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Assange Headed To Australia After Plea Deal With US; Kenya Unrest; Israel's Supreme Court Rules Ultra-Orthodox; Balloon Tit-For- Tat. Seoul Activists Create 'Smart Balloons' to Reach North Korea; Report: Most of Gaza at Risk of Famine in Months Ahead; Biden & Trump to Debate Amid Changes in Political Climate. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired June 26, 2024 - 00:00   ET

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

[00:00:00]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm John Vause. Ahead here on CNN Newsroom.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For 14 years of big legal battles, Julian Assange can go home a free man.

VAUSE: For Assange, its over. Chased by US authorities from Washington to London, the extradition battles from Stockholm to Quito, overseen by three different American presidents, it's over.

WILLIAM RUTO, KENYAN PRESIDENT: Today, Kenya experienced an unprecedented attack. Amid

VAUSE: Amid an explosion of rage, Kenya's president seems caught between the angry protesters, who he promised tax cuts, and promises to the IMF to increase taxes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translation): Today is a very difficult day for us.

VAUSE: We're in the army now, Israel's Orthodox Jews disappointed and in disbelief after the Supreme Court ruled they shouldn't be treated like every other Israeli and perform national service.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.

VAUSE: For the past 12 years, Julian Assange has either been on the run, in hiding or in jail for his role in a massive leak of US classified material. But at this hour, Assange is on a flight heading for the Australian capital Canberra. And when he gets there, he arrives a free man.

Under a plea deal with US prosecutors, the cofounder of WikiLeaks appeared before a US judge in a courtroom in the Northern Mariana Islands and pleaded guilty to one felony count. Seventeen other charges were dropped. He received a sentence of 62 months, time already served in a London prison.

CNN journalist Alex Thomas now following developments live from Canberra. So, Alex, what sort of welcome I guess can Assange expect what he arrives in about six hours from now?

ALEX THOMAS, JOURNALIST: We're really curious to see that actually, John, because Julian Assange throughout his career, throughout his life, and certainly through this whole deal that's lasted more than a decade has split opinion. It's interesting that since his release, and the conclusion of those courts activities over Saipan have ended. There has been an appearance from a group of ministers for the Australian government that are cross party that have campaigned for Assange's release over many years now, just to say how pleased they are.

Now, some of those politicians didn't necessarily agree with what Julian Assange did in the first place, didn't necessarily believe what he did was right. But they did believe that an Australian citizen who did not commit a crime and wasn't on American territory when that alleged crime took place should not have been pursued over so many years and so vigorously by US justice officials.

And that's certainly a thought that was echoed by Assange's own lawyer when he was finally released from the court a little bit earlier, and spoke via his -- well, he didn't speak precisely, but his lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER ROBINSON, JULIAN ASSANGE'S LAWYER: I hope that the fact that we've been able to free Julian Assange today, against all the odds and against one of the most powerful governments in the world, will give hope to all journalists and publishers who are imprisoned around the world. And we encourage everyone who's stood to fight for Julian to continue that fight for him and for all of those others.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS: Jennifer Robinson also saying thank you to the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, the change of government here in recent years certainly accelerating the process of trying to get Julian Assange free. There have been lots of discussions and negotiations, sometimes quietly behind the scenes. But Albanese, Anthony Albanese himself did mention it to President Joe Biden during the visits to Washington last year.

And Robinson quick to make a note of that, as well as thanking people like the foreign minister here, Penny Wong. So there'll be certainly very many please people at a scientist returned to Australia. Others though, whether they are involved politically or just members of the public on social media saying, you know, this is not a man that we should celebrate. He shouldn't have a hero's welcome.

VAUSE: Alex, thank you. Alex Thomas live in Canberra with the very latest. We are expecting Assange there in about six hours from now. Thanks, Alex.

[00:05:01]

Well after nationwide protest turned deadly Tuesday, Kenya bracing for another day of violent demonstrations of a tax increases. