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IDF Airstrikes Kills Dozens of Civilians, Rescue Two Hostages; High Concern Over Trump's Comments of Russia Threat Against NATO; Trump Asks Supreme Court a Pause on his Immunity Ruling; Ukraine's New Military Leadership, Same Old Problems; Russia Recruiting Nepalis to Fight Its War. Ukraine Reports Russia Using Starlink in Frontlines. Concerns Are Growing in IDF's Airstrike; Jordan's King Abdullah Meet President Biden; Indonesian Candidates Use Different Propaganda; Duke and Duchess of Sussex with New Website; Doctors on Earth While Patients Are in Outer Space. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired February 13, 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]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, Israeli officials show no sign of changing course on their planned ground offensive into Rafah, even as international pressure mounts.

Plus, NATO hits back after Donald Trump's threat to abandon the alliance.

And a CNN exclusive how Russia is recruiting thousands of men from Nepal to fight on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.

Thanks for joining us. Israel's prime minister is calling the rescue of two hostages from the southern Gaza city of Rafah a perfect operation. But the deadly airstrikes that came at the same time are adding to concerns about a potential ground incursion there.

The IDF has released this video showing the hostages with Israeli troops after they were freed and before they boarded a helicopter to take them back to Israel after more than four months in Hamas's captivity. Benjamin Netanyahu is praising the soldiers involved in that rescue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translation): A perfect operation, a perfect execution. And I want to tell you how proud I am of you. I'm proud of you, of the Shin Bet, the IDF. You work together like an oiled machine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Journalist Elliott Gotkine is following all the developments and joins me now live from London. Good morning to you Elliott. So, despite mounting international pressure, Israeli leaders seem determined to press on with their plans for this ground offensive in Rafah. What is the latest on this and will Israel make any effort to evacuate more than a million displaced civilians caught up in the middle of this?

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNLAIST: Rosemary, there is no plan as of yet that we're aware of for the evacuation of the more than a million Palestinians crammed into Rafah. We had Peter Lerner, the spokesman for the IDF on earlier, and he said that plan has yet to be presented to the Israeli government, which presumably means that it isn't ready yet.

But certainly, Israel is adamant that it will make every effort to not only provide safe passage to all of these Palestinians in Rafah that it wants to move elsewhere, but that it will also get them to a place that is out of harm's way and will provide sanctuary for them. But as you say, there is growing international concern from world leaders, including Israel's closest ally, the United States and President Biden, at the possible fallout from a ground invasion.

But Peter Lerner, the spokesman, is saying it can be done. And he dismisses the naysayers, saying, look, we managed to evacuate all of those Palestinians from the northern part of the Gaza Strip and also when operations were taking place in Khan Younis to move people from neighborhoods where it was operating to safer neighborhoods.

But of course, the countervailing point there is that many of those Palestinians who have now been displaced multiple times, will say that actually the places they moved to were not safe either and why should this time be any different.

But again, Israel is adamant that it has to go into Rafah that it has no choice but to go into Rafah not just because there are more hostages there as we've seen in that operation from last night, but also because that is where it believes the four Hamas battalions are, the last bastion of Hamas as Israel is describing it, is based.

And if it wants to be able to say that it has fulfilled its mission to destroy Hamas, to prevent it from ever visiting a similar terrorist attack of October the 7th on Israel again as Hamas has said it would do, then it must go into Rafah to destroy Hamas.

And also, to destroy the infrastructure that it has not just for hiding hostages or for storing weapons, but also those tunnels that Israel believes will have enabled it to smuggle in all the materials, weapons and the like that it has required for its war machine and for those tunnels from Egypt. It wants to be able to destroy those tunnels as well.

But as you say, mounting concern about what will happen in the event of a ground operation that Israel will carry out at some point, it says in Rafah, and concerns that what we saw last night in terms of the civilian casualties. We don't know how many of those were civilians and combatants. We know that civilians, many civilians were killed. There are concerns that this is just a foretaste of what is to come. Rosemary?

[03:05:02]

CHURCH: -- joining us live from London. Joining me now is CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Thank you, Colonel, for being with us.

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, RETIRED U.S. AIR FORCE: Oh, thanks so much for having me, Rosemary.

CHURCH: So, in the wake of that audacious rescue of two hostages in Rafah, the Israeli military is now preparing for a ground offensive in that city, which Prime Minister Netanyahu calls the last remaining stronghold for Hamas's terrorists. But U.S. President Joe Biden says that Israeli operation should not go forward without credible plans to protect civilians. How is it militarily possible to take out Hamas while also saving the hostages and without killing civilians?

