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IDF Preparing to Expand Gaza Offensive to New Areas; U.N. Chief Says Israel Creating "Massive Obstacles" for Gaza Aid, Cease-fire Only Way to End Nightmare; U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Speed Up Trump Immunity Ruling; New York Ballet Emerges from Pandemic with New Strength. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired December 23, 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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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I am Kim Brunhuber.

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, the U.N. Security Council adopts a resolution to allow unhindered humanitarian access throughout Gaza, but many think it doesn't go nearly far enough.

Plus, a vigil in Prague for the victims of one of the worst mass shootings in Czech history while officials search for more information about a motive of the attack.

And the U.S. Supreme Court gives Donald Trump a big win in his legal battle with special counsel Jack Smith. We will look at the concept of presidential immunity that is at the center of this fight.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: Israel's military says it is pressing ahead with plans to expand its operation in Gaza, despite growing pressure to scale back its offensive in the enclave. An IDF spokesperson says their campaign will widen to new areas with an emphasis on southern Gaza.

And the military is ordering residents in several areas of central Gaza to move to shelters for safety, signaling a new focus of the ground offensive. Now this comes as the U.N. Security Council adopted a long-delayed resolution, calling for an increase in aid to Gaza.

But some aid organizations are criticizing it for not demanding an immediate cease-fire. Instead, it calls for humanitarian pauses and to lay the groundwork for a sustainable end to the fighting.

An Israeli American has died while being held captive in Gaza. The Missing Persons Families Forum says Hamas kidnapped 73-year-old Gadi Haggai on October 7th while on a walk with his wife. They say he was shot and critically injured when he was taken. His wife, Judy, is still being held in Gaza. President Biden released a statement, saying, quote, "We are praying

for their four children, seven grandchildren and other loved ones and are grieving this tragic news with them.

I reaffirm the pledge we have made to all the families of those still held hostage. We will not stop working to bring them home."

Nada Bashir is following developments and joins us now live from London.

Nada, let's start with the IDF plans to expand the war in the south.

Where are we talking about here and what could that mean for the Gazans who live there?

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Look, this is an area where we have seen more than 1 million civilians flocking to in search of safety by the warnings of the Israeli military.

Now of course, we are hearing those warnings from the Israeli military spokespeople that their military operation in Gaza, particularly a ground offensive in Gaza, will begin to expand into new areas, focused primarily on the south.

Of course, it is important to underscore that, for weeks now, we have seen continued air bombardments across the Gaza Strip, including areas in the southwest, where civilians have been told to evacuate to.

We have been hearing those warnings now from the Israeli military, telling civilians in central Gaza already to evacuate to safe areas and shelters.

Of course, again, important to underscore that aid groups, agencies and, of course, the U.N. has repeatedly warned that there are simply no safe places for civilians to turn in Gaza.

Of course, much of southern Gaza is now concentrated with families who have taken shelter in these temporary tent cities, which have been established across the south. This is, of course, a crucial area where we have seen aid intended to be crossed in via the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.

There is now mounting concern and, of course, alarm bells being sounded over the potential for that ground offensive to expand even further in the south.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Nada, we heard strong words from the head of the U.N., calling out Israel. Take us through what he said.

BASHIR: Absolutely. While that resolution has now been adopted, there have been calls for more to be done, particularly when it comes to aid. The U.N. secretary general Antonio Guterres is saying that the Israeli government has put massive obstacles in place around the distribution of aid to those in need and Gaza. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ANTONIO GUTERRES, UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY-GENERAL: The real problem is that the way Israel is conducting its offensive is creating massive obstacles to the distribution of humanitarian aid inside Gaza.

We waited 71 days for Israel to finally allow aid to enter Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing. And the crossing was then hit while aid trucks were in the area.

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A humanitarian cease-fire is the only way to begin to meet the desperate needs of people in Gaza and end their ongoing nightmare.

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BASHIR: Of course, in addition to the logistical challenges there, there's huge concern around the security situation and, of course, security guarantees for aid agencies and aid workers attempting to operate on the ground.

We have now heard repeated warnings from the U.N. that, many in Gaza, the majority of civilians in Gaza, are now facing acute food insecurity. And there are warnings of the risk of an imminent famine now from the U.N.'s humanitarian organization.

