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Six out of ten American Prisoners Wrongfully Detained in Venezuela Returned Home in Exchange of the Imprisonment of Venezuelan President's Ally; Iceland's Volcano Lava Eases but Residents are Limiting their Movement during Christmas season. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired December 21, 2023 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers all around the world. I'm Nick Watt, in Los Angeles. Ahead on "CNN Newsroom."
Israel is back at the table for negotiations on freeing more hostages held by Hamas. We'll look at what the White House is calling very serious talks on the situation. Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAVOI WRIGHT, RELEASED FROM VENEZUELA: Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, free at last.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Six of the ten Americans released by Venezuela in a prisoner swap are back in the U.S. We'll look at their journey to get back home.
And the lava from a volcano in Iceland is easing, but it's also filling the air with smoke and toxic gas. We'll have the latest on the situation there and how the government is helping those forced from their homes over the holidays.
Israel continues its offensive against Hamas in Gaza, as a source tells CNN talks are ongoing for a possible deal. You're looking at live pictures of the Palestinian enclave. Israel could pause the fighting there in exchange for the release of more hostages held by Hamas.
The White House says, quote, "very serious discussions are underway." But a source told CNN that the deal is not believed to be imminent. Meantime, the Israeli military on Wednesday continued to strike what it says are Hamas targets.
Deadly explosions were reported in Rafah in the south and Jabalia in the north. The Israeli Prime Minister vows the offensive will continue until Hamas is eliminated. (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)
WATT: This as a U.N. Security Council vote on a resolution calling for a suspension of facilities in Gaza was delayed for a third time this week as the US weighs whether or not to support it. That vote is now set to take place in the coming hours. The resolution aims to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
CNN's Clare Sebastian is following developments and joins us live from London. Clare, what is going on at the Security Council?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Nick, like this is something that they've been grappling with since the beginning of this conflict. There have now been seven attempts by the Security Council to come to consensus on the Israel-Gaza war. One of them only has succeeded, and now they're hoping to get some kind of resolution on at least some kind of ceasefire to get unhindered access for humanitarian aid in, but of course the U.S. vetoed a similar resolution on December 8th.
So what it boils down to now is the language, a diplomatic source telling CNN's Becky Anderson that the phrase cessation of hostilities is one of the things under discussion. Of course Israel's prime minister, as you just showed, making it very clear that any kind of permanent ceasefire is completely off the table. So that is what they are grappling with. Very serious discussions, according to the White House.
But the permanent representative to the United Arab Emirates, which is the country that brought forward this resolution, at least saying that there could be a chink of light. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LANA NUSSEIBEH, UAE AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: 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, hours, long hours, but we believe today giving a little bit of space for additional diplomacy could yield positive results, and we are going to be optimists and try and do that.
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SEBASTIAN: Optimists but they are as she said working through the night. Secretary Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State also saying that he hopes they can get to a good place but pointing out that he has not heard calls for Hamas to lay down arms and saying that if they did that then the conflict would be over immediately. Nick?
WATT: And Clare while all this is going on talks underway to get more of those hostages out of Gaza?
[03:04:54]
SEBASTIAN: Yeah, at least they're underway, right? The talks collapsed after the last ceasefire and the end of that sort of hostage exchange deal at the beginning of December, and Israel had recalled its team from the negotiations. So they are back, a source telling CNN that Israel has put a proposal on the table, but an Israeli official told us earlier in the day that they are not close to a final deal.
This is essentially just the beginning, and one of the key sticking points is that Hamas is demanding what they called more heavy-duty prisoners to be released last time when we had the last pause in fighting and prisoners swap. Israel released essentially only women and teenagers, underage men from Israeli prisons.
Now Hamas might be demanding more heavy-duty prisoners they say and that it's sensitive because of course when the prisoner swap took place in 2011 for Gilad Shalit that Israeli soldier among the more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisoners was in fact Yahya Sinwar, who is the top Hamas official now in Gaza. So extremely sensitive for Israel, but look, at least the discussions are now ongoing. Nick?
WATT: Clare Sebastian in London, thank you very much.
Joining us now is former Israeli hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin. He's the author of "The Negotiator", a book about his successful efforts to free Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit from Hamas captivity in 2011. He'd been held for five years.
So, try and explain to me how these two sides can even negotiate right now. I mean, Hamas, their charter to destroy Israel, President Netanyahu said he's not going to stop until he's destroyed Hamas. Can they -- How do they talk about releasing hostages with those two elephants in the room?
