streets.
Right now, as such on the right can provide people with a few liters of drinking and domestic water for washing and other domestic use. Maybe four liters per day. This is water we produce through our water treatment plants. And we distributed in shelters. International standard is 50 liters, think about how much water do we drink that we consume and then scale this to four liters per day? It's nothing.
VAUSE: Yes. You mentioned this. There's also this desperate shortage of shelter, according to your agency, UNRWA, 1.9 million people, 85 percent of Gaza's population has been displaced. Shelters are four times over capacity, and there's not enough aid to meet this overwhelming need.
So there's also this report that in the makeshift camps beyond the UNRWA facilities, there's been an increase in infectious diseases, which would suggest that a major outbreak of diseases were only a matter of time and would seem to be fairly relatively soon.
ALRIFAI: Yes, on top of being scared, anxious and hungry, the people who are crammed now either in our own shelters in UNRWA, or in makeshift shelters fear the spread of diseases, because of the cold, because of the lack of access to water, and medicines, but also because of the overcrowding, which helps these diseases spread.
In reality, it has been excruciating for my colleagues in Gaza to turn people away when they show up at our shelters because of the bombing because they left, because they were forced out of their homes and their areas. But it's been equally excruciating to look out of the window from our offices and see that people are starting to build makeshift shelters that in reality will not protect them from the bombing.
VAUSE: How can we cut international humanitarian laws on what should be happening right now in a situation like this in Gaza?
ALRIFAI: The most urgent thing right now is to reach a humanitarian ceasefire. The most urgent thing right now is for UNRWA and other big aid agencies, even though we're the largest now in Gaza, to be able to do our job, go around to different shelters safely without losing more colleagues, to be able to bring in more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
We keep talking about the number of trucks per day, and that conversation about number of trucks distracts from a larger picture that whatever number of trucks of food, water and medical supplies we're getting is insufficient. We need an unimpeded continuous flow of a large number of trucks coming into the Gaza Strip every day, not only through Egypt and Rafah because the logistics there are limited but through other crossings to be able to flood the market in Gaza with commercial goods, and also to flood our own warehouses for humanitarian supplies to distribute it to 1.9 million people 85 percent of the Gazans who are currently displaced.
VAUSE: Tamara, thank you for being with us. Tamara Alrifai in Amman, Jordan with UNRWA. We appreciate your time. Thank you.
Well, IDF idea has confirmed carrying out a number of airstrikes on targets in Syria and Lebanon in response to incoming missile fire.
According to Lebanese national news agency, a number of students were wounded after an airstrike on a Lebanese border town. Earlier the IDF said its fighter jets had an operational command and control center in Lebanon, belonging to the militant group Hezbollah.
They claimed to have targeted at least two Israeli towns on Thursday as well. And a missile fired from Lebanon reportedly killed a 60-year- old Israeli bad. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a visit to Northern Israel and he issued this warning to Hezbollah.
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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): If Hezbollah decides to open an all-out war, then within its own hands, it will turn Beirut and southern Lebanon, which are not far from here, into Gaza and Khan Younis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: A 68-year-old Israeli man who had been thought to be a hostage held in Gaza was actually killed in the October 7 attacks. The kibbutz where the victim live made the announcement Thursday not saying where the man -- it did not say where the man identified as Dror Kalpun was killed but said his wife also died that day.
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A mother and her two toddlers had been discharged from hospitals in Israel two weeks after Hamas released them as hostages. Hospital officials say three year olds Emma and Yuli Cunio and their mother Sharon went home from the Schneider Medical Center on Monday last week, or they were the last to leave the facilities returnee captures department hospital says the three have been receiving care from a psycho social specialist team.
Israel believes 138 people are still being held hostage in Gaza. Throughout the Hanukkah holidays 138 candles were lit on a special hostage menorah in downtown Tel Aviv. The grandson of one of the hospitals spoke about the meaning behind lighting the candles.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL LIFSHITZ, GRANDSON OF HOSTAGE ODED LIFSHITZ: We are here it's something symbolic. So we light the candles for the return of the hostages for the release of the hostages to make a deal for the hostages. And that's what we are here for and there is a holiday so it's part of all the Hanukkah holiday to call for that. And I can call for all the world to press more, to do everything they can I see maybe there is a deal. They get to do it. They are dying there. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lit the first menorah candle at the Western Wall in Jerusalem and addressing the war with Hamas. He alluded to ancient Hebrew Scripture.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NETANYAHU (through translator): Today we are fighting the Maccabees of today against the forces of evil that are coming to wipe the Jewish people and its state off the face of the earth. We show the same determination the same heroism, the same sacrifice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And in Washington, this was the national menorah as have been lit late Thursday with Doug Emhoff, husband of the vice president lighting the first candle. In his address, Emhoff denounced the recent surge in antisemitism and called out American universities for what he said was a lack of moral clarity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUG EMHOFF, U.S. SECOND GENTELMAN: Seeing the presidents of some of our most elite universities, literally unable to denounce calling for the genocide of Jews as antisemitic lack of moral clarity is simply unacceptable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That second gentleman Doug Emhoff, speaking there at the menorah lighting ceremony in Washington.
When we come back, Iran and Russia getting closer as the days go by this time united by wars in Ukraine and Gaza, a new step in their economic friendship and cooperation and a blunt condemnation from Israel for resells (ph) actions in Gaza.
Also ahead, the presidents of some of the top universities in the U.S. just like we heard them trying to clarify those remarks about antisemitism on their campus, but they're facing strong back lashes.
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VAUSE: Russia appears to be upping its cyberspace intelligence gathering on Ukraine.
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That's from two experts who spoke to CNN, they say hackers link to Moscow's military and spy agencies have shifted into hyperdrive in recent months. The targets reportedly included almost two dozen foreign embassies in Kyiv. And that includes the U.S. embassy.
The Russians also went after NATO's rapid response forces in Turkey, as well as governments had critical infrastructure in at least 10. NATO countries didn't say if the attack was successful, but the USA Department says its systems were not affected.
The cyber experts say the hackers are switching from trying to cause disruption to gathering intelligence for the war effort.
U.S. lawmakers are coming under new pressure to greenlight more military aid for Ukraine. It's coming from top U.S. and British diplomats who met in Washington on Thursday, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said letting Russia win in Ukraine will be quote, the worst thing in the world. I think that President Vladimir Putin would always come back for more. U.S. Secretary State and Republican echoed that sentiment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's crucial that the United States and our partners continue to do our respective parts. And that's why the supplemental that's currently before Congress is so necessary and so urgent. And there's a very clear choice before us. Are we going to ensure that Putin's aggression against Ukraine remains a failure? Or will Putin prove that, as he believes he can outlast us? He can divide us, he can not only continue to threaten Ukraine, but take that aggression elsewhere, including potentially to countries in NATO.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: This push from diplomats is coming after the latest Ukraine aid bill right into political obstruction in the U.S. Senate. Mike Valerio has details.
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MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As war rages in Ukraine, Gaza and Israel battle lines are drawn in Washington over sending aid to U.S. allies.
BIDEN: We can't let Putin win. It's in our overwhelming national interest of international interest of all our friends.
LINDSEY GRAHAM, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: We're more exposed here at home in the short term, then Putin winning in Ukraine.
VALERIO (voice-over): This central sticking point Republicans are demanding the security package for Israel and Ukraine also include immigration changes and tougher security measures for the U.S.-Mexico border.
CHRIS MURPHY, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: Listen, there's lots of extraneous policy that I want past as well. I support changes in our gun laws to make sure that we don't have any more mass shootings like we just saw at UNLV. But I'm not demanding that my list of proposals on guns be enacted into law in order to save Europe from Vladimir Putin.
VALERIO (voice-over): On the GOP presidential primary debate stage, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley argued the U.S. must continue to deliver aid to key allies as a matter of global security.
NIKKI HALEY, U.S. REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The one way that we keep China from going into Taiwan is one make sure that we win in Ukraine.
VALERIO (voice-over): The question no will an aid package make it out of Congress this year. With lawmakers currently set to adjourn next week, Republican senator Shelley Moore Capito said Congress will find a way forward to pass the aid bill.
SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO, U.S. SENATE REPUBLICAN: Definitely think it's important, but it's important to hat tie it with our national security with 40 policy changes that this administration has acknowledged needs to be done.
VALERIO (voice-over): I'm Mike Valerio reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Iran's president has described Israel's war in Gaza as genocide. And the West, he says is partly to blame. You made those comments in Moscow Thursday while meeting with Vladimir Putin. The Russian president said the two countries are now stepping up their economic cooperation with Iran cutting a free trade deal with the Eurasian Economic Union a group of former Soviet nations dominated by Moscow later this month. The leaders also discussed the war in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It is very important for us to exchange views on the situation in the region, especially regarding the situation in Palestine.
