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Scores Killed In Central Gaza As Israel Intensifies Operations; Team Says Alexey Navalny Is In Siberian Penal Colony; Thousands Of Migrants Join Caravan Headed For U.S.; Rare Surgery Allows Young Girl To Speak For First Time. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired December 26, 2023 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[02:00:25]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Welcome, viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm John Vause.

Just ahead this hour, we are not stopping. The Israeli Prime Minister urges so on (ph) his troops as their - as their military offensive in Gaza expands and the Palestinian death toll surges.

Lost him. Now found, kind of. Jailed Putin-critic, Alexey Navalny, said to be located nearly 2,000 miles from Moscow in a remote Siberian penal colony.

And thousands of migrants heading on foot for the U.S., and exodus of poverty set to make an ongoing border crisis even worse.

ANNOUNCER: 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.

Warning now, some of the latest images from Gaza may be disturbing for some viewers.

In Central Gaza, dozens of white body bags left outside Al-Aqsa Hospital as family members mourn and prepare the dead for burial. According to the Hamas controlled health ministry, at least 250 people were killed in 124 hour period. That includes at least 70 killed by an Israeli airstrike at a refugee camp.

CNN though cannot independently verify any of the numbers released by the health ministry in Gaza.

Meantime, Netanyahu warned of a long fight to come and one source tells CNN he has dispatched a senior official to Washington to discuss the next phase of the war with the Biden administration. Here's more now from the Israeli Prime Minister speaking with IDF troops in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): If someone tells you and they say it all the time, I hear it outside that we are going to stop the war, that the war is over. The war is not over. It will end in total victory. No less than that.

October 7th is not over. It is not over. We have to make sure that it never happens again. This requires what each and every one of you is asking for, just to continue until the end, until the end. And I'm just proud of your determination.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: CNN's Will Ripley is following developments. He has the latest now reporting in from Tel Aviv.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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 Albareish (ph). They fled the day before yesterday. It was their fate to be martyred here in the uncle's house.

My nieces Layin (ph), Lana (ph) and Rana (ph), and my nephew Hamada (ph). Hamada was only 3-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 in 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's 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 Dana (ph). The 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.

[02:05:09]

By daylight, the community came together for the ritual of mourning. Bodies or what remained readied 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.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): My daughter Naye (ph) was martyred. 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. Khaleed (ph) lost his grandchildren last month.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): This is utmost criminality. We are in festivities celebrating Jesus Christ, please 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?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (on camera): 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.

VAUSE: To Jerusalem now, Yaakov Katz senior columnist at The Jerusalem Post. Welcome back. It's good to see you.

YAAKOV KATZ, SENIOR COLUMNIST, THE JERUSALEM POST: Thank you, John.

VAUSE: So, on Monday, the Israeli prime minister visited troops in northern Gaza. In a statement which was posed by the Likud party, he promised to stay the course in Gaza. "It will be a long fight. And it's not close to ending. We don't stop, we keep fighting, and we deepen the fighting in the coming day".

You know, the Israelis expect the high intensity phase of this war, at least privately to continue for at least another month. So, will that timeline be determined by Israel alone? Is that likely to change because of domestic and international pressure, especially from the White House?

KATZ: I think that the Israelis would like, like you said, about four to six more weeks of the high intensity stage what we're seeing pretty much now with continued operations of several divisions of the IDF on the ground moving in the north, but the focus now is on the south. That's where the Hamas leadership is believed to be holding itself up inside some of those bunkers and underground tunnels alongside the 129 hostages, or those who are still alive and are being held inside the Gaza Strip.

So, Israel wants to keep that going, because they have yet to bring about the toppling of Hamas's regime.

However, we know that the Americans want Israel to wind down that high intensity stage. And I think that this is what the conversation is about right now. How much more time can everyone be on the same page about, how much more time does Israel have for this high intensity stage?

