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CNN International: Israeli Official: Top U.S. Diplomat To Visit Israel Next Week; Edited Video Appears To Show Palestinian Men And At Least Two Children Detained And Stripped By IDF; Israeli Foreign Minister Visits Lebanon-Israel Border. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired December 28, 2023 - 08:00   ET

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

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BIANCA NOBILO, HOST, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hello, and welcome to CNN Newsroom. I am Bianca Nobilo in London. Just ahead, the U.S Secretary of State is heading back to Israel next week as the Israeli military operation in Gaza shows no sign of slowing down. A new batch of Ukraine aid gets the green light, but there is no guarantee when the next one will be coming. We are live in Kyiv. And if you didn't get a brand new Apple watch for Christmas, it's not too late. We have good news for you, just ahead.

America's top diplomat will soon head back to the Middle East. An Israeli official tells CNN that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will return to Israel next week to discuss the next phase in the war against Hamas. He will also make additional stops in the region. And the visit comes as Israel presses its attacks on Hamas in the south and the center of Gaza. Just a short time ago, the IDF issued an urgent warning to citizens in parts of central Gaza to evacuate to shelters. And there are new concerns about potential human rights violations in Gaza. A video circulating on social media appears to show Palestinian men stripped to their underwear and being marched into a Gaza stadium by Israeli forces. At least two of the detainees appear to be young boys.

Our Nada Bashir is tracking all of these developments going on in the war. Nada, this seems like a moment where diplomacy is truly at crossroads. How likely is the widening of this conflict as we look ahead to the early months of 2024?

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, that certainly is a mounting concern, Bianca, particularly as we continue to see an escalation of hostilities on the border between Israel and Lebanon. As you mentioned, Secretary Blinken expected to make that trip into the Middle East to speak with officials in Israel as well. And of course, we have seen those intense discussions now between White House officials and their counterparts in Israel. The U.S. calling on the Israeli Military to move towards what's being described as a lower intensity phase of the war.

But, that certainly has put the U.S. at odds with the messaging we are hearing from Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has warned that the war could go on for many more months. And that in fact the Israeli Military is intensifying and expanding its operation both in the air and on the ground. And of course, that has driven and sparked a fierce reaction more regionally. And there is concern around Iran-backed groups who have called, of course, for not only a ceasefire and end to the war, but have also taken up action, particularly Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Now, of course, on Wednesday, we did see Hezbollah claiming to have shelled local regions in the Israeli border area in response, they say, to an Israeli air strike on the border region of Lebanon in the city of Bint Jbeil. We did hear from the Lebanese National News Agency saying that at least three people had been killed in that airstrike, which the Israeli Military says was targeting Hezbollah site on the border region. But, of course, we also heard from Hezbollah saying at least one of them was a Hezbollah member.

NOBILO: Nada, there is this video which has emerged on social media with stripped Palestinians, possibly two children, that we were just telling our viewers about. What do we know about the details of this footage?

BASHIR: Well, this is suddenly a troubling and concerning video which has emerged on social media, as you mentioned. Throughout the video, you can see dozens of men including what appears to be two children but also possibly more teenagers in this video as well who have been stripped to their underwear, having their hands held above their head or tied behind their back. Many of them, of course, also blindfolded in that video. And there are also some women seen in this video placed on the ground beside a soccer goalpost with the Israeli flag hanging above them, also blindfolded, as we said in that video. And of course, we haven't been able to confirm when this video was filmed, but CNN has geo-located this to the Yarmouk Stadium in Gaza City, and this is an area where we have heard reports of mass detentions.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor group says it has received reports of people being detained in this area, including children, the elderly, and women who have reported abuse and mistreatment. And of course, over the last few weeks, we have been hearing these reports from other aid agencies as well. Now, when it comes to the stripping of these individuals, the Israeli Military says it has done so in order to ensure that they are not carrying explosives, but the time period in which they have been stripped for an extended period of time and the stress positions that they have been placed in clearly in this video has raised concern.

The UN's own Humanitarian Office or Human Rights Office, rather, issued a statement earlier in the month with regards to the mistreatment of those detained. Take a listen to this brief excerpt from their statement earlier this month, saying that the UN Human Rights Office has received numerous disturbing reports from the north of Gaza of mass detentions, ill treatment, and enforced disappearances, of possibly thousands of Palestinian men and boys and a number of women and girls at the hands of Israeli Defense Forces. Most were rounded up as they were attempting to move south or were taken during operations conducted on their homes, hospitals, schools, and other places of refuge.

