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U.S. Launches Fourth Strikes Against Houthi Rebels; Trump Attacks Fellow Republican Contender Nikki Haley and His Past Comments from the President Before Him; Gaza Suffers Longest Internet Blackout Since October 7th Attacks; U.K. Lawmakers Pass Rwandan Asylum Bill; Princess Kate Recovers After an Abdominal Surgery as King Charles Undergoes Prostate Surgery. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired January 18, 2024 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.
Just ahead, tensions growing in the Middle East as the US strikes Houthi militants in Yemen for a fourth time and Pakistan hits targets in Iran in retaliation for a deadly attack a day earlier. We're live in Islamabad and Abu Dhabi with the very latest.
Plus, U.S. President Joe Biden is pressing lawmakers for more Ukrainian funding as Russia continues its assault. We'll have new details on the war as the struggle for aid continues.
And while the Princess of Wales recovers from surgery, King Charles gets ready for his own hospital stay. An update on the British Royals live from London.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: Good to have you with us. Well growing alarm over the expanding conflicts in the Middle East and beyond, the newest hostilities involve neighboring Iran and Pakistan, who both took the extraordinary step of attacking militants on each other's soil.
Iran is demanding an immediate explanation from Pakistan, now summoning the Pakistani charge d'affaires, after it launched strikes in Iran's Sistan and Baluchistan province earlier today. Pakistan claims a number of militants were killed, but Iran says the victims were actually women and children. This comes a day after Iran fired on Sunni militants inside Pakistan. Authorities say two children were killed in the quote, "unprovoked attack."
Meanwhile, American forces recently carried out their fourth round of strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen in less than a week and the U.S announced its re-designating the Houthis as a global terrorist organization. That's after the Houthis struck another American ship. While speaking at the World Economic Forum, Iran's Foreign Minister linked the regional instability to Israel's war with Hamas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOSSEIN AMIR-ABDOLLAHIAN, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: If the genocide in Gaza stops, then it will lead to the end of other crises and attacks in the region.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Sophia Saifi is standing by, live in Islamabad; but we go first to our Paula Hancocks, who joins us from Abu Dhabi. So Paula, the United States has carried out another round of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. What is the latest on this?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Rosemary, this is the fourth time that they've carried out these attacks since their first one last Thursday, which was the more significant strike. More than 60 targets were hit at that point. So this one today, we understand from U.S. Central Command and U.S. officials, was 14 Houthi missile launchers which were targeted. They were hit by Tomahawk missiles from the USS Florida and from another U.S. Navy vessel.
Now, U.S. officials say that they were loaded and ready to go. So the threat was imminent and that is when they took them out. But you look at what the Houthis have managed to achieve this week on Monday. They hit a U.S. vessel. Now there were no injuries, there was some damage to the ship, but it was able to continue.
On Tuesday they managed to hit with an anti-ship ballistic missile a Malta-flagged Greek-owned vessel. Same situation, no injuries but there was some damage. And then again on Wednesday, a second US-owned or operated vessel being hit in the Gulf of Aden.
So, certainly, what we're hearing from the U.S. side is that they understand that there is still a capability that the Houthis have that they have not been able to destroy. They said the first round of strikes that they carried out overnight, Thursday into Friday, they believe they hit and took out less than a third of the weapons capabilities.
The Houthis clearly having dispersed their abilities to make sure that they are not able to be taken out in one fell swoop. Now also on the political side the U.S. as we were expecting has re-designated this group as a terrorist organization. The State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller explains why.
[03:04:56]
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MATTHEW MILLER, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: For the past several weeks, the United States, with allies and partners around the world, has made clear that there must be consequences for those attacks. And today's designation follows on our military action last week to hold the Houthis accountable for their actions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANCOCKS: Now it was only a few years ago, back in 2021, when the same administration, the Biden administration, delisted them from the terrorist organization list, saying that they wanted to make it easier to be able to get humanitarian supplies into Yemen. This time around they have said they have no choice but to do this because this of course can lead to sanctions if they are on that list. So that was the reasoning behind that. Rosemary.
CHURCH: Right, Paula Hancocks, joining us from Abu Dhabi, many thanks.
I want to go to CNN's Sophia Saifi now, who joins us live from Islamabad. And Sophia, what is the latest on the fallout from Iran's strike inside Pakistan? And now, of course, Pakistan's response and the impact all this is having on bilateral ties.
SOPHIA SAIFI, CNN PRODUCER: Rosemary, yes, I mean, Pakistani, the Pakistani public, let alone the Pakistani government, seem to have been caught very unaware and surprised by Iran's act striking into the country, deep into Pakistani territory on Tuesday night.
We woke up this morning to information that Pakistan had carried out strikes into Iranian territory. Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released a statement that these were retaliatory attacks just targeting militant outposts within Iran that Pakistan had been sharing information with Iran for many, many months.
This is not an attack on the Iranian state, according to the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But Pakistan's security is sacred to the Pakistanis. They have called Iran a brotherly, friendly nation.
However, there is a lot of anger within Pakistan, a lot of disappointment really to a country that is normally a friendly neighbor of Pakistan. Pakistan has a hostile border on its east with India. It's got issues with the Afghan Taliban, also on the western border.
China, another neighbor of Pakistan, has stepped up and spoken out last night, calling for both sides to exercise restraint, to respect each other's territory. Pakistan has withdrawn its ambassador from Iran, suspended all high-level talks, asked Iran's ambassador not to return to the country to Pakistan. He was visiting Iran on some visit.
So we're just going to have to wait and see whether this was a tit- for-tat situation, whether this now ends the entire scenario, or whether it's something that's going to escalate and bleed further from the Middle East now into South Asia. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right, our thanks to Sophia Saifi, joining us live from Islamabad with that report.
Well, a number of shipping companies are scaling back roots in the Red Sea because of the Houthi attacks. U.S. officials are warning American merchant ships to steer clear of the waterway, and some insurers are refusing to cover American, British and Israeli vessels against war risks.
The CEO of shipping giant Maersk is warning that the disruptions could last for more than a month and result in shipment delays and price hikes and, in turn, impact the global economy. CNN's Richard Quest spoke to Vincent Clerc at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and here's part of that interview.
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VINCENT CLERC, CEO, MAERSK: The level of threat today is really, really hard to assess on an objective basis. And I completely understand that. For us, this is really about guaranteeing the safety of our crew, of our ships, and also of the cargo that our customers are trusting us with.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR: So you're gonna have to take the long way round, which is down and around. It adds about 10 to 14 days, depending on the result, as I understand it.
CLERC: That's about correct.
QUEST: Correct me. But what does it add in terms of cost?
CLERC: So actually the exact cost of it is something that is really unfolding and that we're trying to get our arms around. You have different levels of cost. The first one is it takes about 8,000 miles more to get from China to the U.K. south of the Horn. That takes these couple of weeks.
That means that we have ships that suddenly have to sail full throttle. That means more emission, more fuel. It means also that they will not be, despite that, back on time in China. That means also the containers take longer time to turn. So you just have costs piling on here and the longer this is going to last, the more this is going to cost.
QUEST: So how much of that cost can you pass on? I mean, I suppose if it's already on the high seas you can't, but freight costs are going up. We know that. Is that you pushing them up? I don't mean you personally, but you know.
CLERC: I think actually we have, thanks to maritime law actually who makes or has anticipated cases such as this one, we have actually the possibility to adjust the freight that is on the water for the extended transit time and that's also what has been in the process of being applied.
But further to that, there is a lot of costs that are going to pile on the longer this takes and initially we thought this was going to be a fairly short disruption. Now, I think our base case is more going towards month of disruptions and that means a lot more cost.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[03:10:06] CHURCH: U.S. President Joe Biden is calling on Congress to swiftly pass more funding for Ukraine. He stressed that it's vital for protecting the free world during a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House on Wednesday. Ukraine is contending with a dwindling supply of weapons and troops on the front lines are forced to ration their ammunition while they wait for more aid from the West.
Meanwhile, Russia says it intercepted two Ukrainian drones in the past few hours, one in the Moscow region, the other deep into Russian territory in the Leningrad region, which borders Finland and Estonia. The war has been a central topic for world leaders gathered at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Ukraine's foreign minister says his country is determined to regain control over its skies.
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DMYTRO KULEBA, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: This is the way forward. This is the way forward to send a clear message to everyone in the world that if you dare to break rules, you're going to pay. If we don't send that message, if we don't make it very clear, the number of conflicts, interstate conflicts and tensions across the globe will be growing. And I think this is. And the price of fixing them will be much higher than the price of helping Ukraine.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: CNN's Clare Sebastian joins me now live from London. Good morning to you, Clare. So U.S. President Joe Biden appealing to lawmakers for more Ukraine funding, just as Russia launches more attacks in Odessa and Kharkiv. How desperate is Ukraine for this U.S. funding and what happens if it doesn't get approved by Congress soon?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Rosemary, extremely desperate, I would say the U.S. funding overall. U.S. has been by far the biggest provider of military support to Ukraine. Europe is trying to step into the void, but there are real questions over whether it has the industrial capacity, not to mention, of course, the political will to do that. As you see, and as you said, Ukraine is having to ration artillery ammunition on the front lines. This is something that we've been hearing now for several months.
And while they are showing significant ingenuity and bravery, that is having an impact secondly of course we continue to see at these overnight aerial attacks not obviously regularly on the scale of what we saw on December 29th and January 2nd with those massive combined drone and missile attacks but they do continue the Ukrainian Air Force say that they managed to shoot down or avert 22 out of 33 attack drones that were launched towards Ukraine last night.
There are also two S300 missiles fired towards how key if they say that's a pretty blunt instrument. These are actually designed as air defense missiles. So these aerial attacks continue and they are dwindling the air defense capabilities that Ukraine has.
So the situation is urgent. That's why you see those calls in Davos from both Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign ministry from President Zelenskyy himself urging the West that this is not just about the quantity of weapons provided but the timing as well. Timing is of the essence as Ukraine tries to repel these attacks.
But as you also noted, Ukraine is making it very clear that they're not taking these attacks lying down. Russia claiming to have averted a drone attack over the Leningrad region where St. Petersburg is, of course, this is the first time we've seen that region targeted. So they are also, it seems, continuing with that strategy of hitting behind enemy lines. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Clare Sebastian, bringing us that live report from London.
Still to come, Donald Trump's accuser takes the witness stand, but it's the former president who clashes with the judge in his defamation trial.
And a new round of attacks against Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, why some are comparing them to Trump's past comments about Barack Obama.
Plus, Texas strikes a defiant note in legal battles over immigration with razor wire, we'll explain.
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[03:15:00]
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CHURCH: Donald Trump is stepping up his attacks on Nikki Haley, a head of Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, calling on her Indian ethnicity and immigrant parents. Meanwhile, Haley is creating some challenges for herself. CNN's U.S. national correspondent, Kristen Holmes, has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump is putting his focus squarely on Nikki Haley as he eyes a win in New Hampshire.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nikki Haley is a disaster.
HOLMES (voice-over): With six days until the Granite State primary, the former president is dismissing Haley's support, claiming the former South Carolina governor is counting on Democrats to booster candidacy.
TRUMP: Nikki Haley in particular is counting on the Democrats and liberals to infiltrate your Republican primary. They're going to load it up with Democrats and independents in. That's not what the Republican Party is about. HOLMES (voice-over): Registered Democrats are not able to vote in the
GOP primary, but Republican and undeclared voters can. The GOP frontrunner also returning to familiar tactics on social media, attacking Haley using her birth name. After recently amplifying a post, falsely claiming that Haley, who was born in South Carolina, could not be president because her parents were not U.S. citizens at the time of her birth.
An echo of the racist lie, he promoted that former president Barack Obama was not born in the U.S.
TRUMP: People behind Nikki Haley are pro-ad ministry (ph), they're pro-China.
HOLMES (voice-over): The attacks are part of a broader strategy by Trump's campaign to blunt Haley's momentum in the Granite State, as polling shows her within striking distance, targeting her record on immigration to appeal to conservatives.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Drug traffickers, rapists, poisoning our country, but Nikki Haley refused to call illegals criminals.
HOLMES (voice-over): Haley, also treating New Hampshire as a two- person contest.
NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: When you look at the fact we've got all these issues around the country and around the world, and what are Biden and Trump both focused on? Investigations, past issues, things that aren't taking us forward. We can either have more of the same or we can say it's time to change and move forward.
HOLMES (voice-over): But the former South Carolina governor once again inviting scrutiny for comments about race after earlier drawing criticism for failing to mention slavery as a cause of the civil war.
HALEY: We're not a racist country, Brian. We've never been a racist country.
HOLMES (voice-over): Asked about those comments during a CNN Town Hall, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis not agreeing with Haley or attacking his rival.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The U.S. is not a racist country and we've overcome things in our history. I think the Republican Party stands for merit and achievement and colorblindness. That is what we should stand for.
HOLMES: Now here in New Hampshire, campaign advisors tell me they're also targeting left-leaning and moderate independents hitting Nikki Haley on Social Security and Medicare, something they think will help them get votes from those left-leaning and moderate independents.
Kristen Holmes, CNN, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE) CHURCH: Donald Trump will be off the campaign trail today to attend his mother-in-law's funeral. He spent Wednesday in a New York courtroom at his defamation trial brought by journalist E. Jean Carroll. The former president has already been found liable and now jurors will determine damages.
Carroll says she endured a barrage of threats after she brought a sexual assault lawsuit against Trump. A civil jury last year found her allegations to be credible. At one point, the judge threatened to have Trump removed from the courtroom because he was making comments that could be overheard by the jury during Carroll's testimony.
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TRUMP: This is a person I have no idea until this happened obviously I have no idea who she was and nor could I care less. It's a rigged deal. It's a made up fabricated story.
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[03:20:10]
CHURCH: More now from CNN's chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Former President Trump headed to New Hampshire late Wednesday after a long day in court where E. Jean Carroll testified for the first time with Trump in the room. While she did testify at her trial last spring where a jury found that Trump sexually abused her and defamed her and awarded her $5 million, Trump did not attend that trial. So it was significant that on Wednesday he was there in the room as she recounted the impact that all of this has had on her.
But Trump and his lawyer engaged in some contentious exchanges with the judge over the rules of the court. Trump was disruptive during Caroll's testimony, which prompted pushback from the judge and his attorney, Alina Habba did not follow the basic rules of evidence when trying to introduce certain pieces of evidence during cross- examination.
This too prompted contentious exchanges with the judge. It all appeared to be sort of manufactured courtroom drama to help amplify Trump's message that he is the victim of an unfair judicial system.
Paula Reid, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: We're more than three hours past the deadline. The White House gave the state of Texas in their latest legal standoff over immigration. The state has blocked U.S. border patrol from accessing a stretch of border near the town of Eagle Pass. According to a letter from the Department of Homeland Security, the White House gave Texas until midnight on Wednesday to change course or face possible action by the Department of Justice. But Texas is not backing down. It says it started arresting migrants there Wednesday night, charging them with state charges of criminal trespass.
More now from CNN's Rosa Flores.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton saying that Texas will not surrender to the Biden administration when it comes to the border dispute. What does that look like on the ground? Let me show you, we just got access to Shelby Park. This is the area of the border that was taken over by the state of Texas.
And you can see these added border barriers. This is extra fencing, extra razor wire, that according to Texas National Guard will be added to the border barrier that you see here to my right.
On the other side of this border barrier is the Rio Grande. And according to Texas National Guard, these fencing and razor wire will be added support to these border barriers to stop illegal immigration.
Now, this particular takeover by the state of Texas of this property is just one of several legal battles that are playing out in the courts between Texas and the Biden administration. There's the controversial border buoys, there's the razor wire, and also the recent passage of a state immigration law here in the state of Texas.
Now, all of that tells you what the relationship is between the state of Texas and the Biden administration and how the takeover of this park is just an escalation of that. Now the obvious question is are all of these border barriers actually stopping illegal immigration?
Well, according to a law enforcement source, smugglers are simply pushing migrants to cross further up river. And so they're not crossing through this area where these border barriers are. They're moving up north and so that just moves migration to a residential area. So bottom line, this is not working.
Rosa Flores, CNN, Eagle Pass, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Coming up, while aid is slowly trickling into Gaza, the UN warns it's not nearly enough and that famine has already set in for many there. We'll hear from UNICEF about what can be done, if anything, to ease the misery.
Plus, a prosecutor going after organized crime is gunned down in broad daylight. We'll have details after the break.
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[03:25:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHURCH: With Israel's war against Hamas well into its fourth month, residents of Gaza are finding themselves largely cut off from the outside world. With the near total internet blackout now surpassing five days, according to the monitoring site NetBlocks, the longest disruption in the war so far.
And CNN's Nada Bashir has more and a warning, some of the images in her report are disturbing.
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NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Relentless strikes, piercing the night sky over Khan Younis. Gaza, once again, plunged into eerie darkness. Endless tragedies on the ground, obscured by the longest communications blackout imposed on the strip thus far. What little video is still able to reach the world paints a troubling picture.
At the Al-Nasser hospital in Gaza's south, not only one of the last still functioning here, but also where the World Health Organization says some 7,000 people were sheltering. Families yet again have been forced to flee. Civilians and patients seen here carrying their children and belongings.
As Israeli forces, who said they were targeting a Hamas rocket launched against the OEDF from the hospital complex, close in.
AMR TABASH, JOURNALIST (through translator): There was heavy fire at the Al-Nasser hospital and in the vicinity. We're seeing huge violent bombings here. We've been trying to share a video of what is happening from the highest point at the hospital. But as you can see, the bombardment is severe.
BASHIR (voice-over): Israel maintains it is targeting Hamas infrastructure and tunnels where hostages are said to have been held, which Hamas denies.
As the sun rises in Gaza, the death toll also climbs. Families carrying the bodies of those who did not survive the night.
My life, my life. This mother cries over her child.
Tiny bodies wrapped in shrouds, buried in the arms of the wrapped parents.
Now amongst the more than 10,000 children said to have been killed in a war they had no part in. Those figures provided by the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza grew more shocking with each passing day. More than 24,000 people killed in just over three months. Israel says that some 9,000 Hamas fighters were among the dead. Though CNN is unable to independently verify this claim.
UMM MUHAMMAD ABU ODEH, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN (through translator): These were peaceful people. They were sleeping in their homes. The Israelis told us to go to the south, so we came. But there's no safe place in Gaza, not in the south, not in the north, not in the middle. Every area is being struck. Everywhere is dangerous.
BASHIR (voice-over): The vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million population are now internally displaced, concentrated in the south, where Israel's bombardment is only intensifying. The unfolding catastrophe in Gaza, now characterized by the U.N.'s humanitarian office, as a stain on the world's collective conscience.
A war, they say, conducted with almost no regard for the impact on civilian life. And now, with little aid getting into the strip, a wall that is pushing Gaza past the brink of famine.
Nada Bashir, CNN, in Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Aid and medicine for Palestinians and Israeli hostages have entered Gaza, according to Qatar, after the country brokered a deal between Israel and Hamas.
[03:30:00]
Meantime, Israel has confirmed that 253 people had been taken hostage on October 7th, announcing a firm number for the first time. After hostage releases and one rescue, Israel now believes 132 hostages are still in Gaza, but only 105 of them are alive.
Kfir Bibas is believed to be one of them. He is the youngest Israeli hostage and on Wednesday he turned one. Families of hostages still being held in Gaza had a ceremony marking his birthday. Kfir, his four-year-old brother Ariel, their mother Shiri and their father Yaden were all abducted from kibbutz Nir Oz. A cousin of the family spoke with CNN.
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JIMMY MILLER, COUSIN OF BIBAS FAMILY: Actually I'm thinking that it's very bad that a child that has only one year old is captivated and is in Gaza. Kfir Bibas is not the enemy of the Hamas. It's very sad that his first birthday is over there in Gaza.
I don't know if even Shiri knows that it's the day of his birthday. We don't know if she knows the day that he needs to celebrate his birthday. Probably they don't, you know, celebrate it somehow over there. And we are very, very sad, all the family, about the situation of all the hostages and about the situation of our family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: In late November, Hamas claimed without providing evidence, Kfir, his brother and mother, had been killed in an Israeli airstrike. The IDF has not confirmed the deaths.
Well meantime, in the U.S., families of the American hostages who remain captive in Gaza will meet National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan today. The U.S. believes six Americans remain in captivity in Gaza. Several of their families are in Washington this week around the 100-day mark, their loved ones being abducted by Hamas, pleading for their release.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON POLIN, SON HELD BY HAMAS: 103 days is 103 days too many and we are running out of time. The hostages are running out of time.
I've briefly shared Hersh's story here to raise awareness for him and the other 135 hostages, including five living Americans, we hope. But it's day 103 and we must be beyond the state of awareness. This is an emergency that requires action.
And as Americans, we expect the United States, the greatest superpower in the history of the world, to use its full power to secure the hostages' release.
This includes making sure that all partners in the region make this a top priority, and that includes those who maintain close ties with Hamas.
Every minute that goes by is one minute closer to death for our loved ones. I implore you, bring all of the hostages home now.
YARDEN GONEN, SISTER HELD BY HAMAS: My little sister, Romy, only 23 years old, went to the Nova Music Festival. Instead of having the time of her life, celebrating love, peace, freedom and friendship, she was the victim of unimaginable hate, torture and pure evil.
Ben came to rescue us, she called me to say, and we got 10 minutes of hope. Ben picked her, Gaia and another man, name of fear, from the area, trying to rescue them from the hands of the terrorists. Ten minutes of grace, that's all they have had. And then Romy called my mother.
Mom, we were ambushed. They're shooting at us. Ben is most likely dead. Gaia was shot and she's not responding. Afir is wounded badly. I was shot on my arm. If no one will come quickly, I'll be dead. My sister has asthma and chronic sinusitis. She needs her inhaler in order to breathe properly.
We can only imagine how she's struggling, gasping for air wherever she's held underground. Can you grasp the feeling of fighting to breathe? Such a basic need. 103 days, no privacy. Can you imagine sleeping, going to the bathroom, changing your clothes when someone is watching you every move.
[03:34:52]
It's not only that you're in control of someone else in your daily basic needs, it's also the fear from every move, every breath, every word could be the one that will lead to another sexual abuse, to another threat on your life, another rape.
103 days of horrible pain in her body, of her bleeding gunshot wound of her paralyzing hand, paralyzed hand, barely moving her fingers, suffering from any every movement. Do you think anyone over there cares for her pain? I miss my little sister so, so much. You are all lawmakers of the most
powerful country in the world, a beacon of democracy, a defender of civil and human rights. Please, with this great power comes great responsibility. I ask you, please do everything you can to get our hostages home where they deserve to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Qatar's foreign ministry says a delivery of medicine for Palestinians and for Israeli hostages has now arrived in Gaza. On Tuesday, Qatar said it brokered a deal with Israel and Hamas to allow that aid to enter the territory.
Hamas has demanded that for every box of medication for the hostages, 1,000 boxes would be given for Palestinian civilians. But the Israeli military says it can't guarantee the medicine will even reach those held captive. And of course, it will take much more than these types of deliveries to ease the suffering in Gaza and to fight off famine.
UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram joins me now from Cairo, Egypt. Thank you so much for talking with us.
TESS INGRAM, UNICEF SPOKESPERSON: Thanks for having me.
CHURCH: And Tess, you have just returned from a week in Gaza. What is happening on the ground there and how bad is it for residents across the enclave in the midst of this ongoing war?
INGRAM: I think, we all see the images on the news, but having actually been there firsthand, it all obviously comes to life. There's so many stories of pain and horror. Everyone that I've talked to talked about how desperate the situation is there, particularly for women and children. I was in the middle area and in Khan Younis where the fighting is incredibly intense and you can hear the ongoing bombardments throughout the day and the night.
And then I was also in the South in Rafah where we think, you know, almost one and a half million people are now living in a town that was set up for about 250 to 300,000. So it's incredibly crowded and there just aren't the services there to meet the needs of children.
CHURCH: And Tess, with such limited access to food and water, what are the risks of this deprivation of humanitarian aid in Gaza leading to famine or is that already happening?
INGRAM: Yes, look, the U.N. has warned that there's a severe risk of famine in Gaza. We are seeing women and children unable to get the food that they need to provide proper nutrition, particularly for children's growing bodies. It's incredibly serious.
So many of the children that I spoke to have barely eaten each day, maybe a little piece of pita bread or sharing a tin of vegetables from aid packages with the whole extended families. So people are hungry, they're exhausted because they're not getting the proper food that they need and this also puts them at risk of the diseases that are now circulating in the Gaza Strip. There's rising cases of diarrhea and respiratory infections and with the compromised immune system from not getting proper food it creates a really deadly cycle for children.
CHURCH: Yeah I mean that is the problem because you have previously warned haven't you of the threat of diseases in Gaza and now of course you're reporting that is indeed the case. So what can be done about that?
INGRAM: Look, we basically just need to get more aid in and the heartbreaking thing is that you know we've obviously seen thousands of children die from the bombs and the bullets but we're now seeing children die from things that are preventable like food.
I spoke to a doctor at a hospital who told me that a mother who was undernourished gave birth to a newborn baby who subsequently died in the coming days because the mother's condition wasn't strong enough and therefore the baby was weak and unable to survive and he said that wasn't an isolated incident.
I also heard of a child dying of hypothermia, a two-year-old, because they were sleeping on the streets without enough warmth. So if we can get more winter blankets in, more winter clothes, more food to prevent malnutrition, clean water to prevent disease, then we can stave off a humanitarian crisis that will result in thousands more children dying.
[03:40:08]
CHURCH: Yeah, it is just heartbreaking. And of course, it is worth pointing out that we tried to talk with you 24 hours ago when you were actually in Gaza, but due to communications blackout, we couldn't get through. And most residents have been unable to contact the outside world since January 12th. How has that impacted people's lives there?
INGRAM: Oh, it's just terrible. I spoke to a mother the day before I left, actually. We were at Nasser hospital. And this mama, Marnie, she'd left the north with her son because he'd been badly injured by some shrapnel and ended up having to have his whole arm, right arm, amputated terribly without anesthetic.
And Marnie was telling me that her son, despite everything that he'd been through with that terrible surgery, was still just feeling tremendous guilt of because of his injury, the family had left, he and his mum had left the North, leaving the rest of the family behind and they hadn't heard from them in two months, no idea whether his siblings and his dad were still alive and okay.
So that lack of telecommunications has a tremendous impact on people's mental health as they wonder about the wellbeing of their families. And it also has a big impact on agencies like UNICEF because it makes it really difficult for us to deliver aid to the people that need it if we can't communicate with each other or with a hospital for example.
CHURCH: And I did want to ask you about that because what is UNICEF's plan in terms of the future of trying to help the people in Gaza because it's very difficult isn't it when there's so little in terms of food and water and other bare necessities.
INGRAM: Yeah, it's incredibly difficult, but that doesn't mean that we stop. UNICEF works in some of the most challenging places all around the world. And we're staying and delivering in Gaza, despite the tremendous challenges and, and seeing what the team is accomplishing on the ground in this last week has made me so impressed that they're still getting things out to people despite the difficulties, but we need better conditions for that aid delivery.
It's so tough to get aid, particularly to the North where we have such limited access because we can't get the safety assurances. And people in the North have a right to receive that aid and they need it urgently.
CHURCH: Yeah, and we salute your incredible work, yours and of course your organization and all the other aid groups that are there working so hard to help the people of Gaza. Tess Ingram, thank you so much for talking with us. I Appreciate it.
INGRAM: Thank you.
CHURCH: Well as the deadly fighting between Israel and Hamas continues, so too does a dire humanitarian crisis as we've just been discussing. CNN has gathered a list of vetted organizations that are on the ground responding. And you can find details on how you can help at a special section of our website, cnn.com/impact. Do take a look.
And we'll be right back.
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[03:45:00]
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CHURCH: Ecuador's attorney general says the country will press ahead with its crackdown on organized crime despite the assassination of a prosecutor who is investigating a brazen attack on a local TV station. Masked gunmen burst into the studio in the middle of a live broadcast last week in an attack that shocked the country. The prosecutor Cesar Sanchez was gunned down in broad daylight in Ecuador's largest city, Guayaquil, on Wednesday. The country's attorney general later had this to say.
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DIANA SALAZAR MENDEZ, ECUADOR'S STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL (through translator): Regarding this event, which is a source of grief for us as an institution, we are currently conducting the first investigations at the scene of the crime, with the aim of ensuring, as in every case of violent death, that this crime does not go unpunished.
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CHURCH: Ecuador has been shaken by violence since one of its top drug lords escaped from prison this month, leading to a state of emergency and a crackdown on crime gangs.
Well earlier this month, CNN reported on the underground travel network helping Chinese migrants flee their homeland for the United States. But what happens when they get here? Our David Culver spoke with migrants at different points of their journey, all hoping to establish new lives in America.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): If crossing the U.S. southern border is step one, then step two for these Chinese migrants might just be even more daunting. You've made it. Now what?
CULVER: How is it now that you're in the United States? Yeah.
UNKNOWN: That's freedom.
CULVER (voice-over): Freedom, they tell us. Even as border patrol handcuffs and leads them onto buses to be processed, where they go from here and who helps them along the way might surprise you.
CULVER: We're going to go down to the basement here. He said he's got a couple of rooms.
CULVER (voice-over): From Southern California to New York, we meet dozens of Chinese migrants who've taken near-identical paths to get to the U.S.
CULVER: He's two months. He's been here four months. Yes. And they came over from California?
Into San Diego.
MA ZHU, COMMUNITY LEADER: Yes, San Diego.
CULVER (voice-over): For Chinese migrants, parts of America can look and feel a lot like China. Take New York City's Flushing neighborhood, home to a Chinese diaspora going back generations. It is once again a desired destination for these new arrivals.
CULVER: And you expect more to come?
ZHU: Yes, maybe five.
Oh, maybe put in another bed, you think?
ZHU: Yes.
CULVER (voice-over): Community leader Ma Zhu tours me through the many rooms of this Flushing house where he hosts migrants from China.
CULVER: You have Christians.
ZHU: Yes, yes. Buddhists.
CULVER: Buddhists. ZHU: Muslims.
CULVER: Muslim. All under one roof.
ZHU: Yeah.
CULVER (voice-over): Behind each door, we find a different story.
CULVER: You're learning English. It's your daughter.
UNKNOWN: Yes, yes.
CULVER: And where is she right now?
UNKNOWN: In China.
CULVER: She's in China right now.
Does it surprise you that we're seeing such a surge in Chinese migrants coming to the U.S.?
CULVER (voice-over): I'm not surprised, Ma says. I think this is just the beginning. But Ma stresses that this goes beyond politics and economics. Coming to the U.S. is their way of seeking dignity, he says.
Ye Changsheng is seeking that dignity for his wife and their two young daughters. He says the Chinese Communist Party's crackdowns on faith, especially towards Muslims, motivated him to leave.
To me, he says, the U.S. has felt like a soft, warm embrace.
UNKNOWN: My favorite color is blue. Thank you.
CULVER (voice-over): While some feel hope, there are those like 28- year-old Zhang Shijing who feel mounting pressure to find work. He crossed into the U.S. a few weeks ago and is eager to repay money he borrowed from family and friends to make the trek.
There's an army of migrants marching north, he tells me. It is going to be so competitive to get a job. He sees the migration influx as added career competition. He looks to those who've come before him, like Wang Chun, in the U.S. now for more than a year and a half.
