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Source: Israel Proposing Brief Pause In Fighting In Gaza In Exchange For Release Of More Hostages Held By Hamas; Venezuela Agrees To Release Of 10 Americans In Exchange For U.S. Freeing Key Maduro Ally; E.U. Council, European Parliament Reach Deal On Migration Reform. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired December 21, 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, deadly delay as the death toll in Gaza nears 20,000. The U.N. Security Council pushes back a ceasefire vote for a third time.
Home for Christmas, 10 Americans illegally detained in Venezuela have been released in a prisoner exchange deal with Washington.
And with Trump planning to appeal a ban for the ballot in Colorado, the U.S. Supreme Court and its six conservative judges back soon be facing a real moment of truth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: We begin with the latest on hostage -- renewed hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas. While the White House describes the talks as very serious, a deal is unlikely anytime soon. On Wednesday, with deadly explosions reported in Rafah in Gaza south and Jabalia in the north, there appears to be no indication that Israel is willing to agree to international demands and scale back its military operation. With Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying the fighting will only stop when Hamas is destroyed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): We're continuing in the fight until the end. It will resume until the elimination of Hamas until the victory. All Hamas terrorists from the first to the last are marked for death. They only have two options, surrender or die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The U.N. Security Council is expected to vote on a ceasefire resolution in the coming hours. U.S. has already forced a delay three times this week. For more details now on why the ceasefire vote was delayed at the U.N. as well as hostage negotiations in Doha. Here's CNN's Jeremy Diamond.
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JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Israel and Hamas inching back to the negotiating table.
ISAAC HERZOG, ISRAELI PRESIDENT: Israel is ready for another humanitarian pause and additional humanitarian aid in order to enable the release of hostages.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Nearly three weeks after a fragile week long truce collapse, top negotiators crisscrossing the globe for key meetings. Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas landing in Cairo for talks with Egyptian mediators. Israel's Mossad director, Qatar's Prime Minister and the CIA director, meanwhile, meeting in Warsaw earlier this week, with a source describing the meeting as positive. Israel putting a new proposal on the table. Another week long pause in fighting in exchange for the release of about 40 hostages, sources told CNN and Axios.
Israel would also release more Palestinian prisoners. And an Israeli official telling CNN that Hamas is asking for more heavy duty prisoners than before. Until recently, Hamas vowing not to open any negotiations, unless the aggression against our people stops once and for all.
MICHAEL HERZOG, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S.: They were hoping for a permanent ceasefire. But I hope that under the pressure of what we're doing on the ground, plus pressure from the Qataris, they will agree to do a deal but it's premature at this phase.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also coming under significant public pressure to reach a deal after Israeli soldiers mistakenly shot and killed three hostages in Gaza. Netanyahu telling the families of hostages he dispatched the Mossad director to Europe to advance the process for the release of our hostages, vowing to spare no effort on the matter. But he is also promising more war.
NETANYAHU (through translator): Whoever thinks that we will stop is detached from reality. We will not stop fighting until all of the goals that we have set are achieved, the elimination of Hamas, the release of our hostages and the removal of the threat from Gaza.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For all those who have suffered.
DIAMOND (voice-over): The United Nations Security Council, meanwhile, still debating a resolution that would call for the opposite haggling over language calling for a pause in the fighting that the U.S. could support.
Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Christopher O'Leary has spent years working in counterterrorism operations in the U.S. and as the former director of hostage recovery for the United States government. He's with us this hour from New York. It's good to see you.
CHRISTOPHER O'LEARY, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL OPERATIONS, THE SOUFAN GROUP: Good to be with you, John.
VAUSE: OK, so here's the latest reporting from CNN on hostage negotiations. Israel has begun to put proposals on the table for a cessation in fighting in exchange for Hamas releasing hostages that are still held captive in Gaza, a source familiar tells CNN, in could mark a significant shift since Israel's military operations resumed in the war and formal hostage negotiations came to a halt.
[01:05:16]
That aren't owned (ph) seems to seem like incremental progress, if you like, but this is what the U.S. President said on Wednesday, but the likelihood of an agreement between Israel and Hamas.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're pushing that way. I don't -- there's no expectation at this point. But we are pushing.
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VAUSE: You know, what sounds like another deal, like the one we saw last month is still a long shot, or at very least a long way off?
O'LEARY: I'm a little more optimistic. You know, from my sources in my network, I believe there's progress being made. Obviously, Director Burns is out there, the director of the Mossad is engaging and the Qatar ease, as you know, evidenced by today, with the release of the, you know, detainees out of Venezuela, they're very effective in this field. They have a unique capability of bridging the Western world with the Islamic world. And, you know, that's why it's critical to have them as mediators in, you know, this very complex situation.