Of course, the statement then goes on to say that they have received also troubling reports of mistreatment, which in the words of the UN's Humanitarian Office could amount, if confirmed, to torture. Bianca.

NOBILO: Nada Bashir, thank you.

The White House has released a new round of U.S. military aid for Ukraine, but it marks the last round of funding that can be released without further approval from Congress. The $250 million package includes ammunition for air defenses, artillery, and rocket systems. However, Republicans are refusing to approve any further aid without an agreement over tighter security on the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Negotiations over the bill have been stalled for weeks.

And we now want to show you before and after images of Ukrainian strike in occupied Crimea. Ukraine said it destroyed a large Russian landing ship on a Tuesday, which will be Moscow's third loss of a major piece of military hardware in less than a week. But, Moscow says the vessel was only damaged, and is pressing ahead with its ground forces. Fred Pleitgen has more.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Russia's most recent claimed battlefield victory driving Ukrainian forces to the outskirts of Maryinka on the eastern front. The prize, though, dust and rubble, as the vicious fighting has turned the town into a wasteland. Still, Russia's Defense Minister claiming this is significant progress for Moscow.

The Russian Army is constantly taking more favorable positions and expanding controlled territories in all directions, he said. We are consistently moving forward, achieving the stated goals of the special operation. Russia says its forces are now pressing in the entire east, looking to encircle the Ukrainians in Avdiivka, increasingly laying ways to that city as well, Ukrainian authorities still operating their show. We've been bringing humanitarian aid and food here for a long time, he says. People have already left. I hope there were no casualties. This is what Avdiivka looks like. There is nothing here.

Kyiv says the Russian Army is suffering catastrophic losses during their assaults. But, Ukraine's Military also acknowledges their own large scale counteroffensive started this summer, has essentially stalled, a situation compounded by severe ammo shortages. Ukraine desperately hoping Congress will end its impasse and green light further U.S. military aid after months of delays. Ukraine's top general in a rare press conference says he is confident the assistance will come, and that on the whole foreign military help for Ukraine has made a huge difference. We had rather ambitious goals in 2023, he says. I was not disappointed by the level of assistance in 2023. Of course, it was not everything what allowed us to conduct confident military operations.

While gains on the ground remain incremental for both sides, the air war continues. Russian missiles and drones striking Kherson and in Odessa, killing two people. And Moscow now admits Kyiv's Air Force managed to strike a large Russian landing ship, but only vaguely says the vessel suffered damage. Ukraine, though, claims the ship and its cargo were completely destroyed. Footage on air now is impressive indeed, the Air Force spokesman says. A warship was destroyed, most likely a warship with a set of ammunition, powerful ammo. A key strike for Ukraine but on the front lines, the war grinds on in the harsh Eastern European winter, little territory changing hands, but many soldiers on both sides killed and wounded.

PLEITGEN: The Ukrainians do acknowledge that the Russians really are pressing along the eastern front, but they also say that the Russians are suffering immense casualties, saying the Russians lost about 3,000 soldiers in just a week's time with 1,000 of those killed. The Russians themselves, of course, not giving any exact numbers.

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NOBILO: The Colorado Republican Party is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to keep Donald Trump name on the state's 2024 primary ballot. It follows an unprecedented ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court that disqualified the former President from holding that office again under the Constitution's insurrection clause. Trump himself is also expected to appeal. Meanwhile, anytime now we could find out if Maine will become the second state to remove him from the ballot. CNN's Katelyn Polantz joins me now live from Washington. Katelyn, what's going on in Maine?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: In Maine, the Secretary of State is going to decide whether she believes Donald Trump can be on the ballot in that state for the primary election. Now, that is something that's appealable by courts. And not to get too far into the weeds here, but there are lots of different ways that the state courts are deciding what to do with their ballots, because each state deals with their own election processes, and who is allowed to be on their primary and general election ballots.

So, we have Maine figuring out what to do. We have a couple of states that have already had challenges around Donald Trump where people have come to them and said Trump shouldn't be on the ballot in 2024 in your state because he is an insurrectionist because of what happened in 2020, January 6, the attack of the Capitol. And so, with those, those -- some of the states have already figured things out. Colorado is the only state so far where this court system in that state has said, no, Trump cannot be on the primary ballot here because we deem him to be an insurrectionist.

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He is ineligible to be voted for. And so, what is happening not just in Maine, but in Colorado, specifically, because he is removed from the ballot, is that his lawyers are looking at going to the Supreme Court and the Republican Party whom Trump is affiliated with. They have already gone to the Supreme Court yesterday and said, please clarify this, the highest court across the United States. All of the states are doing different things. Please determine whether it's possible for Trump to be removed from the ballot as Colorado has done, and please reinstate him, they're asking the Supreme Court. NOBILO: Katelyn Polantz, thank you so much for breaking that down for

us. Appreciate it.