BRUNHUBER: Thank you so much, Nada Bashir in London, appreciate that.

I want to bring in now Jan Egeland, the secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

Thank you so much for being here with us. First, I just want to get your reaction to the United Nations resolution in support of an indefinite pause in fighting, to allow the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

JAN EGELAND, SECRETARY GENERAL, NORWEGIAN REFUGEE COUNCIL: I mean, it's positive that the Security Council says they will work for a sustainable cease-fire. And that they will facilitate aid.

But today, the fighting is continuing; the killing of completely innocent children and women is continuing. We don't have the aid access that we should have. We cannot work toward the starving population of Gaza under bombardment.

So the only sensible thing would be that the U.S. and the U.N. Security Council demand an immediate cease-fire before more thousands of children are dead and the final standing homes in Gaza are also pulverized.

BRUNHUBER: You mentioned the United States.

What do you think of that watered down language -- no cease-fire, no call for an urgent suspension of hostilities, for instance?

And the U.S. is enrolled in blunting this resolution in Israel's favor. EGELAND: What is disappointing in that really -- and I must say, as

someone who has been working with and for the security in Israel and the Palestinians for 30 years, since the Oslo agreement, that that Israeli American war is a tremendous strategic mistake.

They are making the whole neighborhood more radicalized. There is more hatred to Israel. Israel is becoming more insecure. And they are killing thousands of children, thousands, more than 10,000 now, and 5,000 women.

They are not killing a lot of Hamas fighters. They are killing a lot of children. It must end really. This is a stain on the conscience, both of Israel, of the United States and also (INAUDIBLE) the arms for this.

BRUNHUBER: Is the U.N. secretary-general right in saying that Israel is creating a massive obstacle for aid?

EGELAND: Absolutely. Absolutely. and one of the reasons is that the party to the conflict, Israel is a party to the conflict, is controlling whether the civilian population should have aid or not. The innocent should have aid or not.

In northwestern Syria, there is an enclave that is controlled by armed opposition groups. Is the Assad regime controlling the aid going into that part?

No. It is the U.N. monitoring mechanisms set up by the Security Council. It's the only sensible way that there is a third party that makes sure that there is no arms or anything toward the belligerence going in that is only aid. Israel will continue to politicize even aid to children.

BRUNHUBER: Obviously, the need is so great. There is, you know, reports saying that, you know, so many people will be suffering from catastrophic hunger and starvation, so many people displaced. Some 70 percent of homes damaged. The organization is trying to help with this acute crisis.

But I was struck by the words of one of your own workers, who was himself displaced, who lost family himself earlier this month.

He said, "Even if we live on through this and return home, there will still be no future."

Looking at the longer term future, what do you see once this war ends?

Will Gaza be livable, do you think?

EGELAND: No, it won't be livable, no. But there will be over 1 million civilians there and they are trapped. I mean, this is metropolitan Houston or metropolitan Manchester, with tents around it, that it cannot get over.

[03:10:05] And it's being bombarded with 30,000, 35,000 now bombs, some of them, most of them dumb bombs provided by the United States that takes out entire neighborhoods with women and children.

So we, in the Norwegian Refugee Council, have been charged with helping the shelter organizations coordinated in rebuilding homes. Now the 300,000 homes that are destroyed or damaged, we cannot do that.

So people will live in tents, they will live in the open before a very long time. And with identity more reconciliatory to Israel. I think, yes, we should be very good neighbors now after they (INAUDIBLE) away our homes, our livelihoods, our future, our dreams, our everything.

No, they will be filled with bitterness. So I cannot say how big a mistake it is by Israel, what they are doing. And supported by the U.S. arms. It has to stop. It's a catastrophic (INAUDIBLE).

BRUNHUBER: Certainly, a long and difficult path ahead. Really appreciate your analysis, Jan Egeland. Thank you so much for speaking with us.

EGELAND: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: And if you like information on how to help with humanitarian relief efforts for Gaza and Israel, you can go to cnn.com/impact. And there you can find a list of vetted organizations that are helping, that is at cnn.com/impact.

This will be a day of mourning in the Czech Republic following its deadliest peacetime mass shooting. A makeshift memorial has been set up near the Charles University in Prague, where a gunman killed 14 people on Thursday and wounded 25 others.

