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Situation In Gaza Teetering On Edge; CNN's Clarissa Ward Gets First Western Access to Gaza; U.S. National Security Held Intense, Detailed Discussion With Israel Leaders; Putin Doesn't Back Down On Ukraine During News Conference; Experimental Cancer Vaccine Shows Benefits against Melanoma; Families of U.S. Hostages Held by Hamas Praise Biden Administration; Turkey: U.S. Responsible for Ensuring Permanent Ceasefire; U.S. Authorities Warn of Increased Risk of Terror Threats; Teen Accused of Planning to "Burn and Shoot Up" Synagogue; Venezuela and Guyana Agree to Not Escalate Conflict. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired December 15, 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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[01:00:36]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and a warm welcome. I'm Paula Newton. Ahead right here on CNN Newsroom. Officials say some people are so hungry they're stealing food from aid trucks in Gaza. CNN gets a firsthand look at the destruction and despair there.
The U.S. puts diplomatic pressure on Israel to shift to a more precise targeted approach in its war against Hamas and a new cancer vaccine shows benefits in clinical trials against melanoma.
The head of the U.N. Agency for Palestinian refugees is warning that social order in Gaza is teetering on the edge of a possible implosion. More than two months into Israel's war on Hamas large swaths of Gaza have been completely destroyed and people are struggling for food, water and health care.
The world health org -- the World Food Programme says half of Gaza 2.3 million residents are now starving. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini says huge crowds of hungry people are stopping U.N. aid trucks as they crossed into Gaza and helping themselves to food. He says that's making it nearly impossible to Gaza and imperiling future deliveries. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILIPPE LAZZARINI, UNRWA COMMISSIONER-GENERAL: This is something which has to do with the total despair the people are expressing in the Gaza Strip. Hunger is something people in Gaza have never ever known before. But hunger has now emerged over the last few weeks, and we meet more and more people who haven't eaten for one two or three days.
(END VIDEO CLIP) NEWTON: Right now the IDF is using social media to warn Gazans to move from parts of Khan Younis to nearby shelters to ensure safety as Israeli troops advance further into that area. But that message could go unheard by many due to the ongoing power and internet outages.
Now you are looking at live pictures of Gaza right there where you see plumes of smoke, especially the large one in front of us there. It's not clear what exactly caused it but the IDF says it has in fact hit 22,000 targets in Gaza. Since the war began.
U.S. intelligence assessment meantime finds only 55 to 60 percent of Israeli bombs have been precision guided. The rest were unguided weapons known as dumb bombs.
Israel is warning that the war against Hamas will last more than several months and that means that the grim situation in Gaza will surely grow even more dire. 10 weeks after the fighting began CNN's Clarissa Ward was able to get independent access into southern Gaza. She describes this rare glimpse at the devastation as a window on to hell. We want to warn you her report contains some disturbing images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You don't have to search for tragedy in Gaza. It finds you on every street strewn with trash and stagnant water, desolate and foreboding.
WARD: So we've just crossed the border into southern Gaza. This is the first time we've actually been able to get into Gaza since October 7, and we are now driving to a field hospital that has been set up by the UAE.
WARD (voice-over): Up until now, Israel and Egypt have made access for international journalists next to impossible. And you can see why.
WARD: Since October 7, the Israeli military says it has hit Gaza with more than 22,000 strikes that by far surpasses anything we've seen in modern warfare in terms of intensity and ferocity and we really honestly are just getting a glimpse of it here.
WARD (voice-over): Despite Israel's heavy bombardment, there are people out on the streets. Crowd outside a bakery where else can they go, nowhere is safe in Gaza.
[01:05:07]
DR. ABDULLAH AL NAQBI, ICU CONSULTANT AND MEDICAL DOCTOR: Used to be --
WARD: Right.
AL NAQBI: -- a stadium.
WARD (voice-over): Arriving at the Emirati field hospital, we meet Dr. Abdullah Al Naqbi. No sooner does our tour begin when?
WARD: And this is what you hear all the time now.
AL NAQBI: Yes. At least 20 times a day.
WARD: At least 20 times a day.
AL NAQBI: Maybe more sometimes. I think we let used to it.
WARD (voice-over): One thing none of the doctors here have got used to is the number of children they are treating. The U.N. estimates that some two-thirds of those killed in this round of the conflict have been women and children.
Eight-year-old Janen (ph) was lucky enough to survive a strike on her family home that crushed her femur but spared her immediate family.
WARD: She says she's not in pain. So that's cool.
