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Scores Killed In Central Gaza As Israel Intensifies Operations; Team Says Alexey Navalny Is In Siberian Penal Colony; A Warm Christmas Closes Hottest Year On Record. Aired 1-1:30a ET

Aired December 26, 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, we are not stopping the Israeli Prime Minister urges on his troops, as their military offensive in Gaza expands and the Palestinian death toll surges.

He was lost then now he's found kind of, jailed Putin critic, Alexey Navalny said to be located nearly 2,000 miles from Moscow in a remote Siberian penal colony.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful. There's no snow, there's no snow, there's no snow. How climate change ruin Christmas this up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.

VAUSE: As Israel's military offensive on Hamas ramps up and the death toll in Gaza soars, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a second wartime visit to the Palestinian territory, urging Israeli troops to stay the course. A warning now some of the latest images you're about to see from Gaza may be disturbing for some viewers. These images recorded by a drone show some of the funerals being held in central Gaza. According to the mosque controlled health ministry, at least 250 people were killed in one 24-hour period. CNN cannot independently verify any of those numbers which have been released by the Ministry in Gaza.

In Gaza, Mr. Netanyahu warned of a long flight to come putting him at odds with the White House. One source tells CNN, Netanyahu has dispatched a senior official to Washington to discuss the next phase of the war with Biden with Biden administration.

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BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Whoever talks about stopping, there is no such thing. We are not stopping. The war will continue until the end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Many were killed by an Israeli airstrike on a refugee camp in central Gaza. At least 70 people according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. CNN's Will Ripley is following developments. He has more now reporting in from Tel Aviv.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Under the constant buzz of Israeli drones, Palestinians in Gaza once again dig through the rubble with bare hands. This is not a rescue mission, what they find remains of loved ones crushed under a collapsed building.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): My nieces and nephews they were all displaced in Bureij. They fled the day before yesterday. It was their fate to be martyred here in the uncle's house. My nieces Layan (ph), Lana (ph), Rana (ph) and my nephew, Hamada (ph), Hamada (ph) was only three months old. They are still under the rubble.

RIPLEY (voice-over): It's one of the deadliest 24 hours in Gaza in a war approaching its 80th day. The Hamas controlled Gaza health ministry says 250 people died and Israeli airstrikes on the al-Maghazi refugee camp and nearby Bureij and Nuseirat since the start of Christmas Eve. CNN cannot independently verify the numbers released by the Ministry in Gaza. Responding to CNN questions the IDF said, in response to Hamas is barbaric attacks, the IDF is operating to dismantle Hamas military and administrative capabilities.

IDF refers to Hamas's surprise attack against Israel on October 7th, they killed at least 1,200 people and roughly 240 hostages kidnapped. Video obtained by CNN shows families still digging through the debris for missing relatives, some saying they're still buried under the concrete slabs of collapsed buildings.

Children, children, children, innocent children, he says. This man says he lost 10 members of his family and over the collapse building he bids farewell to his beloved Dina (ph), a 10-year-old he says was the playful one.

In the mangle of debris, glimpses of the lives that sought safety from one place in Gaza to the other, it's up to the neighbors to find the bodies of the families trapped beneath. The injured rushed to Al-Aqsa hospital through the night, the hospital already struggling with an influx of injuries and bodies from other airstrikes.

By Daylight, the community came together for the ritual of morning bodies or what remained ready for burial. I was waiting for you to grow up, he says. The family moved from one shelter to another in pursuit of safety this man says, my eldest son. Around every corner, families grappling with the scale of the loss.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My daughter, Imay (ph) was mortared. My five brothers, their children and their wives all gone. They were displaced from Beit Hanoun. There were 96 people in that building, all gone.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Survivors of previous airstrikes come to the aid of the new survivors. Khalid (ph) lost his grandchildren last month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This is utmost criminality, we are in festivities celebrating Jesus Christ, peace be upon him. People talk about human rights, mercy, the Security Council, the Red Cross and humanity. Where are these human rights?

RIPLEY (voice-over): That is the question Gazans keep asking, where is safe?

RIPLEY: And that is a question that so many people in Gaza are asking right now where is safe? Another question people are asking, how will they survive given that the entire population of Gaza is believed to be suffering from acute food insecurity? And this war shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon. The question now, how many people how many more people will die not necessarily from airstrikes or not necessarily from bullets, but starvation?

Will Ripley, CNN, Tel Aviv.

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VAUSE: Pope Francis says the war between Israel and Hamas has led to an appalling loss of life in Gaza. And he used his Christmas Day message to call for an end to the fighting. CNN's Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb reports, the pontiff described children of devastated by the war as little Jesus's of today.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Pope Francis has used his Christmas Day message to call for a ceasefire in the Israel and Hamas war, and for an end to conflicts that are taking place across the globe. The Pope made his remarks in his Christmas Day "Urbi et Orbi" message, which means to the city of Rome and to the world. And in those remarks, he called war an inexcusable folly, and said that the world should say no to war. The Pope prayed for an end to military operations that are taking place in the Israel and Hamas conflict. And he also reiterated his appeal for hostages to be freed.

Now, the Pope's remarks on hostages come a day after Sara Netanyahu, the wife of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had written to Francis asking for his assistance in trying to free those hostages taken by Hamas and being held in Gaza. Elsewhere in his address, the Pope called the peace in Ukraine, and for an end to conflicts in Syria and in Africa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in South Sudan. The Pope, who recently turned 87-years-old, delivered his remarks from the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square. Francis has recently had a bout of ill health, having contracted bronchitis, but the Pope seemed to be recovered from that and was able to deliver his remarks without too much difficulty.

Francis also criticized strongly the arms trade which he said was profiting from wars across the world. And he said that children being caught up in these conflicts were the little Jesuses of today.

Christopher Lamb, CNN.

VAUSE: U.S. airstrikes in Iraq have targeted three separate locations used by Iranian-backed militants. Kataib Hezbollah, which earlier claimed responsibility for a drone attack on U.S. forces in Iraq, three U.S. service members were hurt. The retaliatory us airstrikes likely killed a number of militants according to an early assessment by U.S. Central Command, which adds there are no indications that civilians were harmed.

The whereabouts of Kremlin critic, Alexey Navalny, may now be known but for the most part, it's still kind of a mystery. On two weeks after his lawyers and supporters say they lost contact, Navalny has been located in a penal colony in Siberia, officially called IK-3, north of the Arctic Circle, so called Polar Wolf compound is one of the toughest and remote Gulags in Russia, more than 3,000 kilometers from the capital of Moscow. CNN's Nada Bashir has details.

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well news of Alexey Navalny's whereabouts has come as a huge relief after his legal team lost contact with a jailed Kremlin critic more than two weeks ago, but there was still deep concern over the situation he now faces after he was located on Monday at a penal colony in northwestern Siberia, described as the Polar Wolf colony.

Now on a statement on Monday, the director of Navalny's anti- corruption foundation said that Navalny's lawyer had been able to visit him at the penal colony, adding this particular colony is one of the most remote with conditions known to be harsh and restricted contact with detainees. Navalny was sentenced back in August of this year to 19 years in prison after he was found guilty of extremism related charges. He'd already been serving sentences of 11 and a half years in a maximum security facility on fraud and other charges, and was believed to be held at a penal colony 150 miles east of Moscow until now.

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These are charges he and his legal representatives have consistently denied supporters believe his arrest and incarceration are a politically motivated attempt to stifle his criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Navalny has of course pose one of the most serious threats to Putin's legitimacy during his role known for organizing anti-government street protests and using his blog and social media to expose alleged corruption in the Kremlin. His incarceration has drawn widespread international condemnation, the White House earlier this month, reiterating its call for Navalny's immediate release.

Nada Bashir, CNN in London.

VAUSE: Ukraine's Air Force commander says a Russian naval vessel carrying attack drones has been destroyed in occupied Crimea. Russia acknowledged an attack as well as a fire on board the ship Tuesday and said the fire was under control. All this comes as Russia claims it's captured a key village in the Donetsk region on Monday. Russian defense minister told President Vladimir Putin that his forces have gained full control of Marinka a strategically important village. President Putin says the control of Marinka will help Russian troops in the ongoing war. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are pushing the enemy's combat units away from Donetsk, first of all. Secondly, by breaking into this fortification, our troops have the opportunity to reach a wider operational area now.

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VAUSE: Ukraine though says, the five foot Marinka is still ongoing, the captured village would be Russia's most significant gain since the fall of Bakhmut back in May.

Well, unprecedented year of extreme weather and brutal heat has grown to a close, so what's the case for optimism in the fight against the climate crisis? A reality check in just a moment.

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VAUSE: More unrest in Serbia with thousands protesting the outcome of the recent general election, international observers say the results were unjust. Demonstrators marched on the Central Election Commission building in the capital Belgrade, Monday, the seventh straight day of demonstrations after the Serbian president's right wing ruling party declared victory in a snap election last week. International borders (ph) say elections were full of voter intimidation, media bias and vote buying. Opposition leaders say the protesters will not be silenced.