Police say they have also connected him to a separate double murder committed last week. And the government is urging the public not to share information about interfering possible copycat attacks. We have more details now from CNN's Melissa Bell.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Czech police continue to look for a motive in the gruesome killing that left 14 people dead in Prague. The police also releasing body cam footage this Friday, which really shows the initial first moments, where first responders arrived inside Charles University.

Showing also the classrooms in which so many of the victims were found. You can see the initial scenes of triage on the part of first responders. In the end, 14 people lost their lives and many of them were students.

A couple of them staff members before the gunmen turned the gun on himself. What we've been hearing from police as well is the swift response. They say given the weapons the young man had and the ammunition he had on him, they believe that it could've been far worse than it was. And it was that swift response by police that allowed it to end. Many

questions still unresolved. Not the least, the motive that prompted this young man, with no criminal record and legal access to firearms, since he had a permit to act in the way that he did.

We have been hearing also from the country's interior minister, speaking of the fact that the country had already been looking to tighten its gun laws.

Whether or not it would've made a difference, he said, it was too soon to say. It is now a day of national mourning that the country will look ahead to on Saturday as it remembers those who lost their lives, so tragically, on Thursday afternoon -- Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. Supreme Court gives Donald Trump a big win in his legal battle with special counsel Jack Smith. What the ruling could mean for legal proceedings against the former president. That's next on CNN. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: In a move seen as a victory for Donald Trump, the U.S. Supreme Court has declined a request by special counsel Jack Smith to fast-track arguments on whether the former president has any immunity from federal prosecution.

This decision will likely delay the start of Trump's election subversion trial. Our Evan Perez has more.

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EVAN PEREZ, CNN SR. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request by federal prosecutors to skip the appellate court and have the high court decide whether Donald Trump has immunity from prosecution on election subversion charges.

The decision deals a significant blow to special counsel Jack Smith's effort to keep a March 4th trial date on track. That is a lot harder now that prosecutors will have to wait several weeks while the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals weighs the same consequential questions.

Trump is arguing that he has immunity for actions that he took while in office to pursue his claims of election fraud. He also claims that, because he was impeached by the House of Representatives and acquitted by the Senate, prosecuting him would violate the Constitution's double jeopardy clause.

Trump's attorneys had urged the Supreme Court to stay out of the dispute for now, saying that the special counsel was trying to rush to decide the issue with reckless abandon.

And the Justice Department had argued that the case deals with an unprecedented criminal trial of a former president and required taking the unusual step of bypassing the appeals court.

The special counsel said the public interest and a prompt resolution of this case favors an immediate definitive decision by this court. Now the one-sentence rejection by the Supreme Court on Friday did not come with any additional explanation. There is no notice of dissent among the justices.

But Trump's claim of immunity could make its way back to the high court in the thick of the political calendar. The D.C.-based appeals court has scheduled oral arguments on the immunity question for January 9th. And that is just days before the Iowa caucus on January 15th -- Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

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BRUNHUBER: So if Trump's case does return to the Supreme Court, the question is what kind of ruling can we expect?

Ryan Goodman, a former special counsel at the Defense Department, spoke earlier with CNN about how he thinks the court will rule in that situation. Here he is.

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RYAN GOODMAN, FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL, U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT: I do think the court might very well rule 9-0 and that they will say that, at a minimum, there are certain forms of conduct that any incumbent president cannot engage in that would be criminal.

Then the only question is how broad is any scope of immunity or is there just no immunity?

I think there's very good likelihood that the country will actually see a unified court on that particular issue. And I don't think it looks very strong for Trump. Maybe it's just a question of if it's a majority opinion or a unanimous 9-0 opinion.

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BRUNHUBER: Ukraine says its air defenses have shot down three of Russia's most advanced fighter jets. President Zelenskyy says the Su- 34 planes similar to this one were destroyed during a single battle in the southern Kherson region.

Ukraine says Russia used those jets for ground attacks and they had the price tag of tens of millions of dollars each.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy also met Poland's foreign minister on Friday to talk about stepping up their military cooperation. Ukraine said they discussed setting up joint military factories. Just ahead, a Christmas classic.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): We will hear how the New York City Ballet is bringing back audiences for "The Nutcracker." Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Well, that is, of course, the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," from "The Nutcracker," a Christmas classic performed by the New York City Ballet. And February will mark 70 years since it was first performed by the ballet.

