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CNN International: U.N. Inquiry Accuses Israel, Palestinian Militants of War Crimes; Hamas Responds to Latest Gaza Ceasefire Proposal; Israel: Large Missile Barrage Fired from Lebanon; U.S. Tracks Russian Warships En Route to Cuba; Hunter Biden Found Guilty on Federal Gun Charges; Migrants Struggle Along Deadly Route to U.S. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired June 12, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hamas has responded to the latest ceasefire proposal from Israel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hamas is saying it just gave a few comments. Israel is saying Hamas rejected the deal. The White House still hasn't said anything of substance.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, left federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, a convicted felon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The same Department of Justice that indicted Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents case and in the January 6th case also just convicted the sitting president's son of a crime.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Documents in hand, this family desperate to find Border Patrol. Says they've been walking for three days, and obviously she's very emotional. She says there's no food, there's no anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Live from London, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Max Foster.
MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, a warm welcome to our viewers joining us from around the world. I'm Max Foster. It's Wednesday, June the 12th, 9 a.m. here in London, 11 a.m. in Israel, where the military says a large missile barrage has been fired from Lebanon towards its northern territory.
The IDF said about 160 projectiles in total crossed the border with some sparking fires as well. We'll have more on that in just a moment, but we're going to go first to a damning new report released in the last hour from a U.N. commission. The inquiry finds Israeli authorities and Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas, are responsible for war crimes and other violations of international law.
The commission has also found that Israel is responsible for crimes against humanity during its military operations in Gaza following the October 7th Hamas attack. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh joins us now with major allegations.
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Max, this is a commission of inquiry, a body that was set up by the Human Rights Council back in 2021 during that Gaza offensive, and it was mandated to look into violations of international law by both sides. And for the past few months, what they've been doing is investigating the events of October 7th and what has happened since. And they have released these two damning reports, totaling more than 200 pages, where, as you mentioned, they accused Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups of committing war crimes on October 7th in Israel.
And they also accuse Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity since October 7th. Now, they say that Israel obstructed their investigation, that they did not allow them access to Palestinian territories or to Israel, but they managed to interview victims, witnesses, comb through thousands of open source items and using different methods and advanced methods of verifying this through forensic analysis. And the list goes on. They did quite some forensic work, according to the reports.
Now, when it comes to October 7th, Max, what they say happened is that they found that Hamas and these Palestinian, six other armed Palestinian groups, in addition, they say, in some instances, Palestinians in civilian clothing as well. They say that they were responsible for war crimes.
Those include intentionally directing attacks against civilians, willful killing, murder, torture, taking hostages, including children. And they also say they identified patterns indicative of sexual violence and concluded that these are not isolated incidents, but they were perpetrated in similar ways in several locations, primarily against Israeli women.
Now, when it comes to the report on Gaza and Israeli military operations, you know, it's a list of these war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to their findings, using starvation as a method of warfare, murder, willful killing, sexual violence, they accuse Israeli forces of committing, extermination, intentionally directing attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure.
And what they talk about, Max, here is looking at the immense civilian casualties, the numbers, the destruction in Gaza.
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And they say that this is the result of what they say is a strategy of maximum damage, rules of war, of proportionality, distinction and adequate precautions. They say were not taken during this campaign.
They also say that they reached the conclusion that what is happening is a siege imposed on Gaza, a total siege, which they say amounts to collective punishment of the population, as you know, because of humanitarian aid not getting in and using starvation there. And they say that Israeli forces did not provide people with enough time to evacuate, to get out to safety and the list goes on here. And they also found, they say, significant incidents where civilians did not pose any threat. Incidents where civilians were holding white flags, reported by CNN as well, cited in there.
FOSTER: Just quickly, have we had a response from either side?
KARADSHEH: So we have just gotten a response. I mean, just moments ago, we'll have to still go through it, Max, from the Israeli mission to the United Nations. First of all, they point out that, you know, they say that this is a systematic anti-Israeli discrimination of this commission.
They've accused it in the past of being an anti-Israel body, anti- Semitic. And they've said that they will not cooperate with any investigations with this body. And they say that they have decided to release this on a Jewish holiday, reflecting what they describe as this anti-Semitic behavior by this body.
And they say that the reports here, you know, draws a false equivalence between the IDF and Hamas terrorists in their words. And also they accuse Hamas of using civilians as human shields in Gaza.
FOSTER: Jomana, thank you so much.
We're going to get back to that breaking news where the military says a large missile barrage has been fired from Lebanon towards the northern part of Israel. The IDF said about 160 projectiles in total crossed the border with some sparking fires.
Let's bring in CNN's Ben Wedeman, who's live for us in Beirut -- Ben.
