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SCOTUS Agrees to Hear Trump's Immunity Claims; Putin to Hold His Annual Address Ahead of the Presidential Elections; Texas Panhandle Now Covered in Wildfires; Ghana Internsifies Crackdown on LGBTQ-plus Rights. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired February 29, 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]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: 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 on "CNN Newsroom", as Israel faces global pressure to halt its war in Gaza, a towering and bleak milestone has been reached in the Palestinian Territory. Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: You have to have a guaranteed immunity for a president, otherwise a president is not going to be able to function.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear Donald Trump's immunity claims, stalling the federal election interference trial.
And later, a deadly wildfire in Texas leaves a trail of ash and destruction, as officials warn poor weather conditions could fuel the flames even more.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: We begin with a grim milestone in the war between Israel and Hamas. The Palestinian Health Ministry now reports more than 30,000 people have been killed in Gaza since October.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMAL ZAGHBAR, DISPLACED PALESTINIAN (though translator): This has become a genocide unlike anything we've ever seen. Everyone is suffering inside these tents. We're dying slowly. In addition to the high cost of living and the people enduring pain, we are suffering greatly. We have been displaced about 100 times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Some of the latest Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 20 people in central Gaza. That is according to officials at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. Witnesses say residential buildings were hit and people are buried under the rubble.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is looking for new ways to get humanitarian relief to the people of Gaza. Officials tell CNN the Biden administration is considering airdropping supplies into the territory. France, Jordan and several other countries airdropped aid parcels into Gaza earlier this week.
The political leader of Hamas may be raising the stakes amid ongoing negotiations for a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza. Ismail Haniyeh is calling on Palestinians to march to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque at the start of Ramadan, less than two weeks away. The first day of the Muslim holy month has also emerged as a target for negotiators to hammer out a deal.
In response to Haniyeh's remarks, Israel's defense minister said Hamas is trying to shift Israel's security resources away from Gaza by creating a flare-up in Jerusalem.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
YOAV GALANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translator): Hamas' top goal at this time is to cause a flare-up in Temple Mount so that we are forced to take some of the pressure off and move resources and forces to the West Bank and Jerusalem. We must not give them that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Lebanon reports at least two people have been killed and more than a dozen wounded by Israeli airstrikes late Wednesday. The IDF says its fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure across its northern border. Concern is reportedly rising within the Biden administration about a possible Israeli ground incursion into Lebanon. Multiple officials tell CNN it could come by late spring or early summer if diplomatic efforts fail to cool tensions with Hezbollah.
So let's go now to journalist Elliott Gotkine, he joins us live from London. Good morning to you, Elliott. So, what more are you learning about these rising concerns in the Biden administration that Israel may launch an incursion into Lebanon?
ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: Rosemary, with all the focus on the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, it's easy to forget that there is a war that's not quite a war going on the northern border between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel. That's been happening ever since Hezbollah started firing on Israeli territory on October the 8th, the day after the Hamas terrorist attacks.
Ever since then, there has been daily deadly fire from Hezbollah into Israel and Israel responding into Lebanon as well. And we've heard it from the Israeli prime minister, the defense minister and others in the Israeli government that if Hezbollah does not abide by U.N. resolutions that say it should move back the 18 miles north to the Litani River, then Israel will make it do so. And right now we have concerns, as you say, in the Biden administration and also in the intelligence community in the United States that Israel is actually planning a ground incursion into Lebanon to make that happen.
[03:05:07]
Now, this could happen by late spring or early summer. No final decision has been made yet and it could ultimately, say officials, just be a bit of saber rattling, a kind of threat to make Hezbollah do what it wants to do, what it wants Hezbollah to do without actually having to take military action. But there are concerns that this could happen and there are growing numbers in the Israeli government and security establishment that think that this is the best way forward.
And indeed, in conversations between Yoav Galant, the Israeli defense minister and his counterpart, Lloyd Austin, overnight, the Israeli defense minister saying to Lloyd Austin, the state of Israel will not tolerate threats against its citizens and violations of its sovereignty and will take the measures required to ensure their security.
Of course, the big concern is that given that Hezbollah has a far, far more powerful arsenal of missiles, rockets, drones and other weaponry provided by Iran, that any flare up between Israel and Hezbollah could be certainly devastating for Lebanon, but also incredibly damaging for Israel as well. And of course, could also lead to additional escalation in the region.
And that is something that the U.S. is frantically trying to avoid. It's holding discussions with Lebanese government officials and separately with Israelis to try to create some kind of diplomatic solution, perhaps create some kind of miles wide buffer zone inside of Lebanon. And that at the very least would take out some of those shorter range projectiles that Hezbollah has been firing towards Israel.
