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Evacuation Orders For South Korean Islands As North Korea Fires Over 200 Artillery Shells; Blinken Heads To Middle East As Risk of Broader Conflict Grows; Israeli Defense Minister Outlines New Phase In Gaza War; U.S. Says Russia Used North Korean Missiles In Ukraine; Voters Seek To Take Trump Off 2023 Ballot; French Medical Ship Helping Victims Of War; Freed Israeli Hostage Describes 50 Days of Hamas Captivity; Rescue Workers Race To Find Survivors After Monday's Quake in Japan. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired January 05, 2024 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company coming up here on CNN Newsroom. South Korea orders the evacuation of an island near the North Korean border after Pyongyang fires more than 200 artillery rounds. We'll have a live report.
Fears of an ever widening conflict in the Middle East as ISIS claims responsibility for deadly bombings in Iran.
And later, days after a powerful earthquake rocks Japan, an elderly woman is pulled out alive, but dozens of people remain missing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: And we are following breaking news from the Korean Peninsula. South Korea's military says the North has fired hundreds of artillery rounds into a maritime buffer zone off its west coast near two South Korean islands. One of them Yeonpyeong Island is now being evacuated just over 2,100 people live there. So far, no reports of injuries or damage but the South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff issued this warning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COL. LEE SUNG-JUN, SOUTH KOREA'S JOINT CHEIFS OF STAFF (through translator): We sternly warn North Korea that they are fully responsible for this escalation of the crisis. And we strongly urge them to stop it. Our military is tracking and monitoring the related situation and the close cooperation with the U.S. and South Korea and will implement measures in response to North Korea's provocations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Marc Stewart is tracking all of this from Seoul. He joins me now live. So bring us up to date Marc on what will we know about what happened? MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Michael, we are going to need some specifics from South Korean military officials. First, let's talk about this artillery that was shot we're talking about 200 rounds. It could be anything as small as a shell to something as large as the size of a car, a rocket is the military term to use.
This was all fired in essentially what is a buffer zone an extension of the DMZ into the waters off the west Korean coast. At this point, there are no reports of injuries. No reports of any damage. In fact, this did not enter necessarily South Korean property. This was in the buffer zone, the northern most part of this buffer zone.
But this action is generating a response. Local residents were sent a text on that island to seek shelter, not necessarily to leave the island but to seek designated shelter on their on the island where they live at Yeonpyeong. And at that time, they are anticipating a South Korean military response. They were told in his text message that South Korea would be firing some kind of response back in response to what has happened.
Now let's just put some context here. It was just two days ago that South Korea began some military exercises some naval exercises I should say. And so often as we see South Korea will do something in response very much this tit for tat relationship.
In addition, at the end of last year on January 31st, North Korean state media reported that North Korea would no longer seek reunification with the South and that the relationship between these two nations would be viewed by the North as hostile countries.
So again, Michael just to recap, 200 rounds of artillery fired by the North to the South in a water area, in a body of water off the coast is seen as an extension of the demilitarized zone. People in a nearby island in South Korea had been told to take shelter as South Korea is expected to take some kind of military response sometime within this hour.
HOLMES: All right, keep us up to date. Marc Stewart in Seoul. Appreciate it.
Turning our attention now to the Middle East where U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit eight countries over the next few days. He left the Washington D.C. area just a few hours ago. Among the priorities for the top U.S. diplomat keep the war between Israel and Hamas from spreading. Iran's influence in the region is a major concern now apparently being challenged by ISIS.
The terror group is claiming responsibility for twin explosions on Wednesday that killed 84 people and happened at a memorial for Quds Force Amanda Qasem Soleimani who was killed in a U.S. airstrike four years ago, and that's just one of several flashpoints in the region.
[01:05:08]
A top militia source says that commander and his assistant were killed in a strike in Baghdad. Thousands of people in Lebanon are mourning the death of a senior Hamas official who was killed in a suspected Israeli airstrike on Tuesday. And Iran backed Houthi rebels have carried out another drone attack in the Red Sea. No damage or injuries reported.
So a question many people are asking why would ISIS carry out an attack on civilians in Iran? CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson with some answers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, ISIS have claimed that they killed 300 people in this attack. And that's a much higher figure than that that's been given by the Iranian authorities. ISIS also claiming that the attack was perpetrated by two brothers, suicide bombers. They say we're involved in this attack.
That also is at a variance with the official version from Iranian authorities, at least on Wednesday, the Iranians were saying that at least one of the bombs the first bomb that went off was in a suitcase and that it was detonated remotely.
