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President Biden Delivers An Ultimatum To Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu To Protect Civilians In Gaza Or Else; CNN Learns About The Chaotic U.S. Evacuation From Afghanistan In August 2021; Twenty-Five People Missing In Taiwan Earthquake; Judge Aileen Cannon Rejecting An Effort By Former President Trump To Have The Mar-A-Lago Classified Documents Case Tossed Out; U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen Back In China, Pressures Chinese Leaders On The Threat Of Overcapacity; Report: Israel Using AI To Pick Bombing Targets; $30M In Cash Stolen From Los Angeles Money Storage Facility. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired April 05, 2024 - 2:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Anna Coren, live from Hong Kong. Just ahead, much needed aid routes into Gaza are set to reopen after Israel's staunchest ally warned of consequences.

Plus, CNN gets access to testimony about one of the largest evacuations in U.S. history. What a military expert tells me about the chaotic exit from Afghanistan. And later, tens of millions of dollars stolen from a money storage facility. What we're hearing about how the thieves pulled it off. We could soon see some relief from the months of food and medical shortages in Gaza.

It comes after President Biden delivered an ultimatum to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, protect civilians in Gaza or else. Israel has announced the Erez border crossing between Israel and northern Gaza will be reopened to allow aid shipments. The Israeli Security Cabinet approved the decision and also agreed to the Israeli port of Ashdod being used to help transfer more aid.

Well, the moves come after a phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The White House says Mr. Biden demanded specific concrete and measurable steps to protect civilians and aid workers in Gaza and to facilitate more aid getting in or the U.S. would reconsider its own policies. More now from CNN's Kayla Tausche.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: If we lose that reverence for human life, we risk becoming indistinguishable from those we confront.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tonight, a market shift in the Biden administration's policy on Israel. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warning Israel must protect civilians in Gaza or face a change in U.S. policy.

BLINKEN: This week's horrific attack on the World Central Kitchen was not the first such incident. It must be the last.

TAUSCHE (voice-over): President Biden in a 30-minute phone call with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demanding an immediate ceasefire, making clear his administration's frustrations are mounting alongside the civilian death toll.

JOHN KIRBY, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: And he urged the prime minister to empower his negotiators to conclude a deal without delay.

TAUSCHE (voice-over): The two leaders speaking for the first time since Biden expressed public outrage over the deadly strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy in Gaza. Netanyahu has said, "It happens in war." The White House says Biden and Netanyahu didn't discuss the strikes in great detail, but Biden told him the darkening humanitarian picture was unacceptable and Israel needed to take concrete and measurable steps or the U.S. could reconsider its position.

KIRBY: We want to see more crossings opened up. We want to see more trucks getting in. The mitigation of civilian harm, particularly to humanitarian aid workers, but obviously all civilians.

TAUSCHE (voice-over): National Security spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. needs to see results soon or pursue a policy change, though without providing specifics.

KIRBY: If we don't see changes from their side, there'll have to be changes from our side. We would hope to see some announcements of changes here in coming hours and days.

TAUSCHE (voice-over): Long-time Biden ally Senator Chris Coons, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says this strike is different and that Biden's Democratic supporting Congress is starting to wane over Israel.

CHRIS COONS, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: This particular targeted killing, which is hard to explain or understand, I would vote to condition aid to Israel.

TAUSCHE (voice-over): Joining a faction of lawmakers calling for Biden to take a tougher line on the Mideast ally, even as CNN learns the White House is still green-lighting new arms sales.

ELIZABETH WARREN, U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: We cannot approve the sale of arms to a country that is in violation of our own laws.

TAUSCHE (voice-over): Israel now on guard for retaliation from Iran, days after striking an Iranian government building in Syria, killing top IRGC officials.

KIRBY: They did talk about a very public and very viable, real threat by Iran.

TAUSCHE (voice-over): And despite its outrage and in the face of those continued threats, the Biden administration making clear it stands with its closest Mideast ally.

BLINKEN: President Biden reaffirmed the United States' strong support for Israel in the face of these threats and our commitment to Israel's security.

[02:05:00]

TAUSCHE: In the hours following that call, President Biden held a public event here at the White House. Reporters shouted questions about his message to Netanyahu, but Biden didn't answer them. Kayla Tausche, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, meanwhile, at least four Palestinians, including one paramedic, are dead in northeastern Gaza after Israeli forces targeted an area near a school sheltering displaced civilians. Well, that's according to paramedics at the Kamal Adwan Hospital.

A witness says they were in a field looking for food, anything to eat. When they were hit by Israeli artillery fire, civilians and paramedics rushed to help, they were hit by more artillery rounds. CNN has reached out to the IDF for comment.

And in central Gaza, Palestinian health officials say at least two people were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a residential block in the Al-Maghazi refugee camp. When CNN asked for comment, Israeli forces did not directly address the reason for the attack.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is following developments and joins me now from Abu Dhabi. Paula, let's start with that tense phone call between President Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Obviously, Biden threatening future U.S. support for Israel's war against Hamas and suddenly aid routes into Gaza appear. Tell us more.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right. This really was an ultimatum, Anna, that we haven't heard from the Biden administration in the past. They've always been consistent with their messaging that even though they criticized what they saw as over-the- top reaction from Israel and not giving enough care to preventing civilian deaths, they always said that the military support would be there.

But this is a change. They're now saying that the policy is being looked at depending on how Israel reacts. So, as you say, just a few hours after this ultimatum, suddenly one of the crossings between Israel and Gaza was going to be available to be opened. At least the Israeli security cabinet has approved the Erez crossing being opened.

Now, this is the passenger crossing in the north of Gaza. So, it is really critical access to an area where a U.N.-backed report says that half of the population is now on the brink of famine and could already be suffering famine. So, it is one of the crossings that world leaders have been calling to be opened for many months.

Humanitarian aid groups have been calling for this crossing to be open for many months. Now, it was damaged back on October 7th during the Hamas attack on Israel. And we've certainly heard from the Israeli side that they were unable to open it because of that damage. But now, we understand that it is going to be opened. We don't have the details.

The U.N. welcoming the decision but saying, of course, they want to see how it will be implemented and what sort of restrictions there will be on what can come into northern Gaza, a critical route for humanitarian aid. But of course, it does beg the question, if it is able to be approved just a few hours after the U.S. gives this ultimatum, why was it not able to be approved many months ago. Anna.

COREN: Very good point. Paula, during this call, Netanyahu was warned that, you know, civilian casualties -- they have to stop. And yet, these strikes -- indiscriminate strikes are still happening. The latest, you know, reportedly killing a heavily pregnant woman and her two daughters. What more can you tell us?

HANCOCKS: Yes. So, this was an attack in the Al-Junaynah neighborhood of Rafah in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Rafah, of course, where well over a million Palestinians are currently sheltering. This is where the Israeli military had told them to move to, to be out of harm's way from attacks in elsewhere in Gaza.

Now, we understand, and this is information coming to us from the grandfather of this family, that his daughter, a heavily pregnant woman, an eight-month pregnant woman and her two children, aged one and two, were killed when a missile hit their house as they were sleeping. We understand other members of the family were also injured.

Now, we've reached out to the IDF to ask why this particular target was deemed necessary. But it is just another example of civilians being caught up in this war. And of course, it comes, as Biden has said, that he wants to make sure that there is a limit and more care taken to ensure that these civilian casualties don't happen. Anna.

[02:10:00]

COREN: Paula Hancocks, you've worked extensively in Israel covering this story. It's always great to get your analysis. Thanks so much. We're learning more about the chaotic U.S. evacuation from Afghanistan in August 2021. The U.S. scrambled to evacuate tens of thousands of civilians after the capital, Kabul, fell to the Taliban.

CNN has exclusively obtained congressional testimony that shows there was no clear plan on the table and many decisions had to be made on the fly, as the situation sometimes changed minute by minute. Well, CNN's Kylie Atwood has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New transcripts exclusively obtained by CNN show the chaos on the ground as the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan mirrored the chaos behind the scenes at the State Department. The Department had no working emergency evacuation plan. That is the

stark testimony from three State Department officials to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And those three officials were rushed into Kabul in the days surrounding the Taliban takeover with virtually no time to prepare.

MICHAEL MCCAUL, U.S. HOUSE REPUBLICAN: The Biden administration's failure to plan for their withdrawal threatened the safety and security of U.S. personnel in the country.

ATWOOD (voice-over): The interviews are part of an on-going investigation led by the Committee's Republican Chairman Mike McCaul into the chaotic evacuation that resulted in the deaths of 13 U.S. service members in a terrorist attack outside of the Kabul airport.

One official testifying, quote, "We had to create from scratch tactical operations that would get our priority people into the airport." He added, "We were roughly as effective as we could be under the circumstances." Another saying he was never briefed on an established evacuation plan because, quote, "We were already in the midst of executing an evacuation that substantially exceeded the scope and scale of what had been contemplated."

The top U.S. military generals suggested that the damage could have been mitigated if the State Department had called for an earlier non- combatant evacuation.

MARK MILLEY, FORMER U.S. CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: It is my assessment that that decision came too late.

KENNETH F. MCKENZIE, FORMER COMMANDER, RETIRED U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: We struggled to gain access to that plan and work with them over the months of July until we finally got a decision to execute.

ATWOOD (voice-over): Those accusations have been disputed by the State Department.

VEDANT PATEL, DEPUTY SPOKESPERSON, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT: The U.S. did not want to publicly announce planning for or the start of a NEO so as to not weaken the position of the then Afghan government, potentially signaling a potential lack of faith.

ATWOOD (voice-over): Another state official testified to the setbacks on the ground due to a bleak reality. The Taliban were largely in control, quote, "It was what will the Taliban allow? Will they let people move through and how will they do it? And as someone who's worked in Afghanistan for 19 years, it's a little bit wild to tell people that you can trust the Taliban, hold up your American passport, but it did kind of work." Those descriptions, a far cry from what the Department said at the time.

NED PRICE, U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: My understanding is that things are moving quite efficiently at this hour at the airport now.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ATWOOD: Now, the Committee investigators say that their goal is to get a report done on all of the interviews that they have conducted by the end of the year. And as important as the voices of these State Department officials are, Biden administration officials are highly cognizant of the fact that there is a political motive here.

This investigation, of course, is run by the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. And it's clear that Republicans want this to become an issue front and center around the time of the November elections, so that when folks are heading to the polls, they remember what it was like, this catastrophic, chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan that occurred during the Biden administration. Kylie Atwood, CNN, the State Department.

COREN: Joining me now is CNN Military Analyst and Retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. Colonel, great to have you with us. This is a highly political Republican-led investigation into what went wrong with the Afghan withdrawal and evacuation. But look, no one is denying that this was an absolute cluster on so many levels. What is your takeaway thus far?

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, RETIRED COLONEL, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: So, Anna, one of the big things I think that is part of this is the fact that this was something that should have been foreseeable and should have been planned for. One should always go with a worst-case scenario when it comes to planning for things like non-combatant evacuations, which is the type of evacuation planning that should have been used in this particular case.

And when you look at the different agencies involved, the U.S. State Department, the Defense Department, and some of the other agencies, it was very clear that they needed to work together at not only at the tactical level, but at the more strategic level to plan this type of an event, regardless of what we might have thought was the viability of the Afghan government.

[2:15:00]

And it was pretty clear to anybody who was paying attention in Afghanistan that this government in Afghanistan, the one that existed at that particular moment in time, was not going to last a very long time and that became really clear by July of 2021 and certainly was clear to me before that. But that's the kind of thing that should have really led to some very clear planning and realization that there was a need for a non-combatant evacuation.

COREN: This was a deal that President Biden had inherited from Donald Trump. However, Biden had made it perfectly clear that withdrawing from Afghanistan was long overdue. He had maintained that position for many years.

But I guess it was his announcement in April of 2021 that confirmed that the U.S. was withdrawing. It certainly confirmed Afghans' fears on the ground. And it set in motion what then unfolded. But I guess, why wasn't the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, the State Department, the Defense Department, as you mentioned, why were they not prepared? And where was the breakdown?

LEIGHTON: Yeah, I think that's something that we really need to take a look at. In many ways, it's a shame that this has become such a political aspect, as you mentioned earlier, because there is a lot of good that needs to come out of this, in the sense that we need to learn a lot of the lessons, so that if something like this were to happen again, and it certainly happened in the past, we need to be able to evacuate the people that we want to evacuate, as well as safeguard our troops and our diplomats.

And this is something where the planning process clearly needs to be looked at, not only within the State Department, but also in the Defense Department, as well as between those areas, and frankly, at the White House, as well.

COREN: Colonel, I was in Kabul in June and July of that year, as the Taliban were taking over control, you know, over parts of the country at an incredible speed. The U.S. government was still maintaining that Afghan security forces could withstand the Taliban and defend the Afghan government.

We now know that that was complete non-sense. Worst case scenario at the time, the U.S. government said that the Afghan government would fall within six months. Were they in denial? Were they out of touch with what was happening on the ground?

LEIGHTON: I think in many ways, they were in denial, because when you invest so many resources, so much time, so much effort into keeping a place as a viable government and, you know, keeping a government in place that you are comfortable with, then that vested interest is one that tends to blind you. And I think that's kind of what we saw here.

And that becomes a real problem, because the reality on the ground was always, and I think you saw it when you were there, the night was always controlled by the Taliban in many of the outlying provinces and even in areas close to Kabul. And the fact that the night was controlled by the Taliban, the day was sporadically controlled at best by government forces, that meant that the government really didn't have the staying power.

And the writing was definitely on the wall by that time. And it was very clear to many of us observing this, even from afar, that we knew that that government was not long for, you know, for this Earth. And that would have been reason enough to make a concerted effort, even a secret effort, to try to get people out and have the planning in place for that kind of a movement.

COREN: Colonel, how could the ISIS-K suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of Afghans have been prevented? You know, there was -- there were warnings, you know, for days leading up to the attack and the military. I mean, they were working or forced to work with the Taliban that had secured the perimeter of the airport.

LEIGHTON: It's really hard to say, even sometimes the best intelligence in situations where it's so chaotic as it was in Afghanistan at that time, it's very hard to prevent these kinds of situations from occurring. And in many ways, we have to say that we are lucky that more events of this type, more attacks from ISIS-K or other groups like them, we're lucky that more of them did not occur.

COREN: You know, absolutely. I mean, at the end of the day, this was the largest U.S. military evacuation in history -- 124,000 people got out. But I think we all agree this is a debacle that could have been prevented. Colonel Cedric Leighton, as always, great to get your perspective. Thank you so much.

[02:20:00]

LEIGHTON: Thank you, Anna. Great to be with you.

COREN: Two days after Taiwan's strongest earthquake in decades, we're seeing a frantic search for missing people. The latest from the quake zone is next. And new challenges for Donald Trump, as two judges reject the former president's efforts to have legal cases against him dropped.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COREN: Authorities in Taiwan say 25 people are missing more than two days after the island was hit by its strongest earthquake in decades. Well, dozens of people have been rescued from toppled buildings and remote areas cut off by landslides.

Officials say four foreign nationals are among those thought to be missing in the mountains. Taiwan authorities raised the death toll to 10 on Thursday. Well, CNN's Ivan Watson reports from the quake zone.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The small city of Hualien was the epicenter of Wednesday's 7.4 magnitude earthquake.

And I think this building here is an example of just how frighteningly powerful this disaster was. It's a day later now, and already you've got work crews ready to bring down what's left of this building. We saw videos of dramatic rescues, firemen pulling residents out of this building.

Now, make no mistake, this was a deadly disaster. The death toll has been incrementally growing. More than a thousand people injured. There are still rescues underway in the mountains around this city where there were enormous landslides bringing down entire mountain faces.

But take another look at Hualien down this road. You would be hard- pressed to find any other building that had significant damage. In fact, a lot of these shops and businesses are currently open right now. The city authorities say there were at least 92 buildings damaged. They're being inspected to see if they're still viable going forward into the future.

But Taiwan and Hualien in particular are very experienced when it comes to earthquakes. And I think what we're seeing here demonstrates how prepared this community is, the structural integrity of these buildings. Everybody I've talked to here has said that they have lived through many, many earthquakes before.

That Wednesday morning was the most frightening experience they had ever had. That said, it's very clear that this disaster, if Taiwan was not so well prepared, could have been much, much worse. Ivan Watson, CNN, Hualien, Taiwan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: A rough ride on Wall Street this week. The Dow Industrial Average shed more than 500 points on Thursday, closing below 39,000 for the first time since mid-March.

[02:25:00]

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 also lost more than one percentage point each. Well, the markets went south after the Minneapolis Federal Reserve President said interest rates may not be cut at all this year if inflation stays high. Well, many investors were expecting the rate cuts to begin as early as June.

Well, the U.S. Treasury Secretary will soon hold talks with the Chinese Vice Premier. Janet Yellen met with business leaders earlier in Guangzhou during her second visit to China with the Biden administration. The U.S. is looking to press Beijing on what it calls unfair trade practices, while working to improve relations between the world's two largest economies.

Well, CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is covering the visit here in Hong Kong. Kristie, will this high-level meeting stabilize ties, given the heat of the U.S. presidential election, where the China threat certainly looms large?

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's her goal here. Look, you know, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, she is back in China with the goal of further stabilizing this critical relationship between U.S. and China, but also to pressure Chinese leaders on the threat of overcapacity.

Janet Yellen has said that China is overproducing cheap Chinese exports like solar panels and EVs, which in turn distort global markets and also harm workers. And this is something that China, especially through state-run media, has dismissed.

Now, she is going to two cities in this latest visit to China -- Guangzhou and then Beijing. Earlier today, Janet Yellen has been meeting with members of the business community, including the American Chamber of Commerce in Guangzhou. And she will in just a few hours be meeting with the Vice Premier, He Lifen.

Now, this visit comes just a couple days after the U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping had that phone call. First direct talks between these two leaders since the APEC summit back in November. And in that phone call, Xi Jinping criticized Biden for his moves to, quote, "suppress China's tech and trade development".

And that's a theme that's coming up during Janet Yellen's visit to China. In fact, it came up today during her talks in Guangzhou. I want you to listen to what she said in opening remarks when she was sitting next to the Governor of Guangdong. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: Building a healthy economic relationship requires a level playing field for American workers and firms. This includes the issue of China's industrial overcapacity, which the United States and other countries are concerned can cause global spillovers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: The Biden administration is concerned that China's subsidies, which China is using to shore up its economy, which has been in turmoil recently, that that has led to a glut of overproduction of Chinese goods on the global market.

This is something that Chinese state media, including Xinhua, has slammed as hype. But it's also worth pointing out that over capacity is a problem that even China's premier, Li Cheng, mentioned and acknowledged in his work report at the start of the National People's Congress last month. Back to you, Anna.

COREN: Kristie Lu Stout, as always, good to see you. Thank you. Well, new legal setbacks for Donald Trump in several of his cases. An Atlanta judge has upheld the criminal indictment against the former president in the Georgia election interference case. Judge Scott McAfee rejected the argument that Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election were protected by the First Amendment.

The judge in the Stormy Daniels hush money trial rejected Trump's request to delay its start until after the Supreme Court rules on his presidential immunity claim. Jury selection begins on April 15. And a federal judge in has declined to dismiss the charges in the Mar-a-Lago documents case. Paula Reid has more on that.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Judge Aileen Cannon rejecting an effort by former President Trump to have the Mar- a-Lago classified documents case tossed out based on the argument that he had the right to take those papers home as he argues these were his personal records.

Now, he's making this argument under the Presidential Records Act. That is a post Watergate law that governs which materials created during an administration belong to the government or the President. Now, this argument has been rejected by the special counsel.

They have insisted that this should not be able to factor into a case. It's creating actually a lot of tension between prosecutors and the judge. Prosecutors have signaled that if the judge allows this issue to come in at trial, they may seek an appeal, an appellate review.

Now, this is just one of many motions to dismiss that Trump has filed. The judge currently has eight motions to dismiss sitting on her desk outstanding, in addition to several other issues. The most significant other issue is, of course, when will this case go to trial?

[02:30:05]

It is lightly penciled in for late May, but that was expected to be a placeholder and it's been over a month since she held a hearing. Arguments from both sides about when this case should go forward and look every motion, every hearing, every day that passes makes it less and less likely that this case will go before the November election.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, a new report says the Israeli military is using artificial intelligence to pick bombing targets in Gaza. We'll see how that's working out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COREN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is acknowledging the deaths of seven aid workers killed Monday in Gaza were Israel's fault. It comes as a new report says Israel's military is using artificial intelligence to help identify bombing targets in Gaza.

CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): After Israel's attack on the World Central Kitchen aid convoy in Gaza, questions about the IDF's targeting process are front and center.

JOSE ANDRES, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN FOUNDER: This was not just a bad luck situation where, oops, we dropped the bomb in the wrong place or -- no, this was over 1.5, 1.8 kilometers with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof.

PLEITGEN: Israel calls the targeted strike, quote, a tragic mistake. But there are general questions about how the IDF decides who to target after Israeli magazine "Plus 972" published an article claiming Israel's military widely uses artificial intelligence when going after alleged militants, sometimes with very little human oversight, says investigative reporter Yuval Abraham, after speaking to six Israeli intelligence officers.

YUVAL ABRAHAM, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: So one source told me that he would spend roughly 20 seconds before authorizing each target. And the only supervision they needed to do is to check if the targets, the machine marked was a male or female.

[02:35:06]

PLEITGEN: According to the reporting, the A.I. program called Lavender identifies and marks alleged militants in Gaza from low-level ones to senior commanders. ABRAHAM: One source told me it's 90 percent of the people, so hundreds of thousands of people. And it gives -- gives each one a rating based on this long list of features and the rating shows how probable the machine thinks that a particular individual is that belongs to the Hamas or Islamic jihad military wings.

PLEITGEN: But Abraham says, his sources told them A.I. program also makes mistakes, with lethal consequences for civilians in Gaza.

ABRAHAM: It would mark people who have a loose connection to Hamas or no connection at all to Hamas as potential targets. And they knew that the supervision mechanism in place would not be able to find all of these mistakes.

PLEITGEN: The Israel Defense Forces have not denied the use of A.I. on the battlefield in Gaza, but in a statement say, quote, contrary to claims, the IDF does not use an artificial intelligence system that identifies terrorist operatives or tries to predict whether a person is a terrorist. Information systems are merely tools for analysts in the target identification process.

While Israel says it has concluded the initial investigation into the bombing of the aid convoy, the former top U.S. general in Europe told OUTFRONT he's troubled by some of what he sees from Israel's military.

LT. GEN. BEN HODGES (RET.), FORMER U.S. ARMY EUROPE COMMANDER: Because I think that the IDF has become I don't want to say callous towards civilian casualties, but their tolerance for collateral damage is much higher. For us, it's zero.

PLEITGEN: The IDF says, it takes care to prevent civilian casualties, but the U.S. has warned more needs to be done to prevent the death toll among noncombatant Gazans from increasing even further.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, NATO countries will dig deeper into their stockpiles to try to find more air defenses that can be sent to Ukraine. The announcement was made after NATO and Ukrainian foreign ministers met in Brussels on Thursday. Well, that's when Ukraine called for an urgent delivery of air defenses, including the U.S.-made Patriot missiles.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin now claims that NATO is directly involved in the war on Ukraine, and that NATO's current relations with Russia have reached the level of direct confrontation.

The alliance's chief reacted this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: NATO is not party to the conflict. And NATO will not be party to the conflict but NATO is providing support to Ukraine, to help them defend themselves. We don't have any plans or having any NATO combat troops inside Ukraine. There have been no, no, no requests for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Like a scene from a movie, many millions of dollars in cash had vanished. And ahead, what's known about one of the largest heist in Los Angeles history.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:40:16]

COREN: A new report reveals some alarming predictions on cancer. Data from the American Cancer Society found that 20 million cancer cases were diagnosed in 2022. Well, that number is predicted to increase 77 percent by 2050, meaning up to 35 million new cases, cancer cases per year in the next 25 years. The report says population growth and aging are key drivers of the increase.

But different cancer types effect some more than others. One oncologist told CNN that 50 percent of cancers are preventable.

And you can reduce your cancer risk by maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly, limiting alcohol, and, of course, avoiding smoking.

An investigation is underway into one of the largest cash heists in Los Angeles history, as much as $30 million in bills were stolen on Easter Sunday.

CNN's Josh Campbell explains what's known about the brazen burglary and how the thieves pulled it off.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: A story that could be straight out of a Hollywood screenplay is in fact real. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation along with the Los Angeles Police Department are investigating a massive heist of as much as $30 million taken on Sunday from a private security firm here in the L.A. area, that according to law enforcement source briefed on the investigation.

I'm told that burglars gained access to the building and entered the vault without setting off any type of alarms. Authorities now believe this was a sophisticated group based on their ability to conduct this heist while evading detection. I'm told that one key focus of the investigation right now pertains to whether this group had some type of inside knowledge into the functions of this facility.

I'm told that the company in question here, the victim company is Gardaworld, a private security firm that process is money for businesses in and around the L.A. area.

Now, we've seen big heist before in the L.A. area back in 1997, there was a group that took approximately $20 million. They were eventually caught. Right now, no indication from authorities on whether they have any

type of identities of the group members here because that conducted this recent heist or their location. An investigation continues.

Josh Campbell, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Well, thanks so much for your company. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong.

"WORLD SPORT" is up next. Then I'll be back in 15 minutes time with more news here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:24]

(WORLD SPORT)