After flying to Ecuador in the spring of 2022, Wang then rode motorcycles, buses, and boats to get to the U.S.-Mexico border, eventually making it to Los Angeles, with a dream to become a truck driver.
CULVER: Where do things now stand for you legally here?
CULVER (voice-over): Wang tells me today he is part of the overwhelming backlog of U.S. asylum cases, but it's not stopped him from building a life here. I've got a work permit, driver's license and social security number, he tells me, adding, we work hard and pay taxes. We're not a burden. [03:50:07]
While Wang is waiting to plead his asylum case in court, he's now legally working as a truck driver. His focus? On the road ahead.
Yet behind him, there are thousands from China and elsewhere determined to reach their American dream.
David Culver, CNN, Los Angeles.
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CHURCH: British lawmakers in the House of Commons voted to pass Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's controversial Rwandan asylum bill on Wednesday.
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SIR LINDSAY HOYLE, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS: The eyes to the right 320. The nose to the left 276. The eyes have it, the eyes have it. Look!
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CHURCH: Some members of his Conservative Party had threatened to vote against it, but ultimately the bill was approved. The plan would allow the government to send some asylum seekers who arrive in the U.K. without permission to Rwanda, overriding a decision by the Supreme Court which declared the policy unlawful last year. The bill now heads to the House of Lords where many peers could seek to oppose it.
Well unexpected medical announcements from the British royal family about the Princess of Wales and King Charles, why she's in hospital and what he's to be treated for, a live report from London coming up after a short break. Stay with us.
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, there seems to be no reason to worry, but there are some unexpected medical concerns from the British royal family. King Charles will go into hospital next week to treat an enlarged prostate, which is benign. And Kate, the Princess of Wales, had successful abdominal surgery on Tuesday and will stay in hospital for up to two weeks.
So let's bring in CNN's royal correspondent, Max Foster. He joins us live from London. Good morning to you, Max.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: Good Morning.
CHURCH: So both the royal health issues have taken Britain and of course the world by surprise. What more are you learning about the Princess of Wales first and now recovering in hospital after this surgery?
FOSTER: Well, I think the fact that we haven't had any updates suggests that things are still going as planned. It was a planned surgery and it went as planned and we haven't had any updates today. So we can assume, I think, that she's in a good process of recovery.
As you say, people were surprised. I think a lot of people were quite shocked by this. We obviously had the queen dying not that long ago, very clear in people's memories. And this is the princess who is really the centerpiece of monarchy right now. She's the one that makes the front pages. She's vibrant. She's always on very good form with her engagements. And she's had a lot of positive publicity about that.
In recent weeks, and suddenly there's this vulnerability in the system that I think a lot of people hadn't seen coming. The king, you know, he's in his 70s. You would expect certain medical issues like the one he's got coming up. So I think people are really sort of trying to make sense of the recovery period, because it is so long, but of course they're playing safe with someone who's so central to the establishment here.
CHURCH: Right, you mentioned King Charles said to undergo treatment for an enlarged prostate, and normally they keep the details very private, but he's actually using this to try to educate some men around his age, isn't he?
[03:55:01]
FOSTER: Yeah, so he's hoping that by telling people, according to a source, that other men will go and make sure they get themselves checked. There was also some urgency to making the announcement because he had a big meeting today in Scotland with cabinet ministers. He didn't want them traveling all the way up there if he couldn't make it himself. So he's actually in a period of recuperation and not traveling right now.
And when he goes into hospital, he'll obviously be unable to attend any engagements either. So really, you know, with the King and the Prince and Princess of Wales all out of action now. The Prince of Wales currently looking after things at home, so he's cleared his diary as well. You've really only got the Queen as the most senior royal representing the monarchy right now.
So we do expect to see her out about next week, because it's very important for the monarchy, the palace to show that there's some continuity here in the fact that the key working royals are out of action at the moment.
CHURCH: Yeah, indeed. Well, of course, we wish them a speedy recovery. Max Foster, joining us live from London with those details, I appreciate it.
Well, the United Kingdom is celebrating the 80th anniversary of Colossus, the world's first digital computer. It was created in 1944 and used in World War II to decode German messages, which helped pave the way for D-Day to happen. Many experts credit the computer with shortening the war. The two-meter-tall machine cut the time it took to decode messages from weeks to just hours. Despite its important role, Colossus remained a secret until the early 2000s, when its existence was revealed. And before we go, Spanish priests want to remind you your pets are
worthy of God's love too. In Madrid, priests offered blessings to hundreds of dogs and cats on Wednesday to mark the feast day of St. Anthony the Abbot, Spain's patron saint of animals. A priest who conducted the blessing says the animals deserve it as they give love, companionship and loyalty to their owners. Indeed they do.
And thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo, next.
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