EBRAHIM RAISI, IRANIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): What is happening in Palestine in Gaza is of course genocide and a crime against humanity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: But the Iranian President did nicely support those claims about genocide in Gaza and how the West is responsible. The meeting in Moscow came a day after Vladimir Putin's visit to the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Well, the leaders of America's most top universities most elite universities are seeking to clarify their remarks from a congressional hearing earlier this week about incidents of antisemitism on campus. The president of the University of Pennsylvania is facing calls to resign after her comments. CNN's Miguel Marquez has details.
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ELISE STEFANIK, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: Ms. Magill at Penn, does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Penn's rules or code of conduct, yes or no?
LIZ MAGILL, PRESIDENT, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA: If the speech turns into conduct, it can be harassment. Yes.
STEFANIK: I am asking, specifically calling for the genocide of Jews. Does that constitute bullying or harassment?
MAGILL: If it is directed and severe, pervasive, it is harassment.
STEFANIK: So the answer is yes.
MAGILL: It is a con text dependent decision, Congresswoman.
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STEFANIK: It's a context dependent decision. That's your testimony today calling for the genocide of Jews is depending upon the context, that is not bullying or harassment. This is the easiest question to answer yes, Ms. Magill.
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Presidents of three of the country's top schools MIT, Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania sharply question this week on Capitol Hill over antisemitic rhetoric on their campuses now facing massive backlash for not taking a hard line stance against calls for genocide.
MAGILL: I have not heard calling for the genocide for Jews on our campus.
STEFANIK: But you've heard chants for Intifada.
MAGILL: I've heard chants which can be antisemitic depending on the context when calling for the elimination of the Jewish people.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): So far, no protesters held accountable.
NATHANIEL MORAN, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: Any students been expelled or disciplined for bullying, harassment or these actions that you're listing?
CLAUDINE GAY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT: I can assure you we have robust student disciplinary processes.
MORAN: No, no, no, no. I did not ask about your process. I asked if any students had been disciplined or removed from Harvard as a result of the bullying and the harassment that's taken place based on their antisemitic views.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): After the hearing, University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill attempted to clarify her remarks issuing a video statement.
MAGILL: When I was asked if a call for the genocide of Jewish people on our campus would violate our policies. In that moment, I was focused on our university's long standing policies aligned with the U.S. Constitution, which say that speech alone is not punishable. I was not focused on but I should have been.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Harvard's President Claudine Gay issued a written statement after the House committee hearing, in part saying, calls for violence or genocide against the Jewish community or any religious or ethnic group are vile, they have no place at Harvard, and those who threaten our Jewish students will be held to account.
Pennsylvania's Democratic governor said UPenn's Magill failed at the most basic level.
JOSH SHAPIRO, PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR: It shouldn't be hard. And there should be no nuance to that. She needed to give a one word answer. And she failed to meet that test.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): The White House making clear on calls for genocide, there is no room for nuance.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Calls for genocide are unacceptable. It's vile, and it's counter to everything this country stands for I can't believe I even have to say that. I can't believe I even have to say that.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): From the halls of Congress to presidential politics.
HALEY: It was disgusting to see what happened.
MARQUEZ: Calls for all three university presidents to step aside growing some business leaders and the CEO of the Anti-Defamation League.
JONATHAN GREENBLATT, CEO, ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE: When I watch these presidents, flail and feebly with legal ish answers, respond to a simple line of questioning. I've got to say we've lost confidence in them.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Some Jewish students and their supporters demanding action.
TALIA KHAN, MIT STUDENT: Jewish students do not believe that the MIT administration has done an adequate job to make students feel safe on campus.
JONATHAN FRIEDEN, HARVARD STUDENT: Do something. Protect Jewish people. Protect your students.
MARQUEZ (voice-over): Miguel Marquez, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, Israel says he's a dead man walking and when we come back, we'll explain why Yahya Sinwar is the most wanted man in Gaza right now.
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[01:31:13]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: The death toll in Gaza from Israel's military offensive has now passed 17,000, according to a spokesperson for the Hamas-controlled health ministry. The IDF reports fighting continues across Gaza, with territorial gains being made in the south around the city of Khan Yunis which Israel now describes as the center of gravity for Hamas leadership. Israel says that in recent days hundreds have been arrested and interrogated for alleged terror activity.
U.K. foreign secretary David Cameron was in Washington Thursday. He met with his American counterpart, Antony Blinken, and they say Israel has taken important steps to protect civilians and allow aid into Gaza. But he added, there remains gaps in what the U.S. is demanding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: As we stand here almost a week into this campaign in the south after the end of the humanitarian pause, it is imperative, it remains imperative that Israel put a premium on civilian protection. And there does remain a gap between exactly what I said when I was there, the intent to protect civilians, and the actual results that we are seeing on the ground.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Israel plans to open another border crossing between Israel and Gaza to inspect aid trucks. That will happen within the next few days. U.N. called this a promising sign.
But as CNN's Ben Wedeman reports, help cannot come soon enough.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Isra (ph) was born the day the truce went into effect, seemingly so long ago. She lives with her parents and brother in the makeshift shelter in (INAUDIBLE).
"It lacks the basics of life for the cold, for the winter," says her mother, also named Isra.
This young family is part of the 1.9 million people, 85 percent of Gaza's population that has been displaced. Displaced, but still in danger.
Smoke rises over Rafah, where so many fled to. Wednesday afternoon, this house in Rafah's (ph) refugee camp was bombed. Inevitably in such a crowded place, children were among the dead.
"There is no safe place in Gaza," says Iya del-Hagbi (ph). "Any place can be hit."
The Palestinian health ministry says more than 20 people were killed in the strike, including 17 members from the same extended family. They told them the south was safe, they came here, this safe place, and they were all killed says Basemil Hagbi (ph). Death now stalks every corner of this land.
In Khan Yunis, the focus of Israel's current offensive, the hospital is overwhelmed with the injured. And yet, more come. The World Health Organization's Gaza envoy says they are doing what they can --
RICHARD PEERPERKORN, WHO GAZA ENVOY: But the health infrastructure is on its knees, it's almost collapsing, that is one of the realities. It is almost collapsing.
Wedeman: Collapse, chaos, destruction and death, such is Gaza's lot.
Ben Wedeman, CNN -- Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The most wanted man in Gaza right now is Yahya Sinwar, not only the leader of Hamas in Gaza, but also the accused mastermind behind the October 7th attack. Despite a two-month long, unprecedented military assault by Israel,
Sinwar is believed to be alive and still large.
CNN's Brian Todd has more now on the leader of Hamas.
[01:34:53]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of Israel's top targets, the man they call the face of evil, Yahya Sinwar, Hamas's highest-ranking leader inside Gaza.
Top Israeli officials have sounded very confident in recent days that they will kill him saying their forces have encircled his house in southern Gaza.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): his house is not his fortress, and he can escape. But it's only a matter of time until we get him.
TODD: Without elaborating, Israeli officials say they believe Sinwar is underground.
HUSSAIN ABDUL-HUSSAIN, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES: He's most likely in these tunnels that Israel fears to go into them because they're not sure what's in them, whether they're booby trapped.
TODD: Such is the existence of the 61-year-old whose imprinted his hatred of Israel into the identity of Hamas, analysts say as one of Hamas' top masterminds of the October 7th attacks.
ABDUL-HUSSAIN: UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yahya Sinwar to Israel is what Bin Laden is for the United States. And like Americans went after bin Laden and eventually got him, I think the Israelis will do the same, and this war will not end until they get Sinwar.
TODD: Sinwar joined Hamas in his twenties, arrested by the Israelis for the murders of two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians.
He spent 23 years in an Israeli prison, learned Hebrew. And it was during that period that the Israelis actually saved his life.
ABDUL-HUSSAIN: A tumor was discovered in his head. Israeli doctors operated on him, took the tumor out, and he survived.
TODD: Michael KOUBI, a former officer of Israel's Shin Bet security agency, says he interrogated Yahya Sinwar for a total of about 180 hours. KOUBI says he knows Sinwar better than Sinwar's own mother, and described him as the cruelest man he ever met, known to use a machete to kill Palestinians who were suspected of collaborating with Israeli intelligence.
MICHAEL KOUBI, FORMER SHIN BET SECURITY AGENCY OFFICER: You are now 28, 29 and how come he is not married. How come he doesn't want a family.
So he told me THE Hamas is my wife, the Hamas is my child, the Hamas for me is everything.
Todd: Sinwar was among more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners released in 2011 in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Just last year he seemed to warn Israel of what was coming.
YAHYA SINWAR, HAMAS LEADER IN GAZ: We will come to you God willing, in a roaring flood. We'll come to you with an endless number of rockets. We will come to you in a flood of soldiers without limit.
TODD: Analysts say the man who survived an Israeli assassination attempt in 2021 won't be easy to kill this time, either.
ABDUL-HUSSAIN: This is someone who is passing on information to the Israelis, he knows who they are and he digs them out before for the Israelis get them.
TODD: Analyst Hussain Abdul-Hussain says if and when the Israelis eliminate Yahya Sinwar, it is likely that whoever tries to take his place won't be nearly as brutal as Sinwar.
But even if it is someone more moderate, he says, it really won't matter given how determined the Israelis are to take out all of Hamas' leadership.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, Israel has responded to allegations about the IDF using white phosphorus during an attack on Lebanon. The Lebanon National News Agency on Thursday accused the Israeli military of shelling the outskirts of a southern Lebanese town with a phosphorus.
Images obtained by CNN show columns of white smoke rising into the sky, but CNN is unable to confirm whether phosphorus was used. The chemical is an incendiary weapon used to set fire to military
targets. It is used is restricted under international laws, most countries have agreed to ban it. It cannot be fired at or near civilian areas.
Here is the Israeli government's response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AVI HYMAN, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON: This is something that comes up over and over again. Not just in this war, but in the crisis before. And the IDF consistently says we do not use white phosphorus.
There is a lot of psychological warfare out there, and this information going around. The IDF is a very targeted, surgical army. We are going after the terrorists in Gaza, our focus is in Gaza.
We had to deter with the help of the American administration, to deter Hezbollah. We saw missiles coming over from Lebanon today, we returned fire to the place of fire and also, unfortunately, we lost one of our civilians to a missile.
Missiles continue to rain down on Israel, a lot of people don't realize that as the war goes on, missiles are raining down on Israel.
Just the other day I had to run for shelter myself in Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The IDF says its primary smoke screen shells do not contain white phosphorus, but did acknowledge that it does possess smokescreen shells that use phosphorus.
Well, Republican U.S. presidential front runner Donald Trump offers a very dark preview of what his second term will be like -- dictators and all. That is ahead on CNN.
[01:39:43]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Donald Trump is expected to return to the witness stand Monday in the $250 million civil fraud case against him in New York. The former president was in court Thursday during testimony from accounting professor Eli Bartov, an expert witness for the defense who was paid half a million dollar for his services by the Trump team.
CNN's Brynn Gingras has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Former president Trump expected to take the stand on Monday, as the final witness for the defense in the civil fraud trial that is really nearing an end after about two months. But in the courtroom, for the defense the second to final witness is
an accounting expert that really was the strongest witness for the defense that we have seen yet.
Really, this witness basically said that the statements, the financial statements of conditions that are at the heart of this case which, of course, if you remember the New York attorney general has said had overinflated assets done by the Trumps and they did it intentionally. This witness countered that for the defense, basically saying that they weren't out of the ordinary, that no accounting principles were violated and that he, in his judgment, hasn't even seen a case of fraud here and even questioned the attorney general as to why they even brought this case forward.
So really, the strongest witness that the defense has put forward. The former president sitting at the defense table listening to this testimony.
But again the big day, the big final day will be Trump when he finally does take the stand in this trial that has started really in October. And we won't hear a final decision, of course, the judge making that final decision, until January.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: CNN's senior political analyst Ron Brownstein joins us now from Los Angeles. He's also a senior editor at "The Atlantic". Good to see you, Ron.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, John.
VAUSE: Ok. So well it could be debated, perhaps parts of the U.S. legal system mirror aspects of a third world Banana Republic. If Trump wins a second term though, it seems he's getting the whole enchilada, full-on dictator on day one.
Here he is on Fox News on Tuesday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Except for day one.
He says you're not going to be a dictator are you? I said no, no, no. Other than day one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Winston Churchill said a benevolent dictator is the best form of government. The only problem is finding a benevolent dictator. That is not what Trump had in mind is it?
BROWNSTEIN: No. First of all, I found myself thinking, doesn't Sean Hannity's joints hurt spending an entire hour on his knees? Especially after his behavior in the DeSantis-Newsom debate.