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Max, this does seem to be the largest in one period. Just this morning, the largest number of rockets fired from Lebanon into Israel. Many of the rockets landed in the eastern part of that border area, but some of them actually landed along the shores of Lake Tiberias, in addition to several landing just east of Haifa as well.
Now, these rockets, according to Hezbollah's telegram channel, were in response to the killing of four Hezbollah militants, one of them a senior commander overnight in the town of Sderot, which is about 14 kilometers north of the border. So this definitely is a major escalation, but it comes after about a week of an intensification of the back-and-forth between Hezbollah and Israel along the border area. And what we've seen significantly in the last week is that Hezbollah seems to be using weapons it hasn't used before.
It, for instance, was able to take out an Iron Dome battery. The Iron Dome, of course, that anti-missile system, which really is the backbone of Israel's defense against missiles coming from South Lebanon as well as from Gaza. To the best of my knowledge, that is the first time Hezbollah has been able to take out one of those Hezbollah batteries.
It's also taken down recently a Hermes 900 drone. That's a drone that flies at altitudes of below 10,000 feet, but still that's fairly high, and clearly Hezbollah is using more sophisticated anti-aircraft weaponry than it hasn't used to date -- Max.
FOSTER: OK, Ben Wedeman in Beirut, thank you.
Hamas says it's submitted its response to the latest ceasefire proposal for Gaza, characterizing it as positive and serious, but an Israeli official is describing the response as a rejection. One issue for Israel could be amendments demanded by Hamas, which one source says involve a timeline for a permanent ceasefire and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Hamas says its response opens the door to an agreement, but that remains to be seen.
Earlier, Israel appeared poised to formally sign up for the ceasefire plan while still maintaining the freedom to keep fighting. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the Middle East on a diplomatic push to secure a deal on Tuesday. He said Hamas is the one obstacle standing in the way of a ceasefire.
G7 leaders arriving in Italy on the eve of the annual summit. Guests will include Ukraine's President and Pope Francis.
Some of the top priorities in the talks will be global development, the war between Israel and Hamas, and Russia's war in Ukraine.
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U.S. officials say President Joe Biden will hold a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Italy. The U.S. is pushing fellow G7 members for an agreement that would provide $50 billion in loans to Ukraine using profits from frozen Russian assets.
Three Russian warships and a nuclear-powered submarine on route to Cuba for drills have been spotted by the U.S. Navy less than 50km off the coast of Florida.
The Russian Navy's newest frigate, capable of launching hypersonic missiles, is part of this Atlantic show of force by Russian President Vladimir Putin. It comes just days after he threatened to supply high- tech weapons to enemies of NATO amid heightened tensions over Ukraine. CNN's Matthew Chance now reports from Moscow.
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MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the first images of the Russian flotilla steaming towards Cuba just 90 miles off the U.S. coast. The Russian Defense Ministry says the strike group, including a nuclear-powered submarine, the Kazan, armed with modern-caliber cruise missiles, is practicing the use of high-precision weapons. But it's really about Putin flexing his muscles on the international stage.
Led by the flagship of Russia's Northern Fleet, the Admiral Gorshkov, which Russia's Defense Ministry says is normally equipped with latest Zircon hypersonic missiles, this is meant to deliver a powerful message to Washington.
Russian state television has been celebrating the naval deployment, placing some of Russia's most powerful vessels in Cuban waters.
The American media has been discussing the event, reports the Russian news anchor, claiming the Pentagon has no idea where our submarine is positioned.
In fact, U.S. officials are downplaying any threat that Moscow has been signaling displeasure at Washington recently green-lighting Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory with U.S.-supplied weapons.
Speaking ahead of the Cuba naval visit, Vladimir Putin warned of a possible Russian response.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): If they in the West supply weapons to the zone of combat operations and call for the use of these weapons against our territory, then why do we not have the right to do the same, to mirror these actions? I'm not ready to say that we will do it tomorrow, but we, of course, should think about it.
CHANCE (voice-over): Elsewhere, Moscow has been stepping up tactical nuclear drills too, staging exercises with neighboring Belarus near the Ukrainian border. Russian tactical nukes, delivered from either ground or air, can level entire cities, although the Kremlin insists it has no plans at this stage to use them.
Matthew Chance, CNN Moscow.
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FOSTER: Hunter Biden, the son of Joe Biden, now the first child of a sitting U.S. president to be found guilty of a crime after his conviction on three federal felony gun charges. The president embraced his son after landing in Delaware hours after Tuesday's verdict. The jury deliberated for less than three hours, concluding Hunter Biden violated laws meant to prevent those suffering from substance abuse from buying or owning a firearm.
But despite the historic nature of the case, members of the jury told CNN, politics never came into play in their deliberations. One juror, who asked to remain anonymous, told CNN the decision was clear.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you look at that form, are you a drug addict? Are you an unlawful user of drugs? And he said no. Clearly he lied.