And also, what is the next stage look like? What is the Israeli presence in Gaza look like at that stage? What is a buffer zone, a potential security zone? Is Rwanda alongside its borders?

So, there's a lot of coordination going on right now between Jerusalem and Washington exactly on those questions.

VAUSE: Well, in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal, Netanyahu outlined the three prerequisites for peace. Destroy Hamas, demilitarize Gaza, de-radicalize the whole of Palestinian society. That's a pretty big list even though it's only three preconditions.

He also rules out any role for the Palestinian Authority for a post- Hamas Gaza. And again, that puts them at odds with the White House.

So, out of all of that together, it seems Netanyahu is essentially spelling out what will be long term occupation of Gaza.

KATZ: I think, John, Netanyahu is also -- we have to remember has been -- is constrained by internal Israeli politics, right? His coalition, which leans very hard to the far right because of several members, if he were to say, yes, I embrace, for example, the prospect of Palestinian authority coming in and replacing Israel for running the civilian affairs of the Gaza Strip at the end of this war, he could potentially lose his government.

So, he's trying to walk a delicate balancing act of sorts, between articulating to an extent what the day after will look like at the same time being able to keep his coalition intact.

Now, we could say that's not the right type of leadership. I have my criticism of that but we also have to understand where it comes from.

I think that no Israeli lives under any illusion that there's some other option besides for the Palestinian Authority that will come into Gaza the day after.

The question that will be John, what does that Palestinian Authority look like? And we have to be honest, for a moment, the Palestinian Authority as it is now, the one that rules the West Bank, insights in its education system has laws on the books that pay people to kill Jews, right?

[02:10:09]

So, all those people, all those Hamas terrorists, who massacred Israelis on October 7th in that horrific barbaric, unprecedented attack, they would potentially be eligible for a Palestinian Authority paid salary because of what they did. Those laws have to be revoked. There has to be an end to the corruption.

And they need new leadership. They have the same man Abu Mazen, Mahmoud Abbas, leading them for 20 years after being elected for four year terms.

So, there's a lot of -- you know, the Americans talk about revitalization. There needs to be reforms, substantive reforms to the Palestinian Authority, and then hopefully they would be able to take over.

VAUSE: And hopefully, their position will be -- will be empowered rather than weakened once those reforms are put in place, but it's obviously a long way down the road.

At home, Netanyahu is also facing this continued pressure to bring home all of the hostages still being held in Gaza. And families of the hostages staged a protest at the Knesset as Netanyahu was delivering a speech.

What they're chanting is now, now, bring them home now.

So, when it comes to prerequisites for Gaza in that op-ed, of the 655 words that Netanyahu wrote, not one of them is the word hostage.

KATZ: Look, this is a very huge challenge for Israel. And Netanyahu would obviously and I think all of Israel would obviously prefer there'd be no hostages, it would make the operation simpler and easier to implement and to carry on.

However, we have the presence of 129 people who are still being held in the Gaza Strip. And that is partly due to a failure of his government, and a failure of the Israeli security forces.

And this is a breach of the social contract between the states, its country, and our people, the people who were taken, they have to be retrieved. And that has to be one of the top goals and objectives of this -- of this war.

Netanyahu was trying to continue this Gaza operation, while on the one hand, he pays lip service to the hostages, you are right that in that op-ed, there was no mention of them. And that is something that is of great concern to those families who feel that their loved ones are being neglected and are being left behind. And I think that the government has a responsibility to better articulate what it is doing for those hostages to try to reach a deal that might include another pause like a few weeks ago that brought back 100 hostages, we would do again to bring back these hostages, there has to be a plan in place.

Because if we end this war, John, with those hostages still being held in Gaza, it would be viewed internally in Israel as a failure.

VAUSE: Yes, thanks for being with us. Yaakov Katz there and it's been a while. So, good to see you. Thank you for time.

KATZ: Thank you.

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 use airstrikes likely killed a number of militants according to an early assessment by U.S. Central Command, which ad there are no indications civilians were hurt.