LEIGHTON: It's going to be really, really difficult, Rosemary. And in the ideal situation, you would have all these civilians leave the area, and then the Israelis would take care of their mission and eliminate Hamas at that point. But that's completely unrealistic. The problem that Israel faces, and they know it very well, is that the Hamas forces are basically interspersed among the civilian population, for one.

For the other part, they are also in essence sharing the same living spaces and working spaces as the civilian population to a large extent. Of course, in addition to what's already built around Rafah and what's still standing, you have all these tent cities that have been set up by the people that have come, the refugees that have come from the north and the center of Gaza to Rafah in an effort to escape the fighting.

CHURCH: And on that point, I mean, we're talking about more than one million Palestinians sheltering in Rafah. They would need to be evacuated before that ground operation takes place. But how is an evacuation on that massive scale possible with no clear place for them to go? Do you think that Israel will attempt any sort of evacuation?

LEIGHTON: Well, they're supposed to based on what President Biden has asked Prime Minister Netanyahu for, but you know, a request is one thing, and actually having that request fulfilled is quite another. The Israelis would have to move the civilians probably to a place to the southeast of Rafah, maybe closer to the Israeli border.

It would be, I think, impossible for the civilian population to move into Egypt because first of all, the Egyptians aren't going to open the border, but secondly, the Egyptians are afraid that if they do open the border, then there's going to be the likelihood in their view that the Palestinians would end up staying in Egypt and would never be allowed to return home. And that is, of course, something that they worry about from a social stability standpoint.

CHURCH: And meantime, fear is growing in Rafah after a night of deadly Israeli airstrikes, which were designed to distract from that hostage rescue operation late Sunday night. More than 100 people were killed, mostly civilians. Do you see any effort on the part of Israel to try to avoid civilian casualties?

LEIGHTON: Well, they're certainly doing some things in an effort to avoid civilian casualties. The grid system that they had established before in other areas of Gaza may be something that they implement in the Rafah area, but it, you know, of course, would be a much narrower situation there.

But they are going to have to do something in order to make that happen. But I don't see their planning being as refined as it should be in order to accomplish that goal. And I think that's going to be a significant shortfall. And unfortunately, the civilians in Gaza are going to pay a price for that.

CHURCH: And after a 45-minute phone call between President Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday, the U.S. president was apparently becoming increasingly frustrated by Netanyahu ignoring U.S. advice and refusing to de-escalate military tactics in Gaza.

Why doesn't the U.S. have more leverage over Israel, given America hands over billions of dollars in economic and military aid to that country every year? Isn't that considerable leverage?

LEIGHTON: One we think it would be, yeah. And it also depends on how you want to exercise that, or how you choose to exercise that leverage. In the past, the United States has been very reluctant to curtail aid to Israel.

There was a significant pro-Israel lobby politically in the United States, but that lobby is now in many ways coming under fire politically, not only from Arab-Americans, but other Americans who are looking at the pictures from Gaza and are saying this has gone way too far.

[03:09:53]

And as President Biden said in his comments the other day, this is basically a mission that has gone over the top and that the Israeli effort, you know, should be far more direct, far more specific, far more targeted on the Hamas areas as opposed to basically being as indiscriminate as it ends up being. And that I think is the prime concern.

So as far as leverage is concerned, the United States has leverage. It has chosen in the past not to exercise it. That may change in the future.

CHURCH: Colonel Cedric Leighton, we always appreciate your military analysis. Thank you for joining us.

LEIGHTON: Thank you so much, Rosemary.

CHURCH: The backlash is growing after Donald Trump's threat to abandon America's NATO allies. The U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff denounced the former president's controversial remarks saying U.S. credibility is at stake and we have a responsibility to uphold those alliances.

Over the weekend, Trump encouraged Russia to attack European allies if they don't meet defense spending guidelines. Regardless of whether that was tough talk aimed at invigorating his conservative base, the threat sent shockwaves across Europe and beyond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BORRELL, EUROPEAN UNION FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF: NATO cannot be a la carte military alliance.

DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY: Of course, we want all countries like us to spend 2 percent, but I think what was said was not a sensible approach.

KAJSA OLLONGREN, DUTCH DEFENSE MINISTER: Frankly, I think this is exactly what Putin loves to hear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: On Monday, Trump claimed on Truth Social that as president, he made NATO strong, encouraging countries to pay their dues, saying, quote, "After so many years of the United States picking up the tab, it was a beautiful sight to see. But now without me there to say you must pay, they're at it again." It is worth noting, of course, that many NATO members pay more for defense than what's required.

Well, Donald Trump wants the U.S. Supreme Court to put on hold a lower court ruling that denies him blanket immunity from prosecution. It's the latest move in his effort to delay his election subversion trial until after the 2024 presidential vote. CNN's Paula Reid has details.

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: On Monday, the Trump legal team asked the Supreme Court to pause a scathing, unanimous D.C. appeals court ruling from last week holding that Trump does not have immunity that would shield him from the federal election subversion case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

Now, as part of the brief, they rehashed a lot of the arguments that they've already made. Arguments that have already been rejected by four federal judges arguing that their client has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution. But we know in addition to the legal arguments, the strategy here is really delay.

Try to use anything they possibly can to get this trial pushed until after the 2024 presidential race. And here they're asking the Supreme Court to pause that appeals court ruling while they exercise some of their options. They said they'd like to go to the Supreme Court formally and ask for an appeal.

They might go back down to the appeals court, seek a full panel review down there, anything they can do to push this back a few days, a few weeks in the hopes that Jack Smith will not be able to bring this case before the presidential contest because if former President Trump is reelected, he, through his attorney general, could fire Jack Smith and make this case, as well as the Mar-a-Lago classified documents prosecution, go away.

Now, what happens next? Well, the Supreme Court could do pretty much anything they want. They have a lot of options here, but it's widely expected that the chief justice will set out a schedule allowing both sides to weigh in.

The special counsel expects it to weigh in pretty quickly because they're trying to move this along. But legal experts' sources in and around the Trump legal team say they would be surprised if the Supreme Court were to actually take up this case. They're already contemplating a historic case covering ballot eligibility and whether Trump can appear on the ballot.

They say they'd be surprised if they took up this case too. This is also expected not to be as strong for the former president, not as likely to succeed at the high court. So as is the mantra for 2024, all eyes on the Supreme Court, not just for how they handle this, but for how quickly they weigh in and move this along. Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

CHURCH: On yesterday's show, CNN ran a story about the tragic passing of Herbert Wigwe, his wife and his son, in a helicopter accident. During that report, CNN ran an incorrect picture of Abimbola Ogunbanjo, who died in the same incident, and instead showed a photo of Mr. Ademola Ogunbanjo, Executive Vice President of Oando Clean Energy Ltd., shown here who is alive and well.

[03:15:03]

And we apologize for the error and any distress this may have caused.

Time for a short break. Ukraine's military has a new leader but faces the same daunting challenges in its war with Russia. What's likely to change on the battlefield? That's just ahead.

Plus, lured by Russia's promise of higher wages and passports, Napoli mercenaries sign up by the thousands to fight in Ukraine. We'll have that report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: With a new military leader in place for Kyiv and the second anniversary of Russia's invasion just days away, Ukrainian soldiers find themselves on the defensive across the east. Troop and ammunition shortages are no match for the large number of fighters Russia can muster combined with Moscow's increasing use of drones on the battlefield.

Avdiivka to the northwest of Donetsk City is the scene of some of the heaviest fighting. Russian forces are said to be in control of a key railway line and just several hundred kilometers from the main supply route into town. The city's capture would be a major symbolic win with Russia's presidential election just weeks away.

Matthew Orr joins me now. He is a Eurasia analyst at the global risk intelligence company RANE. Appreciate you being with us. MATTHEW ORR, EURASIA ANALYST, RANE: Absolutely. Pleasure to be here.

CHURCH: So now that President Zelensky has sacked his top commander and replaced him with new military leader leadership, what challenges lie ahead on the battlefield? And is this new military team up to the task?

ORR: Well, this military leadership faces the exact same, you know, challenges that the previous leadership faced. And to be perfectly honest with you, despite General Syrskyi's assertions and his first correspondence as the new head of the Ukrainian military that he would use new approaches, new technologies, et cetera, to really achieve some sort of a breakthrough, it doesn't really appear that he really has the capabilities of doing that.

I don't think that he has any necessarily new innovative approaches that will allow them to overcome those challenges. So overall, I think that we're going to see continued stalemate on the front line and that this new leadership won't be able to change that.

CHURCH: So, what additional changes need to be made on the battlefield to ensure Ukraine is able to defend itself against continued Russian aggression as the U.S. Congress moves to the one step closer to approving military aid for Ukraine and for Israel?

ORR: Right, well, exactly. I think that what the Ukrainians really need is a breakthrough, not from the country's military leadership, but from its political or civilian leadership.

[03:20:04]

Ukraine needs much more military support in the form of arms and weapons from its partners, in addition to financial and other humanitarian support. And it's clear that it's on the Zelensky administration to achieve those things.

However, that being said, the place where the civilian leaders of Ukraine can work with the military to change that is with regards to mobilizations. The Ukrainians need more troops on the front line and participating in the war. They also need more troops mobilized in the army in order to rotate their current troops on the front lines that are constantly exhausted from being stuck there for so long, for such long durations.

CHURCH: So how much longer can Ukraine hold out for that assistance from the United States? Because even once it's approved, it's going to take some time, isn't it?

ORR: Yeah, absolutely. That's really the key question. The short answer is that nobody really knows for certain. It depends on a lot of factors. Of course, the biggest problem for the Ukrainians is the lack of basic 155-millimeter artillery ammunition, that's really the top casualty-inflicting weapon of the war.

And, yes, so as long as that shortage, you know, rises and we don't see clear evidence that deliveries are going up, other munitions that are critically needed by the Ukrainians, without those, you know, the chance rises with each passing week and certainly each passing month that the Russians, you know, will feel emboldened and might try to step up offensive maneuvers probably along the same places where they're already attacking right now, around Avdiivka and around Kupiansk out in eastern Ukraine.

CHURCH: And Matthew, at a campaign rally Saturday night, Donald Trump threatened NATO member nations who don't pay their dues, saying he would not defend them against any Russian attack and even encourage Russia to do whatever the hell it wants to do to those NATO countries, his words there, sending shockwaves, of course, through Europe. What are the implications of this for Ukraine, and what message does this send Russia's President Putin?

ORR: Right. I mean, at least right now, I don't think that it has particularly large implications. It's very important that the countries that actually border Russia within NATO, right, we're talking about Finland, the Baltic States, Poland, Romania, those are countries that meet their NATO commitments of 2 percent.

So, the countries that would be on the front line and presumably would be the ones vulnerable to that threat aren't the ones that are actually the subjects of that threat. At least, directly, it seems that it doesn't have any major implication in that sense.

That being said, of course, it's part of an alarming trend, where, if Donald Trump, as the presumptive nominee, of course, as the president of the United States, makes those kinds of comments that are essentially incentivizing those kinds of coercive threats from the Russian president, then that's certainly not good for anybody.

It makes it more likely that the Russians might actually try to test that threat and result in a clash or even basically a form of coercion that leads to war fatigue and less support for the Ukrainians. And that certainly feeds into exactly what the Russians want, which is to threaten NATO so that NATO has to spend more on its own defense and less on supporting the Ukrainians retake more of their territory.

CHURCH: Matthew Orr, appreciate your analysis. Thanks for joining us.

ORR: Absolutely, thank you.

CHURCH: Russia has recruited as many as 15,000 mercenaries from Nepal to fight in the war in Ukraine. Sources tell CNN Moscow announced a lucrative package last year, luring fighters to the front line with just two weeks of training on a promise of far higher wages than they could earn at home. Nepal claims only about 200 of its citizens are fighting for the Russian army, with at least 13 killed in the war zone. CNN's Matthew Chance has our exclusive report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It should be a world apart from the battlefields of Ukraine. But this Himalayan state has become an unlikely casualty of Russia's brutal world. Nepalis like Ramchandra (ph), who escaped the Russian army with his life, now praying for his comrades still fighting on the front lines.

He took a bullet and shrapnel in Ukraine, he told me, and saw many Nepalis killed. Some complained they were sent forward while Russian troops held back, he tells me.

[03:25:02]

But the main problem was the language barrier. Sometimes you couldn't even understand where you're supposed to be going, he says, which way to point your gun.

But that chaos hasn't stopped Nepalis signing up, many posting upbeat videos on social media of their military training in Russia, where they're meant to be prepared for the hardships of the Ukraine war. In reality, several former Nepali recruits tell CNN they were sent into battle after barely two weeks to fight for the Kremlin, armed with a rifle and a contract for a few thousand dollars a month, a fortune in Nepal, where unemployment is high.

(On camera): Well, the vast majority of Nepalis fighting for Russia and Ukraine are doing it for the money and they come from these down at heel, impoverished areas across the country. We've actually come to one of them now on the outskirts of Kathmandu to meet a woman who in the past few days has learned that her husband has been killed fighting in that distant war. Hello. Hi. Namaste. Namaste.

(Voice-over): He was with a unit of Nepalis battling Ukrainians, she tells me, when he was gunned down. It was my husband's friend, his Nepali commander in Ukraine, who called me in the middle of the night and told me he'd been killed, she tells me, still shocked at the news. There's been no notification from the Russians, she adds, nothing.

It's a growing frustration with Russia's treatment of Nepalis as cannon fodder in the Ukraine war shared with these protesters near the Russian embassy in Kathmandu. And the Nepali foreign minister, who told me he's pressed Moscow to curb recruitment to no avail.

N.P. SAUD, NEPALI FOREIGN MINISTER: They have told me that they will sort it out the concern of Nepal.

CHANCE: So, they've told you they will sort it out?

SAUD: Yeah.

CHANCE: But they haven't done anything yet?

SAUD: Yet they didn't have. We don't have any information of doing anything.

CHANCE (voice-over): There's not much information either on how many Nepalis are even fighting for Russia. About 200 according to Nepali officials. But multiple sources, including campaigners, lawmakers and returning fighters, tell CNN as many as 15,000 Nepalis could be fighting in Ukraine.

(On camera): Well, we've asked the Russians how many Nepalis they've recruited and how many have been killed in what the Kremlin calls its special military operation. So far there's been no response. But there are concerns here in Nepal that casualty figures may be high. CNN has learned that hundreds of Nepalese who joined the Russian military are out of contact. And it's uncertain if they're dead or alive.

(Voice-over): Januka (ph), a young Nepali mother, is assuming the worst. Her husband hasn't called for more than two months now. The children ask me when their dad is coming home, she sobs. Even if he doesn't love us anymore, we just want to see his face. But another Nepali recruit to Russia's war may never be seen again. Matthew Chance, CNN, Kathmandu, in Nepal.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Meantime Russia denies it's using the Starlink service in the war in Ukraine. The network of satellites provides broadband internet access. It plays a key role in battlefield communications for Ukrainian forces. Kyiv claims Russia is using the system in occupied areas but says it's working to neutralize the problem.

Starlink is made by Elon Musk's SpaceX company. Musk denies selling Starlink terminals directly or indirectly to Russia. SpaceX says it investigates all claims that unauthorized parties are using its terminals and works to deactivate them.

Thousands of farmers in India are marching to New Delhi after talks with the government broke down over better crop prices. Security has been tightened and this was the scene close to the Capitol as police fired tear gas at protesters trying to cross state lines into New Delhi.

The march is the latest in a series of demonstrations against proposed laws to deregulate India's agricultural sector. It comes months ahead of national elections in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek a third term with farmers forming an influential voting bloc.

[03:29:59]

Still to come, international concerns are growing over Israel's planned offensive in the southern Gazan city of Rafah. What world leaders are saying, that's just ahead.

Plus, Indonesia's presidential candidates are fighting for the youth vote. We will take a look at who stands the greatest chance of winning Wednesday's election. That's when we come back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Welcome back, everyone. More now on our top story this hour.

Pressure is mounting on Israel to scrap its plans for a ground offensive in the southern Gazan city of Rafah after Israeli airstrikes killed dozens of people there early Monday. The Palestine Red Crescent Society says more than 100 people, including children, were killed during a raid to rescue two Israeli hostages in Rafah who were kidnapped by Hamas. A top U.N. official is calling on Israel to abort what he calls its

terrifying planned incursion. More than half of Gaza's population, over 1.3 million people, are currently seeking refuge in Rafah, crammed into a sprawling tent city.

Meanwhile, the two hostages rescued by Israeli forces in Rafah early Monday have been reunited with their families. The IDF says the complex operation was based upon highly sensitive and valuable intelligence.

CNN's Nic Robertson has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Words barely needed. Joy, relief, love, overflowing and long denied embraces just freed Fernando Marman and Louis Har alive but aged more than their 128 days held hostage by Hamas.

GEFFEN SIGAL ILAN, NIECE OF RELEASED HOSTAGE: The first moment of the hug, I wasn't believe I'm hugging them. I was so happy. We were crying and it was a very emotional moment.

ROBERTSON: And physically, how are they both? How would you describe them?

IDAN BEGERANO, SON-IN LAW OF RELEASED HOSTAGE: I can say they're very thin, walking at least. So, I can say that they are walking. But I believe that they still have high adrenaline. And we will see how physically good or bad they are, or how mentally good or bad they are, only when that day will come.

ROBERTSON: The overnight military operation to free them a lightning covert raid. The two men held on the second floor of an apartment building in the center of Rafah, extracted under fire.

[03:35:01]

DANIEL HAGARI, SPOKESPERSON, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: When we reached the hostages, Fernando and Louis, they were asleep. We've covered them with our own bodies. Fires were starting to occur inside the flat.

ROBERTSON: Gunshots.

HAGARI: Gunshots everywhere inside the flat and gunshots from the surrounding buildings.

ROBERTSON: Palestinian officials say around 100, including women and children, were killed in Rafah in the early hours Monday morning, some in nearby strikes that the Israeli military say were to provide cover during the hostage rescue. This at a time when Rafah's 1.4 million densely packed civilians fear a coming IDF ground assault and Israel is under huge international pressure to keep the civilians safe.

HAGARI: We've been preparing for this seconds, minutes, all the targets that Hamas has in this area, headquarters, arms, infrastructures.

ROBERTSON: So, you're heading Hamas targets?

HAGARI: Only military targets of Hamas.

ROBERTSON: But civilians were killed.

HAGARI: Tragically, as I said, Hamas embeds himself with the civilians. We did what we need to do to rescue hostages and we will keep on doing that. Anywhere we'll have the conditions to do that.

ROBERTSON: For these very relieved families, there is closure. Fernando and Louis, the last of five family members, taken hostage October 7th to be released. They're concerned now for the others left behind.

BEGERANO: I don't believe that we can take out all the 134 hostages only by military actions. At one stage or another, you need to strike deals. It doesn't matter if it's us, our pressure or the other side pressure.

ROBERTSON: How long before the other hostages are freed is a matter of intense political debate here. Negotiations about their possible release notch up a gear Tuesday when CIA Chief Bill Burns meets with Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials in Cairo.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Tel Aviv, Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: U.S. President Joe Biden says he discussed a potential hostage deal between Israel and Hamas with Jordan's King Abdullah at the White House Monday. That deal would include a six-week pause in the fighting in Gaza, not the lasting ceasefire King Abdullah has been pushing for.

But President Biden says they're working day and night to get something done. He also expressed concerns about Israel's looming offensive in Rafah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The major military operation in Rafah should not proceed without a credible plan, a credible plan for ensuring the safety and support of more than one million people sheltering there. Many people there have been displaced, displaced multiple times, fleeing the violence to the north and now they're packed into Rafah, exposed and vulnerable. They need to be protected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: CNN's Paula Hancocks joins me now live from Abu Dhabi. Good to see you, Paula.

So we have been seeing shocking images from Rafah, and international concern is mounting as Israel prepares for its ground offensive in that city. What more can you tell us about President Biden's meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah Monday?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, King Abdullah was the first Arab leader to go to the White House and meet with President Biden since the start of the Gaza war, which tells its own story. But even though he did go for that meeting, we did see a divide between what the two leaders wanted to see.

We heard from President Biden just then saying that he was concerned about an operation in Rafah and wanted to make sure that there was a credible plan to try and evacuate civilians who have already been evacuated a number of times from other areas of Gaza to a less dangerous area.

But what we heard from King Abdullah went a lot further, saying that he wants countries to be continuing to give money to the U.N. body in Gaza, which is helping humanitarian aid, and also he wants a full ceasefire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDULLAH II, KING OF JORDAN: We cannot afford an Israeli attack on Rafah. It is certain to produce another humanitarian catastrophe. The situation is already unbearable for over a million people who have been pushed into Rafah since the war started. We cannot stand by and let this continue. We need a lasting ceasefire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:39:54]

HANCOCKS: Now the estimates are there are some 1.3 million Palestinians in Rafah at this point. There is a sprawling tent city that is increasing of those who have been displaced from other areas in Gaza, desperately trying to find somewhere to stay.

But we have heard consistently, almost from day one, that no place is safe in Gaza. So Israel is saying that they will have a plan to evacuate those to a safer area. That plan has not been given by the Israeli military to the government at this point for approval. But it is very difficult to see how this would happen.

We have had warnings from a number of countries, from the U.S., from the E.U., from the U.K., from Jordan, Qatar, a number of Arab nations saying that this should not happen. We have also had warnings from the United Nations saying that the situation is already desperate in the area.

Volker Turk, for example, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights said the offensive risks quote, "atrocity crimes being committed." Rosemary.

CHURCH: Paula Hancocks joining us live from Abu Dhabi. Many thanks.

More than 200 million people are expected to vote in Indonesia's general election on Wednesday. What's been dubbed the world's biggest election day will decide the country's new president. Now the race is down to just three contenders, a former army general

and two former governors. And the country's young voters could decide who wins.

CNN's Anna Coren joins me now from Hong Kong with more.

Good to see you, Anna. So who will likely win Indonesia's election on Wednesday?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a very good question, Rosemary. And it won't take too long for us to find out. As you say, this is one of the world's most complex single-day elections where Indonesians across thousands of islands that make up the archipelago of Indonesia will vote in tomorrow's general election.