WARD (voice-over): Her mother, Hiba was out when it happened. I went to the hospital to look for her, she says and I came here and I found her here. The doctors told me what happened with her. And I made sure that she's OK. Thanks God.
We bombed the house in front of us and then our home, Janen (ph) tells us. I was sitting next to my grandfather. And my grandfather helped me and my uncle was fine. So he is the one who took us out.
But Dr. Ahmed Almazrouel says it is hard not to.
DR. AHMED ALMAZROUEL, UAE FIELD HOSPTIAL: I work with all the people (inaudible) but the children is something that touches your heart.
WARD (voice-over): Touches your heart and test your faith in humanity. As we leave Janen (ph), Dr. Al-Naqbi comes back with the news of casualties arriving from the strike just 10 minutes earlier.
AL-NAQBI: So just go to (INAUDIBLE) right now two amputated young male from the just the bomb --
WARD: From the (INAUDIBLE) we just heard and the bomb we just heard.
AL NAQBI: This is my understanding.
WARD: OK.
AL-NAQBI: They will arrive over here.
WARD (voice-over): A man and a 13-year-old boy or wheeled in both missing limbs, both in a perilous state. What's your name? What's your name? The doctor asks. The notes provided by the paramedics are smeared with blood, a tourniquet improvised with a bandage.
Since the field hospital opened less than two weeks ago, it's been inundated with patients, 130 of their 150 beds are already full.
WARD: So let me understand this. You are now basically the only hospital around it still has some beds? AL-NAQBI: I guess. Yes. Or maybe I'm very sure that because they are telling me one of the hospitals with a capacity of 200 they are accommodating 1,000 right now. And the next door hospital I'm not very sure it's like 50 to 200, maybe 400 to 500 patients. So, as one location, he called me said there are three patients in each bed. Please take him, send as many as you can.
WARD: I mean, we've been here 15 minutes and this is already what we're seeing.
AL-NAQBI: This is what you hear, you see.
WARD (voice-over): In every bed another gut punch less than two years old, Amir still doesn't know that his parents and siblings were killed in the strike that disfigured him.
Yesterday he saw a nurse that looks like his father, his aunt Nehaia tells us. He kept screaming dad, dad, dad. Amir is still too young to comprehend the horror all around him. But 20-year-old Lama understands it all too well. 10 weeks ago, she was studying engineering at university and helping to plan her sister's wedding.
Today, she is recovering from the amputation of her right leg. Her family followed Israeli military orders and fled from the north to the south. But the house where they were seeking shelter was hit in a strike.
The world isn't listening to us, she says. Nobody cares about us. We've been dying for over 60 days, dying from the bombing and nobody did anything.
[01:10:07]
Words of condemnation delivered in a thin rasp. But does anyone hear that? Like Grazni (ph), Aleppo and Mariupol, Gaza will go down as one of the great horrors of modern warfare. It's getting dark time for us to leave, a privilege the vast majority of Gazans do not have. Our brief glimpse from a window on to hell is ending as a new chapter in this ugly conflict unfolds.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Our Clarissa Ward reporting there from inside Gaza. Now, U.S. and Israeli officials are looking ahead to what comes next in Israel's war with Hamas, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan says he had a quote intense detailed conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the country's war cabinet during their meeting in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
U.S. wants Israel to shift from a high intensity phase to a more precise, targeted approach in the coming weeks. Sullivan says Washington is not focused on specific timeframes. Following his meetings in Israel, Sullivan is scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank in the coming hours.
Prime Minister Netanyahu vows though in the meantime, that Israel will keep fighting until Hamas is completely destroyed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I told our American friends are heroic soldiers have not fallen in vain, out of the deep pain of their having fallen, we are more determined than ever, to continue fighting until Hamas is eliminated until absolute victory.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: And Israel's defense minister says he told the U.S. the war in Gaza will last quote more than several months. Meantime, U.S. President Joe Biden was asked what he would like to see from Israel's offensive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you want Israel to scale back against assault on Gaza in by the end of the year? Do you want them to tone it down, move to a lower intensity phase?
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: I want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives. Not stop going after a mosque but be more careful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now to Tel Aviv and Harel Chorev, Senior Researcher at Tel Aviv University's Moshe Dayan Center, and we thank you for joining us.
Listen, you and I have been listening to these public pronouncements now for weeks and from all sides. Frankly, it's been quite reductive when we know that, you know, both politically and militarily, this is incredibly complicated. What is your take on the U.S. saying they would like Israel to take to restrain its operations in Gaza?