VAUSE: Include time is the issue here, because the longer any deal takes, the greater the chance there is that the hostages may never come home, listen to Ruby Chen, whose son is among those being held by Hamas in Gaza.
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RUBY CHEN, FATHER OF ISRAELI HOSTAGE ITAY CHEN: So I urge you to act, do what you can, because my kid I don't want him in the back. And I still have hope.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes. They still may have hope. But it seems after that first ceasefire, when more than 100 hostages were released to the families of those who are, you know, of the hostages who are still in Gaza, they seem to lose leverage over the Israeli government here that almost seems to be a perception that, you know, they've done what they can. And, yes, they want to get the rest home. But it's almost, I don't say an afterthought, but it doesn't seem to have the same agency.
O'LEARY: Well, I would say here in the United States, the families have a very powerful voice, at least during my time in government, they certainly did. And that goes back to the drastic change that the U.S. government made in our hostage enterprise after we had failures during the height of ISIS. You know, it does seem that the pressure in Israel has caused, you know, Netanyahu to make a pivot and to support trying to reignite these negotiations. And that is a positive step.
But unfortunately, Hamas does have all the leverage now. And they are going to be asking for a steep price. They're going to be asking for the release of Hamas, you know, detainees in Israel who have blood on their hands likely, because they have all the control right now. You know, Israel, with this inexcusable killing of three hostages really put themselves at a deficit and all of this.
VAUSE: And we're talking about the remaining hostages, so essentially, at this point, men, and among them Israeli soldiers.
O'LEARY: It is and there's likely some women and maybe even children left, there's elderly and there was wounded. And I believe, through the next stage of negotiations, those are the ones to likely be released. The men are going to be more problematic. And any Israeli soldier whether male or female, is going to be the toughest sparring to be struck. And what Hamas is going to be looking for is essentially the Israeli jails to be opened, and 7,000 plus Hamas detainees be released.
VAUSE: Well, Israeli officials confirmed Monday that three Israeli men being held by Hamas were killed by friendly fire. Here's the mother of one of them.
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IRIS HAIM, MOTHER OF SLAIN HOSTAGE YOTAM HAIM (through translator): I know that everything that happened is completely not your fault, it's nobody's fault, except the Hamas, may their name and memory be wiped off the face of the earth. We all need you to be safe and sound. Don't hesitate for a single moment. If you see a terrorist, don't think that you have deliberately killed a hostage. You need to protect yourself because that's the only way you would be able to protect us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And she's obviously addressing the IDF currently in Gaza. It's a good point, though, to highlight that Hamas is ultimately responsible for the death of the three men. But at the time of the shooting, the three were shirtless are holding a white piece of material with messages in Hebrew. What does that say about the Israeli offensive and the dangers it poses to the hostages who are still being held there?
O'LEARY: Well, first of all, Hamas is ultimately responsible. The taking hostages is a violation of human rights under international law. So that's correct. They're a terrorist organization. But for counterterrorism professionals and hostage rescue professionals, nobody can understand how they're going about prosecuting this campaign. It's not effective at actually dismantling a terrorist network. The U.S. is gifted at this as our many, you know, partners in the international community, what Israel is doing is not effective. It was meant to be Hamas and it's also a very clumsy and ineffective way to locate and recover the hostages and it puts IDF soldiers in impossible position like they just found themselves were unfortunately, they killed three of their own citizens.
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VAUSE: Yes, Christopher, thank you for being with us. Christopher O'Leary there in New York. Appreciate your time, sir.
O'LEARY: Good to be with you John.
VAUSE: Six Americans classified by the State Department as wrongfully detained in Venezuela are now heading home, touching down in Texas just hours after the White House announced a prisoner exchange deal. Here's one of the newly freed Americans describing his detention.