GERSHON BASKIN, FORMER HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR AND AUTHOR OF "THE NEGOTIATOR": Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. It's very difficult to conduct negotiations between two parties who are dedicated to killing each other. In addition to that, Israel's two main war objectives are contradictory. On the one hand, Israel is dedicated to decimating Hamas and preventing it from ever being able to rule Gaza and threaten Israel again. At the same time, Israel is also dedicated to freeing all the hostages.
There are still, according to the Israeli number, 129 Israelis in captivity in Gaza. More than half of them are civilians, young women, elderly men, sick and wounded people. And it's clear that Hamas is willing to give up at least the civilians. Israel is not yet willing to give Hamas what it wants.
This is not an optimistic moment in these negotiations, but as is reported, the negotiations are ongoing, and that's a reason for hope. The Egyptians are definitely directly involved now, apparently taking the lead, which is good because the Egyptians are much more in line with Israel's goals and interests, much more than the Qataris. Qatar is the state that supports Hamas and supports terrorism, and yet they have led the negotiations until now.
WATT: And have the protests on the streets of Israel had any impact? Do you feel on Prime Minister Netanyahu and really chivvied him along to really get these hostage talks back up and running?
BASKIN: Yeah, I've been negotiating with Hamas for 17 years now. This is the first time in 17 years that I remember Israel making an initiative, putting down an offer on the table. Israel is generally passive in these negotiations, never wanting to disclose what its cards are, what it's willing to give away, what it's willing to negotiate, and they usually respond to the other side's offers or demands.
This is the first time, to the best of my knowledge, that Israel actually put its own offer on the table. It's apparently not enough for Hamas. This is a classic, a Middle East bazaar kind of zero-sum negotiation, and so the Israelis started small, and they will increase. I don't think it's a good tactic. because I think that every day that the hostages are in Gaza is a risk to their lives and Israel needs to work faster to get them home.
WATT: Now correct me if I'm wrong, but I mean what's on the table doesn't appear to be the release of all of the hostages, it's maybe like 40, is that right?
BASKIN: Well that's what we've been told in the news, it might be larger than that. It's clear that in order to free all the 129 hostages Israel would be required by Hamas to free all the Palestinian prisoners in Israel, which today is more than 7,600 prisoners, including some 700 who have murdered Israelis. So from the Israeli perspective, it's very dangerous, it's very risky, there is no appetite in Israel for that kind of deal at the moment.
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WATT: You mentioned you've been negotiating with Hamas in one way or another for 17 years, you've had a long-running kind of relationship, I suppose, with one man in particular over there, that as I understand it has broken down since October 7th? I mean, is that a sign that things have never been worse between the two sides?
BASKIN: Well it's a sign that Hamas crossed a line that it hadn't crossed before in what they did on October 7th. In our talks Dr. Razi Hamad, who's the spokesperson for this war in Lebanon, actually our talks broke down about two weeks after the war began when it became clear to me that on the one hand he was no longer in a position to influence the outcome of negotiations and secondly he, on Lebanese television, justified the attacks on October 7th and said that they would repeat them and repeat them and repeat them and that Israel must be annihilated. It seemed for no reason to continue talking to this man.
WATT: I mean I know it's hard to predict but do you feel Israel will get all of these hostages back? BASKIN: I don't think that Israel is ready to make the deal that will
free all the hostages. I think that a deal can be made to bring the civilians home, the elderly, the women that are remaining in captivity, if there are any children who are in captivity. I think that Hamas will hold on to those that they define as soldiers, and then Israel will not give in to another release and will rely on search and rescue, intelligence information.
They're conquering the entire Gaza Strip, destroying most of it, finding many, many underground tunnels and bunkers, and they will try to find them. I don't think they will be successful like an Entebbe raid when they were able to rescue everyone. This is very risky to the soldiers and to the hostages themselves.
WATT: Gershon Baskin in Jerusalem, we greatly appreciate your time.
BASKIN: Thank you.
WATT: Now, one of the most insidious dangers of this war for Palestinians in Gaza is extreme hunger. The World Food Programme says half of the enclave's population is now starving. For millions of people, finding enough food is just an impossible task. Aid is coming in slowly, but there's not enough for desperate families.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh reports.
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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For weeks, this is what we've seen of the war in Gaza. Israel's brutal military might pounding neighborhoods into dust.