HAREL CHOREV, SENIOR RESEARCHER, MOSHE DAYAN CENTER, TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY: Well, first, well, good evening Paula. First, I must say there is a conflicting issue here. On the one hand, the American wants Israel to wrap it up as close as they can, two weeks, three weeks by the end of the year, and then the other hand, they want Israel to lower the intensity.
Now we need to understand these are conflicting goals because if you're working fast, you cannot work cautiously. And so you need time to work cautiously. By the way, we want, the Israelis once their army to work, cautiously. There is no advantage in, you know, collateral damage, or in, of course jeopardizing our own soldiers. We just lost 10 soldiers and senior officers two days ago, you probably heard about it in a compound that otherwise could be destroyed from the air.
But exactly because of such requirements that both America and Israel set to themselves. They use infantry and not the Air Force. So this is an issue that we're dealing with at the moment and we need to understand its conflict waiting. You cannot do both a wrapping it up the clothes -- in a short term and work end to lower your intensity just doesn't work the same together.
However, I must say I heard that -- sorry.
NEWTON: Go ahead. No, go ahead. I'll let you finish.
CHOREV: Now I must say I heard Jake Sullivan yesterday night. And I must say I was very, very impressed. First of all, all of us Israelis are extremely grateful to America and the president in particular for what they're doing for us. I think this is a -- this is really stunning.
But I also heard him speaking about the current issues and my impression is that we're on the same page eventually.
[01:15:04]
NEWTON: Eventually, I'll leave that point for a moment. But you know, as well as I do that it is possible for Israel to do one or the other. It is a very sophisticated fighting force. Despite its failings on October 7, it can be surgical, if it took its time.
Well, perhaps though, one has to look at is whether or not even what they are doing in Gaza at this hour. And we just saw smoke rising from the border area again, that it's against Israel's national interest to continue to do this in Gaza.
CHOREV: Israeli interests, Israelis right to left, liberals to conservative everyone are extremely united behind the goal of eliminating Hamas. I cannot really stress how the October 7 was a watershed or historical point for us.
So the question is, of course how to do this. As a researcher, I checked the ratio and I must say, I still didn't find an army that can do it in in the same ratio that the IDF is doing it, something like one to 1.5. Those areas, we need --
WARD: It's 2023. Most people do expect, especially from the IDF a more sophisticated prosecution of the war. But I want to leave it there for a moment. I think, when in speaking to the IDF in the last few weeks, I've also tried to pinpoint progress, right? Because Israelis are interested in progress with so many people saying that Hamas cannot be destroyed will not be destroyed.
What evidence do you see that whether it's weeks or months, that progress is being made?
CHOREV: First of all, as a historian, I can say there's no such thing any organization can be eliminated. You know what even ideas can be eliminated. But we -- let's start with the organization that Nazis were eradicated. The ISIS was eradicated. So any organization can be eradicated. I don't accept that notion that Hamas cannot be eliminated.
But really, in military terms, we're talking about 80 to 85 percent out of the Northern Gaza Strip, which is already done, where the IDF is still fighting there, something like 50 percent Hamas force that remain there. Tough ones by the way, in the Shuja'iyya, in the Jabalya. And in the south in Khan Younis, we're talking about a destruction of 50 percent of their force.
NEWTON: We have to leave it there for this evening and this morning, I thank you for being with us. Really appreciate it.
CHOREV: Thank you, Paula. Good night.
NEWTON: Ahead for us, the European Union hails European unity as it opens membership talks to Ukraine, but not everyone is happy with that decision.
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[01:20:10]
NEWTON: Russian President showed no signs of backing down on Ukraine during a year end news conference broadcast to the nation, Matthew Chance was there and has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This was Putin's first big news conference since his invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.
The hours the Kremlin leader and said carefully picked questions, restating Russian objectives in what he calls his special military operation.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): There will be peace when we achieve our goals. They haven't changed. This is the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine and its neutral status.
CHANCE (voice-over): For the first time, Putin revealed more than 600,000 troops are currently in the conflict zone. But he gave no indication of losses, which U.S. intelligence estimates are extremely high.
The Russian leader does however indicate he believes Western resolve on Ukraine may be crumbling significant, as American aid for Ukraine is held up in the U.S. Congress.
PUTIN (through translator): Today Ukraine produces almost nothing but they are trying to preserve something, but they produce almost nothing. They get everything, excuse the bad manners for free, but this freebie may end someday, and apparently it is ending.