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SAVOI WRIGHT, AMERICAN DETAINED IN VENEZUELA: I didn't know if I would ever make it out. And it's really scary to be in a place where you're used to having freedoms and you're locked into a cell sometimes with four other people, very tiny cell. And to realize, am I ever going to get out of this? Am I ever going to make it home? How did I get to this point? It's very challenging situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: A total of 10 Americans were set free as part of the exchange, which now means all U.S. citizens illegally detained by Venezuela have been released according to State Department. But there is a there is a plus one, a U.S. defense contractor at the center of a massive fraud case Fat Leonard as he's known, will appear the U.S. Federal Court today head. CNN's Ed Lavandera has more details now on the prisoner exchange, including the high price the U.S. paid to make the deal happen.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ten Americans who've spent months and years imprisoned in Venezuela are now back in the United States. Six men who were officially listed as wrongfully detained by the U.S. government touched down in San Antonio, Texas Wednesday night. Among them Joseph Cristella, Eyvin Hernandez, Jerrel Kenemore and Savoi Wright.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We have no higher priority than doing everything we possibly can to bring our fellow citizens out of harm's way.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Also included in the deal is Leonard Francis, the infamously corrupt military contractor known as Fat Leonard. He was the mastermind of the largest bribery scandal in U.S. naval history. He fled to Venezuela after his conviction in 2015. The U.S. had eased some economic sanctions against Venezuela as the country took steps to open its elections and agreed to return Alex Saab and ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Saab was facing prison time in the U.S. on corruption and money laundering charges. The Venezuelan government is also releasing 20 political prisoners some scene leaving prison by a CNN team in Venezuela. The Biden administration says this deal is a sign of improving relations between the U.S. and Venezuela and part of its effort to push the socialist dictatorship toward more democratic reforms. But the deal comes as the Maduro regime is threatening to take over part of a neighboring country.
Guyana sits just east of Venezuela and Maduro once control of the small country's oil reserves. And a senior administration official says Maduro still faces criminal charges in the U.S., including drug trafficking and corruption. President Biden is vowing to keep the pressure up on the Venezuelan President.
BIDEN: Venezuela thus far is keeping our commitment for the democratic election. But we're going to hold him accountable.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): But this deal sparks renewed frustration for families of some other Americans imprisoned abroad. Paul Whelan has been held in a Russian prison for nearly five years. His brother recently telling out front his family is growing frustrated with the Biden administration.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unfortunately, I don't see that the government is any closer at bringing Paul home than they were a year ago.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): But President Vladimir Putin so far is refusing to make a deal for his release.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to negotiate.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): The Russian President said last week, we want to negotiate and the agreements must be mutually acceptable and satisfactory to both sides, like the one made to release Brittney Griner more than a year ago in exchange for an international arms dealer. But the hope for these other American families is that the U.S. could strike another deal to bring their loved ones back home.
LAVANDERA: The release of these American detainees unfolded so quickly on Wednesday that their families didn't have time to make it to Texas to watch them walk off the plane. Two of the American detainees spoke after they arrived. They said they were grateful to the Biden administration for negotiating the release and that they were grateful to finally having the chance to reunite with their own families.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Joining us this hour is Brett Bruen, president of the global situation room, as well as the former director of Global Engagement for the Obama White House. Welcome back. It's good to see you.
BRETT BRUEN, PRESIDENT OF THE GLOBAL SITUATION ROOM: Likewise.
VAUSE: OK, so one U.S. official told CNN that in order to make this exchange, the President had to make the extremely difficult decision to offer something that the Venezuelan counterparts have actively sought. And he made the decision to grant clemency to Alex Saab. So for many, Alex Saab is synonymous with the worst abuses of the Maduro government. He's accused of profiting from the salvation of Venezuelan. Now in return, Venezuela has released 10 jailed Americans, as well as defense contractor known as Fat Leonard, who is at the center, one of the U.S. Navy's biggest corruption cases. And on his release, CNN was told his return to the United States will now assure that he has held fully accountable for his crimes, as well as for his attempt to escape from justice.
[01:15:25]
So just simply in terms of who got what here, the starvation guy in return for Fat Leonard, is this the case it's a good deal for the U.S., but it's a much better deal for Maduro?
BRUEN: In the short term, Biden gets a bit of a boost. He's bringing home long held American citizens and today including two Green Berets in time for Christmas. However, John, over the long haul, I think this is going to have adverse consequences, both for U.S. interest in the region as well as U.S. citizens, because there's now a price tag on all of our heads, not only for Venezuela, but for lots of other governments with adversarial relationships with Washington as well as let's not forget there are plenty of criminal groups in Latin America.
VAUSE: Yes, well, there was also the bigger picture here of what appears to be an attempt to improve relations between Washington and Caracas. And on that here's president by talking about the prisoner exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: It's okay because detained American people who were held illegally, and we made a deal with Venezuela to hold free elections. So far they maintain the requirements, and that's it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: At the same time, it seems the president of Venezuela is seeing some better days ahead. Here is Nicolas Maduro.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICOLAS MADURO, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Hopefully, the way will be found for a process of respect, equal treatment and understanding between the United States of America and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Today is step has been taken that will hopefully contribute to that path.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: So just simply in terms of trust and building relationships, how important is this deal to restoring some kind of diplomatic normalcy?
BRUEN: Well, the problem with the deal, John, is that Maduro actually had to give up very little. And in exchange, one, he is parading around, including at the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas that he has gotten the United States to hand over not only this very valuable individual who is a key official power broker for Maduro with government, like in Tehran. But also, quite frankly, it comes with a lot of legitimacy that Maduro needs now. And he has yet to really show that he's willing to hold free and fair elections, he is yet to authorize his main opponent to participate in those elections next year. So right now, Maduro has all of the cards on his side of the deck.