After a legal back and forth with the U.S. International Trade Commission, Apple says it will immediately return to sell its newest Apple watch model on its website starting Thursday, and the firm aim to have them back in stores by Saturday. Now, this announcement came after a U.S. Federal Court temporarily blocked an import ban, which had been brought in after U.S. officials argued the new Apple watch violated another company's patent.

For more on this, let's bring in CNN Technology Reporter Brian Fung, who is live for us in Washington, D.C. Brian, how much of a victory is this for Apple, and has there been any response from the company, Masimo, I think it is, whose patent this watch was supposed to violate?

BRIAN FUNG, CNN TECHNOLOGY REPORTER: Yeah, Bianca. This is a big victory for Apple and no response yet from Masimo as yet. But, what this means essentially is that it's only a brief disruption to Apple's sales of the top tier Apple watches that it sells. Apple will be returning the top tier watches to its store shelves as early as today in some stores, and online by about 3 p.m. Eastern Time this afternoon. And as you noted, there will be wider availability across Apple's retail stores by the weekend. And Apple has said that it wants to make sure that it offers the full lineup of its Apple watches in time for the New Year.

Now, as you suggested, this is just a temporary measure. The court that's considering Apple's appeal in this patent dispute will be considering whether to issue a longer stay, sometime mid next month, as Apple continues its legal battle to defend its Apple watch. And it will also be submitting, it said, an update to U.S. officials for them to review, also mid next month, in hopes of resolving this patent dispute that focuses on the pulse oximeter technology that it has in some of its Apple watches that essentially use light pulses to measure blood oxygen levels. And we'll see whether or not government officials who are reviewing this update agree that it resolves the patent dispute.

But, ultimately, what the decision was made yesterday is just a temporary move that nevertheless gives Apple much more freedom to continue selling some of its most popular devices as it tries to move more into the health space. Bianca.

NOBILO: CNN's Brian Fung in Washington, D.C. for us, thank you.

The U.S. and Mexico say they're willing to work together to tackle the migrant crisis at their border. After the break, we'll have much more on what measures they're trying to implement.

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(COMMERCIAL BREAK) NOBILO: Welcome back. U.S. officials say they had a very productive meeting with Mexico's President on Wednesday over the migrant crisis at the U.S. southern border. This comes as the Biden administration faces increased pressure over the surge in people trying to enter the United States. For its part, Mexico's top diplomat also described the meetings as very good. Senior U.S. officials say Mexico shed plans to crack down on migrant smugglers, among other things.

Let's bring in CNN's Kevin Liptak who is following the U.S. President in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Kevin, always great to speak to you. Are we getting any further indications about the actual substance of what was discussed and agreed yet?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. And we did know that officials went into these meetings, officials from the United States that is, with a specific set of asks for their Mexican counterparts as they try and confront this surge of migrants at the American southern border. That included moving some of these migrants further south in an effort to decongest what has become a very congested part of the American southern border.

They were also wanting Mexico to better control some of their railways in that country. These are the lines that migrants take from South and Central America up through Mexico to the United States. They were also looking for Mexico to play some incentives, like visas, that would make it more appealing for migrants to actually stay in Mexico instead of trying to come across into the United States.

And when you talk to officials after this meeting, they were relatively pleased by the outcomes. They do feel like they have a willing partner in President Lopez Obrador. And what they said was that Mexico did agree to start ramping up some of its enforcement mechanisms, and start cracking down on some of the smugglers that you see that are really fueling some of these scenes of crowding at the American southern border. And so, they did feel relatively good about how those talks went. And the U.S. does feel like it has some leverage here in the form of these ports of entry into the United States, these border crossings that are so essential for Mexican businesses, for trade, for the economy.

You'll remember, the United States actually had to shut some of those border crossings down in order to redeploy some of the resources to other areas of the border to deal with the migrant surge. This is something that Mexico really wants the U.S. not to do for an extended period of time because of the effect that it would have on the economy. And that was also a major point of these discussions as well.

But, on the flip side of that, I think Mexico feels like it has some leverage with the United States as well, because this is such a political issue in the United States and for President Biden, as he gears up for reelection next year. His aides do acknowledge that this will be one of the central issues in his battle, potential battle with the former President Donald Trump heading into next year's election.

NOBILO: Kevin, it is early days. But, how is this being received domestically in America for the Republicans and Democrats respectively?

LIPTAK: Yeah. As you said, it is early days. And I don't think that there is any question that Republicans will use immigration as an attack line on President Biden, no matter what happens. And when you talk to Biden and officials, they actually say the numbers that we've been seeing this month, the points were extremely high, as many as 10,000 arrests at the border, they do see those ticking down. But, they acknowledged that this is cyclical. It'll go up. It'll go down. And every time it goes up, I think you can be sure that Republicans will use that to accuse the President of being weak on immigration.

I think what you'll hear from President Biden is that this needs to be something that Congress fixes, that this is a broken system. It's sort of an irreparable problem that every American President has had to deal with. And unless Congress makes some changes, nothing will improve at the border. There are talks underway right now between Republicans and Democrats on things like tightening the asylum rules, things like making it easier to move forward with deportations. And what President Biden wants to do is work with those Republicans to try and come up with some kind of agreement. But, those talks are still very much in their early stages, and it doesn't seem clear how they will be resolved in the New Year yet, Bianca.

NOBILO: CNN's Kevin Liptak in a gorgeous lush opposition, thank you so much for joining us.

Still to come, the moon has always held a place in our imagination.

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And as India's space program took a giant leap ahead, what else is on this year's list of achievements?

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NOBILO: This year, we saw a renewed space race to the moon. There were some historic successes and some epic failures as well as efforts to perfect a new lunar landing system. Here is CNN's Kristin Fisher.

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JOHN. F. KENNEDY, 35TH U.S. PRESIDENT: We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 60 years after those famous words, it was full steam ahead for a new space race in 2023. Space agencies from around the world are once again competing to get to the moon. And this time, they're hoping to stay for good, leaving more than just flags and footprints.

In 2023, India's space program took a giant leap forward, successfully landing its uncrewed robotic Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft on the lunar surface in August. It's only the fourth country to do it after the United States, the former Soviet Union, and China. But, so far, India is the only one to reach the South Pole of the moon, where water in the form of ice has been detected.

NARENDRA MODI, INDIAN PRIME MINISTER: India's successful moon mission is not just India's alone. This success belongs to all of humanity.

FISHER (voice-over): Russia tried to beat them to it. But, 2023 wasn't its year. Its first lunar mission in nearly 50 years ended in failure after the Luna 25 spacecraft crashed into the moon. NASA has ambitious plans to land astronauts on the moon again, and eventually create a lunar base camp. But, first, it has to perfect the technology for a new crewed landing, which is set for the Artemis 3 mission in 2025.

2023 was all about the lunar landing system that will help them get there with SpaceX continuing to test its Starship spacecraft that will carry the crew on that last leg of their journey to the surface of the moon. The first two test flights ended in explosions.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And as you can see, the super heavy booster has just experienced a rapid, unscheduled disassembling.

FISHER (voice-over): But, SpaceX says that's part of the process. Lessons were learned with each attempt, and valuable data was gathered to refine designs, though there is still widespread speculation that Artemis 3 will be delayed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And lift off of Starlink, go Falcon, go Starlink.

FISHER (voice-over): But, it's not just lunar landers going up. SpaceX sent satellites into space in rapid fire succession in 2023, launching on average once every four days.

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And in 2024, it's aiming even higher, shooting for launches 12 times per month. The goal is to expand its Starlink internet system and blanket the globe with high speed Wi-Fi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see the reaction there just moments ago as they got that sample back on the ground?

FISHER (voice-over): And there were big tears when a capsule full of rocks and dust parachuted back down to earth. The OSIRIS-REx marked the first time that NASA brought samples from an asteroid back to earth. NASA hopes that the particles from the metal-rich asteroid Bennu, which dates back four and a half billion years, will help answer some of humankind's most existential questions.

BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Why are we doing this? Because at NASA we are trying to find out who we are, what we are, where we came from, what is our place in this vastness called the universe.

FISHER (voice-over): Kristin Fisher, CNN, Washington.

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NOBILO: Organizers in New York have unveiled the newly redesigned Time Square New Year's Eve Ball. The star of the countdown now features of bow tie pattern in what organizers say is a nod to the layout of Times Square. The ball is set to descend from the top of One Times Square on Sunday night, with nearly a million people expected to attend, and millions more of course set to watch around the world. And you can join us on New Year's Eve for live coverage around the clock as the world rings in the New Year. The special coverage begins just before midnight in Sydney, which is midday in London and morning in New York, and then it carries on throughout the day and night.

Thank you for joining me here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Bianca Nobilo in London. World Sport with Patrick Snell is up next.

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