In central Gaza's Nuseirat, whole blocks reduced to rubble, seemingly deserted, unlivable. But there's also this. The near surreal scenes this week in Sairat. 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 two million are crammed into this tiny strip of land that now looks like it's been bombed back into ages past where those who've lost everything have nowhere left but the streets. That's where Mutnis is building a clay oven, hoping people would pay him a shekel or two to use it, he says. Maybe then he'll have enough to buy his children cheese or tomatoes.
Our lives are a million years behind. We live in sewage, Mutnis 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.'s warned, may soon kill more than those bombs. Half the population, it says, are now starving people going entire days without eating.
Um Ahmed 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.
[03:15:00]
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)
WATT: And we'll have much more on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in the moments ahead. You'll hear from an official with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. That's coming up in about 15 minutes.
But first, six Americans classified as wrongfully detained in Venezuela are back on U.S. soil. They landed in Texas just a few hours ago after the White House agreed to a prisoner swap with the Venezuelan government. One of the newly freed Americans described his relief.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WRIGHT: Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, free at last. Very emotional, exciting, grateful. So much gratitude for the moment, for the United States of America, for all of you and for the opportunity to come home. It's quite an experience once I come back (inaudible) into the United States of America and to see all of you (inaudible) so much love. I'm very grateful, very appreciative for the moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: The U.S. special envoy for hostage affairs says no other Americans are currently being held in Venezuelan prisons. The group of 10 people released includes four others not seen here, as well as a notorious fugitive who is expected to appear in U.S. federal court in the day ahead. To get the Americans out, the Biden administration made what it called
a difficult decision to release a key ally of the Venezuelan president. CNN's Ed Lavandera explains.
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ED LAVANDERA, CNN 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, Avin Hernandez, Daryl Kenimore, 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, an 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 seen 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 wants 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.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Venezuela thus far, is keeping their commitment toward a democratic election, but we're going to hold them 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 "Outfront" his family is growing frustrated with the Biden administration.
DAVID WHELAN, BROTHER OF PAUL WHELAN: 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.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): 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 Britney 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 reuniting with their own families.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.
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WATT: Earlier we asked one. analyst on Latin American politics about who got the better deal out of this prisoner swap. President Biden, or President Maduro?
[03:20:08]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRETT BRUEN, PRESIDENT OF THE GLOBAL SITUATION ROOM: In the short term, Biden gets a bit of a boost. He is bringing home long-held American citizens including two green berets in time for Christmas. However, the long haul, I think this is gonna 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Negotiators for the European Council and European Parliament have reached a deal to overhaul the E.U.'s migration and asylum system. Some are hailing it as a breakthrough after years of disputes over this issue. The agreement addresses five E.U. laws covering all aspects of how refugees and migrants are screened and processed.
E.U. countries would each be responsible for it. Accepting a share of the 30,000 migrants the bloc is expected to accommodate every year. They would accept them based on a country's population and GDP. The president of the European Parliament says it may not be the best solution, but it's an improvement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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)
WATT: Amnesty International says the deal would only worsen the suffering for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants. Any formal agreement would still need to be approved by all 27 E.U. members, then ratified by the parliament, where it does face some opposition.
Meantime, French President Emmanuel Macron is defending his country's controversial immigration bill, which passed on Tuesday, calling it, quote, the shield that we lacked. The bill would make it harder for migrants to get state benefits and restrict them from moving their relatives to France. An initial version was rejected by lawmakers from both left and right, but this new revised bill was backed both by Macron's party and most notably by the far-right.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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 are 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)
WATT: The head of the French Communist Party says the bill is directly inspired by the anti-immigration policies of far-right politician Marine Le Pen.
Still ahead, U.S. President Joe Biden weighs in on Donald Trump's ballot ban in Colorado. We also have reaction from Trump's Republican rivals.
Plus, lava flows from that volcano in Iceland are easing, but authorities aren't ready to let people in a nearby village back into their homes. Not yet. We'll explain why.
And more than 300 people have been rescued in far North Australia after the region was inundated by flooding. That and more, when we return.
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KRISTIN JONSDOTTIR, ICELANDIC METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE: We haven't seen any eruption on the peninsula for about 800 years. So yes, it's a new period we are observing. So the beginning of a new episode on the Reykjanes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Thousands of people evacuated from a town in southern Iceland won't be allowed back into their homes before Christmas. Lava flows from the volcano, which erupted Monday, continue to slow, but authorities say they're unpredictable and could start heading toward the town of Grindavik. The government is buying apartments for people in dire need to move into.