VAUSE: And if Moscow hadn't decided to take the title of world's worst government and biggest danger to peace and stability since World War II, would Venezuela would be on the path back into the good books, has Maduro done a whole lot more apart from not being Vladimir Putin?
BRUEN: Well, look, Maduro has the advantage that right now, on the U.S. southern border, we just have tens of thousands of Venezuelans that are streaming over every month. And that's created a big headache here in Washington. So essentially, the impetus for just trying to ease the flow of migrants northward from Venezuela is pushing the Biden administration give these concessions to Maduro get something in place that will at least stabilize the situation. But I fear in the long run this is bad for democracy, bad for stability and security in the region.
VAUSE: Brett, thank you for being with us. Brett Bruen there, the president of the Global Situation Room. Good to see you.
BRUEN: Likewise.
[01:19:06]
VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, rivers of lava from an active volcano in Iceland, mean the good folk of Grindavik won't be home for the holidays. We'll see what's being done to help them.
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VAUSE: Welcome back. The E.U. has announced a far reaching overhaul of its controversial and fractured migration and asylum system. Responsibility for 30,000 undocumented migrants who arrive every year will now be shared by all individual member states, the precise number based on each country's population and GDP. The President of the European Parliament says it may not be the best solution, but it's an improvement.
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ROBERTA METSOLA, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT: Now we are aware that there is no perfect solution it is not a perfect package on the table. And it does not look at the solutions to all complex issues. But what we do have on the table is far better for all of us than we have had previously.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: But there's still a ways to go before the deal is official. All 27 E.U. members must approve it. Then comes ratification by parliament where there remains some opposition. Meantime, French President Emmanuel Macron has defended his controversial immigration bill, which passed Tuesday calling it quote the shield that we lacked under this new law, it will be harder for migrants to seek benefits. They'll also be restricted from moving their relatives to France. An initial version was rejected by lawmakers on both the left and the right. But this new revised bill was backed by post Macron's party, notably also the far right.
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EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT (through translator): Fighting against illegal immigration is I think hard to consider as a strictly right wing policy. And when I see the popular electorate, they're in favor of that. When you live in working class neighborhoods, you have security difficulties, sometimes immigration that is not well controlled. The consequences of which you experience, well, you are in favor of this law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The French Communist Party says the bill is directly inspired by the anti-immigration policies of far right politician Marine Le Pen.
Now thousands of people evacuated from a town in southern Iceland won't be allowed back home for Christmas. A lot of worries from the volcano which erupted Monday are slowing but authorities say the volcano is unpredictable and the lava could start heading towards the town of Grindavik again. So have an apartment for Christmas. The government is out buying new homes for those who need them. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is on the scene.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Up close as the Earth spews fountains of lava. South Iceland remains in a state of emergency as the volcanic eruption continues.
PLEITGEN: This is as close as the Icelandic authorities are going to allow us to the actual fissures or where the eruption is happening. I'd say we're a mile maybe a little less than a mile away from it. Now things have calmed down a little bit. But at the same time, of course the danger is still there, the authorities fear that there could be new events that might open up, pop up and that more lava could be gushing to the surface and then could be coming to the surface in fountains like we've seen over the past day and a half. So while things have gotten a little bit more muted, certainly the danger is not over. PLEITGEN (voice-over): In the early stages of the eruption, a wall of lava spewing hundreds of feet into the air. While it has subsided somewhat, the underground magma tunnel remains active and dangerous.
BJARKI KALDALONS FRIIS, GEOLOGIST: Still dangerous, of course and the magma that is coming up is around 1,200 degrees hot. When it comes to the surface and it takes a long time for the surface to cool down.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): The area around the eruption zone remains cordoned off, critical infrastructure in the danger, the world famous Blue Lagoon hotsprings closed.
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PLEITGEN: Here's another reason why the situation is so dangerous, you see over there is the volcanic activity and if we pan over in this direction, over there is a geothermal power plant, that's extremely important for the electricity here in this area. The authorities are trying to protect that power plant by building a berm against any lava flows.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): For the local residents, no respite.
KATRIN JAKOBSDOTTIR, ICELANDIC PRIME MINISTER: We now have this volcanic eruption very close to Grindavik. I think it is -- it has proven (inaudible) that town was evacuated in November. We have been buying flats for the residents so now we actually have 70 flats that people can move into before Christmas which is the most people who are in most dire need of housing.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Leaving many residents wondering if they will ever see their homes again. Frederik Pleitgen, CNN, near Grindavik, Iceland.