Look, Donald Trump says many outrageous things every day. Many outrageous, unprecedented things happen around Donald Trump every day. So it is easy to lose sight of the main storyline here.
But the main storyline is that Trump is on multiple fronts giving us a very clear indication of how he intends to approach a second term, if he is reelected.
[01:44:54]
BROWNSTEIN: And that involves a much more overtly authoritarian agenda that poses a much more existential threat to American democracy as we have known it.
And I have said and I believe, that really not since the years before the Civil War, when John Calhoun of the South was arguing the dominant figure the Democratic Party, have we faced the situation we are now in where the dominant figure in f one of our two major parties is not someone who is committed to democracy as we have known and experienced it in this country for two and a half centuries.
VAUSE: You know, we now know a lot more about Trump compared to 2015 and 2016. Now when Trump makes outrageous comments, like I said, there's a lot of them, or he says something that sounds crazy or admits to a crime, one big takeaway is that we should actually take him at his word.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Absolutely. I mean you know, one of the most unjustified and invalidated statements ever was that we should take Trump seriously, but not literally. We should take him seriously and literally.
And he is telling us, in a variety of ways, you know, we did a special issue in "The Atlantic" on what a Trump second term would mean. It doesn't require necessarily digging through, you know, hidden emails or talking to all sorts of advisers.
He is laying it out. You can go the videos that he is putting up on his Website, the Agenda 47, and in the piece that I wrote, for example, I noted all of the ways in which --
(CROSSTALK)
BROWNSTEIN: -- deploying federal force into blue cities. Door to door deportation campaigns, sending the national guard into fight crime, sending federal law enforcement officials in to sweep out the homeless, establishing internment camps for undocumented immigrants, establishing detainee camps for the homeless.
You know, openly talking about using the Justice department to pursue his political enemies. He is not hiding what he is intending to do. And there is an audience for it.
As Mitt Romney noted yesterday there is part of his base that thrills to the idea of using federal power in this way. The question is whether a majority of Americans in the end, will be willing to live under the system that that implies.
VAUSE: You mentioned your piece in "The Atlantic," it is a very good read. Here is the headline. "In the second term, Trump would punish the cities and states that don't support him."
And you make a mention here, he's done this already. It was in 2017, it was his tax reform bill, it financially punished voters in blue states like New York and California by placing severe limits on what they could deduct from their income tax.
That seems kind of gentle, compared to what could be coming in a second term. But to your point, there's a part of his base which are very public about supporting this.
Is there also a part that is (INAUDIBLE) but just eager to have this take place, you know, as the ones who are out there at the rallies with the signs and the hats?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Look, I mean when Trump says "I am your retribution", you know, he is speaking to what, I believe, has been the core binding agent or the core fuel in the Republican coalition for over a decade since before Trump emerged on the scene, which is that it is now reliant primarily on the people and places that are most uncomfortable with the way the country is changing -- demographically, culturally, and economically. You feel the most marginalized by that.
Trump's appeal has always been that they see him as a way to strike back against those changes. There are lots of voters who are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country. They're unhappy about inflation, unhappy about crime, unhappy about the border, unhappy about the prospect of reelecting Joe Biden in his 80s to a second term.
And so the universe of people who are kind of open to something else is larger than it was, probably in 2016 or 2020. And the issue will be, if Trump does in fact win the nomination and the choice gets posed more sharply, is there -- does the majority that wants change want this change?
VAUSE: Ron, great to have you with us. We really appreciate your time. Ron Brownstein there in Los Angeles.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
VAUSE: Just ahead here on CNN, at what cost for the greater good? Many women in Indonesia are now on the losing end of government plans to become a major player in electric vehicles.
[01:49:16]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VAUSE: Global condemnation is growing over what has been described as a land grab by Venezuela. This is the territory in question, in neighboring Guyana. The map, we should note, comes from the Venezuelan government.
U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken reaffirms U.S. commitment to Guyana during a call with its president. And British foreign secretary issued a firm statement during a visit Washington on Thursday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: These borders were settled in 1899, I see absolutely no case for unilateral action by Venezuela. It should cease. It is wrong. And I'm delighted by the announcements that have been made by the U.S. today in that regard.
