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CNN International: Biden: U.S. Will Not Give Israel Weapons to Invade Rafah; Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Visit Nigeria; Putin Rails Against the West as Russia Marks Victory Day; Last Hospital in Rafah: Unequipped for Rising Casualties; Survivors in Doha Gaza Ward Struggle with Loss, Recovery. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired May 10, 2024 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Throughout the war, the U.S. president has projected unwavering support for Israel, despite mounting frustration with its prime minister. But Benjamin Netanyahu said he hopes he and Joe Biden can move past this tension. Here's CNN's Oren Liebermann.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): An airtight embrace between world leaders in the days after October 7th has given way to barely contained anger, a personal and political fight decades in the making. President Joe Biden has more than 50 years of history with Israel, dating back to 1973.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've worked with every prime minister of Israel, from Golda Meir right through to the present prime minister.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): He first met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the 80s. Biden, a young senator on the Foreign Relations Committee.
BIDEN: Were there not an Israel, the United States of America would have to invent an Israel.
LIEBERMANN: Israel's longest serving leader, then working at the embassy in D.C. The relationship has more often than not had some friction.
BIDEN: I signed a picture a long time for Bibi. He's been a friend for over 30 years. I said, Bibi, I don't agree with the damn thing you say, but I love you. But we really are good friends.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Biden has long been seen as a pro-Israel Democrat. He surged aid to Israel after October 7th and signed off on Congress's supplemental designating $14 billion for Israel. Under President Barack Obama, Biden was seen as an asset, able to work with Netanyahu.
But the tension between Biden and Netanyahu burst into the open last year when Netanyahu tried to push through a major judicial overhaul.
BIDEN: Like many strong supporters of Israel, I'm very concerned. And I'm concerned that they get this straight. They cannot continue to on this road.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Even so, never before has it spilled over like this.
BIDEN: I've made it clear to Bibi and the war cabinet, they're not going to get our support if in fact they're going to these population centers.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): In an exclusive interview with Erin Burnett, Biden said the U.S. would not supply bombs to Israel if it invaded Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have sought refuge.
BIDEN: We're not walking away from Israel's security. We're walking away from Israel's ability to wage war in those areas.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Biden has grown increasingly frustrated with Netanyahu, telling his advisors that the Israeli leader is ignoring his advice. The relationship may be beyond repair.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It can't get better as long as Mr. Netanyahu is in power. What may happen is that these differences could be mitigated, alleviated, but that would be only a temporary relief.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): Seven months into the war, the U.S. openly opposes an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah. One Netanyahu promises is still coming.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): If we need to stand alone, we will stand alone. I have said that if necessary, we will fight with our fingernails.
LIEBERMANN (voice-over): The short statement posted on social media didn't mention Biden, but it didn't need to.
LIEBERMANN: In comments made to American talk show host Dr. Phil, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that he has known Joe Biden for more than 40 years. They have their agreements and they have their disagreements. And he expressed optimism that they would get through these disagreements as well.
So it seems when it comes directly to talking about Biden, Netanyahu chooses his words carefully and tries to highlight the length and the history of that relationship.
Oren Liebermann, CNN in Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex are in Nigeria today. The Nigerian government says it's honored and delighted to host the Duke and the Duchess. This comes after Harry spent a few days here in London, marking the 10th anniversary of his Invictus Games. CNN's Stephanie Busari live for us this hour in Abuja, Nigeria. I can't remember the last time we saw them out on a high-profile tour like this. What can we expect?
STEPHANIE BUSARI, CNN SENIOR EDITOR, AFRICA: Yes, this is the first time for both Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to visit Nigeria. So there is some excitement in the country. And this visit for them will really cement two of the things that they're really very passionate about, Max.
Mental health and, of course, the work that Prince Harry does with the Invictus Foundation, which has just celebrated 10 years. And the couple are here in Nigeria, we're told, at the invitation of the Defence HQ, Nigeria's defense headquarters, who are quite keen to get involved in it and be part of the Invictus community. They said that this had been long planned when Nigeria first took part in the Invictus Games in Germany last year.
It was the first time an African nation was taking part in those games. And Nigeria is really keen to cement its relationship with Invictus and the royal couple to boost the relationship between the two parties. And the Defence HQ are telling us that they've really seen a remarkable recovery in their wounded soldiers.
And don't forget, Nigeria has been fighting an insurgency since 2009. And many wounded soldiers, many who are neglected, but some telling us that they had a new lease of life taking part in those games last year -- Max.
FOSTER: Absolutely. Invictus, obviously, his big cause that he supports. For the Duchess, it tends to be female empowerment. I'm just wondering, you know, what women in Nigeria are saying about that, if they're saying anything at this point, and whether or not they're pretty excited about seeing her.
BUSARI: Yes, very much so. People are telling me that they love what Meghan stands for. They like that she stands up for herself.
Someone I spoke to yesterday referenced the letter that she wrote as a teenager to the Fairy Liquid manufacturers. The ad, which she thought was sexist, depicting women washing dishes if you remember that. And they really hold on to these things that Meghan has championed in the past.
And while she's here, she'll take part in a women's leadership event, and she's hosting with the head of the World Trade Organization, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. And she's also visiting a school, currently first engagement, where they're helping young students with menstrual products, menstrual health, and, you know, really just homing on that passion for women's empowerment, women's rights and activism -- Max.
[04:35:00]
FOSTER: Stephanie Busari, a busy weekend for you. Thanks for joining us from Abuja. Ukraine's president has fired his top bodyguard over an alleged
assassination plot. It happened after two officers from Ukraine's state guard service were detained for reportedly working to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has reportedly raised the bar in its drone strikes on Russia. A Ukrainian defense source tells CNN that one drone struck a refinery in southwestern Russia, about 1,500 kilometers away. That's reportedly the longest distance for Ukraine's UAVs.
The refinery is one of Russia's largest, but regional officials say it's still operating despite that attack.
And back in Ukraine, Western intelligence believes Russia sees a window of opportunity and will ramp up its attacks ahead of the arrival of more U.S. military aid.
Officials say Russian troops will likely try to make more progress and consolidate recent gains on the front lines. The U.S. aid was approved last month, but it'll take time before enough of it is delivered there.
Russia's marked the most important day of its political calendar, the anniversary of its victory over Nazi Germany. Thursday's Victory Day celebrations ended with fireworks, even though the events were scaled back this year.
But as Clare Sebastian reports, President Vladimir Putin did not dial down his verbal assault against Ukraine's allies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amid unseasonal snow flurries, Russian President Vladimir Putin using this moment to turn up the heat in his war of words with the West, accusing it of distorting history.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Revanchism, mockery of history and the desire to justify the current followers of the Nazis are part of the general policy of Western elites to foment new regional conflicts.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Putin's third Victory Day since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, another opportunity for his own brand of factual distortion. Painting the war in Ukraine as the sequel to Russia's role in defeating Nazi Germany, portraying the West as the aggressor, justifying unimaginable losses under the banner of patriotism.
PUTIN (through translator): Russia is going through a difficult period. The fate of our motherland depends on every one of us.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): Soldiers fresh from the front lines in Russia's so-called special military operation, also treading the damp cobbles of Red Square. And yet this year, victory seems more attainable. Russia now has the advantage on Ukraine's front lines. Gains on the Eastern Front in recent months, their biggest in more than a year and a half.
Moscow confident enough to show off a selection of battlefield trophies. European and American tanks and armored vehicles, part of a month-long exhibition at Moscow's Victory Park.
At home, Putin now two days into his fifth term, is more powerful than ever. And he wants the world to know it.
PUTIN (through translator): Russia will do everything to avoid a global confrontation. But at the same time, we will not let anyone threaten us. Our strategic forces are always combat ready.
SEBASTIAN (voice-over): It was a measured nuclear threat. As ballistic missiles rolled across Red Square, Putin casually coordinated plans for upcoming non-strategic nuclear exercises with close allied Belarus. Both leaders emphasizing this is just routine training. While Western leaders no longer join Russia in marking this shared victory, Putin knows they are watching.
Clare Sebastian, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: An American detained in Russia speaking exclusively to CNN about concerns over his case. Paul Whelan says he's optimistic about U.S. attempts to secure his release, but he's worried the recent arrest of another American might complicate efforts to get him freed as well as Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAUL WHELAN, AMERICAN DETAINED IN RUSSIA: Unfortunately, if this gentleman is declared wrongfully detained, it will sort of start negotiations for Evan and I all over again, because then there'll be the three of us. And this is one of the problems that we've had in the past. They were negotiating for me, and then it was Trevor and me, and then it was Brittney and me. And now it's Evan and me. And every time they've negotiated, it's always been starting fresh with there's another person involved. So, yeah, it is a bit of a concern.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The U.S. army staff sergeant Gordon Black travelled to Russia to visit his girlfriend without permission from the U.S. military.
[04:40:20]
He was then arrested in the city of Vladivostok last week on charges of theft and will remain in pre-trial detention until July. He hasn't yet been granted US consular access either.
Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapping up his European tour on Thursday with a visit to Hungary. He met with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who's been pursuing stronger ties with China, Russia and other Asian countries. The two nations signed more than a dozen agreements that included infrastructure and nuclear energy projects. During the visit, Xi said China and Hungary's bilateral relationship was the best in history.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): China and Hungary have always been good friends with mutual trust and support and good partners in win-win cooperation. And it is natural for our two countries to further lift the level of bilateral ties and enrich bilateral cooperation. We decided to issue a joint statement to announce together the building of an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The state visit to Hungary was the last leg of Xi's European tour, his first to the continent since 2019.
The U.S. Senate has voted overwhelmingly to renew authority for the Federal Aviation Administration. The bill also aims to improve safety, invest in air travel infrastructure and enhance protections for passengers and airline workers.
Congress is hoping to address the shortage of air traffic controllers and implement technology to reduce the risk of runway collisions.
There's been disagreement over adding more long-distance flights in and out of Reagan National Airport just outside Washington.
Still ahead, survivors of the war in Gaza share their stories. CNN visits a hospital in Doha treating the critically wounded, whose lives have been changed forever.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: The last functioning hospital in Rafah is warning it's not equipped to deal with the rising numbers of casualties as Israel prepares for a larger ground offensive. The images you're about to see may be disturbing. A child is among the three people killed in eastern Rafah on Thursday.
Local journalists said there was non-stop shelling from Israeli artillery overnight. The Israel Defense Forces warned people to evacuate eastern Rafah on Monday, but Gaza's health ministry says eight people, including children, were killed in western Rafah on Thursday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAMADAN AL LAHAM, RELATIVE OF PALESTINIANS KILLED (through translator): They said to evacuate the eastern part and that the western part is safe. This is proof that the occupation is a liar. There is no place, not in Rafah or in any other part of Gaza, because the occupation targets everywhere. They want us to die. (END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The U.N. estimates that around 110,000 people have fled Rafah since Tuesday, but noted the situation is fluid. The IDF puts that number higher at 150,000 people.
[04:45:00]
Israel deployed more tanks and troops to its border with Gaza on Thursday.
U.S. President Joe Biden has threatened to withhold some weapons if Israel goes through with that major invasion. The IDF says it already has plenty of weapons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON (through translator): The IDF has armaments for the missions it plans, and we also have enough weaponry to complete our mission in Rafah. I say this here in the context of everything that came up with the United States, and it is important to say it. The United States has helped us in an unprecedented manner since the start of the war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: With the vast majority of Gaza's hospitals destroyed, some of the wounded are being treated in Qatar. CNN gained rare access to Hamad Hospital in Doha, which is treating some of the most severely injured. Jomana Karadsheh was there to document their stories. Again, we want to warn you that some of the images are graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Behind every door is a story of what war has taken, and what it has left. Shattered lives, broken bodies, and tortured souls. This is the Gaza ward at Qatar's Hamad Hospital, where you find just some of this war's countless critically injured.
Some would say they're the lucky ones who barely escaped death, and the hellhole Gaza and its hospitals have become.
DR. HASAN ABUHEJLEH, CONSULTANT ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON, MAMAD MEDICAL CORPORATION: Hamad had a very severe injury. From the injury, he had an above-knee amputation on one side, and a below-knee amputation on the other side.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Most patients spent months with open wounds and arrived here with drug-resistant infections, making their cases even harder to treat.
ABUHEJLEH: I've been working in orthopedics around 20, 21 years, and the kind of injuries, the severity of the injuries, the types of bone loss and infections we faced with the Gaza patients are beyond whatever I've seen before. KARADSHEH (voice-over): But even those who've lost so much have found solace in having their children safe and by their side. Raneem sits alone in her hospital bed, no one by her side. The vacant look in the eyes of a woman who's seen death.
It was on October 24th as Khan Younis was under Israeli bombardment. Raneem, then eight months pregnant, was in bed cradling her one-year- old son Aziz to sleep.
RANEEM HIJAZI, SON KILLED IN GAZA (through translator): I had a feeling something bad was going to happen, so I held him tighter. Whatever happens to me happens to him. You don't feel the strike itself. You just open your eyes and you're under the rubble. I woke up screaming. I was feeling around to find my son.
Suddenly, my mother-in-law came screaming, Aziz. She found him over my belly. She picked him up. His body was in her hands and his head dropped onto my belly.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): When Raneem got to hospital, they thought she was dead. Her baby girl was delivered by C-section.
HIJAZI (through translator): They delivered her, and as she took her first breath, I came back to life.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): With an amputated arm and serious injuries to her legs, Raneem couldn't even hold her baby girl before she was evacuated out of Gaza. Her daughter is now in Egypt. She's watched her grow in photos. Baby Meriem now is as old as this war. Raneem says most days, not even her daughter is giving her the will to live anymore.
HIJAZI (through translator): It's over. Life has ended. There is no more joy. I shut my eyes, and all the memories overwhelm me. I saw the baby formula I used for my son, and I felt I was dying. And it was just baby formula. You can only imagine what happens when I see his picture or videos or his toys or his clothes. The pain will never go away. We give birth only to lose them.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Every woman we spoke to in this ward has lost a child, some more. Shahed married the love of her life, Ali, a 26- year-old university professor. When the war started she was 7-months pregnant with their first child.
SHAHED ALQUTATI, CRITICALLY WOUNDED IN GAZA: A week before the war, we bought everything for the baby. Every clothes, every single T-shirt -- pink, pink, pink.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): On October 11th, a blast hit their home. Ali and Shahed found themselves on the street. Shahed lost her leg, Ali both legs and his arm.
They called out each other's names before they were rushed to hospital. But Ali didn't make it. Two days later, their baby girl they'd named Sham arrived into this world, lifeless. [04:50:00]
ALQUTATI: It's really hard on me, very hard, because this is like my everything, you know? My everything, this is my everything. Suddenly, she disappeared.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Shahed's nightmare didn't end here. She was one of hundreds of patients trapped in Shifa Hospital when it came under Israeli siege. Like other patients forced out, her father had to push her on a wheelchair for hours to get to Rafah.
ALQUTATI: When we reach Rafah, like, my injury was all infections. Like, the hospital is not clean to go in it. If I want to go to the hospital, I will die.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Despite everything she's gone through, a resilient Shahed somehow still smiles.
ALQUTATI: No one will feel the pain here. Like, I'm with the people, strong, happy, like, laughing. But when I'm, like, alone, I feel something painful here. I cannot be healed from that.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): In every corner of this ward, a story of pain and grief. Too many for us to tell. The journey to recovery for the few who make it out begins here. But how does anyone ever heal from this?
Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Doha.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
FOSTER: The number one in women's golf, Nelly Korda, is starting her quest for an unprecedented six straight LPGA victory. She might have her work cut out for her. She's six shots behind the leader, the Cognizant Founders Cup in New Jersey, after the first round tied for 18th place with 17 other players.
The 25-year-old has struggled with this tournament in the past, missing the cut last year, but she says she had, quote, a overall solid day.
In the NBA, the Phoenix Suns have fired their head coach after one season. The team went 49-33 with Frank Vogel at the helm, but they were swept in four games in the first round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves. The team's presence as a season was far below expectations. Vogel has been a head coach in the league for 12 seasons. He won an NBA championship in 2020 as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bayer Leverkusen can't be beat. The German Bundesliga club slipped in an extra-time goal against Roma on Thursday to salvage a 2-2 draw, extending its unbeaten run to a record-breaking 49 consecutive matches and cementing its spot in the Europa League final. Leverkusen has been transformed by Spanish football legend and
managerial wunderkind Xabi Alonso. The team recently captured its first ever Bundesliga title in the club's 119-year history, and now they are just two league matches away from making German football history. Should they go unbeaten in their final matches, they'll become the first club in Bundesliga to have a whole season without one loss.
Stories in the spotlight this hour.
Justin Bieber and his wife Hailey are expecting their first baby.
[04:55:00]
The couple announced the news on Thursday with matching Instagram posts, showcasing the pop star and his model wife's growing belly. The news comes nearly six years after the couple secretly tied the knot at a New York courthouse a few months after their engagement. They met again at a lavish ceremony a year later in South Carolina.
Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is back on the road. The megastar played in Paris on Thursday, the first stop on the European leg of her tour. After a two-month break, the concert had a revamped set list that included songs from her latest album, The Tortured Poets Department.
This is the first time Swift has performed the tracks in front of a live audience since the album's release last month. The restructured show featured new costumes, new choreography and props.
And exciting news for fans of The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Master's my friend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't have any friends. Nobody likes you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not listening.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: It still gives me the creeps. Two new movies based on characters by J.R.R. Tolkien are in the works.
The first one is tentatively titled "The Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum." It reunites the original team behind their nearly $6 billion original franchise, which includes director Peter Jackson. But don't put your elf ears on just yet. The first film isn't scheduled to hit theaters until 2026.
The co-stars of the 1994 hit action film Speed may be ready for another ride.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. What do you do? What do you do?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FOSTER: The ultimate premise. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock starred as officer Jack Trevon and Annie Porter in the first film about a bus that was set to explode if it fell beneath a certain speed -- you just heard there. Recently. Both actors reunited for a podcast and addressed the possibility of a third film in the Speed franchise. They agreed they had great chemistry and would knock a third film, Speed film, out of the park.
But neither actually committed to star in another film for the franchise. So we wait to see.
Thanks for joining me here on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Max Foster in London. CNN "THIS MORNING" is up next.