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VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN, extreme hunger adding to the trauma and misery of daily life in Gaza. We'll show you how people are trying to survive.
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VAUSE: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm John Vause.
Right now almost everything is in short supply in Gaza, everything except for misery, despair and death. And with very little humanitarian assistance crossing the border, many of suffering from extreme hunger. Half of Gaza's population is now starving according to the World Food Program. More details down from CNN's Jomana Karadsheh.
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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For weeks this is what we've seen of the war on Gaza. Israel's brutal military might pounding neighborhoods into dust. In central Gaza's in Sderot whole blocks reduced to rubble, seemingly deserted unlivable. But there's also this, the near surreal scenes this weekend in Sderot, the hustle and bustle of the street market. It's the story of every war, where life doesn't stop. It goes on for those trying to survive.
But Gaza is like no other place. It's where more than 2 million are crammed into this tiny strip of land that now looks like it's been bombed back into ages past. For those who've lost everything have nowhere left but the streets, that's where Magnus (ph) is building a clay oven hoping people would pay him a shekel or two to use it he says.
[01:29:47]
He says, maybe then we'll have enough to buy his children cheese or tomatoes.
"Our lives are a million years behind. We live in sewage," Mutnes says. "Every time it rains, the sewage overflows. It's cold. There's no food, no water, no warm clothes."
Most here have escaped the bombs only to be trapped in this misery. Disease and starvation the U.N. warned, may soon kill more than those bombs. Half the population, it says, are now starving. People going entire days without eating.
Um-Ahmed (ph) says she collects a bit of flour from here and there to bake bread for her children.
"We're all thrown into the streets," she says. "They said, go to the south. We came to the south to die slowly."
human rights watch says Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war. It's a war crime Israel denies and calls it a lie. It accuses Hamas of stealing aid.
In the wake of October 7th, Israel's defense minister announced a siege of Gaza. Quote, "No electricity, no fuel, everything closed until all hostages were returned."
Some aid and water delivery resumed, but nowhere near enough. Much of the blockade remains in place. What rights groups call "collective punishment".
Sometimes, the lucky ones find more than lentils and bread for the hungry mouths they have to feed. This mother uses a pair of jeans for her fire to boil some chicken wings and bones.
"I'm using clothes and cardboard to make fire and cook," she says. "The situation is disastrous. But I need to find a way for my children. We're in the street because we have nowhere to shelter."
Fleeing the bombs, scrounging for food, now the people of Gaza desperately wait for the moment they can try once again to live.
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Ahmed Bayram is with the Norwegian Refugee Council. He joins us this hour from Amman, Jordan. Thank you for speaking with us.
AHMED BAYRAM, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: Hi John. Thanks for having me. I
VAUSE: I want you to listen to the U.A.E. ambassador to the United Nations on this much delayed ceasefire resolution for Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The overriding objective of this resolution was always to try and positively impact on the ground for the people who need it the most. We have been working overnight, long hours but we believe today giving a little bit of space for additional diplomacy could yield positive result and we are going to be optimists and try and do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: According to the numbers we have from Gaza's Hamas-controlled health industry close to 20,000 Palestinians have been killed during the first 75 days of Israel's military offensive. On average around 266 people a day are being killed.
The numbers from Gaza do not separate civilians from fighters. Even so "The New York Times" reported last month Gaza civilians under Israeli barrage are being killed at historic pace.
There is also close to 2 million displaced people, with very little food or water, no electricity, no sanitation and a whole lot more. And it seems none of that is being reflected by what looks to be a total lack of urgency at the U.N., and question is why?
BAYRAM: Good morning. What is happening in Gaza I think is a humanitarian crisis that's being blown of all proportions. Really what we are seeing on the ground is not just a loss of life, and a loss of homes but also lose of hopes, of going back home, going back to normalcy.
I mean my teams on the ground tell me that all they can get hold as of now, is some canned food for the children, if they can manage to get that.
I think what we need to see now is not just the opening of the current (INAUDIBLE) crossing sustainably and we need to see a real surge in the number of trucks that make it into Gaza.
There are thousands that are being lined up on the Egyptian side. I think what we are doing with the U.N. and other agencies is just trying here I mean really with this kind of needs, you know, the -- aid that is coming in we're barely scratching the surface here.
I think what we're looking at here is probably the worst humanitarian catastrophe that we have seen in the Middle East, over the past decade. And you know, the Middle East has seen what is has seen over this decade.
[01:34:47]
BAYRAM: We need some serious negotiations now for a ceasefire. We need serious negotiations for, you know, an upsurge in the number of trucks that make their way into Gaza. Not just to Rafah, where they're mostly centered now because everyone has been pushed that way. But also to northern Gaza where, you know, people have spent ten out of 30 days without food.