CHANCE (voice-over): One Russian reporter asked Putin about recent Ukrainian gains across the Dnipro River. They're just a small areas Putin said in which Ukrainian forces are now highly exposed.
PUTIN (through translator): I don't know why they are doing it. They are pushing their people to get killed. So it's a one way trip for Ukrainian forces. The reason for this are political, because Ukrainian leaders are begging foreign countries for aid. CHANCE (voice-over): This was a highly staged event with carefully
vetted questions. But a live stream of public texts threw up a few surprising challenges. How many yachts does Putin have, asked one anonymous message. Why is your reality different to our reality? Asked another. The glimpse behind the curtain perhaps into watch some Russians are really thinking.
In a bizarre moment, a Russian child appeared in a video message asking if her family would ever be replaced by robots. Moderator then played an extraordinary video of what she said was a deep fake image of Putin asking the real Russian leader if he had many doubles. You're the first Putin responded. Of course there are rumors he has many.
PUTIN (through translator): I see you can look like me and speak in my voice, but I thought about it and have decided that only one person should look like me and speak in my voice and that person would be me.
CHANCE (voice-over): Meanwhile, is Putin held court? U.S. journalist Evan Gershkovich actually appeared in one, another appeal against his detention for alleged espionage denied, though Putin indicated talks to return detained Americans are ongoing.
PUTIN (through translator): It's not that we refuse their return. We do not refuse. We want to negotiate the agreements must be mutually acceptable and satisfactory to both sides.
CHANCE (voice-over): What Russia wants though, remains unclear. Matthew Chance, CNN, Moscow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NEWTON: Now to a historic decision by the European Union, which is opening membership talks to Ukraine as well as Moldova this comes at a critical time and Ukraine's war as it struggles to make major gains and its counter offensive against Russia.
The Ukrainian president is calling the move of victory for both his country and the rest of Europe. But Hungary's Prime Minister objects saying Ukraine is in no position right now to begin ascension talks. Viktor Orban also vetoed a $55 million aid package for Ukraine earlier on Friday.
Dominic Thomas is CNN European Affairs commentator and he joins us now from Los Angeles. Good to see you. So much going on. And I want to start with that quite a juxtaposition there. We had Putin's press conference, Europe Summit.
You know, this is the new reality right for European nations clearly Ukraine's battle. It's their own battle now. Right? They're really trying to own it. How much of this was a real boost for President Zelenskyy?
[01:25:00]
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: So I think that today though, you know, there are so many different ways of looking at it. I think juxtaposing those ways is the way forward. So you have two sides of the coin.
I think on the one hand when you look at it from the European Union's perspective, and therefore, also from President Zelenskyy's perspective, because in so many ways he benefited from the way things moved on today. You have a European Union that 10, 15 years ago was quite skeptical about EU expansion, adding Ukraine to the table here, and Moldova, which means there are now nine different countries that are basically at different stages now of the accession process. And that sort of commitment to multilateralism into expansion is a great step forward for them.
However, when you look at it, then from the Russian perspective, you have a reluctance and you don't have full support from all the membership on that. But even more than that, you have a reluctance from Orban to provide financial backing for Ukraine moving forward in the conflict, almost as if the him the question of accession is secondary.
And the other aspect through the eyes of the Russian President Putin is that across the Atlantic in the United States, you have a Congress that is incapable of agreeing on the level of funding it wants to provide as a way of opposing and President Biden on there.
So there are many ways of seeing this and winners and losers in this depending on the perspective you have here, Paula.
NEWTON: You know what Zelenskyy wants to go hand in hand is the EU but also NATO membership. I mean, do you see Europe and NATO's European members picking up the slack here on Ukraine, because you rightfully point out that when you see the tide in the United States, it is turning? It is turning against Ukraine?
THOMAS: Yes. And you're absolutely right. And it's not just there, because it's not just over the question of Ukraine is how it plays out over Ukraine. So there are European leaders who are either opposed or lukewarm, you take Slovakia, Hungary, and so on.
But there are others, dealing with cost of living issues, energy crisis questions and the context of say Italy, which is essentially put front and center in its policymaking is the question of refugees of migration and so on. And they see all of this as a distraction, and also in the context of that of the disruption in the Middle East at the moment.
And so these autonomous governments that are members of the supranational European Union are dealing with local national questions, while at the same time sitting around the table at the European Union.