By the end of the day, we should know who will be the next president of Indonesia. Now, the front runner is Prabowo Subianto. He's a former general accused of human rights abuses who having lost the past two elections to President Joko Widodo, falsely claimed that the vote had been stolen.

Well, President Widodo, who can't run again, is now backing him. And Jokowi's eldest son is Prabowo's running mate. There are real concerns about what this could mean for the world's third largest democracy. And there is a fear that it could slide back towards its authoritarian past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COREN (voice-over): Military hard man or cuddly grandfather. Seventy- two-year-old Prabowo Subianto is shaking the stigma of alleged human rights abuses in an effort to win Indonesia's general election at his third time of trying.

ANDREAS HARSONO, SENIOR INDONESIAN RESEARCHER, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: Of course, it is a concern for human rights defenders like me, but at the end of the day it depends on the voters.

COREN: Prabowo was accused of the kidnap and disappearance of democracy activists in the 1990s, as well as abuses against ethnic minorities in East Timor and West Papua, all while he served as a Special Forces commander under former dictator Suharto.

Prabowo denies those accusations. Few would deny the effectiveness of his cartoon rebrand.

HARSONO: With sophisticated image making with PR companies, influencers and of course political muscle and the most important is the backing of President Jokowi. He keeps on moving. He's not the front runner.

COREN: Prabowo was hoping to score 50 percent of the vote on Wednesday when Indonesians go to the polls. That would avoid a runoff and make him Indonesia's next president. After losing to the country's outgoing leader, Joko Widodo, known as Jokowi, at the past two elections. This time may well be different. Thanks in part to a slick social media campaign targeting Indonesia's youth vote.

FAUZAN HABIB, SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGNER FOR PRABOWO SUBIANTO (through translator): The Gamoy dance is quite viral because it was introduced and even done by Mr. Prabowo himself. And it turns out the public loves it, as it seems nowadays people prefer a happy campaign model, which includes dancing.

COREN: Over half of the country's huge electorate of 200 million registered voters are either millennials or Gen Z. But that means Prabowo isn't the only candidate focused on youth. His rivals in the three-horse race Ganjar Pranowo and Anies Baswedan have also made big plays at younger voters.

NURUL HIDAYAH, ANIES BASWEDAN SUPPORTER (through translator): It's so fun. It doesn't feel like a presidential election. I'm also a K-pop fan, so events like this are great for me.

[03:45:00]

COREN: Anies, a former governor of Jakarta, has leaned into the K-pop craze, while Ganjar has the most TikTok followers of all three. Perhaps more importantly, Prabowo is being seen by many Indonesian voters as the continuity candidate. Jokowi's eldest son, 36-year-old Gibran Rakabuming Raka, is running for vice president on Prabowo's ticket.

This presidential election has often seen style put over substance. Whoever does win must immediately begin to tackle the issues voters care about, from cost of living to the environment.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Rosemary, this election is seen as a referendum on the legacy of Jokowi, whose popularity is very much based on the country's solid economic record under his reign over the past 10 years. But look, some analysts believe that a deal has been done between Prabowo and Jokowi that would allow for Jokowi to wield influence behind the scenes once his term ends in October. Rosemary.

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Anna Coren for that report, joining us from Hong Kong.

France is raising an alarm about the danger of Russian interference in upcoming elections. The French foreign minister says the Kremlin will seek to rob millions of people of the right to freely cast their votes for members of the European Parliament.

He said authorities have identified a network of websites intending to spread pro-Russian propaganda in Germany, Poland and France. But he added that France remains fully mobilized to protect citizens from disinformation campaigns.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, are

making another public relaunch, this time with a new website, sussex.com. It showcases their charity work and media projects. The duke and duchess of Sussex stepped back as working members of the British Royal Family in 2020, but have stayed very much in the public spotlight since then.

Our royal correspondent, Max Foster, joins me now from London. Good morning to you, Max.

So what does the launch of this new site tell us about Meghan and Harry's direction and where are they going with this?

MAX FOSTER, CNN LONDON CORRESPONDENT: Well it's interesting, isn't it, because this was completely unannounced, it just emerged overnight and if we look at it, it does emphasize a lot of the work they've done but it also very much emphasizes their royal links.

So, if we look at how Harry describes himself, he's now a humanitarian, military veteran, mental health advocate and environmental campaigner. Meghan describes herself as a feminist, a champion of human rights and gender equality, also one of the most influential women in the world.

[03:50:02]

So you see that description there. But it's really this page that I think is going to grab people's attention because very much front of center is their title, the duke and duchess of Sussex. Also at the top, you'll see a crest.