And that could forestall a ground operation. But for now, very much concerns that this war, as I say, that isn't quite a war, could become one if Hezbollah is not persuaded to move further north and if things cannot quieten down there on the northern border. Rosemary.
CHURCH: And Elliott, what is the latest on calls for a march to the Al-Aqsa Mosque for the start of Ramadan? And what's the significance of this, and of course, the likely motivation?
GOTKINE: Rosemary, Hamas has been trying to escalate the war theater from Gaza to the rest of Israel and also to try and get other regional actors involved ever since October the 7th. Now, that hasn't quite worked. Obviously, it has to a degree with Hezbollah and also the Houthis firing from Yemen on and effectively blockading Israeli shipping going towards Israel from Yemen.
But what Hamas is trying to do now is to use Ramadan, which starts around March the 10th and which is often a time of increased tensions between Israel and Palestinians to try to get Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem to march on the Al-Aqsa Mosque to try to flare up those tensions and I suppose draw Israeli resources away from Gaza, but also because Jerusalem is so iconic to Muslims around the world to try to escalate tensions further.
Now, of course, this is the third holiest site in Islam. It's the holiest site in Judaism. It's often a scene and a time of increased tensions. And I suppose not being helped by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir calling for sweeping restrictions on Muslims praying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Now, it seems, according to Channel -- Israel Channel 12, that decisions on security issues around the Al-Aqsa Mosque have now been moved to the war cabinet, where there are more moderate voices such as Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Benny Gantz and that there will be no sweeping restrictions.
But of course, it is always a time of tensions. There could be ad hoc restrictions on prayer, especially among young Palestinian men. And that is something that could lead to additional tensions all the while. And that is another reason, I suppose, why they are trying to get this truce in place between Israel and Hamas in time for Ramadan. Rosemary.
CHURCH: All right, Elliott Gotkine, joining us live from London. Many thanks.
The health ministry in Gaza reports at least six children have died in the past few days from dehydration and malnutrition. It's just one part of the dire health care crisis gripping the territory.
Many hospitals have been attacked by Israeli military forces. The IDF says it is targeting Hamas militants and their tunnel networks that run underneath civilian infrastructure. Many facilities have no electricity, food or medical supplies. Dozens of medical workers report being detained, questioned or harassed by Israeli forces. And patients, including children, have been left behind when hospital workers were forced to evacuate.
The secretary general of Doctors Without Borders says, and I'm quoting here, "How can we sustain any type of response when medical workers are being targeted, attacked and vilified for assisting the wounded? There is no health system to speak of left in Gaza. Israel's military has dismantled hospital after hospital".
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Joining me now from Jerusalem, Dr. Ayadil Saparbekov, the head of health emergencies for the World Health Organization in the occupied Palestinian territory. Appreciate you being with us, doctor.
DR. AYADIL SAPARBEKOV, HEAD OF HEALTH EMERGENCIES, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Good morning. Thank you.
CHURCH: So as the war in Gaza grinds on, so too does the misery for so many Palestinians unable to get access to food and clean water. And that's raising concerns of a growing famine for more than two million people, according to the United Nations, as well as the spread of infectious diseases and mental health issues. What is the situation right now for most people in Gaza just trying to survive?
SAPARBEKOV: Thank you for having me on your program. The situation in Gaza is beyond belief. I have been working in humanitarian world for over 25 years and I've been to Gaza last month. And what I saw was beyond any imagination. And of course, is deeply concerned about the health situation if there will be an attack in Rafah. And we also very much concerned about the reports that we receive from the hospital in the north from Shifa Hospital and Kamal Adwan Hospital about children who have died from dehydration and malnutrition.
In February, UNICEF published a report where they have found that through nutrition screening, there is an increase of prevalence of acute malnutrition 15 times compared to the last year of 2022, the same time of the last year.
And that is very much concerning for us. And coupled with the outbreaks of different infectious diseases, such as acute watery diarrhea, such as upper respiratory tract infections, this is a deadly combination, especially for the most vulnerable, the children, the pregnant and lactating women and the elderly.
CHURCH: Analysts and aid workers, doctor, are warning that hunger and disease could potentially kill more people in this war than Israeli weapons. Do you agree with that assessment?
SAPARBEKOV: Yes. For the moment, what we have is that about 90 percent of population in Gaza, including women and children, live in something called critical and catastrophic conditions in terms of the food security.