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ALEKSANDAR JOVANOVIC OUTA, SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADER (through translator): We are here tonight and we are peaceful and we will stay peaceful. But that is not going to last forever. There is a wall behind us we will pushed against while police cordons are in front of us. I'm asking the Serbian president, who is paying for those police batons? Who is paying for the pepper spray and tear gas? Who is paying for that?

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VAUSE: Some violence broke out on Sunday when protesters tried to enter the city assembly in Belgrade. Dozens of people were arrested.

Part of Australia have been dealing with a heatwave over the holiday weekend as we close what's expected to be the hottest year in recorded history. Sydney siders could celebrate Christmas at the beach, as they often do. But much of the East Coast is under flood alerts. More than 20 bushfires have been burning in Western Australia.

Meantime, temperatures in Beijing are slowly climbing after dropping to below freezing nearly two weeks ago. China's capital says as long as cold wave since record keeping began in 1951. Climate analyst, Eliot Jacobson, joins us now. He's a retired professor of Mathematics and Computer Science. Good to see you. Welcome back.

ELIOT JACOBSON, CLIMATE ANALYST: Well, thanks so much for having me back.

VAUSE: OK, well, here's a sample of what Christmas Day was like across much of the northern hemisphere from Minnesota, "Star Tribune," rain and record warmth on Christmas Day. Over in the U.K., "The Guardian" reports, White Christmas declared as Scotland see snow, but elsewhere, it's 12 degrees Celsius. And from "Chicago Sun Times," families open presents and rush outdoors on an unseasonably warm Christmas day.

What seems odd here in some respects is how these climate events are described as, you know, unseasonally warm, treated almost as some kind of anomaly, because, you know, it'll all get back to normal at some point is the thinking I guess. But if you look at the numbers, which is what you do, you do the math, the average temperature is not coming down anytime soon?

JACOBSON: Well, it certainly aren't. In fact, the last four months, it's been about 1.7 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline. And that's for the entire world. And you know the Paris limit is 1.5 Celsius. So we've been cruising above the Paris limit for the last four months. And don't be mistaken, that doesn't mean we've officially broken the Paris limit, because that has everything to do with sort of the long term average, but it has been blistering these last four months. And I think we're just seeing the effects of that now.

VAUSE: So as someone who was a consultant to the computer industry, using your mathematics skills to look at risk, and your anomalies, that kind of stuff. What about using those skills, looking at the data, which is already out there available on the climate? Where are we heading? And where do you think we are right now?

JACOBSON: Well, we keep on seeing that vents that are just off the scale in terms of any sort of normal assessment of risk. So when we talk about how often things occur, for example, right now, world sea surface temperatures are about a one in 17 million shot, but that kind of thing is happening every single day. So we could no longer talk in sort of the classical way about the probability of events anymore, or the risk of things happening anymore, because we are entering a new system.

And unfortunately, that new system isn't even stable. It keeps on accelerating even newer and newer highs. So in terms of risk modeling, I can say that we are way out on the tail end of anything that was ever expected. But that's now our new normal.

VAUSE: Well, now here's a brief message from Britain's King Charles, listen to this.

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CHARLES III, KING OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: We care for the Earth, for the sake of our children's children. During my lifetime, I've been so pleased to see a growing awareness of how we must protect the Earth and our natural world as the one whom which we all share. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Awareness is important, and it is a good thing that people are now more aware what's going on. The problem seems is the disconnect between the awareness and the doing part. We know what needs to be done but we just haven't been doing it.

JACOBSON: Well, that's right. I mean, if you think about what needs to be done, that's what we attempted to get that language into COP 28, namely phasing out fossil fuels. And the language that actually went in was transitioning away from fossil fuels, which is essentially just that has no real depth to it or meat to it at all. So yes, there is sort of an understood pathway. But there's another sense in which well, we already missed that off ramp. We are it's already too late for that. So yes, it's nice to talk about what we could do if doing that started 20 years ago. And that's kind of how I hear that statement.

VAUSE: You know, we are in the festive season. So we'd like to end on a positive note. CNN reporting five reasons to be hopeful after a bad year of climate news, as those dark ominous climate change clouds brought in. This year has seen a surge in renewable energy, also climate deal that targets fossil fuels, but in a very sort of nefarious way, plummeting deforestation in Brazil. The ozone layer is healing well and electric vehicle sales have surged. You know, the big group also made a comeback in 2023. But already, these positive developments in terms of, you know, energy -- renewable energy and selling of EV cars. Are, you know, enabled themselves a game changer at this point?