And I hope to be having some telephone calls later on with the president of Guyana and others in the region to try to make sure that this very retrograde step has been taken does not lead any further.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Venezuela has long claimed the oil-rich, heavily-forested land as its own, disputing boundaries set by international arbiters in 1899. The region is two-thirds of Guyana's national territory. Guyana says it will continue to seek a resolution through the International Court of Justice.
Well, as the world shifts towards green energy, demand for electric vehicles is expected to surge and already is. Along with that, demand is expected to search for nickel, which is used to make the batteries.
Indonesia is the world's largest producer of nickel and is positioning itself as a powerhouse in the EV industry. But the move comes at a cost for some Indonesian communities and also for Indonesian women.
Our report now from CNN's Paula Hancocks is part of CNN's ongoing series on gender equality, "As Equals".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The island of Sulawesi, home to rain forests and lakes, farms and fishing communities. Rich in minerals, it is also home to a growing number of sprawling nickel mines. Nickel is found everywhere around us. Its growth fueled in part by the global race for cleaner energy sources and surging demand for electric vehicles.
On Sulawesi, nearly a thousand miles from Jakarta, the global push to go green has come at a cost.
Massita (ph) used to be a pepper farmer here on the island's remote region of East Luwu.
Her farm and those of her adult children were conceded in 2015 without notice to make way for the expansion of nickel mines, she says, and are now owned by P.T. Vale, one of Indonesia's largest nickel producers.
They have farmed the land for a decade. They never felt the need for official deeds until now. In Indonesia, it is not unusual for land owners to find their property has been taken by the government and sold to exploit its natural resources.
Many in her village lost their land, she says, and there was even compensation of a little more than $3,000 U.S. in return. As the breadwinners of the family, women farmers fear their lands will be conceded and dredged up to make way for more nickel mines and processing plants.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can't afford to live if our plantation is taken by Vale.
HANCOCKS: Meresia (ph) has been growing and selling pepper on this land all her life. She says representatives for PT Vale have started taking soil samples around the village, telling residents they purchased the land.
She, along with others in the village, have joined the group Women fighters of Luweha (ph), an organization fighting for their right to the land.
Hasma (ph), founder of the group, has brought women together to hear updates on their efforts. The group has staged protests against the mining company and sought support from the central government.
CNN reached out to P.T. Vale Indonesia and the Indonesian government regarding the claims made by residents, but has yet to receive a response.
The company has in the past, denied accusations it has ceased land from indigenous people in East Luwu. Last year, it told Indonesian magazine "Tempo", P.T. Vale has never taken rights from other parties without their consent.
[01:54:52]
HANCOCKS: It said it acquired the land as a result of an agreement with the Indonesian government. Hasma's group has sought help from WALHI (ph) Indonesia's oldest environmental NGO, which has offices in Sulawesi.
MUHAMMAD AL AMIN, EXEC. DIRECTOR, WALHI SOUTH SULAWESI: Women understand the importance of the Environment and will be the main victims when the environment is damaged.
HANCOCKS: CNN reached out to P.T. Vale, Indonesia and the Indonesian government also regarding these claims, but has not received a response.
On its Web site, the global company says it recognizes this activities may cause significant environmental impact and that it invests in ways to manage risks and minimize the socio-environmental impacts. President Joko Widodo or JokoWi-- has vowed to step up scrutiny of
nickel mining, while at the same time racing ahead with its governments ambitious goal of producing a 600,000 electric vehicles by 2030.
WALHI has pleaded for world leaders and foreign companies to be aware of the impacts of nickel mining.
AMIN: Green Energy needs to be redefined. If green energy is obtained from activities that displace people's land, displace people's plantations, I don't think that's green energy.
HANCOCKS: Electric cars and batteries, part of global efforts to reach net zero emissions could mean for them losing everything. Trying to save the future, these women's pasts are being destroyed.
Paula Hancocks, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: In 2010, French cuisine was added to the UNESCO's list of world intangible cultural heritage. But the land that gave the world Bouillabaisse and (INAUDIBLE) apparently has a thing for Krispy Kremes as well.
The first location of the U.S. institution opened in Paris Wednesday. According to "The New York Times", 500 people were in line for the big opening. Dozens camping out the night before. Krispy Kreme plans to sell more than 40,000 doughnuts at this one location every day. And the CEO of the company says they will open 500 locations across France in the next five years.
Thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.
CNN NEWSROOM continues up next with Kim Brunhuber.
See you right back here next week.
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