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FOSTER: More details now from CNN's Paula Reid.
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PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just 90 minutes after Hunter Biden's guilty verdict, CNN got incredible insight into the case from juror number 10. One big mistake from the defense? Calling Hunter's daughter, Naomi, to testify. JUROR NUMBER 10: I felt bad that they put Naomi as witness. I think that was probably a strategy that should not have been done. No daughter should ever have to testify against her dad.
REID (voice-over): Despite feeling badly for Hunter and his battles with addiction, the 12 jurors agreed that they had no choice but to convict.
JUROR NUMBER 10: All 12 jurors did agree that yes, he knowingly bought a gun when he was an addict or he was addicted to drugs.
REID (voice-over): Although they all voted guilty, another juror CNN spoke to off camera questioned whether the case should have been brought in the first place, saying, quote, it seemed like a waste of taxpayer dollars.
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And the jurors interviewed by CNN said politics played no role in their decision.
JUROR NUMBER 10: President Biden never really even came in to play for me. His name was only brought up once during the trial. And that's when I that's when it kind of sunk in a little bit. But you kind of put that out of your mind.
REID (voice-over): President Biden released a statement after his son's verdict, saying, in part: I am the president, but I am also a dad. Jill and I love our son and we are so proud of the man he is today. And I will accept the outcome of this case and will continue to respect the judicial process as Hunter considers an appeal.
Hunter also issued a statement after court thanking his wife and supporters, saying: I am more grateful today for the love and support I experienced this last week from Melissa, my family, my friends and my community than I am disappointed by the outcome.
And special counsel David Weiss made a rare statement defending the case.
DAVID WEISS, SPECIAL COUNSEL AND U.S. ATTORNEY FOR DISTRICT OF DELAWARE: Ultimately, this case was not just about addiction, a disease that haunts families across the United States, including Hunter Biden's family. This case was about the illegal choices defendant made while in the throes of addiction. His choice to lie on a government form when he bought a gun and the choice to then possess that gun.
REID (voice-over): Paula Reid, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.
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FOSTER: Some right wing figures still believe the U.S. Justice Department is corrupt, especially after the conviction of Donald Trump last month. But one CNN political commentator says the rulings in both the Trump and the Hunter Biden cases prove the department is impartial.
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ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It absolutely undercuts it. Just taking a step back, we're in uncharted territory here, where the same Department of Justice that indicted Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents case and in the January 6th case also just convicted the sitting president's son of a crime through a jury. This, if anything, underscores that our justice system works without fear or favor, despite the imperfections of it. It is something that works to be objective.
And I think it dramatically undermines this claim that it's a weaponized system. If you're an undecided voter who wasn't really sure what to make of the Trump conviction, you know, you heard on the one side on the right that this was a weaponization and on the left that no, a jury of his peers found him guilty.
You're seeing this and I think you're saying, oh, wait, the system does seem to work regardless of who the name is of the person that is on trial.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: Now ahead, a visit to one of the deadliest stretches along the U.S.-Mexico border where many migrants are now risking their lives.
Plus, Malawi in mourning after the country's vice president and nine others were killed in a plane crash.
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FOSTER: In the U.S., federal agents have arrested eight people from Tajikistan over suspected ties to ISIS. Sources tell CNN the Tajik authorities were arrested, or nationals, rather, were arrested on immigration charges. They had reportedly entered the U.S. via the southern border and were screened by American officials who found no red flags at the time.
But sources say possible links to ISIS members were later discovered, which led to a federal investigation. Senior U.S. officials then decided to expel the individuals, a process underway right now.
Those arrests come amid calls for immigration reform in the U.S., with the White House enacting sweeping asylum restrictions.
CNN's David Culver spoke with migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, stranded in remote areas, unaware of the new policy and the long journey ahead.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wow, this is a larger group here. Let's see. CULVER (voice-over): She's asking us if it's much longer to reach
asylum.
Documents in hand, this family desperate to find border patrol.
CULVER: Says they've been walking tres dias. They've been walking for three days. And obviously she's very emotional. She says there's no food, there's no anything.
CULVER (voice-over): We're in a remote part of the Arizona-Mexico border. Getting here, not easy. Took us about two and a half hours from Tucson. Much of the drive off-road with no cell signal.
And yet, as desolate as this part of the border might seem, the trash and clothes littering the gravel tell a different story. We find makeshift encampments where migrants shield themselves from the scorching sun and wait for border patrol to pick them up.
CULVER: She said three border patrol passed about a little more than three hours ago. And they assumed they'd be coming back, but they haven't seen them yet.
CULVER (voice-over): This family fleeing cartel death threats and kidnappings. We're surprised hearing where they're from.
CULVER: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
CULVER (voice-over): Mexico. And as we drive on, we meet another. He points us towards an encampment farther down.
CULVER: He's saying there's a bunch more that are coming from Mexico. And he said after the election in particular, he felt the motivation to leave, fearing the corruption and the lack of work. Let's just see what we end up seeing, because it's late and getting near sunset.
There's a huge encampment, mostly children.
CULVER (voice-over): A non-profit set this camp up for migrants who've just crossed.
CULVER: They're saying, please wait here. Immigration is going to come and get you here. And they actually have Wi-Fi set up.
CULVER (voice-over): Most everyone we meet here, Mexican.
CULVER: They said that they've been getting a lot of threats, and they said it was for the reason of the election. They didn't vote for, as they put it, the candidate who ended up winning.
CULVER (voice-over): On June 2nd, Mexicans voted in local, state and presidential elections. The campaign season proved violent and deadly.
CULVER: She says that the reason they left is for reasons of security, which she says, as of now, everybody that we see here is from Mexico.
[04:25:00] CULVER (voice-over): But they might not be in the U.S. for long. Just days after Mexico's elections, the Biden administration took executive action on the border, allowing for swift deportation of most migrants after a daily cap is reached.
In Nogales, Arizona, we see those deportations up close.
CULVER: We counted probably a dozen people altogether, most of them kids, about eight kids, from what we could see getting off that bus, and border patrol agents then escorting them directly to the border, and they'll continue walking them over right into Mexico.
What do you think this executive order, is that going to do anything?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well it only took him what, three years and seven months?
CULVER (voice-over): In a rare encounter, we meet a border patrol agent eager to vent. He asks us to mask his identity, worried he'll be fired for talking so openly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was a job you did take pride in. Secure the border, we didn't have to babysit.
CULVER: Does it frustrate you when you hear that, when you hear the narrative, like, why aren't border patrol doing anything?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our hands are tied. If I don't allow them to cross, and they call and complain, now I'm in trouble. I'm going to lose my job.
CULVER (voice-over): He blames the current administration, but isn't any more hopeful with the alternative.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really don't like our two candidates.
CULVER (voice-over): We meet others also frustrated by border policy, though for more personal reasons.
CULVER: Is this the only way that you can get face-to-face?
KARLA PACHECO, WAITING FOR GREEN CARD: Yes, literally.
CULVER (voice-over): Karla Pacheco crossed illegally nearly 30 years ago. She's recently gotten her work permit, but is still waiting on a green card.
K. PACHECO: I can be withing the U.S. but I can't cross here.
CULVER (voice-over): On the Mexico side, that's her dad, Freddy, who crossed illegally and was deported more than a decade back.
They and other families meet here every couple of months to catch up.
CULVER: When's the last time you got to hug your dad?
K. PACHECO: Oh, 15, 16 years ago.
CULVER: When you think about what's happening at the border now, what goes through your mind?
K. PACHECO: Yes, well, it's unfair because we've been waiting, what has been 20 years, 26 years, and nothing. You know, nothing less than being here, paying my taxes and not owing anything, no tickets, no nothing. And yet, you know, I don't get anything out of it.
CULVER (voice-over): While Washington focuses on illegal crossings and asylum claims, cases like Karla's have been put on the back burner for decades. Still, Freddy wants his next crossing to be done lawfully.
FREDDY PACHECO, MEXICAN NATIONAL: I want to take it right, everything, you know, with my passport, with everything legal.
CULVER: Even if it means waiting years?
F. PACHECO: Don't worry.
K. PACHECO: It'll happen soon.
F. PACHECO: I can wait, I can wait.
CULVER (voice-over): The wait for Border Patrol at this remote section of the Arizona-Mexico border, unbearable for some.
CULVER: And so you're going to keep walking? Where?
CULVER (voice-over): Cartel-backed smugglers often mislead migrants to think that once they've crossed, the hard part's over. It's not. They struggle to push on in triple-digit heat, clinging to the border wall for balance and shade. Ahead of them, a seemingly endless stretch of hills to climb.
CULVER: We asked that Border Patrol agent who you saw in that piece if he was concerned about some of the people who were coming over the border. He said, look, the vast majority are women and children. But he said that, in turn, can distract them from folks who he says are likely here for more nefarious reasons.
And it's concerning enough for him that he wants no part in signing their release. He said, for him, any signature that potentially releases somebody who then, in turn, does bad things could come back to hurt him.
David Culver, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER: A new controversy for the U.S. Supreme Court. One justice and his wife are caught on tape speaking to someone they thought was a religious conservative.
Plus, a U.S. jury finds banana company Chiquita liable for years of murder, kidnapping, and violence in Colombia. Details on the multimillion-dollar settlement next.
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