Now, it's not uncommon for ISIS to overstate its death count in attacks like this. It is quite within ISIS's MO of targeting innocent civilians. It is quite within ISIS's MO of striking targets in Iran. And for ISIS, Qasem Soleimani, whose memorial it was on Wednesday, he was seen by them as a figure that had tried to crush ISIS. So it for them, he would have been a legitimate target. So this does sound and seem to add up that this very likely was ISIS's doing.
Another interesting point coming from the ISIS statement as well. And this is very interesting, given everything that's happening in the region, saying that Iran was using all these countries in the region as proxies for its interests. And that this, they see as a disadvantage for the Palestinians and they positioning themselves ISIS as more of a champion for that cause.
So this is ISIS, again, taking on the narrative of Iran and choosing it to do -- choosing to do it when Iran is under a lot of other pressures at the moment so the timing also very interesting. Nic Robertson, CNN, Tel Aviv, Israel.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Joining us now is Colin Clarke, Director of Policy and Research with The Soufan Group and author of "After the Caliphate: The Islamic State and the Future of the Terrorist Diaspora." Thanks so much for being with us.
If this indeed was ISIS as the group claims it was, what do you think would have been the motivation to strike this way attack that particular target at this particular time?
COLIN CLARKE, DIRECTOR OF POLICY AND RESEARCH, THE SOUFAN GROUP: Well, all signs are that it was indeed the Islamic State. And this is consonant with ISIS's ideology, which is highly sectarian in nature, a large part of their recruitment and propaganda is based on attacking Shia, who they often call Rafita are apostates.
And so this is a power play in Iran to go after the most prominent Shia symbol in the region. And it's one that ISIS hopes will galvanize followers and potentially bring new recruits into the organization.
HOLMES: What does the attack suggest about the strength and the capability of ISIS right now that they could operate like this inside a Iranian territory? Is this evidence of a resurgence for ISIS?
CLARKE: Well, it could be. We could be on, you know, exactly on the heels of that. I think it also says something about Iran's capabilities, because the Iranian security services are likely overstretched, given all the activities in the region where they're managing forces in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, et cetera.
So their bandwidth is stretched. And this is a clear example, that they're more vulnerable domestically or at home than they've been in a long time.
HOLMES: What do we know about the broader aims of ISIS after of course, it was largely broken by the U.S. coalition in Iraq years ago? What do we know about what they want now?
CLARKE: Well, they'd like to catalyze some momentum. They'd like to bring more recruits into the organization. They'd like to get back into the headlines on the front pages of every newspaper, and then the heads of policymakers in the West.
There was a time at their peak when ISIS was ubiquitous. Their uptempo in terms of launching attacks seemed like it was near daily, including in the west and so they're not going to ever get back to that place, but they'd like to get back to a place where they're able to conduct attacks, they're able to increase their operational and their organizational capabilities.
[01:10:01]
HOLMES: Looking further afield now, there are, of course, fears of a broader regional conflict. You know, Israel's war on Hamas in Gaza, the simmering conflict on Israel's border with Lebanon and Hezbollah, the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. Yes, Israel striking Beirut. What role could ISIS play in all of that? And how do you evaluate the risk of a wider conflict regionally?
CLARKE: Well, ISIS is just another wildcard and what's an already chaotic and complex regional conflagration. As you mentioned, there's numerous hotspots around the Middle East. The United States is weighing several options about, you know, how they're going to approach this conflict, supporting the Israelis, but also getting into the mix themselves by attacking targets in Iraq and potentially soon targets in Yemen with the Houthis, you know, their attacks against commercial shipping need to be stopped.
So ISIS can play a spoiler role, and can really just add to the anarchy that we've seen unfolding since October 7. HOLMES: Are you worried about a wider conflict with all of those other factors not necessarily specifically involving ISIS? And also I want to ask you, what do you see as the U.S. positioning on all of these aspects of regional tension? The U.S., of course, has been engaging with militias in Iraq as well on top of everything else.
CLARKE: Well, I'm more worried today than I was even just a couple of weeks ago, because a lot of the things, especially at The Soufan Group, and the Soufan Center that we've been writing about have come to fruition, particularly the northern border between Israel and Lebanon and what's been happening with Hezbollah. I think that's the biggest concern that I have if Lebanese, Hezbollah enters the fray with force. This is a world class terrorist organization with extremely high end sophisticated capabilities.
But you're right, you know, looming in the background is the U.S. versus Iran. And if that comes to a head, we're looking at a region wide war. Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say World War III, but we're talking about some really serious conflict that would drag in multiple states, multiple non-state actors, it would tank the global economy. It would really be I think, you know, the worst case scenario heading into 2024.
HOLMES: Yeah. Now a lot of factors that play. Colin Clarke down with The Soufan Group. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
CLARKE: Thank you.
HOLMES: Israel has unveiled plans for the next phase of its war in Gaza. The Israeli Defense Minister, the same forces in northern Gaza will focus on raids, special operations, and the destruction of Hamas tunnel networks. Israel's military objective of the new phases to quote, erode the remaining terror hotspots in the area. Israel says its goals in southern Gaza will be to continue to pursue Hamas leaders and bring home the more than 100 hostages still being held captive.
Now that outline comes as the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the defense minister met in Tel Aviv, with a special envoy of U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss the war.
And the IDF issued a new series of evacuation orders for Palestinians in parts of central Gaza on Thursday, many civilians saying they're just too exhausted to flee yet again. And even if they could, there's nowhere safe to go. One Palestinian man telling CNN quote, this is not life. It's humiliation. CNN's Jeremy Diamond with more, a warning his report contains graphic images.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The lifeless body of yet another child carefully pried from the rubble. Gaza Civil Defense says this is the aftermath of an Israeli air strike in Deir al Balah, a city where tens of thousands are seeking shelter. Heating evacuation orders like this one dropped by the Israeli military.
ADBUL RAHMAN, INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON IN DEIR EL-BALAH: There is no place to set safety in this area. There is no water. There is no electricity. We are just surrounded by all the war and then bombed and attacked us without any alarm.
DIAMOND (voice-over): It's not just al Balah. Several cities where civilians have been told to flee have been hit in recent days, including this camp for displaced Palestinians in the southern city of Rafah where the Hamas controlled government media office says Israel has struck six locations over the last three days.
At Al Nasr hospital the dead lay waiting after an Israeli airstrike killed 14 people including nine children, according to the Hamas controlled Ministry of Health.
MAHMOUD SALEH, UNCLE OF ONE OF THE DEAD (through translator): Where is international law? There is no law.
[01:15:00]
They kill children. Children they are getting shelled as they are sleeping, they are bombing them, killing them with what blood, what blood.
DIAMOND (voice-over): Even the emblem of the Palestine Red Crescent Society is no shield. The group's headquarters in Khan Younis struck for the second time just this week, killing one and wounding six. The IDF told CNN it was reviewing the previous strike and held a quote operational debrief to draw immediate lessons.
Amid the strikes, some are once again on the move, mattresses and blankets carried however they can.
FULLA QADOUHA, INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON IN DEIR EL-BALAH (through translator): My house is gone. The houses of my sisters are also gone. I'd rather go back home and live in a tent than living here.
DIAMOND (voice-over): For many, that exhausting, elusive search for safety is over.
ABU ADNAN, INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON IN DEIR EL-BALAH (through translator): I tried to go back home twice, but my children pulled me back. There are no toilets, no food, no water, no clothes. With all this I prefer to go back home and die with dignity than dying this way.
DIAMOND (voice-over): That pursuit of dignity is all that remains. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Russia is reportedly reaching out to allies to expand its stockpile of missiles and according to Washington, two countries are eager to help. We'll have that when we come back.
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HOLMES: The U.S. says Russia is working with Iran and North Korea to restock its ballistic missile arsenal. That news coming as Moscow has been ramping up its strikes on Ukraine. Washington believes Russia is moving ahead with talks to acquire Iranian close range ballistic missiles. And the White House says Moscow has already received ballistic missiles from North Korea and likely use them in Ukraine.
Washington plans to take the issue to the U.N. Security Council and the US says it will slap more sanctions on those facilitating the missile transfers.
Meanwhile, cross border strikes are racking up more damage and casualties on both sides. On Thursday, Russia said Ukrainian drones and missiles hit the city of Belgorod again leaving two people wounded. Earlier in the day, Ukraine said a Russian cruise missile hit a city in central Ukraine killing one person and wounding eight others.
Now that's happening is Kyiv was pushing a new bill to change mobilization laws, which reached a parliamentary committee on Thursday, Ukraine's military is requested up to half a million more troops as the country faces a protracted conflict with Russia.
To discuss I'm joined by Mick Ryan, a retired Major General of the Australian Army and a former commander of the Australian Defence College. Always good to see you, Mick.
[01:20:00]
When Russia launched its full scale invasion back in February 2022, Ukrainians lined up to join the armed forces. Obviously, the losses on the battlefield have been huge. This new mobilization bill to beef up numbers, what does that move and the need for it suggests to you?
MICK RYAN, FORMER COMMANDER, AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE COLLEGE: Well good day, Michael. Well, we've known for some time that Ukraine is going to have to have an influx of people into its military whilst people will line up at the recruiting offices at the start of these wars. Generally, these volunteer efforts tail off over time, as we've seen in Ukraine.
So Ukraine to sustain its current efforts and build forces for its following offensives will need four to 500,000 new troops according to General Zaluzhnyi to sustain itself over the next year or so.
HOLMES: There's been some pushback politically and publicly on the bill was interesting. You know, I was reading according to a polling by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, only 26 percent of Ukrainians expressed trust in the government, compared to 52 percent in December 2022. It's notable that trust in Zelenskyy, himself is still relatively high at 62 percent. But that's down from 84 percent in December '22. How concerning is that?
RYAN: Well, it's very concerning. Clearly the scandals with recruiting for the military, the replacement of the defense minister has had a cost for the Ukrainian government and how Ukrainian people see it. But not withstanding that Ukrainians are going to have to go through this democratic process of implementing a new mobilization process if they want to defend the territory and reclaim occupied territory in the coming year.
HOLMES: The U.S. upset about North Korean ballistic missiles being sent to Russia and by all accounts, having been used in theater already. Also reports of Iran possibly supplying some. What impact might they have?
RYAN: Well, over the last couple of years, we've seen a lot of talk about the arsenal of democracy. What we've really seen develop is an arsenal of authoritarians where the Chinese trading dual use goods with Russia, and countries like Iran and North Korea are providing them with additional munitions, which are making a difference.
So, we really need to be able to tackle this collective effort by Iran, Russia, China and North Korea, and develop our own defense industrial base to counter it.
HOLMES: We're now in 2024, still no new aid package from the U.S. because Republicans in Congress are holding it up for political reasons, really, what could be the impact of U.S. politics and Republican posturing on that issue be?
RYAN: Well, this would be very disturbing for the Ukrainian government and strategists and their military leaders, the U.S. provides around 50 percent of military aid to Ukraine. And while some European countries are certainly stepping up their aid packages, it's really difficult to see them filling that gap if the U.S. aid packages don't come through in 2024.
But if the U.S. pulls it support, I don't foresee a Ukrainian defeat straight away. They will fight on but it will extend the wall and more Ukrainian civilians and soldiers will die unnecessarily.
HOLMES: Yes, yes. Yes. It was interesting that the Ukrainian Prime Minister said this week Ukraine plans to increase its defense industrial base output. Six fold in 2024, ramping up, you know, production of things like drones and shells and ammunition, armored vehicles as well for Ukrainian forces. How important could that domestic capability be this year ahead?
RYAN: Well, it's very important. Drones are important. The Ukrainians are seeing the Russians step up drone production. But things like munitions, the old Soviet era artillery, that Ukrainian army is mainly composed off need replacement munitions, are the sources of these are running around -- running out around the world. So the Ukrainians need to build these themselves. So this will be a very important effort in the year to come.
HOLMES: They're doing a lot at home. Putin, meanwhile, these increasing attacks on civilian targets. Talk about the strategy there are winter breaking of the will perhaps and do you think border comers (ph) winter takes hold? I mean, is it is he seizing the moment in terms of this western inertia on aid?
RYAN: Well, certainly Putin is nothing if not an opportunist whilst this isn't a new strategy so they can develop this in 2022. It is an evolving strategic strike program where the Russians are using different and larger combinations of missiles and drones to attack Ukraine to show to the Russian domestic population that Russia was succeeding and to say to some countries hey, it's not worth supporting Ukraine because Russian victory is inevitable.
[01:25:03]
I expect they'll continue this for some time to come, and hopefully rundown Ukrainian stocks a defensive missiles at the same time.
HOLMES: Russia and Ukraine conducted a prisoner of war exchange this week. The thing was that, you know, they've happened before, but this was the largest of the war and the first official POW exchange since August of last year. Is there anything to be read into the timing of Russia's apparent willingness to do that, as of that size?
RYAN: I'm sure there's something in the Russian information campaign about this. Certainly in the lead up to the election, Putin will be keen to get as many prisoners of wars out as he can. But the Ukrainians feel a very strong moral imperative to get all their soldiers out of captivity.
They know that about 70 to 80 percent of them suffer some form of torture, so they want their soldiers home, so they can be with their families, but to free them from the kind of treatment they're exposed to under the Russians.
HOLMES: Always good to get your analysis make, Mick. Thanks so much. Mick Ryan there for us in Brisbane.
RYAN: Thanks Michael.
HOLMES: Now, the list of U.S. states banning or considering banning Donald Trump from their presidential nomination ballots continues to grow. It's setting yet another possible setback for hopes of reclaiming the White House, the latest voters groups in Illinois and Massachusetts have filed motions to remove him from the 2024 election ballots in their states.
They cite his role in the January 6 attack and the insurrectionist ban in the U.S. Constitution 14th amendment. It's unclear how and when these new challenges will be adjudicated, but they come as the U.S. Supreme Court is widely expected to review a state court ruling in Colorado, a decision in that case could settle his eligibility for the entire nation.
Now on January 15, Republican voters in the state of Iowa will be the first to choose who they want to see as the party's nominee for president, as the state holds the first in the nation Republican Caucus. In a few hours ago with CNN hosted town halls with two of the party's candidates, Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley taking questions separately from Iowa voters, talking in part about why they would be better choices for president than Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. RON DESANTIS, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You'll see me on the debate stage next week here in Iowa on January 10. Donald Trump's not willing to show up on the debate stage, has he come to communities and answered questions. Has he gone to all 99 counties heck has even gone to nine counties.
NIKKI HALEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I personally think President Trump was the right president the right time. I agree with a lot of his policies. But the reality is, rightly or wrongly, chaos follows him. And we all know that's true chaos follows him. And we can't have a country in disarray and a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos. We won't survive it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now at her town hall, Nikki Haley also touched on a controversial moment on the campaign trail this week, when she was asked about what caused the U.S. Civil War and didn't happen to mention slavery. Our Erin Burnett asked her about the omission. And rival Chris Christie suggestion that Haley a former South Carolina governor avoided mentioning slavery because she's afraid of offending certain people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HALEY: No one's ever said that I am unwilling to offend. I offend plenty of people because I call people out when they do something wrong. What I will tell you is Chris Christie is from New Jersey. I should have said slavery right off the bat.
But if you grow up in South Carolina, literally in second and third grade, you learn about slavery. You grow up and you have, you know, I had black friends growing up, it is a very talked about thing. We have a big history in South Carolina, when it comes to, you know, slavery when it comes to all the things that happened with the Civil War, all that, I was over I was thinking past slavery and talking about the lesson that we would learn going forward.
I shouldn't have done that. I should have said slavery but in in my mind, that's a given that everybody associates the civil war with slavery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: A new report from U.S. House Democrats says foreign government spent millions of dollars at Donald Trump's businesses and properties while he was in office. Trump did not step away, of course from his business holdings, before assuming the presidency, meaning he could still profit with little transparency. Here's CNN's Melanie Zanona with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, there are new questions about whether Donald Trump was influenced by foreign countries or foreign entities during his time as president. That is because House Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have released a new report showing that Trump's businesses received a lot more money from foreign countries than was previously known.
In fact, the Chinese government alone spent more than $5.5 million at Trump properties during just two years of his presidency, which is more -- significantly more than any other country.
[01:30:11]
And in fact, this is also probably just a tiny fraction of the overall payments that Trump businesses received from foreign governments because these records and these support only covers two years of Trump's presidency and only accounts for a handful of his businesses.
So, the question really is whether Trump was influenced in his policy because of that money. One example cited in this report was the Trump declined to issue sanctions on a Chinese bank, despite the fact the DOJ had accused the Chinese bank of conspiring with North Korea to evade sanctions. And that bank was one of the largest tenants at Trump Tower.
Now, a lot of these lease agreements were made before Trump became president, so it is complicated and not necessarily a cut and dry issue here. And meanwhile, the Trump Organization has denied any wrongdoing in response to this report.
But it's notable because this report from House Democrats is coming as House Republicans are pursuing an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden over his son's foreign business deals.
Republicans, though, have yet to definitively prove that Biden either personally profited or made policy decisions because of this foreign business deals.
But no doubt, Democrats going to try to use this report to draw a contrast between Biden and Trump ahead of potential impeachment and ahead of the 2024 election.
Melanie Zanona, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Still to come on the program, we'll take you aboard a French medical ship helping the victims of war cope with devastating injuries in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Also, an Israeli mother held hostage in Gaza for 50 days with her two daughters, describes their ordeal.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry is putting the current death toll at more than 22,400 killed in the conflict with Israel. The ministry estimates 70 percent of the victims are women and children, 57,600 have been wounded according to the ministry in many of the injured face a long road to recovery. CNN's Nada Bashir takes us aboard one hospital ship caring for the
wounded. And a warning, some things in her report are difficult to watch.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): The familiar innocent scrolls of a child, but this child has been through the unimaginable, one of nearly 100 patients evacuated from Gaza to the Dixmude, a French helicopter carrier turned hospital ship, kitted out with specialist medical facilities.
[01:35:09]
Doctors here say they've already carried out 130 operations and just over a month, with patients as young as three and injuries spanning severe burns to amputations.
We were going to bed at night. I remember, I covered my face with a blanket, this 10-year-old Mahab (ph) says. Then, suddenly, I found myself in a hospital. I don't know what happened.
Like many his age, Mahab's dream was to become a footballer. The aftermath of the airstrikes still painful in Mahab's memory.
Twenty-two-year-old Mohammed was also evacuated in December, after his leg was severely injured. His aunt says that Mohammed's learning difficulties mean he's unable to fully process the horror they've left behind.
When we call our relatives in Gaza, there are always airstrikes around them, Nisreen says. They've been displaced over and over again. They keep being told to move to the safe areas, but there isn't a safe place left in Gaza anymore.
The photos of family members killed seemed endless. Nieces and nephews, children seen in this video all killed, she says, when Nashilta (ph), a U.N.-run school, was struck.
I hope I can return to Gaza, to pay with whatever family I have left. I just hope they will be okay. That's all we can hope for in this life.
Holding on to that hope, grows more difficult with each passing day. And while that medical team here does its best to heal the physical wounds of its patients, it's clear that the emotional scars of this war run deep.
When the patients arrive here, they all have this look in their eyes, one which makes you feel they have come out of something very, very difficult, Dr. Huber says. It's a bit shocking for us. We are not used to seeing this, especially from children.
Inside Gaza, death seems near impossible to escape. And for the thousands wounded, there is not respite. The vast majority of hospitals in the strip are no longer operational. Doctors, forced to work under Israel's unrelenting airstrikes, with limited medical supplies.
Only a small handful of more wounded have so far been evacuated. Facilities like this are few. The evacuation process, precarious.
And while the shuttered poppies of these survivors are now slowly on the mend, some have turned their minds to remolding the fragments of their lives back home.
Gaza is my home, even if I die, I want to die in Gaza, Abdel Raheem says. We'll rebuild everything, even if we have to start from zero.
Nada Bashir, CNN, in Al Arish, Northern Sinai.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now the Israeli military says three Israelis missing since the October 7th terror attacks and now thought to be held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. That raises the total number of people currently believed to be captive to 108, 24 other hostages kidnapped on October 7 are confirmed dead and their bodies remain in Gaza.
Now, dozens of hostages were freed during that temporary pause in fighting back in November. One of them says she endured psychological warfare during the 50 days she was held captive by Hamas.
Doron Asher was taken along with her two young daughters during the Hamas terror attacks of October 7th. Now reunited with her family, she is telling her story to CNN in her first international interview, describing the harrowing experience and the moment she realized during a temporary moment she was released during that temporary pause.
CNN's Bianna Golodryga with more from Tel Aviv.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DORON ASHER, HELD CAPTIVE BY HAMAS (through translator): They absolutely put on a show, to dress up me in nice clothes and shoes, before I was released. When my girls and I were barefoot for 50 days, and we were cold because we were wearing short sleeves in November. It was one big show.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Doron Asher opening up and revealing what really happened to her and her two young daughters, while held captive by Hamas for nearly 50 days.
Once you got into Gaza, what happened?
D. ASHER (through translator): When we got into our hiding place, an apartment that belonged to a family. We were inside their room without the ability to get out, of course, closed door, closed window. And after 16 days, they relocated us to another place, a so-called hospital.
GOLODRYGA: Did anyone tell you what was going on, why you were there?
[01:40:01] Were they members of Hamas?
D. ASHER (through translator): They didn't give us a lot of information. They mainly tried to say that Hamas wants to release us, but in Israel, no one cares about us, which wasn't true. We didn't believe most of the stuff that they were saying.
GOLODRYGA: And, of course, it wasn't true. Just over the border in Israel, Doron's husband Yoni never gave up hope.
YONI ASHER, WIFE & TWO YOUNG DAUGHTERS HELD BY HAMAS: We are begging for your help. My babies Raz and Aviv doesn't have much time.
I got to see how hell looks like. I don't know if there are any more tears left in me. But -- it is not coming, I'm afraid they will forget me. I am afraid they won't recognize me.
D. ASHER (through translator): The stuff that they have seen on October 7th, I couldn't hide from them. It's like we were in a horror movie. But after that, it was very important to me that they wouldn't feel danger.
And I told them, there are no terrorists anymore, and we are with good people who are guarding us until we can return home.
GOLODRYGA: Were they good to you?
D. ASHER (through translator): They didn't physically harm me, but there was a lot of psychological warfare.
GOLODRYGA: Like what?
D. ASHER (through translator): That we won't return to live in the kibbutz, because it's not our house, it's not the place where we belong.
GOLODRYGA: Did you know if they were Hamas, or just citizens in Gaza?
D. ASHER (through translator): They didn't give me a lot of info about them. I don't even know their names. I guess that the father is with Hamas, but they didn't even give me much info. I just know he worked in Israel in the past, and that's how he knows Hebrew, and that's how we communicated.
GOLODRYGA: Were there other children there?
D. ASHER (through translator): Yes, he had children and grandchildren. And basically, his children were watching us 24/7.
I asked every day about my family, if they knew anything about Gadi, about my brother, about my brother's baby girl. They didn't give me any answers.
GOLODRYGA: Why do you think they moved you after 16 days?
D. ASHER (through translator): I think they tried to gather hostages together, because the day that we arrived at the so-called hospital, other hostages arrived there as well. That was the first time that I met other hostages.
GOLODRYGA: Why do you keep saying so-called hospital?
D. ASHER (through translator): The hospital needs to treat six people, it doesn't hold hostages.
GOLODRYGA: Could you hear the IDF bombing? Did you know was going on and were you worried that by mistake, that you and your girls would have been in danger, as Israel was trying to retrieve you?
D. ASHER (through translator): I heard fighting, and yes, we were scared. The noises were very strong, very loud, but at least that's how we knew that something was going on, in order to get us back home, to put the pressure on Hamas to release us.
GOLODRYGA: What did you fear the most when you were there?
D. ASHER (through translator): Surprisingly, it was the day that we were released. They were smuggling us out of the hospital, and they got us on a Hamas vehicle to get to a meeting point with the Red Cross. We waited a long time for the Red Cross, and we were very scared because we didn't know what was going on. No one gave us any info. Once the Red Cross vehicles had arrived, thousands of Gazans, thousands, children, elderly, everyone came in and started to climb up on the cars, and being on the cars. I was holding my girls, and I was scared of a lynch mob. And this was the first time that Raz said to me after a month and a half of me protecting her, mommy, I'm scared.
GOLODRYGA: Today, the girls are back in kindergarten, and with family therapy for the most part, are readjusting well.
D. ASHER (through translator): There was one day that they saw a tractor here, and they asked if the evil men are here. And I had to tell them -- no, the tractor doesn't belong to the evil men. The evil men are in jail.
GOLODRYGA: And while they mourn their grandmother, Doron says the healing cannot really begin until all of the remaining hostages are released, including Gadi Mozes.
D. ASHER (through translator): The world has to understand our reality, that the hostages are in. I don't want to think of how they are treating men there, how they're treating the young women that are there. People who kidnapped children and old people are not human.
GOLODRYGA: Bianna Golodryga, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Still to come here on the program, days after a powerful earthquake ravaged parts of Japan. We'll take you to a village left in ruins as rescuers scramble to find survivors. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [01:46:41]
HOLMES: Emergency crews have rescued a survivor from the wreckage days after a massive earthquake ravaged western Japan. The 80-year-old woman was pulled from the rubble of a collapsed house in Wajima late on Thursday afternoon. We can see it going on there.
Emergency personnel are racing to find any more survivors following Monday's 7.5 magnitude quake. Officials say at least 92 people are dead, and hundreds more remain unaccounted for.
Much of the area looks like a war zone and survivors who haven't evacuated say basic necessities can be hard to find.
CNN's Hanako Montgomery is there on the ground with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Once an idyllic seaside town, in just minutes, parts of Wajima reduced to rubble. The life Kyoko built gone in an instant.
KYOKO IZUMI, LIQUOR STORE OWNER (through translator): It's hard. I have never seen anything like this. It's my first time experiencing something like this.
MONTGOMERY: With phone lines down, Kyoko can only hope her friends are alive, as she reckons with her new reality.
IZUMI (through translator): The aftershocks are really scary. They happened multiple times throughout the night. Last night was really intense.
MONTGOMERY: What happened last night?
IZUMI (through translator): Last night I think there were two magnitude 5 aftershocks in the felt like the entire ground was getting pushed up beneath me.
MONTGOMERY: Some in Kyoko's hometown remain stuck under their collapsed homes.
Just behind me, dozens of police officers are trying to pull a woman they believe is stuck under the rubble of her house. A prefecture over 300 kilometers away, which is goes to show the scale of rescue operations in Ishikawa prefecture.
Racing against time, emergency personnel began working last night. The constant aftershocks and fires hamper rescue operations, making it take days.
Dozens still missing in Ishikawa prefecture. Entire communities cut off by landslides, fallen trees, and broken roads.
This is just one of the many roads that have been completely destroyed in Wajima City, making it nearly impossible for aid to get an. We arrived in Wajima last night after driving all day, navigating
these roadblocks. Alongside dozens of fire and aid trucks on their way, while bypassing fallen debris.
But what little help does get through is far from enough. Water, food, and blankets are in short supply. Essential goods Japan says must get to survivors. At evacuation centers, reports of people dying, according to city hall officials.
FUMIO KISHIDA, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): The situation is terribly challenging, but until those 72 hours crucial to saving lives pass, we must do our utmost to save and rescue as many people responsible, with everything we have on the ground.
MONTGOMERY: But the full scale of devastation still unknown. Those who had the means to flee their home towns have gone.
[01:50:03]
While others trying to find remnants of their lives, scattered among the rubble.
Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Wajima City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Meantime, Europe is grappling with extreme weather from flooding to snow. Have a look at his video out of England, drivers trying to navigate their vehicles on flooded roads, heavy rains turning fields into swamps and causing a major river to burst its banks on Thursday. That same day, snow swept across northern Sweden, covering buildings and knocking out power. In the south, rescuers evacuate people from hundreds of cars stranded overnight due to heavy snow, strong winds, and icy conditions.
Some good news, though, for parts of Europe inundated by recent downpours as a front makes its way to the Mediterranean.
Alison Chinchar has the weekend weather forecast for Europe.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right, places like Germany and France are finally going to see some relief in the form of drier conditions as we head into the weekend and it couldn't come soon enough. You can see from the video here from northern France, again, roadways, fields, underwater. It has been that way for a few days now.
Now, the next system that is really starting to shift from northern Europe down in towards the Mediterranean, so the focus the rainfall over the next few days is really going to be across portions of Italy, Greece, and right there along the Adriatic Sea. And that's where you're going to have the highest totals for rain as well as snow here. You can see across the Alps, still looking at 20 to 40 centimeters, but heaviest rain is going to be focused along Italy as well as Greece, where we could pick up 50 to a millimeters total as we head through the weekend.
The other big story has been the extreme cold temperatures. Take a look at some of these numbers. All of these locations are in the Arctic Circle, but even for these areas this is extremely cold. All of these locations bottoming out below minus 40 degrees, even places further south, like Oslo and Helsinki, not quite as cold but still much colder than they normally would be for this particular time of year.
Now, the good news is we are going to finally start to see that frigid air begin to shift off to the east and get some relief but it's very slow to do so. So for a lot of these locations, it is still likely going to take several more days before we see those temperatures climbing back to normal. Take Oslo, for example, still, temperatures well below average until at least Monday of next week before we finally start to see them rebound getting closer to where they should be this time of year.
Stockholm very similar conditions. Those temperatures well below average to Monday of next week. Finally, by the time we get to Tuesday and Wednesday, we see the rebound back to at least seasonal averages this time of year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Alison Chinchar there.
We'll take a quick break. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back.
We are hearing just now that the former Olympic and Paralympic sprinter and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius has been released from prison in South Africa. South Africa's correctional services says he is now at home where he is required to stay at particular hours. He will not be allowed to consume alcohol or prohibited substances.
Pistorius was granted parole in November, nearly 11 years after killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. During his trial, he testified he thought he was shooting an intruder in his bathroom.
[01:55:03]
Pistorius was being held at this prison near Pretoria.
The country's corrections department says he will remain under supervision until his sentence ends. That won't be until 2029.
Another batch of documents in the 2015 civil lawsuit connected to the late accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein were released on Thursday. This time, 19 documents revealed more information about the late financier and his girlfriend.
CNN's Kara Scannell with the latest. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A second batch of over 300 pages really just sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were unsealed Thursday. The new release includes depositions and emails. It also includes an allegation that former President Bill Clinton pressured "Vanity Fair" to not right about Epstein, a claim the magazine's former editor categorically denies.
The documents were unsealed as part of the now settled defamation lawsuit brought by Epstein accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who sued Epstein's former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
In a 2011 email with a journalist, Giuffre claims Clinton threatened "Vanity Fair" not to write about sex trafficking articles about Epstein. Graydon Carter, "Vanity Fair's" then-editor just said to CNN that the interaction, quote, categorically did not happen.
A Clinton spokesman told CNN they had no comment about the alleged incident. On Wednesday, in response to Clinton appearing in the unseal documents, a spokesman said it has been nearly 20 years since President Clinton last had contact with Epstein.
With more than 150 names expected to be public by court order, there are still several names that are under seal. In a different email, the same journalist reference is someone being trafficked to, quote, two of the world's most respected politicians. Both of their names are blacked out.
Also redacted, the name of another accuser who said in a deposition that she was paid to give Epstein massagers the downturn sexual. At least 30 girls told authorities in the mid-2000s that they were recruited to massage Epstein, the lead Palm Beach detective investigating him said in an unsealed deposition. The majority of them, the detective testified, were under 18 years old.
Epstein was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges in 2019. He died by suicide in jail before trial.
Kara Scannell, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I'm Michael Holmes. Lynda Kinkade is here with more news in just a moment. You will like that.