VAUSE: And the U.N. Secretary General, he highlighted the urgent need for a ceasefire. He posted a tweet on X, saying "Intense fighting, lack of electricity, limited fuel and disrupted telecommunications severely restrict U.N. concerted efforts to provide lifesaving aid to people in Gaza. Conditions to allow large scale humanitarian operations need to be reestablished immediately."
And I guess the point here also is that, you know, when you talk about conditions he means some kind of limited pause in the fighting. Every day this is delayed, people die. Every day this is delayed, the situation gets worse, as bad as it is and hard to believe it can -- it does.
So that's my point here is that unless there's something happening with a pause in the fighting, you know, in the next 24 hours. This is just going from bad to worse, to worse to worst. Is there, you know, an end here?
BAYMAN: That's what we are asking, and that's what everyone is asking really. I mean 60 -- I mean 70 days now of constant bloodshed. Almost everyone, even if there was to be a ceasefire tomorrow, do you know how long it's going take to rebuild all these homes that have been destroyed?
70 percent of the housing stock in Gaza has been destroyed or damaged. And now we are approaching winter, it's getting colder and colder here. That means that these people have no hope of going back home. I mean we want to see an end to that. Where is that end? No one knows.
And I know that -- (INAUDIBLE) can come in from diplomatic corridors, from the U.N., from Arab countries, Arab states as well. However, I think what is so disappointing for us and this is the first time it happens now in Gaza that we're not able to provide aid even in conflict times, when we used to do that all the time. And now 50, you know, 50 of my colleagues themselves have been displaced. They hardly -- you know, their children hardly eat, their children are now in tents. There is no hope of going back home anytime soon for these people.
I mean it's going to take months to just clear the rubble from all the destruction. We haven't even started talking about diseases, that are invisible because everyone is busy with, you know, paramedics and medical teams are busy saving lives.
This is, again if we want to see that ceasefire. And even with that cease-fire, we are looking at years of catastrophe for the people of Gaza. Life is probably not going to be the same for the elderly again, for the disabled, people with disabilities and even for babies, for children who lost their parents.
That is why a cease-fire can't come soon enough and we hope that pressure will build for a vote in there in the Security Council in that direction.
VAUSE: Yes. Ahmed, thank you so much for being with us. It's one of those incredibly frustrating situations for so many people, and there's incredible misery right now for so many people in Gaza. Thank you for being with us.
BAYRAM: Thank you.
VAUSE: When we come back here on CNN, U.S. President Joe Biden weighing in on Donald Trump's ballot ban in Colorado. We'll also have reaction from Trump's Republican rivals.
[01:38:29]
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VAUSE: Argentina's new climate change-denying, right-wing libertarian president has announced a raft of economic reforms Wednesday, part of his campaign promise of shock therapy for South America's second biggest economy.
Javier Milei signed a decree promising to privatize many government- owned businesses, as well as watering-down (ph) protection for renters, shoppers and workers. Regulations which he says are hurting the economy.
Thousands protested the announcement on the streets of Buenos Aires. The government (INAUDIBLE) the currency by more than half compared to the U.S. dollar.
In some parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, voters will reportedly get a do-over after chaos marked Wednesday's general election. Some polling stations open late or did not open at all amid allegations of fraud and violence from opposition candidates. They want the whole election scrapped and held again.
The current president is seeking a second term and facing 18 challengers.
Well, the twice-impeached, four-time indicted Donald Trump's appeal to the Supreme Court over his Colorado ballot ban could come any day now. The former president is already fundraising off that ruling which says he is disqualified from running for reelection because he participated in the 2021 insurrection.
Here's CNN's Omar Jimenez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OMER JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First came the ruling now the fallout. "A sad day in America", Trump writes, as he reacts for the first time on social media since the Colorado Supreme Court decision to keep him off its state's 2024 Republican primary ballot.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I'm thrilled to be back in your incredible state.
JIMENEZ: And with just 28 days until the Iowa caucuses, every major Republican presidential candidate is coming to Trump's defense.
RON DESANTIS (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They basically just said you can't be on the ballot. I mean how does that work?
NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will beat him fair and squared. We don't need to have judges making these decisions, we need voters to make these decisions.
CHRI CHRISTIE (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I think he should be prevented from being president of the United States by the voters of this country.
VIVEK RAMASWAMY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Unelected judges are not going to side willy-nilly across the state who ends up on a ballot and who doesn't.
JIMENEZ: Even as they defend Trump, his rivals are still campaigning to beat him in the GOP primary with time running out until the first contest in January.