But I think that they almost all agree that a stronger European Union is better for all of them as they go through this. And of course, the irony for someone like Orban is that he's one of the greatest beneficiaries financially of membership in the European Union, and yet continues to prove to be a very complicated individual with whom to deal with and a detractor to the mission which is clear here, which is to move ahead, consolidate and expand EU membership and borders, Paula.
NEWTON: Yes, and the plot thickens of course now with Poland having that very pro-EU government just coming into play as well, a lot changing in Europe. Dominic Thomas, thanks for us. Really appreciate you going through it.
THOMAS: Thank you, Paula.
NEWTON: Still to come for us and experimental cancer vaccine may help to reduce patient's risk of dying from melanoma. We'll discuss the new therapy after a break.
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[01:30:49]
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Paula Newton in New York.
Some promising news released Thursday in the fight against melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer. Drug makers Moderna and Merck say trial participants who had melanoma fully removed had a 49 percent lower risk of death or the cancer coming back when they took an experimental mRNA vaccine with the immunotherapy drug Keytruda.
Now, the Food and Drug Administration first approved Keytruda in 2014 for the treatment of certain cancers because it boosts the immune system's ability to detect and fight cancer cells.
Moderna CEO tells CNN the company is preparing for potential accelerated approval of the new therapy as soon as 2025. It's building a new manufacturing plant in Massachusetts in order to scale up.
Joining us now to discuss this new treatment is Professor Georgina Long, she is co-medical director of Melanoma Institute Australia. I'm really pleased that you are able to join us because we're all very curious about this new treatment.
I mean do you believe the results for this new vaccine are groundbreaking? If so why?
GEORGINA LONG, MELANOMA INSTITUTE AUSTRALIA: I absolutely do believe they're groundbreaking. This was a phase two trial though and we are in the midst of confirming the results we saw in this first groundbreaking trial now in what we call a phase three trial.
The reason it's so groundbreaking, it's the first time that we have been able to prove that hypothesis. The idea that you can take a cancer -- someone's individual cancer, look at what it expresses, and make a vaccine against it that is specific to your cancer and this trial was conducted in melanoma.
NEWTON: Yes. So exciting as the results, the efficacy was just so good. But this is still complicated, right, and no doubt and expensive treatment.
And is it for people who have already been diagnosed, right? We are not going to be getting a preventative mRNA vaccine here.
LONG: That is correct. so a few points about this Trial. This trial was conducted in melanoma. All of the patients had what we called high-risk, early-stage melanoma. But high-risk means stage three. So it's melanoma of the skin, and that is a cancer, that has spread to the nearby lymph nodes and that had all been removed by surgery.
Now normally, our standard treatment would be to give a drug like pembrolizumab or that's known as Keytruda by the wider community, or similar types of immune drug on their own. And that would prevent the melanoma from coming back.
Now it doesn't work in everybody. It works in nearly half the people, to prevent the melanoma from coming back, from recurring. When we add this personalized mRNA vaccine to the pembrolizumab or Keytruda, We see a further improvement in terms of decreasing the risk of that melanoma cancer from coming back. In fact, with the latest updated data from this smaller randomized trial, we see a 51 percent -- sorry a 49 percent reduction in that risk of the melanoma coming back compared with just Keytruda alone.
So this is pretty phenomenal. We now need to confirm this in a bigger trial, which has many, many more patients to confirm those results.
We are really excited at this first smaller randomized trial showed this early, early signal of really good activity, to prevent the melanoma from coming back after surgery.
[01:34:51]
LONG: This will no doubt have an impact in other cancers, in trials now being done in a lot of other cancers, with this mRNA technology.
NEWTON: And that's what I want to get to which is so exciting. You know, when we had the pandemic which was trying for literally the entire planet, when they came up with these vaccines on the mRNA platform. Many of us did read that indeed, this could lead to these kinds of cancer breakthroughs.
Why is it so revolutionary, and do you think -- I mean 2025 for even this latest treatment is really good, right. People who have melanoma now can really take that in their sights.
So when we extrapolate to other forms of cancer, how long do you think it will be? Are we talking the end of this decade, possibly sooner?
LONG: Yes, that's a really good time point Paula, actually. I would be thinking at the end of this decade, not just for melanoma but we will see results from other cancers, and we could be talking about these treatments being routine.
But the mRNA platform is very powerful just beyond cancer. And in fact, with this trial, that we are just updating the results on, this exciting results from Moderna, we were working with Moderna before COVID on this trial. And Moderna and other companies pivoted from what they were doing in diseases like cancer, to apply that science to COVID.
So, this mRNA technology has a lot of power, not just in cancer and infectious diseases as we saw with COVID. But many other medical diseases will find treatments with this powerful platform.
But back to cancer particularly, I think the end of a decade is a really good time point, where we will see, I believe, if the second trial -- we are doing the larger trial, which will be finished very soon, will recruit (ph) very quickly.
If we see positive results in that, yes, we might see these being a routine treatment by the end of this decade. Definitely melanoma, and hopefully in other cancers too. It does hold that hope for other cancers.
(CROSSTALKING)
LONG: It won't be a treatment for everybody though -- just to make that point for you, it won't be a treatment for everybody. It's only going to work in a proportion. But you saw in these early results from this first, trial it's working in about 50 percent, so it's looking as a proportion of those with high-risk melanoma.
NEWTON: It is some of the most hopeful news that any of us have had and a disease that really touches nearly every person who walks this planet whether it's themselves or members of their families.
We have to leave it there for now but Dr. Georgina Long, really thank you for your information. It's been really insightful.
LONG: Thank you, Paula.
NEWTON: Now still to come for us, arrest in a suspected terror plot against Jews in Europe. What we know about a possible connection to Hamas.
[01:37:55]
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NEWTON: Israel's military says it has recovered the body of a hostage, 28-year-old Elia Toledano in Gaza. Toledano was taken by Hamas during the group's terror attack inside Israel on October 7th.
The IDF says the body is now back in Israel after being found during a special forces operation in Gaza. Authorities say the victim's family has been notified.
The White House says it's working by the hour to try and get the remaining hostages held by Hamas released from captivity. Officials believe there are eight American citizens among more than 130 hostages being held in Gaza. The U.S. says it's trying to get another pause the fighting in place, so that more hostages can be released.
The families of American hostages meantime offered praise and gratitude to the Biden administration after meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House Wednesday.
Liz Naftali is the great aunt of the Abigail Edan, the four-year-old Israeli American hostage released by Hamas last month. Naftali says President Biden and his administration had been quote, "bringing out light in this dark time".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LIZ NAFTALI, GREAT AUNT OF ABIGAIL EDAN: The meeting really was an opportunity for these families, American families of sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, to have an opportunity to share their stories. And for the president, Secretary Blinken to hear these stories.
And the one thing that they assured us, and that we know is that they are doing everything in their power, really 24 hours a day, seven days a week to work with the Israeli government to make the hostages a priority -- the American hostages and all these hostages. There's over 110 hostages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Now, as efforts continue to get the rest of the hostages released, a senior U.S. official says Israel is looking to eliminate the highest-ranking Hamas leader in Gaza no matter how long it takes.
Speaking after meetings between Israeli officials and the U.S. national security adviser, the U.S. officials said quote it's safe to say Yahya Sinwar's days are numbered. Israel accuses Sinwar of being the mastermind behind the October 7th terror attacks.
Now, with Israel making it clear it will keep on fighting, Turkey says it's on Washington to stop the fighting in Gaza by ensuring a permanent ceasefire is in place. That's what Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a phone call with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden. That is according to a readout from the Turkish government.
The Turkish leader said the way to do that is to use American support for Israel as leverage.
Scott Mclean joins us from Istanbul. Scott, good to see you. I know how closely you've been following all of these developments.
You have been reporting on Turkey's role in all of this especially when it comes to Hamas. What more are you learning?
SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey Paula.
Yes. So this is actually the first time that these two world leaders have spoken since the war began or the least the first public indication that they have met.
And of course, since the war began, Turkey has been one of the most outspoken critics of Israel. The United States has been by far its biggest backer. These are both NATO countries.
And what's striking here Paula is that when you compare the readouts of this call between Biden and Erdogan, it's remarkable how little crossover there is and how, frankly, there's no indication that they actually directly agreed on anything.
Case in point, Turkey continues to stand in the way of Sweden's NATO bid. The American readout of the call said that the two men discussed the importance of Sweden joining NATO as soon as possible. The Turkish version just said that they discussed it.
On Gaza, the United States, Biden said that it continues to stand by Israel's right to defend itself. Turkey says that the United States should withdraw that support in order to get a ceasefire.
And you know, the two different positions could not be more different and this was really illustrated in the conversation that I had with Erdogan's chief advisor for foreign policy and security Akif Cagatay Kilic this week.