More unrest in Serbia as thousands protest the outcome of a recent general election. International observers have described the results as unjust.

On Monday, they marched on the Central Election Commission in the capital Belgrade, a seventh straight day of demonstrations after the Serbian president's right wing ruling party declared victory in the elections last week.

The international monitors say the elections were full of voter intimidation, media bias and vote buying. Opposition leaders say the protesters will not be silenced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEKSANDAR JOVANOVIC CUTA, 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 were 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?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Dozens were arrested Sunday trying to enter the City Assembly in Belgrade.

Meantime, the criminal says foreign entities are behind the unrest.

The whereabouts of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny may now be known but for the most part, it's still kind of a mystery. More than 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 most remote and toughest Gulags in Russia, more than 3,000 kilometers from the capital Moscow.

Here's CNN's Nada Bashir with details.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, news of Alexey Navalny's whereabouts has come as a huge relief after his legal team lost contact with the jailed Kremlin critic more than two weeks ago. But there is 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.

[02:15:06]

Now, in 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 that 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.

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, posed one of the most serious threats to Putin's legitimacy during his rule, 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Now, to the war in Ukraine and the Ukrainian Air Force says a Russian vessel carrying Shahed drones in occupied Crimea has been destroyed. Moscow backed officials acknowledged and attacked Tuesday saying one person was killed, two others injured and six buildings were damaged.

In the next region, Russia forces -- Russian forces claimed to have taken control of Marinka, a small but strategically important village. If true, this would be Russia's most significant gain since the fall of Bakhmut back in May. The Ukrainians say fighting for Marinka is still ongoing.

When we come back, no going back, thousands of migrants arriving on the U.S. southern border say home for them is no longer an option. CNN has their stories after a short break.

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VAUSE: Deadly outbreak of violence in parts of central Nigeria has killed more than 100 people over the weekend in Plateau State, hundreds more were injured. Local officials say bandits launched well- coordinated attacks but they did not say who those bandits were.

The region is home to ethnically and religiously diverse states. In recent years, hundreds have died in conflicts between different religious communities. Experts say climate change resulting in a competition for resources is playing a role in the violence.

Right now, thousands of migrants what's known as the migrant caravan they're walking from southern Mexico to the U.S. border. Many are from Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, Cuba and Haiti. Organizers say this is an exodus of poverty.

And details down from CNN's Rafael Romo.

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RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This holding area behind me was empty when we arrived here this morning and now there are hundreds of migrants waiting to be processed after surrendering to immigration authorities once they cross the Rio Grande. All those shiny spots you see behind me are Mylar blankets.

[02:20:11]

Border Patrol agents have provided them and it appears this new migrant surge is going to go on for a while longer. There's a new caravan that departed on Christmas Eve from the border city of Tapachula, Mexico at the border with Guatemala, we're talking about thousands of migrants who will be here at the Southern border in the next few weeks in addition to the ones that have already arrived here.

We are in Eagle Pass, Texas at the border with Mexico, this is a community of less than 30,000 people that has to deal with thousands of immigrants arriving every week.

Federal officials say the influx of migrants they're currently seeing across the Southwest border is presenting a serious challenge to CBP personnel.

This new migrant search is also putting a lot of pressure on local law enforcement. This is what the Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber have to say about this great challenge.

TOM SCHMERBER, MAVERICK COUNTY SHERIFF: Last week, the Border Patrol called us to see if we could escort the buses that there have been -- bus those immigrants, they're apprehended and processing to bus them to Laredo, Texas.

So, I'm having two units, two vehicles with my deputies escorting those buses to Laredo.

ROMO: And who are these people coming to America? We met a woman who flew from her native Cuba to Nicaragua and then traveled by land to Mexico before seeking asylum in the United States, claiming she was targeted by the Cuban government for speaking openly against it. Being in America she said, it's a wonderful Christmas gift.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): That I'm going to spend it with my family, that I'm going to live in a free country that at least I don't know, I'm going to be happy because I'm going to live in a free country where the rights of citizens are respected. That wasn't the case where I lived. I was under a lot of pressure.