CNN's Fred Pleitgen is on the scene.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. 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 fissure, to 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 vents 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 KALADONIS FRIIS, GEOLOGIST: It's still dangerous, of course, and the magma that is coming up is around 1200 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 danger. The world-famous Blue Lagoon hot springs closed.
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. We now have this volcanic eruption very close to Grentavik.
KATRIN JAKOBSDOTTIR, ICELANDIC PRIME MINISTER: We now have this volcanic eruption very close to Grindavik. I think it has proven vital that the 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.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, near Grindavik, Iceland.
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WATT: Rescuers are not giving up hope of finding more survivors following China's deadliest earthquake in almost a decade. The quake tore through parts of the country's northwest Monday night, killing at least 135 people, that's according to state media. The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude at 5.9. A Chinese state broadcaster says about 15000 homes are destroyed and tens of thousands of people had to evacuate. That's happening as temperatures dropped below freezing, compounding the misery for survivors.
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MA HAIJIE, EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR (through translator): My two kids sleep in other people's tent. They don't have a tent now. They are in a tent, but they don't have bedclothes. They don't have anything. Yesterday, my husband and my two girls stood in the yard for the whole night.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Emergency services in Australia are battling a huge bushfire in a state forest northwest of Sydney. It's burned through an area almost the size of Greater London. It got so big it created its own thunderstorm.
[03:30:00]
You can see the huge plumes of smoke here billowing into the sky which affected air quality all across the state of New South Wales.
The cleanup continues in Australia after devastating floods hit the country's far-north. Intense rainfall from ex-tropical cyclone Jasper inundated areas near Cairns, a popular tourist gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. Nobody was killed in the floods and the Australian government has announced it will provide financial help to those affected.
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ANTHONY ALBANESE, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: After the flood waters have receded and after some of the physical aspect of damage has gone. some of the scars will remain as well. So we need to as governments, but also as a community, be very conscious about mental health issues, about the trauma which people have suffered from during this difficult time.
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WATT: Residents are being evacuated from some rural towns with about 300 people rescued so far. Some stuck on the roofs of their homes.
Southern India is also facing a flood emergency after nearly half a year's worth of rain fell in just two days. Local media are reporting that five people have died. Here, you can see a pregnant woman being rescued into a helicopter after whole towns were completely submerged in the state of Tamil Nadu. India's Air Force dropped food and essentials to stranded families after more than 40 cm, that's about 15 inches of rain fell from Sunday into Monday. The state is still recovering from a cyclone last month, which killed at least a dozen people.
The top Hamas leader in Gaza has defied Israel for decades. Still ahead, we look into the life of the man Israel calls its enemy number one and an alleged mastermind of the October 7th attacks.
Plus, a new ruling in a defamation case against Rudy Giuliani, which may cause him financial pain right away.
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WATT: With growing pressure on Israel to scale back its military offensive in Gaza, negotiations for a pause in fighting in return for the release of hostages being held by Hamas are ongoing. The White House describes these talks as very serious discussions, but a source told CNN that a deal is not believed to be imminent.
[03:35:05]
Meantime, the Israeli Prime Minister vows the offensive will continue until Hamas is, quote, "A U.N. Security Council vote on a resolution calling for a suspension of facilities in Gaza is set for today, after being delayed three times this week. It aims to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza."
Tamara Alrifai is director of external relations and communications for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. She joins me now from Amman, Jordan. Tamara, I mean, we just saw what is going on in Gaza right now as a human, as a parent, it is difficult to watch. A weak potential humanitarian pause, ceasefire, whatever you want to call it. What could that achieve other than just a temporary respite?
TAMARA ALRIFAI, DIRECTOR FOR EXTERNAL RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS, UNRWA: Temporary respite is something very, very important for people to be able to get organized. But getting organized is also very difficult in Gaza because there is so little food, warm water, and medicines going in that even those who manage to have some cash have nothing to buy. I was in Gaza last week.
Everything I heard in Jomana's report, I saw with my own eyes. One of my colleagues, an UNRWA staff worker, a colleague, a doctor, said that she had imposed on her family a Ramadan-style fasting, even though we're not in the holy month of Ramadan, to force them to eat once a day because that's all she could get her hands on.