DESANTIS: It will give Biden or the Democrat or whoever, the ability to skate through this thing. That's their plan. What they don't want is to have somebody like me who will make the election not about all those other issues.
JIMENEZ: The Biden campaign says it's ready for any of the Republican candidates regardless of the courts.
BROOKE GOREN, BIDEN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: We're not going to comment on ongoing litigation. what I will say is that the president looks forward to defeating Donald Trump or whoever else emerges from the Republican Primary on the ballot box in November 2024.
JIMENEZ: The court's ruling is based on the 14th Amendment, which disqualifies anyone from future office if they engaged in insurrection.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Whether the 14th amendment applies we'll let the court make that decision. But he certainly supported an insurrection.
JIMENEZ: The court's decision will now most likely end up at the United States Supreme Court.
Now as you've seen with many of his legal cases during his presidential campaign, Trump is already fund raising off the Colorado State Supreme Court ruling, based on the us versus them theme that has become a staple during his campaign. Outside of the politics of it all, Trump is still on the ballot for now because essentially, this court decisions is placed on hold until January 4th, a day ahead of the deadline for the state to be certified as a candidate, and pending Trump's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court which could settle this issue for the country.
Omar Jimenez, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: To Los Angeles now and Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic". Welcome back.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, John.
VAUSE: Ok. Soi this appeal makes it to the Supreme Court, could be just a few days, it could also be a moment of truth for the six conservative judges. As "New York Times" points out, "They emerged from the conservative legal movement, which values methods of interpretation known as textualism originalism. Under those percepts, judges should interpret the constitution based on its text and publicly-understood meeting when adopted, over factors like evolving social values, political consequences, or an assessment of the intended purpose of the provision."
[01:44:54]
VAUSE: How much of a test would this case be, not just for those six judges, the six conservative ones, but for the credibility of the court itself, given how politicized it's become in recent years?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Look, I mean there have been, you know, few who are far more expert on the 14th Amendment than I am, who have made the case that the Colorado decision is powerful both in fact and logic, and in its plain reading of the statute, of the amendment which was written specifically to prevent insurrectionists from holding positions of high office.
Now, this is a Republican-appointed majority that over the years has been very sensitive to the interest of the Republican Party, and it may be impolitic to say so, but it's hard to imagine these Republican- appointed justices, including three that were named by Trump himself, you know, moving themselves into position to disqualify the front runner for the Republican nomination.
On the other hand, John Roberts as the chief justice has always had an eye on the political reputation of the court, which is essentially in tatters at the moment.
And I've got to think that if he does defend Trump on this front, it might make it more likely that the conservatives would join in an effort in what is probably even more significant to deny him his claim of absolute immunity for all actions that he took as president and to allow the trials against him to move forward.
VAUSE: Well, the Supreme Court has been down a similar road before more than 20 years with Bush v Gore.
Here is CNN court reporter, Joan Biskupic on how times have changed. Here she is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SENIOR U.S. SUPREME COURT ANALYST: This case comes to us now in a way that's so much more polarized, and that just points to how the Supreme Court should really come in and show some stature, and try to rule on these issues quickly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: What happens if this is delayed? What if this is drawn out? How much does that play into Trump's benefit here the longer it takes?
BROWNSTEIN: Even more to his benefit on the other issue of immunity, where his clear strategy is to raise these claims of presidential immunity, in the hope of delaying any trial and much less any conviction on any serious charges he's facing, especially indictments directly to overturn the election, that Jack Smith is pursuing in federal court. Trying to push that back as long as possible.
You know, we do of evidence in polling, and in think even this case has the potential to have the impact, where the indictments obviously have not been a huge problem for Trump, even in the general electorate, certainly not in the Republican primary electorate.
But there is reason in polling for him to worry that actual convictions by a jury of his peers, or courts of law on the serious charges he's facing would have more of an impact on the willingness of voters to put someone who has been convicted of a serious felony back in the White House. His goal is to, you know, preempt that possibility, by delaying the trial. The real question -- the biggest question I think before the Supreme Court, is whether they delay that strategy by delaying the decision on immunity. On this I suspect they will act fairly expeditiously.
VAUSE: If they do act, and if they do not strike down the Colorado ballot ban then apparently the Colorado Republican Party is vowing to abandon the primary for caucus system, should the decision be upheld. Very much in keeping with the Republicans tradition of ignoring results and decisions which you do not like.
What does it say about the party and its devotion to Trump?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, the devotion to Trump's bottomless, you know, I mean whatever else you're thinking about Donald Trump he kind of has a feral understanding of union weakness. You know, he can find the weak spot in any opponent, you see it in the way he gives nicknames.