And I asked him about Turkey's insistence on having Israel prosecuted for war crimes. But when it comes to Hamas it's a different story. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AKIF CAGATAY KILIC, ISRAELI CHIEF ADVISER ON SECURITY AND FOREIGN POLICY: There is an uprising in emotions, and disagreement with what Israel is doing which is basically not distinguishing between any person, and killing and bombing everybody at will.
So, this is the issue that is at hand and that is what we are seeing. We will work with certain legal people, representatives of the legal branch. And what they're trying to achieve.
[01:44:53]
MCLEAN: I hear you loud and clear that Israel should be held accountable for indiscriminately killing civilians. But Hamas also killed civilians, should they not also be held accountable?
KILIC: Well, the issue is very clear, we have been saying from the first day, from the start that any civilian loss of life, it does not matter where, is unacceptable. But, what is happening now, we have to distinguish in one thing.
This is a state. Israel is a state, with the power of a state. And a military, which is, compared to their neighbors, in this sense I'm referring to different countries, but also compared to the strength of Hamas it is not even comparable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCLEAN: Now Paula, there are unconfirmed reports that the leader of Hamas, Ishmael Haniyeh, was actually in Turkey when the October 7th attacks began.
I asked Kilic about this. He says he does not know where he was. But when I pressed him on it he said, he might've been here. Turkey though, again, does not see this as any kind of a problem. It
says that it welcomes Hamas leaders here because it is better to engage with them to try to bring about some kind of peace.
In fact Kilic said that it was Israel that asked Turkey more than a decade ago to engage with Hamas and to work with them. And that is exactly what they're doing, in his words, Paula.
NEWTON: Yes. And there has been, you know, profuse thanks to Qatar that has been brokering a lot of these deals. It is really an interesting interview especially given Turkey's position in all of this and not just this conflict but obviously the war between Ukraine and Russia as well.
Scott McLean for us in Istanbul. Really appreciate it.
Now eight people suspected of planning attacks on Jewish institutions have been arrested in Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands. Israeli authorities say the suspects were, quote, "acting on behalf of the Hamas terrorist organization", but didn't provide any further details.
More now, from CNN's Brian Todd.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The terror group waging war on Israel allegedly attempted strikes at Jewish targets in Europe. Germany's federal prosecutor says three people just arrested in Germany were long-standing members of Hamas and are suspected of having planned attacks on Jewish institutions in Europe.
A fourth person was arrested in connection with the same case in the Netherlands. Their alleged mission was to locate an underground cache of weapons and bring them to Berlin for attacks on Jewish sites in Europe.
PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So far, you know, Hamas has tended to focus exclusively on Israel, Gaza, the West Bank. So to me this is surprising, it's kind of new, it suggests a new development of Hamas' ambitions.
TODD: German prosecutors saying the three in Germany were closely linked to Hamas' military leadership and receiving orders from Hamas leaders in Lebanon.
BERGEN: That would imply to me that they were ordered by the military leadership of Hamas to go to Europe and try and do something.
TODD: In addition, at least four other arrests were reported in Denmark and the Netherlands as well. Authorities saying they are not directly related to the other case.
But Israeli intelligence saying those arrested in Denmark were terrorists acting on behalf of Hamas and the arrests thwarted an attack, the goal of which was to kill innocent civilians. Security at synagogues, Jewish centers and Jewish schools has already
been dialed up in Europe, since the Israel-Hamas war began. And American officials recently warning of an increased threat of terrorism against the U.S.
CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: Hamas or another foreign terrorist organization, they exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here on our own soil.
TODD: All of this comes as the department of homeland security and the FBI this week, warned Americans more broadly of threats around the holidays, saying the war could heighten the threat of lone actor violence, targeting large public gatherings throughout the winter including holiday-related and faith-based events.
DONELL HARVIN, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY CHIEF: It's the holidays so people are congregating in malls, people are going to shopping centers, people are going to houses of worship, which are particularly vulnerable and had been targeted before, we know.
TODD: Terrorists have targeted holiday festivals before in Europe and a year ago on New Year's Eve in New York's Times Square, a man with a machete attacked police officers.
U.S. officials say the latest warning about the heightened threat of violence inside the U.S. over the holidays, is not in response to any specific plotting activity.
As for Hamas' possible reach inside the U.S., experts say the group's most realistic threat is its ability to inspire lone actors to commit violence.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
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NEWTON: A 13-year-old boy in Ohio is facing criminal charges after allegedly crafting a plan to quote, "burn and shoot up" a local synagogue.
CNN's Brynn Gingras has the latest.
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BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are learning a little more about that alleged detailed plan by this 13-year-old, regarding a local synagogue there in Ohio.