So people are using really desperate measures, including I saw people selling one onion or two tomatoes or something that looks like the last thing they carried from their homes before they were displaced. Two pieces of, a pair of socks, one very old sweater. People are really desperate, really hungry and mostly really scared.
WATT: Hunger and we also heard from the World Health Organization chief, we heard of a toxic mix of disease hunger and lack of hygiene. I mean, a lack of food is just part of this problem.
ALRIFAI: Indeed, I did go into two shelters by UNRWA. And just to note, UNRWA, the agency I work for, is the largest U.N. agency operating in Gaza and hosting 1.4 million displaced people in our buildings. These buildings are a mix of warehouses and schools and health centers and even offices. The overcrowding inside these dark and damp shelters can only be a fertile ground for diseases, respiratory diseases, skin diseases, and diseases related to the lack of hygiene.
You know, over 500 people share one toilet unit in shelters that have over 12,000 people in them. Remember the times from COVID, from Corona, and the scare we had of the spread of Corona and when people were overcrowded it is exactly the same now but that range of diseases we're looking at is much wider. So yes, I support what my World Health Organization colleagues are saying those who are not dying or did not die from the bombs and the hostilities might actually die from hunger or from different diseases they catch in overcrowded cold and damp places.
WATT: I'm not sure if you were dialed in, but we just heard from Anthony Blinken, the State -- Anthony Blinken, the State Department, Secretary of State, saying that he's hearing a lot of demands on Israel, but he's not hearing anyone demand that Hamas, quote, "stop hiding behind civilians, lay down its arms, that if Hamas surrenders, this is over tomorrow." What's your reaction to those words from the Secretary of State?
ALRIFAI: The United Nations in its entirety, from its Secretary General to the different agencies, humanitarian development, have all condemned in the strongest terms the attacks by Hamas in Israel on the 7th of October. We have all been calling for the release of the hostages and also for a humanitarian ceasefire, the unimpeded access of humanitarian assistance. We have been unequivocal in our positions.
But we've also been saying that using humanitarian assistance as a weapon of war is leading to the collective punishment of over two million people who are stranded in Gaza and for most have nothing to do with the original attacks.
[03:40:05]
So we are calling for a separation of these files and of these negotiations, humanitarian assistance should not be a bargaining chip. We need to get more aid in, because if not, then in a few weeks and in a few months, all of us, representatives of the international community, will have a very heavy burden on our shoulders related to the consequences of hunger, of diseases, and of the continued bombing if there is no humanitarian ceasefire.
WATT: Tamara Alrifai, joining us from Amman, Jordan. Thanks very much for your time.
If you would like to know how to help with humanitarian relief efforts for Gaza and Israel, please go to cnn.com/impact. You'll find a list of vetted organizations providing assistance. That's cnn.com/impact.
The face of evil, a dead man walking, the butcher from Khan Younis. That's what Israeli officials have called the top Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar. Experts say he's likely one of the masterminds behind the group's deadly raid into Israel on October 7th. Nic Robertson looks back at his life and his history of defying Israel.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Feared and fettered 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 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 YARI, ISRAELI JOURNALIST: When I was talking to him, he always insisted. that we speak Hebrew and not Arabic.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Israeli journalist, EHud Yaari, interviewed Sinwar four times during the terror leaders' 22 years in jail, convicted of killing two Israelis and four suspect Palestinian informers.
YARI: Sinwar is a guy who inspires fear.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Sinwar ran Hamas's feared internal intelligence. Even inside jail, he reportedly continued silencing collaborators violently.
MANSOUR (though translator): 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 (voice-over): 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'd been taken hostage five years earlier. Sinwar, better than most, understood the power of IDF hostages.
MANSOUR (through translator): His brother was the one who guarded Shalit. This gave him more power in prison.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): 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.
YARI: Had a brain surgery, Thrombectomy, which was successful and saved his life. But he never mentioned it.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): There was no public gratitude. But once he became Hamas' leader in Gaza, he spread the notion his anti-Israel attitudes were 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.
[03:44:56]
A week later, following a truce, Sinwar boldly gave the IDF a second shot at a rare press conference walk home, daring assassination as he strolled the streets.
ROBERTSON: 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)
WATT: Take a look at this silent protest in the Netherlands. These are some 8,000 children's shoes, all lined up in one of Rotterdam's largest street markets, some with a little stuffed toys nearby. According to the protest organizers, each pair of shoes represents a child reported killed in Gaza during the war between Israel and Hamas. The organization says they wanted to quote, "make the number visible, a tangible display of the staggering loss of life."