Like I said, around 15 percent of children under two are suffering from acute malnutrition. And like I said, this is a 15-time increase from the previous year. And for the moment, the WHO has confirmed that the prevalence of the incident of upper respiratory tract infection reached more than 300,000. And the number of cases of -- the cases of diarrhea reached more than 200,000 cases. And especially in children under five is more than 100,000 children suffering from acute watery diarrhea, which caused by, of course, lack of clean water and lack of sanitation.
And this is like I said, lack of food, lack of water, lack of health services is a deadly combination. Between malnutrition and death, there is always a disease. So if we don't address the issues related to the access to food, access to clean water, access to health services, we will have more people dying in Gaza day by day.
CHURCH: And many of Gaza's hospitals and medical facilities are struggling to function, barely able to provide aid to patients. How would you describe the current condition of Gaza's health care system?
SAPARBEKOV: Only 30 percent of entire Gaza's hospitals are functioning. So 12 out of 36 hospitals that used to function in Gaza before the 7th of October are currently functioning. And only three hospitals are partially functioning in Rafah, in the south of Gaza. When we say hospitals are functioning, we do not say that they are functioning fully and providing all range of services that they used to provide before the 7th of October.
We define them as partially or minimum functioning. That means that they provide some sort of services based on the availability of electricity and based on the availability of medical supplies. That put a lot of people who live in Gaza, especially in the north, in great danger of dying from preventable causes, from diarrhea, from pneumonia, from the causes that normally, usually, even in humanitarian situations, we are preventing these people from dying by providing adequate medical services. This is unfortunately not possible for many people in Gaza right now. And we as a WHO call for an unimpeded access of all Gazans to adequate health services.
CHURCH: And doctor, what are you able to tell us about reports that medical workers are being targeted, detained and questioned by the IDF for assisting the wounded?
[03:15:07]
SAPARBEKOV: So far, according to the mandate that the World Health Organization have mandated by the World Health Assembly, we have recorded 378 attacks on health care. That includes attacks on the hospitals themselves, attacks on the ambulances and attacks on the health personnel.
Just last week, WHO-led missions in high-risk security arrangements were trying to transfer patients from the hospitals that are minimally functioning and that do not have medical staff to take care of the patients. They don't have food, they don't have electricity, they don't have water. So they asked the World Health Organization and the U.N. to help them to transfer patients to better health facilities, if I may say that.
So we've been working with our partner, Palestinian Red Crescent Society, which provides the ambulances for transfer of those patients. We do provide the names, the I.D. cards, the telephone numbers of all the people who are in that convoy.
And despite of the fact that we were allowed to get in the hospital through the checkpoints, when we were trying to get patients out, the medical staff, three paramedics from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society were detained. One was subsequently released, despite the fact that their names, like I said, and the I.D. cards were provided prior to the mission. And also the patients who were transported inside the ambulances were asked to step out.
And of course, most of those patients were very severely ill and were unable, or otherwise it would have endangered their condition to step out of the ambulance without providing additional medical support.
CHURCH: Dr. Ayadil Saparbekov, thank you so much for your perspective.
SAPARBEKOV: Thank you for having me.
CHURCH: The U.S. Supreme Court has given a huge gift to Donald Trump before ever issuing any rulings. The justices agreed to take up whether he can claim presidential immunity in the special council's election interference case, and that means delays. Whatever they decide and how long they take to decide could be pivotal in this year's election.
CNN's Evan Perez explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SR. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Donald Trump may claim immunity in special counsel Jack Smith's election subversion case. The court said it would expedite the case and hear arguments the week of April 22nd.
But that buys Trump at least another couple of months of delays in the case, a victory for the former president whose legal and campaign strategy have centered on delaying his legal cases until after the November election. Trump issued a statement saying, quote, "legal scholars are extremely thankful for the Supreme Court's decision today to take up presidential immunity. Without presidential immunity, a president will not be able to properly function or make decisions in the best interests of the United States of America."
Now, we're still waiting for the court's ruling in another separate case. Earlier this month, the court heard arguments in a case questioning whether Trump could be disqualified from running for a second term under the 14th Amendment's insurrection ban.
In December, the Supreme Court rejected the special counsel's request to hear the immunity case then, and three weeks have passed since the D.C. appeals court dismissed Trump's immunity claims.
Now, even if the Supreme Court ends up ruling that Trump doesn't have immunity, the calendar is shrinking and so is the likelihood of a verdict before November.
Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Earlier, our legal experts weighed in on the Supreme Court's action with the former FBI deputy director calling it supreme arrogance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDRE MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY FBI DIRECTOR: What they have done is they've preserved for themselves the final word on this issue.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah.
MCCABE: And they have done it at the expense of ever having these charges and the evidence supporting them ever considered by a fair and impartial jury.
WILLIAMS: The question of how's Jack Smith doing. Remember, Jack Smith asked for this case to be taken up by the Supreme Court back in December. They could have addressed the case and sort of jumped over the appeals court back then.
JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN SR. SUPREME COURT ANALYST: And I think they could have because then it would have answered why they are intervening here. Because I don't think it's bad that they're intervening generally to say we're the Supreme Court. We should have the last word on it.
But the point is that they've delayed it to, to -- and actually, I, I would predict right now they will probably affirm the D.C. Circuit.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: So why take it up if they're going to --
BISKUPIC: Because, because they are the Supreme Court and they want to have the last word.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: And in a surprise move, Illinois has become the third state to remove Trump from the ballot. The judge there citing the U.S. Constitution's ban on insurrectionists running for office.
[03:20:03]
Colorado and Maine first decided to remove Trump on those same grounds, but their decisions were paused while the U.S. Supreme Court rules on Trump's appeal. The justices are widely expected to rule in his favor.
In other Trump legal news, an appellate court has rejected a request to put the massive penalty from his civil fraud trial on hold until his appeal is over, meaning Trump must pay four hundred and fifty four million dollars in less than a month. His attorneys had claimed they could not raise the full amount due to a ban on obtaining loans.
But the judge lifted that ban so that Trump can access the equity in his assets. It's not clear if he has the funds and the attorney general's offers could potentially move to seize properties.
We're less than one hour away from Vladimir Putin's annual address to Russia's parliament. We'll have a live report about what's expected to come out of the Russian president's speech. Plus this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Each time we come back here, it's just worse and worse. And you just don't even really imagine what people could do to survive here or what there's really worth fighting over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: CNN goes to the front lines in southern Ukraine to see its uphill battle to hold on to the territory it captured last year.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
Well, we are waiting for Russian President Vladimir Putin to begin his annual address to the parliament. It's set to begin at the top of the hour, and it's coming about two weeks before Russia's presidential elections, where Mr. Putin is, of course, considered a shoo-in to secure another six-year term.
Let's go to Clare Sebastian, who joins us live from London. So, Clare, as we await President Putin's annual address to parliament next hour, what can we expect to come out of this?
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, on the one hand, I think, Rosemary, we can expect a lot of the same statements that we quite often hear from him, likely blaming the West in part for the war in Ukraine, perhaps a history lesson, the likes of which we've become to hearing from Vladimir Putin attempting to show that Ukraine was always part of Russia. We may also hear him talking up Russia's military and the resilience of its economy in the face of sanctions. But look, in the past, he has not shied away from making some news in these annual speeches.
Last year, for example, he announced that Russia would be withdrawing from the New START treaty, that last vestige of the sort of nuclear disarmament structure between the U.S. and Russia. So that was significant. He did, by the way, take to the skies in the last few days in a nuclear-capable strategic bomber, flying it himself.
So it would seem perhaps possible that we might hear more nuclear rhetoric from him. We might also watch out for comments on the Israel- Gaza war. On this very day, Moscow will be hosting what it's calling an intra-Palestinian meeting.
[03:25:05]
It has tried to play a mediating role in this conflict, present itself as an alternative to the West. But of course, the context here is important. Putin, in many ways, has the wind in his sails. Russia, certainly in the ground war in Ukraine, seems to have the advantage. So we may hear him banking recent victories like the capture of Avdiivka.
And of course, as you say, elections are two weeks away. There is no opponent, really, to Vladimir Putin. This is a legitimizing exercise. But it matters. And in the absence of campaigning or rallies or debates or anything like that, this speech may be one of the ways that he looks to sort of create that image, to reinforce that sort of legitimizing exercise of these elections. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Claire Sebastian, joining us live from London.
Russian troops smell blood on the front lines as Western aid for Ukraine is in short supply. Moscow is trying to recover a small slice of land that Kyiv conquered during its counteroffensive last year. And as Nick Paton-Walsh reports, ammunition shortages are making it harder for Ukraine to hold Russians back. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATON WALSH (voice-over): Not even tree cover means safety.
They're firing to defend the tiny gains of Ukraine's counteroffensive. But now they are outgunned by Russian troops trying to surge forwards. You can hear how many shells they fire back.
No U.S. aid means Ukrainians risk losing right here, right now.
UNKNOWN (translated): 401 - target: infantry. High explosive round.
UNKNOWN (translated): Roger that. Targeting.
UNKNOWN (translated): One round, fire!
PATON WALSH: I feel like they're fighting, really, with one hand behind their back. Such a shortage of shells here. They get to do that, if they're lucky, about 10 times a day.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): Back in the summer counter-offensive, they would fire 80 a day.
Down in the bunker, it is strange to hear men who live underground to avoid death be so familiar with Republican procedural dysfunctionality.
ANTON, UKRAINE'S 65TH MECHANIZED BRIGADE (translated): I hardly understand the Republican policy on aiding Ukraine. The biggest issue is lack of ammunition and tiredness of soldiers. Most of my guys spent two years here. We are very much waiting for aid. We urgently need it. More rounds equals saving more lives.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): Their drone footage shows the remains of last night's failed Russian assault. This is what was a key prize in the counter-offensive, the tiny village of Robotyne. Still Ukraine's, but now another front line where Russia is hitting back hard. This thermal night imagery shows their latest bleak tactic. It's a quad bike carrying three Russians, charging at the front lines to simply see how far it can get.
KOKOS, 15TH NATIONAL GUARD (translated): It's more maneuverable than armored vehicles. It's hard to hit with artillery so we have to use drones. We heard from the prisoners of war that they are given pills before assaults. They just keep on coming and coming.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): But while Russia seems to squander infinite resources, Ukraine must be more ingenious and crowdfund.
This, a 3D printer to make tiny components for about 10 attack drones a day. Without more artillery, they say only these drones hold Russia back here.
It is a bleak and fierce fight which has mauled the nearby town of Orikhiv.
Russian airstrikes have left it looking like defeat, rather than the symbol of Ukrainian tenacity it is.
PATON WALSH: Each time you come back here, it's just worse and worse, and you just don't even really imagine what people could do to survive here, or what there's really worth left fighting over.
PATON WALSH (voice-over): And on the road out, these. A stark warning, Ukraine is preparing for bad news.
Six months ago, they were trying to surge forwards with new western armor here. Now, they prepare to lose.
Only one thing changed, and it was in Washington, not in their hearts.
Nick Paton-Walsh, CNN, Orikhiv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[03:30:00]
CHURCH: Israel is moving forward with plans for a military incursion into Rafah. Just ahead, how it says it plans to protect civilians in the southern Gaza city.
And in just two days, a massive wildfire in Texas is already the second largest ever in the state, devastating communities in the panhandle. We will hear from some residents who have lost virtually everything.
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CHURCH: Our top story this hour, Gaza's health ministry says more than 30,000 people have now been killed in the enclave since Israel's war with Hamas began in October. And there's growing concern that number will soar even further if Israel carries out ground operations in Rafah.
More than a million people are crammed into the southern Gaza city, while Israeli officials say they plan to protect civilians in Rafah. It's still unclear how they will do that. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says military operations are necessary there to completely destroy Hamas.
Meantime, negotiations are still underway for a deal to release more hostages from Gaza in exchange for a pause in fighting. Israel believes 130 hostages are being held, with 99 of them still alive.
CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton joins me now from Washington. Appreciate you being with us.
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Oh, it's my pleasure, Rosemary. Always good to be with you.
CHURCH: So as critical negotiations continue for a Gaza ceasefire in exchange for the release of hostages, Israel is poised and ready for a ground offensive inside the southern city of Rafah, where it's believed some Hamas leaders may be hiding out using the hostages as a human shield. How dangerous is a ground offensive at this time, even as Israel's military says an evacuation plan to protect civilians will be put in place?
LEIGHTON: I think it's very dangerous, Rosemary. I think one of the key things that the Israelis have to look at, of course, is from a purely tactical perspective, is whether or not their forces are going to be ambushed. There are going to be a lot of places where that could happen, with 1.3 or so million people in Rafah right now.
It's very clear that there are a lot of opportunities for mischief to be made on both sides. And the risk, of course, is that a lot of civilians will get caught in crossfires. And that, of course, compounds the difficulty of conducting military operations there.
[03:35:07]
But it's going to be extremely hard for the Israelis to achieve any of their military goals, just because of the sheer number of people that are involved here. But also, it's going to be very hard for there to be any kind of resolution to this if they don't have a viable plan to move people out of Rafah. They say they have a plan, but that, of course, is going to be something that we'll have to see in practice.
CHURCH: Yeah, I mean as you point out, they say they have this plan, but with more than one million Palestinians living in Rafah, how would an evacuation plan work on such a massive scale and how long would it take to relocate so many people ahead of a possible ground offensive?
LEIGHTON: Well, it could take at least several days, if not a week or a week and a half or so at a minimum under normal circumstances. And you would have to have a place for them to go. And as far as we can tell right now, the alternatives that the Israelis have spoken about are not necessarily improvements over the current state of affairs that these civilians, these Palestinians, are experiencing at the moment.
So Egypt is not set to open up its border with Gaza to take in refugees. The Israelis have talked about moving people to even closer to the coast than they currently are. That would potentially allow for certain things to happen, but it would also create some other difficulties potentially logistically. And none of these places seems to have been prepared as a campsite or as a staging area for any kind of movement of this type. So this does not seem to be a well thought out plan, at least looking at it from the outside. And it really begs the question whether or not they can pull something like this up in time for a meaningful cessation of hostilities.
CHURCH: And Israel's goal is to destroy Hamas. And one way to do that is to eliminate the leadership, specifically Yahya Sinwar, who's accused of being the architect of the October 7th attacks. And Israeli officials say they are closing in on him and believe he's hiding in the tunnel system beneath southern Gaza protected by the hostages. But will his death or capture end this war or end up exacerbating it? And what could it mean for the safety of the hostages and, of course, for the negotiations currently underway and possibly nearing a breakthrough?
LEIGHTON: Yeah, this is a very difficult situation. Any time you're, as an opposing force, getting into an area where you might capture the adversary's leader, it could change the dynamics of any negotiation that we know is going on right now between Hamas and the Israelis, Qatari and other intermediaries.
In this particular situation, if the Israelis ended up capturing or killing Yahya Sinwar, it would probably make Sinwar a martyr. And that would, of course, exacerbate tensions. It would make it much more likely that this war would continue.
And it would perhaps continue in other forms. But it would definitely not be a situation where the Israelis would have achieved their goal of destroying Hamas and destroying the leadership. At least they wouldn't be able to do it completely. So it's a very difficult situation for them in many ways, they would, of course, like to exercise retribution against him for his alleged complicity with the October 7th attacks.
But on the other hand, it may be better for the Israelis in the long run if they allow him to go into exile, as long as he doesn't, of course, control Hamas forces that then create future difficulties for Israel in one way or another. So it's a tough choice. And it would really have to be based on a lot of, I think, requirements that they would levy on someone like Yahya Sinwar and the other leadership elements of Hamas.
CHURCH: Colonel Cedric Leighton, always appreciate your military analysis. Thanks for joining us.
LEIGHTON: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Still to come, fast-moving wildfires are tearing across northern Texas, fueled by strong winds and hot, dry conditions. We'll have details on the damage that's been done. We're back with that and more in just a moment.
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[03:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(VIDEO PLAYING)
CHURCH: Heartbreaking video there of a three-year-old girl asking what happened to her home. And this is what her house in Fritch, Texas, looked like after wildfires ravaged the neighborhood. Even more homes are being destroyed and residents forced to evacuate as the second largest wildfire in Texas history tears through the panhandle.
The Smokehouse Creek fire and several other wildfires in both Texas and Oklahoma have scorched more than 400,000 hectares since Monday. One official estimates thousands of cattle will be lost and at least one person has died as a result of the fires. CNN's Lucy Kafanov has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNKNOWN: About half the town was forced to shelter in place.
LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mayor of Canadian Texas grateful that no lives were lost as local homes burned in a firestorm raging in the Texas panhandle. Fueled by dry growth and windy conditions, the Texas Smokehouse Creek fire is spreading out of control. On average, around 200 acres per minute, devouring more than three acres per second since it began two days ago.
DANNY WILLIAMS, FRITCH, TEXAS RESIDENT: Oh world, don't fire.
Danny Williams has spent 30 years in Fritch, Texas. His home survived the inferno that spread through town.
WILLIAMS: It came this way really fast and the authorities were trying to evacuate everybody and smoke was everywhere.
KAFANOV (voice-over): He had to wake up a neighbor and get him out of his home before it burned.
WILLIAMS: He just barely got out. He only had the shirt on his back and his dogs, he lost everything.
KAFANOV: I want to give you a sense of just how damaging these fires were. This was a two-story structure. It got destroyed in 30 minutes. Neighbors watched it burn. The residents have nothing left.
KAFANOV (voice-over): The fire, which began Monday in the Texas panhandle near Amarillo, has now crossed state lines into neighboring Oklahoma.
In Amarillo, officials saying flames have not reached the Pantooks nuclear weapons plant and firefighters have made some progress in the area.
UNKNOWN: The last containment numbers I had, 90,000 acres burned, 25 percent contained.
KAFANOV (voice-over): But officials say the fire is expected to continue its path of destruction.
KAFANOV: Is the fire danger over?
ADAM TURNER, TEXAS A&M FOREST SERVICE: The danger is not over. So the winds have died down. They will be back this weekend. It will be high winds and dry conditions again.
KAFANOV (voice-over): Now, a race to herd livestock and horses from the fire as churches set up shelters for those who've been evacuated.
UNKNOWN: Most of the people that have come in, they have lost everything.
UNKNOWN: As we were leaving, we could turn around and it did. It looked like Armageddon.
KAFANOV (voice-over): Parts of at least five Texas counties are still under evacuation orders. And all the residents evacuated from the town of Fritch are being told some homes are still on fire and they can't hear return. Firefighters in some areas overwhelmed by the blaze.
UNKNOWN: We got too many spots.
UNKNOWN: Pulling out. Major, pull out. Everybody, pull out.
KAFANOV (voice-over): High winds are the greatest threat now.
[03:45:05]
On Tuesday, wind gusts exceeding 60 miles per hour fueled the greatest destruction.
Lucy Kafanov, CNN, Fritch, Texas.
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CHURCH: The state of Texas has executed death row inmate Ivan Cantu despite claims of an unfair trial and new evidence. Cantu denied murdering his cousin and his cousin's fiancee in 2000. He and his supporters had called for a stay of his execution, arguing he did not receive a fair trial. And they claim a podcaster discovered new evidence that needs to be evaluated.
Three members of the jury that convicted him joined in that effort. Federal and state courts rejected appeals and the governor declined to intervene. The Collin County District Attorney stands by the case. A witness described Cantu's final message.
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MICHAEL GRACZYK, ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORTER: He turned to the witnesses or the relatives of his, of the victims, and said he wanted to tell them that he did not kill their, their relatives. And thanked his friends, supporters, attorneys, said he didn't belong on the gurney. But that if what was happening tonight gave peace to the victims' relatives, so be it, I believe is how he put it.
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CHURCH: France is a step closer to putting abortion rights in its constitution. Members celebrated on Wednesday after the French Senate overwhelmingly approved the amendment. The measure will face its final test on Monday when it needs to receive three-fifths of the vote at a joint session of both houses of parliament to become law. Polls show the proposal is widely popular among the French public. It became a priority for the government after the U.S. Supreme Court tossed out the landmark Roe vs. Wade abortion ruling in 2022.
Ghana is intensifying a crackdown on the rights of LGBTQ-plus people. The country's parliament has unanimously passed a controversial anti- homosexuality bill that not only criminalizes LGBTQ-plus relationships, but could also carry a prison sentence for those who support them.
CNN's David McKenzie joins us now live from Johannesburg. So David, what impact will this likely have if the bill becomes law?
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it certainly will have a severe impact, say activists and just based on our reporting over several years on this issue, because already just the discussion of the bill, the debate of the bill in parliament over several years in Ghana has narrowed the space for LGBTQ-plus Ghanaians in that country.
We've seen ample evidence of people taking the law or the proposed law into their own hands, beatings, humiliation, people thrown out by their landlords, abandoned by their families, that this law disturbingly calls on people to out those who they believe to be part of the gay and lesbian community and potentially punish them if they do not.
It's just one of several draconian anti-LGBT laws that have swept across the continent from Ghana to Uganda, where the president signed that bill into law. Kenya, where they are proposing a law. Our investigations have shown that there are links between at least some of the lawmakers pushing these bills and U.S. groups. But for their part, the lawmakers say that this is reflecting popular public opinion. Here's one of the sponsors of the bill.
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SAM GEORGE, GHANA OPPOSITION LEADER: There is nothing that deals with LGBTQ better than this bill that has just been passed by parliament. We expect the president to walk his talk and be a man of his words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MCKENZIE: Now, the question is, will President Akufo-Addo sign this bill? He has said very little up to this point about the debate that has been raging in parliament and in society in Ghana. He will be under pressure. This was a unanimous vote in parliament, both of the opposition and his ruling party. To assent to this bill, it is also an election year in Ghana. That will put even more pressure on the president to go with parliament.
But certainly, internationally, he will face substantial pressure, both publicly from the U.S. and others, and privately, I expect, from diplomats who have significant leverage over the Ghanaian government when it comes to foreign aid, directly to the running of government and to areas like health. Rosemary?
CHURCH: All right, David McKenzie joining us live from Johannesburg, many thanks.
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Police and a small group of protesters clashed in Athens, Greece on Wednesday. CNN Greece reports that some protesters launched Molotov cocktails at the courtyard of the Greek parliament.