But also I think he took the measure of the Republican leadership a long time ago, and realized there was no line he could not cross that would cause a critical mass of them to oppose him either because they fear him, or because they desire what they can get from his ability to mobilize the supporters in terms of the power to do other things they want to do.
And we see it again here, as we did during the indictments, you know. You would think in all normal political world this would be a moment for his rivals for the nomination to say, is this really who we want to represent our party?
But instead, they are rallying around him again. They have painted themselves into a corner where their inability to criticize his underlying behavior leaves them in a position where all they can do is join him in attacking the -- any effort to hold him accountable as politically-motivated.
Trump understands he has the party in his pocket and he's behaving accordingly. We'll see whether the voters in the Republican primaries give him any rude (ph) surprises.
[01:49:53]
VAUSE: Ron, thank you. Ron Brownstein for us there in Los Angeles. Thank you, sir.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.
VAUSE: Well, the senior Hamas leader in Gaza has defied Israel for decades. When we come back a look at the life of the Israel calls its enemy number one. The alleged mastermind of the October 7th attack.
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VAUSE: A major breakthrough in the search for a near endless and clean source of power. In California, scientists say they sparked a nuclear fusion reaction which released more energy than what was used to trigger it. That's been done before, but this time for the first time ever, the process was repeated three times.
Unlike nuclear fission which we use now -- nuclear fusion - nuclear fission recreates the power of the sun minus the radioactive waste. The power produced is small and scientists warned there is a long way to go, before fusion becomes commercially viable.
I think I got my fusions my fissions right.
Yahya Sinwar has been described as the face of evil, a dead-man walking, the butcher of Khan Yunis. Israeli officials say he's the most senior Hamas leader in Gaza and the mastermind behind the October 7th attacks.
CNN's Nic Robertson looks back at his life and his history of defying Israel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Feared and feted at home in Gaza, universally-reviled by Israelis, Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar became the Jewish state's enemy number one, dubbed by the IDF a dead man walking, university-educated, Sinwar persistently outsmarted his enemies.
Palestinian Esmat Mansour (ph) spent years in Israeli jail with Sinwar.
ESMAT MANSOUR, FORMER PALESTINIAN PRISONER (through translator): Sinwar was a cultured person, knowledgeable. He cooperated with other factions and even with the administration of the prison.
EHUD YAARI, ISRAELI JOURNALIST: When I was talking to him he always insisted that we speak Hebrew and not Arabic.
ROBERTSON: Israeli journalist, Ehud Yaari interviewed Sinwar four times during the terror leader's 22 years in jail. Convicted of killing two Israelis, and four suspect Palestinian informers.
YAARI: Sinwar is a guy who inspires fear.
ROBERSON: Sinwar ran Hamas' feared internal intelligence. Even inside jail, he reportedly continued silencing collaborators violently.
He's
MANSOUR: He's very careful and helpful with his soldiers, but he's also a cruel person. Not violent, but he's capable of cruelty.
ROBERTSON: Sinwar's release in 2011 was seminal, not just allowing his fast-track to Hamas's top political post in Gaza by 2017, but seemingly sowing the seeds for October 7th.
His freedom along with more than a thousand other Palestinian prisoners came in exchange for just one IDF soldier Gilad Shalit who had been taken hostage five years earlier.
[01:54:53]
ROBERTSON: Sinwar better than most, understood the power of IDF hostages.
MANSOUR: His brother was the one who guarded Shalit, this gave him more power in prison.
ROBERTSON: Sinwar called the exchange for his freedom, one of the biggest strategic moments in the history of our cause. His cause was reversing Israel's creation in 1948.
Sinwar was born 14 years later in a refugee camp, Gaza's second largest city Khan Younis. Joining Hamas a few decades later, he was a rising star even before jail. Important enough that Israel reportedly saved him from a brain tumor during his incarceration.
YAARI: Had a brain surgery, lobotomy, which was successful and saved his life. But he never mentioned it.
ROBERTSON: There was no public gratitude, but once he became Hamas' leader in Gaza he spread the notion his anti-Israel attitudes was softening, in 2018 telling an Israeli journalist he saw quote, "an opportunity for change".
Sinwar's public message for Palestinians didn't change, "destroy Israel".
During the next round of hostilities in 2021 the IDF appeared to doubt Israel's earlier medical generosity, bombing Sinwar's house.
A week later following a truce, Sinwar boldly gave IDF a second shot at a rare press conference saying he would walk home, daring assassination as he strolled the streets.
Safely home his deceptions continued, until October 7th when Sinwar and Hamas military leadership revealed their true strategy to the world, a murderous attack taking hundreds of hostages.
Nic Robertson, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. The news continues after very short break here with my friend and colleague Nick Watt reporting in from Los Angeles.
See you tomorrow.
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