Now this is Meghan's crest that she developed before she married Harry. That's required because to join the royal family, you'll then be expected to have a crest and that ultimately becomes the merged crest of Harry and Meghan. So, she needed to have one going into that. So, hers is there.

And I think in terms of debate is how much they're leaning on their royal links and also, you know, that history where when they left the royal family, they wanted to develop a private income. They were allowed to do that if they didn't use their HRH title, his and her royal highness, and they were expected not to commercialize any of the royal branding, as it were.

So I think some people may look at this and say, maybe they are commercializing those royal links. And that might cause, I think, some eyebrows to raise, as it were, in the palace. Should they be focusing on their own work, or should they be commercializing that, those royal links which, you know, the protocol is you just don't do that, which is ultimately why they had to give up certain titles and leave the working royal roles.

CHURCH: So Max, what are the potential consequences for Harry and Meghan with this?

FOSTER: Well, we'll have to see. I mean, they are, you know, they've made a very clear decision. This is how they are going to brand themselves now. Is the palace comfortable with that? Ultimately, Queen Elizabeth gave them the title of duke and duchess of Sussex. The king who's replaced her could ultimately take that away if he's uncomfortable with them making that a commercial entity.

I'm not sure anyone on either side wants to stoke the public row any further between the two sides of the family. So we're waiting to see whether or not the king wants to do that, but I think the palace may look at this and think this doesn't set a very good precedent that you can leave the royal family, take those titles and make money out of it.

CHURCH: All right, we'll watch this very closely. Max Foster joining us live from London, many thanks.

And still to come, taking telemedicine to a whole new level. We will tell you about surgery in space with doctors on the ground and the patient in orbit. Back in just a moment with that.

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CHURCH: Less than 24 hours from now, a private rocket will lift off from Texas heading for the moon. The lunar lander called Odysseus will be carried aloft on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. If all goes as planned, Odysseus will be the first American spacecraft to make a soft landing on the moon since the 1970s. The last private launch of an American lunar lander about a month ago failed after a fuel leak developed.

Well, imagine being aboard the International Space Station and finding out you need surgery. The nearest hospital is more than 200 miles below you. Well, very soon help may come in the form of a groundbreaking robot.

CNN's Kristin Fisher has that story.

[03:54:58]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sitting on top of this SpaceX rocket when it launched in January was the first surgical robot bound for outer space.

SHANE FARRITOR, CHIEF TECHNICAL OFFICER, VIRTUAL INCISION: So, MIRA is a small surgical robot.

FISHER: MIRA, made by a company called Virtual Incision, arrived at the International Space Station in February and on Saturday it did something that's never been done before.

FARRITOR: Saturday was the first time that a surgical robot in space was controlled by surgeons on Earth to perform simulated surgical activities.

FISHER: Virtual Incision provided CNN with exclusive video as six surgeons at the company's headquarters in Lincoln, Nebraska. took turns operating the robot after it was powered up by NASA astronauts roughly 250 miles above.

MICHAEL JOBST, SURGEON: The adrenaline was pumping and I could feel my heart pounding. It was really exhilarating but at the same time, once I saw that robotic device doing the things that I'm used to it doing, it settled down.

FISHER: Dr. Michael Jobst says he's already performed 15 surgeries with MIRA during clinical trials on human patients here on Earth. But he's never had to contend with zero gravity or a time delay of about half a second.

JOBST: A split second or a half a second is going to be significant. So this was a big challenge.

FARRITOR: You can see a left hand with a grasper and a right hand with a pair of scissors. And we use rubber bands here to simulate surgical tissue.

JOBST: So, you could think of those rubber bands as perhaps blood vessels or tendons or other connective tissue that has elasticity. So we're able to, you know, grab hold of the rubber bands and then take the scissors and just basically to cut them.

UNKNOWN: All right, I'm going for it. Yes.

(APPLAUSE)

UNKNOWN: A small rubber band. But I pray for surgery.

UNKNOWN: Yes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And that was Kristin Fisher reporting there.

Finally, this hour, a labor of love in Colombia with Valentine's Day coming up on Wednesday. Flower farmers are working overtime to meet the high demand here in the United States.

In the lead up to last year's holiday, Colombian exporters say they shipped 52,000 tons of cut flowers. This farmer says the hard work brings her joy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator): I started treating the flowers with love. I talk to them. I play music for them and they respond to me in the same way. That is, they themselves become beautiful. I tell them to behave well, to grow beautifully because they are going to other places. They have to go abroad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Many Colombian farmers start their flower production six months ahead of Valentine's Day so they can keep up with demand. And thanks so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Have

yourselves a wonderful day. CNN Newsroom continues next with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.

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