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JACOBSON: Well, none of them are. But I'd like to add one to that, that we're starting to see actual declines in the rate of growth of methane. And that was, you know, in the Glasgow compact, that was the big one, could we get to a 30 percent reduction by 2030. And I've run the numbers on that. We're going to get there by 2030 to 2033. So we're not that far behind. So the good news that actually it's very meaningful, if you need good news, and we all do is what we've managed to do curbing methane.

These other things, it's, you know, I looked down that list myself, and it's not very impressive, because we need teeth, right? We need civilization changing teeth going on right here to really make a difference. And although these sort of small ways of patting ourselves on the back are not going to get us there.

VAUSE: Yes. And that is a silly point to finish on. Eliot, thanks for being with us. Eliot Jacobson there, we appreciate your time, sir.

JACOBSON: Thank you.

VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN, it's crucial elections in dozens of countries next year and billions set to vote. The rise of artificial intelligence could mean democracy. We'll be facing a stress test like no other. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Right now, thousands of migrants are walking from southern Mexico to the U.S. border. Many from Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, Cuba and Haiti. Organizers are calling the caravan a quote, exodus of poverty. Recent surge in migrant border crossing has overwhelmed U.S. border agencies. Authorities reported a seven day average of more than 9,600 migrant encounters on the U.S. southern border in December, the highest number on record.

Next year, more than 2 billion people globally will be eligible to vote in elections held in dozens of countries and that includes the United States. And these elections will coincide with the rise of artificial intelligence, meaning me now fear for democracy itself. CNN's Simon Cullen explains.

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CROWD: USA, USA, USA, USA.

SIMON CULLEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 2024 is shaping up to be an election year like none other.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We want to make sure that we have a big victory that's going to be a -- you're going to be all over the world, they're going to be watching this.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're at an inflection point in our history, where the decisions made in a short period of time we're in now are going to determine the course of this country in the world for the next six or seven decades.

CULLEN (voice-over): While the U.S. presidential election might be the highest profile, it's not the only consequential contest taking place.

OLIVIA O'SULLIVAN, UK PROGRAMME DIRECTOR, CHATHAM HOUSE: This is a hugely significant year for democracy. And it depends how you count out or exactly what you classify as an election, but by some measures, there are at least 14 national elections happening in 2024.

CULLEN (voice-over): In absolute numbers, that's more than 2 billion people eligible to cast a ballot. Among those up for reelection, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is also expected to call a 2024 election. Taiwan, Indonesia and Mexico are going to the polls too although their incumbents won't be candidates. And in Europe, hundreds of millions of voters will elect a new E.U. parliament.

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O'SULLIVAN: For many countries, the health of their democracy itself will be being put to the test.

CULLEN (voice-over): And the results have the potential to reshape international affairs on a scale rarely seen from international trade and climate change to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. CULLEN: While the results of some elections are all but guaranteed, others will be a genuine contest, meaning a relatively small shift in voter support could affect the outcome that amplifies the potential impact of disinformation. And experts warn that risk is made even more significant by the fact that these elections are coinciding with a boom in artificial intelligence.

CULLEN (voice-over): That brings with the prospect of deep fake content like this.

BIDEN: This is an AI generated video showing just how far technology has come in recent years.

CULLEN (voice-over): Even Vladimir Putin who is all but certain to be reelected Russian President in March, appeared momentarily surprised when confronted by a computer generated version of himself.

DARRELL M. WEST, SENIOR FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: People should be scared because the technology is enabling the creation of fake videos that could be very persuasive with the ordinary voters. People are not going to be able to distinguish the fake videos from real ones.

CULLEN: Are governments ready for what's coming down the line?

WEST: Governments are not ready. There are literally no guardrails in place.

CULLEN (voice-over): That puts more of an onus on technology companies to step in. Meta which owns Facebook and Instagram says it's adapting its approach to deal with the challenges posed by artificial intelligence. TikTok has announced partnerships with external fact checkers to combat misinformation and X which drastically cuts staff under CEO Elon Musk increasingly relies on users to flag misleading content.

SASHA FEGAN, CENTER FOR HUMANE TECHNOLOGY: The fact that there's been such a massive job cuts to content moderation teams, pretty much across all the big U.S. social media platforms is evidence the fact that they don't really take it seriously enough, and that will have concerning effects in the 2024 elections.

CULLEN (voice-over): A record year for elections could also prove to be an unprecedented challenge to the electoral process.

Simon Cullen, CNN, London.

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VAUSE: I'm John Vause, thanks for watching. Back at the top of the hour with more CNN Newsroom but first African voices starts after a short break.

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