ROMO: How many immigrants have entered the United States or recently, according to the latest figures released by Customs and Border Protection, nearly a quarter of a million people were detained at the U.S. border with Mexico during the month of November. In a statement CBP said that U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions so far in fiscal year 2024, which started on October 1st, are lower than at this point in the previous fiscal year. It remains to be seen if that changes once December figures are included.

Rafael Romo, CNN Eagle Pass, Texas.

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VAUSE: A 9-year-old girl is speaking for the first time thanks to rare surgery that was not without risk. We'll have her incredible story. Next on CNN.

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VAUSE: The first time she can say I love you mom, a 9-year-old girl born with a rare condition now able to speak after undergoing complicated, risky surgery to reconstruct her voice box. CNN's Meg Tirrell has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: 9-year-old Delayza Diaz is practicing how to use her new vocal cords. Delayza was born with a rare disorder called VACTERL association, which can cause problems throughout the body. Derek Lam, her doctor at Oregon Health and Science University, showed us with this model.

DR. DEREK LAM, OREGON HEALTH AND SCIENCE UNIVERSITY AND DELAYZA'S DOCTOR: This whole area from here to here, including just below the vocal cords in Delayza was not formed normally. The vocal cords were present, but there was just no opening between them.

[02:25:00]

TIRRELL (voice-over): Delayza learned to communicate using her tongue and cheeks to make sounds and form words known as buccal speech.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you say, mama?

D. DIAZ: Mama.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say, thank you.

DR. LAM: She was thriving like any other little girl. Except, of course, that she had no voice through any of that time.

TIRRELL (voice-over): But last year, Delayza and her family decided to go ahead with a complex and rare reconstructive surgery to open her vocal cords. Her mom, Lucero, was nervous.

L. DIAZ: I thought she wasn't ready yet, but she was.

TIRRELL (voice-over): The surgery took eight hours.

DR. LAM: The bottom part of the voice box and the top of the windpipe had to cut that part out, and then drill out the opening between the vocal cords here and then add more cartilage in borrowed from her ribs to make this part wider, and then connect up the bottom part of her windpipe to the reconstructed voice box.

TIRRELL (voice-over): Delayza wasn't able to speak with her vocal cords right away. But after months of therapy, her new voice emerged. D. Diaz: Love you, Bubba.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's great.

DR. LAM: That's fantastic. I think that's the first time I've heard you say a sentence with your normal voice.

TIRRELL (voice-over): Delayza is working hard to improve her voice.

L. DIAZ: Can you say, E?

D. DIAZ: E.

L. DIAZ: O.

D. DIAZ: O.

DR. LAM: It's something that for the rest of us is unconscious. For her, she's had to learn to use her vocal cords.

TIRRELL (voice-over): And she still often uses what she and her mom call her squeaky voice because it's easier.

L. DIAZ: You have to do 20 drops.

D. DIAZ: 20

L. DIAZ: 20.

TIRRELL (voice-over): Though she's been through a lot, Delayza has a message for other kids who may be facing challenges.

L. DIAZ: Oh, she -- Delayza said, don't be scared. That everything's going to be OK.

TIRRELL (voice-over): After years without working vocal cords, she can now use hers to say some of the most important things.

D. DIAZ: I love you.

L. DIAZ: I love you too.

TIRRELL (voice-over): Meg Tirrell, CNN reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Well, just in time for Christmas, Ukraine has really some of the most iconic and favorite songs of the season but with a tweak.

Soldiers near the frontlines are all part of this music video seeing the Christmas favorites but comes with this reality check, a reminder that the war continues to grind on with no end in sight.

Thank you for joining us, I'm John Vause. "WORLD SPORT" special report is up next. That's all about the whole story with Anderson Cooper. See you tomorrow.

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