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WATT: Donald Trump's Supreme Court appeal of his Colorado ballot ban could come any day now. The former president is already fundraising off the ruling, which says he is disqualified from running for office because he participated in the 2021 insurrection. CNN's Omar Jimenez reports.
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OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 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's decision to keep him off its state's 2024 Republican primary ballot.
And with just 28 days until the Iowa caucuses, every major Republican presidential candidate is coming to Trump's defense.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They basically just said, what, you can't be on the ballot? I mean, how does that work?
NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I will beat him fair and square. We don't need to have judges making these decisions. We need voters to make these decisions.
CHRIS 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 decide willy-nilly across the state who ends up on a ballot and who doesn't.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): 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'll 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 (voice-over): The Biden campaign says it's ready for any of the Republican candidates, regardless of the courts.
BROOKE GOREN, DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, BIDEN-HARRIS 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 emergence from the Republican primary on the ballot box in November in 2024.
[03:50:09]
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The court's ruling is based on the 14th Amendment. which disqualifies anyone from future office if they engaged in insurrection.
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: Whether the 4th Amendment applies, I'll let the court make that decision. But he certainly supported any insurrection.
JIMENEZ (voice-over): The court's decision will now most likely end up at the United States Supreme Court.
JIMENEZ: Now, as we've seen with many of his legal cases during his presidential campaign, Trump is already fundraising off the Colorado State Supreme Court ruling based on the us-versus-them theme that has become a staple during his campaigns. Outside of the politics of it all, Trump is still on the ballot for now because essentially this court decision 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)
WATT: Meanwhile, the serving U.S. President Joe Biden is in full campaign mode taking his economic message to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Biden says the state is experiencing a quote, "black small business boom and black voters in Wisconsin may determine who wins this key swing state." But Biden is struggling. A recent CNN poll shows just 37 percent of black voters nationwide approve of his handling of the economy. The president trying to make his case and also taking a shot at Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: By the way, so far we've created 14 million new jobs. It's a fundamental break from trickle-down economics. Economics that's supercharged, was supercharged by my predecessor, the guy who thinks we're polluting the blood of Americans these days.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATT: Two Georgia election workers who won a defamation suit against Rudy Giuliani now have the green light to go after his assets. Ruby Freeman and Shea Moss would usually have to wait 30 days to try to do that, but a judge who oversaw the case ruled on Wednesday they can go ahead right away, partly because Giuliani failed to prove his claim that he's facing financial difficulties. Last week, the former attorney for Donald Trump was ordered to pay close to $150 million for defaming the two women with his statements after the 2020 election. Giuliani said he plans to appeal.
We will be right back.
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WATT: More turmoil in Turkish football. Executives from the club Istanbulspor say they've lost all trust in the Turkish Football Federation and referee board. The team abandoned its Super League match on Tuesday to protest a foul they say wasn't called before their opponent scored. A board member called that refereeing mistake the last straw. After it happened, the Istanbulspor chairman went down to the pitch and ordered players to leave despite some of them pleading with him to let them keep on playing. On Wednesday, he said he did not regret his decision, but did owe his athletes an apology. [03:54:59]
And not long to go now until we see Lionel Messi back in action in North America's MLS League, with next season's schedule just released. Messi's Inter Miami will play February 21st at home against Real Salt Lake to kick off the new season. Looking a little further ahead. L.A. Galaxy and LAFC will face off July 4th at the Rose Bowl, where they will try to surpass the MLS record crowd they set last season.
And now for a bit of Christmas cheer you probably didn't know you needed.
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WATT: Ooh the hair. That of course is Wham with their perennial holiday hit "Last Christmas" currently number four on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Now actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney are conjuring up their own Christmas magic, recreating the cover photos from Wham's records. That's them on the right. The tribute comes just one week before the anniversary of George Michael's passing. He died on Christmas Day in 2016.
Actor Ryan Gosling also capitalizing on the Christmas spirit. He may be just Ken, but the "Barbie" actor has released a new E.P. featuring a holiday version of his hit song from that feature film.
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WATT: "Ken the E.P." features other renditions of the song as well, which earned Gosling his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100. "I'm Just Ken" was also nominated for Best Original Song for a Motion Picture at the upcoming Golden Globe Awards.
Thank you very much for your company. I'm Nick Watt, in Los Angeles. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster in London. That's next.
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