The dance company has been enjoying a post-pandemic revival, filling the seats at a nearly 80 percent capacity. Our Richard Quest spoke with executive director Katherine Brown about how the ballet was able to make such a comeback after the pandemic.

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KATHERINE BROWN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEW YORK CITY BALLET: We actually were fortunate enough to come into the COVID period and a really strong position. We have a fabulous board of directors and some very, very loyal and generous donors.

They really stuck with us through the COVID period and really hung in there with us, which was super, super helpful. And then, coming out of COVID, I do think it took a while for people to feel comfortable being in the company of others inside of a theater. It has been a bit of an evolution.

I think people have really realized what they have been missing and are really relishing being in a communal setting and enjoying performing arts again.

We also have our 70th anniversary that we're celebrating this year. That enabled us to really do some very special things this year. It's given us a lot of momentum and attention.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN HOST: This idea of cheaper tickets or more reasonable tickets for younger customers, this is an interesting one, isn't it?

It really goes to the heart of the idea of hook them young and they will stick with you forever.

BROWN: That's what we hope. That is for sure. You know, we have had a lot of success in marketing very specifically to that younger demographic. Of course, we do need them. We need them to keep coming and keep coming into the next generation.

So we have been very pleased to be able to reduce the percentage of -- sorry; increase the percentage of younger people in our audiences. It has been great.

QUEST: Do you sometimes think -- and I know that this can be so different -- the public funding, if you will, of the arts in, say, Europe, which you will be familiar with as well. Australasia where much more public grants are given across a wider range and less reliance, if you will, on private donors, as say, for example, in the U.S. system.

BROWN: Yes. That is a big difference between Europe and the United States. That is for sure.

We are very fortunate in New York to have a very, very strong philanthropic community and people who really do support arts and culture and other nonprofits, too. But it is definitely a challenge, a challenge all the time, every year. You start over from zero every year. There is a lot of money to raise to make all of this work.

So I would say that the up side, in a way, is that I know that other models in Europe, where there has been more public support but now it is kind of pulling back, that is a challenge, too, if you have really been reliant on one major source.

So we do have the advantage of having lots of different sources to draw from. So it is definitely, definitely challenging.

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QUEST: The final thoughts as we come to this Christmas. What I find most enjoyable about this is that, in the TikTok era, in the short attention span, you are being so successful, using all the weapons that your disposal, if you will, in terms of social media. You are firing all your guns.

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BROWN: We try. We are trying to do that. I think that we start with such amazing assets, these beautiful dancers that we have, this incredible repertoire from the past. And we are committed to commissioning new work. So that is very exciting to be able to do.

We have a really fabulous orchestra of 62 members that are providing us with gorgeous live music. We are in a beautiful, beautiful theater on the Lincoln Center campus. So we have a lot going for us already and then just building on that.

And really trying to position the company in today's world to be the most successful it can be is really the goal. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Kansas City Chiefs score by Patrick Mahomes gave his offensive linemen custom golf carts for Christmas, painted red and personalized with each player's last name and jersey number. And several players shared videos and pictures online, thanking Mahomes. Here he is.

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PATRICK MAHOMES, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS: I figured I'd give them something I enjoy and I think you all can see from some of the videos they enjoyed it. They're going around Arrowhead and I got a little nervous.

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BRUNHUBER: The Chiefs posted these pictures on X, saying , quote, "Looks like our o-line made the nice list."

For Christmas last year, Mahomes got his teammates tailor-made golf clubs, custom bags and boxes of golf balls.

And finally, it only took 39 years for this Christmas classic to top the charts. Have a listen.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): That's "Last Christmas" by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, better known as Wham! It was originally released in December of 1984.

The track just hit number one on the U.K.'s official charts Christmas list for the first time. Ridgeley posted, quote, "What an incredible achievement. George would've been so proud and delighted by this."

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BRUNHUBER: I'm Kim Brunhuber. Thanks for spending part of your day with me. The news continues at the top there with Richard Quest. "LIVING GOLF" is next.