According to the Stark County Sheriff's Department, this 13-year-old chatted on the social media platform Discord, that he wanted to burn and shoot up a local synagogue.
[01:49:54]
When he was approached by authorities, police say that he actually had maps, and a plan of the actual synagogue that he was making with a person living in Washington State. And he also told police that he was a part of multiple anti-Semitic and political groups on Discord.
Now, we've learned that it was actually Discord, that they have a special unit called the counter extremism analyst, who alerted police, the FBI really, to all of this chatter that was going on online.
And then that triggered an investigation to local authorities, to the synagogue, to this student's school district, saying that this caused significant public alarm.
Now, as a consequence, this 13-year-old was arrested and charged with two misdemeanors -- inducing panic and disorderly conduct.
Now, it's important to note that this happened in September, prior to the October 7th attack in Israel. However we know that even after that, there has been a significant surge in anti-Semitic incidents, and also there has been a surge in incidents regarding you know, where Arabs and Muslims are targeted as well.
But for this particular incident that is now circulating widely, the ADL did release a statement in part they said for young people like the suspect, we hope this can be a teachable movement. Hate and threats on social media as in real life, cannot and will not be tolerated.
Brynn Gingras CNN. Back to you.
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NEWTON: Some news just in to CNN.
A subway accident on a snowy morning in Beijing, has sent more than 500 people to hospitals. Officials say the injuries include a lot of broken and fractured bones. But thankfully so far no known deaths.
State media reported earlier that the carriage is separated on the subway, the agency that runs the train line has apologized and is investigating.
We will be right back with more news in a moment.
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NEWTON: The leaders of Venezuela and Guyana say they will not use force against each other amid a dispute against an oil-rich piece of Guyanese land.
On Thursday they agreed to create a joint commission to address the territorial spat. Still the two countries' positions are far apart.
CNN's Patrick Oppmann explains.
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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The presidents of Venezuela and Guyana met on Thursday in an attempt to lower tensions surrounding a region of Guyana that Venezuela has increasingly laid claim to. Upon arriving in St. Vincent where the talks were held, the president
of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, issued a statement where he said that he arrived with the backing of the Venezuelan people. He says they support his annexation of this region of Guyana.
This is an issue that goes back decades. Venezuelans has long felt that this part of the country was wrested away from them unfairly. It is an area that is about 160,000 square kilometers of jungle, remote region of Guyana, but one where there has been discoveries of oil and gas that promise to provide the Guyanese people with billions of dollars in the years ahead.
Guyana for its part, says that this is an issue for the International Court of Justice to decide and they're not prepared to give back a single piece -- single part of this area, which they say belongs to Guyana.
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OPPMANN: The president of Guyana on Thursday said that both countries are committed to peace and working on this issue together, but he seemed unwilling to budge to the demands of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro who is increasingly, over the past several weeks, been threatening Guyana with the idea that Venezuela could invade and take away by force part of this contested region, if not the entire contested region.
The United States is backing Guyana, as are other countries in the region. And it's unclear if Nicolas Maduro really intends to follow through on these threats or if it's just a bid to increase nationalist sentiment ahead of a presidential election in 2024.
And while both sides have said they are committed to holding further talks, it seems unlikely that both sides can be made happy through any further negotiations as both countries have now laid a claim to this territory and say essentially that it belongs to them.
Patrick Oppmann, CNN -- Havana.
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NEWTON: Facebook and Instagram's sister platform Threads just launched in the European Union. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg first unveiled Threads in the U.S., the U.K., and other countries in July as a rival to X, formerly known as Twitter.
He says Threads has already grown to 100 million active users as of October. Now, Thursday, he welcomed more Europeans to the platform. It's also added features like a desktop version, and topic tags. Basically it's a hashtag, without the hashtag.
And from Threads new threads, for Japanese baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani as he joins the iconic jersey of the L.A. Dodgers. Look at that.
The 29-year-old who is a two-time American League MVP, by the way, has signed a historic deal worth $700 million. He says he has one priority though -- winning -- especially given the length of his contract. Listen.
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SHOHEI OHTANI, L.A. DODGERS (through translator): As you saw my contract is ten years. And I'm not sure how long I'm going to be able to play the game. So I do prioritize winning. That is on the top of my list. And that will probably never change. That is one of the reason why I chose this team.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NEWTON: Eyeing that World Series.
I'm Paula Newton. CNN NEWSROOM continues with Kristie Lu Stout right after this.
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