They had broken away from a larger demonstration, marking the one-year anniversary of a train crash that killed 57 people. Some 20,000 people participated in peaceful protests, calling for accountability and change within the country's largest public service union. There was also a nationwide strike Wednesday, with disruptions to railways, hospitals, ships and schools.
Still to come, one of the world's greatest natural wonders is under threat. Why scientists fear a seventh mass bleaching event could be imminent at the Great Barrier Reef.
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CHURCH: The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia is suffering from extensive coral bleaching. That is according to the reef's managers after conducting dozens of surveys last weekend. Scientists say it was caused by soaring ocean temperatures as the world continues to burn planet-warming fossil fuels. If the water temperature remains higher than normal for too long, coral can starve and die. This latest survey is raising concerns that this year could see a seventh mass bleaching event at one of the world's greatest natural wonders.
A battle is raging in India over who invented one of the country's most famous dishes, butter chicken. Two restaurants claim it as their brainchild. Now it's up to a Delhi court to decide which is the true creator of the rich tomato creamy curry.
CNN's Vedika Sud takes us into the culinary showdown.
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VEDIKA SUD, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): A reaction fit for one of India's most famous gastronomic exports.
Succulent chicken cooked in a velvety tomato gravy with cream, spices and of course chunks of butter.
It's a simple recipe that is even featured as a challenge on "MasterChef Australia."
And it's now being fought over by two families in a $240,000 court battle.
SUD: Butter chicken is now a serious bone of contention between two Indian restaurant chains locked in legal battle over who invented it.
SUD (voice-over): Last month, Moti Mahal Delux, run by the descendants of Kundanlal Gujarat filed a complaint spanning over 2,700 pages against competitors Daryaganj.
They say it was their grandfather Gujarat who first invented the dish in the 1920s in Peshawar, in what is now modern Pakistan.
After partition, Gujarat moved to India and went on to set up the first Moti Mahal with two other partners in 1947, the same year India gained its independence.
Over the years, its popularity soared, hosting famous faces, former U.S. President John F. Kennedy alongside First Lady Jackie Kennedy and Indian Prime Ministers Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
[03:55:07]
MONISH GUJRAL, CHIEF MANAGING DIRECTOR, MOTI MAHAL DELUX: It's a legacy which is very dear to my family cooking inherited that kind of a legacy with my grandparents (inaudible) taking our legacy just by putting them (inaudible).
SUD (voice-over): Daryaganj claims the dish was invented when the restaurant was set up with Gujarat's partner Kundanlal Jaggi, one of their late relatives.
Co-founder and CEO Amit Bagga even proclaimed it when he appeared on the Indian version of American investment reality show, "Shark Tank", last year.
AMIT BAGGA, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER, DARYAGANJ: We actually don't understand the validity of this whole case here because if something is a trademark registered by us, it's a legacy which is also shared by us. How can anyone stop us to use that?
SUD (voice-over): But do butter chicken fans care?
ERIC STUTZMAN, U.S. CITIZEN: I'm here for the butter chicken. I would say I know founders, like who's the founder of a company is very popular nowadays but I mean going back to Gordon Ramsay, it's the flavor. It's not the pretension, it's not the restaurant, it is. It's like the flavor of the food and is the butter chicken buttery?
MADHURA SHRIKHANDA, H.R. PROFESSIONAL: Because every food has a story and you know every preparation takes its own time and it has its own challenges and on and definitely that taste is carried on through generations.
SUD (voice-over): A court ruling is likely to take months but regardless of the outcome, this dish is guaranteed to remain a firm favorite.
Vedika Sud, CNN, New Delhi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Well we are getting new images from the first U.S. made spacecraft to make a soft landing on the moon in five decades. One of the remarkable pictures shows the Odysseus lunar lander as it touched down on the moon's surface last Thursday. Another image shows the lander resting on the lunar surface.
NASA and Intuitive Machines, the company that developed Odysseus, have confirmed that all of the lander's instruments are still transmitting data back to Earth. They consider the mission a success even though the lander tripped to on its side. The Academy Awards is bringing out some star power to the stage at this year's show.
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Great song. Actor and now celebrated singer Ryan Gosling will be singing "I'm Just Ken" from the movie "Barbie" which is nominated for best original song. "Barbie" was produced by Warner Brothers Pictures, a sister company of CNN, and Gosling himself is nominated in the best supporting actor category.
Thank you so much for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "CNN Newsroom" continues next, with Max Foster and Bianca Nobilo.
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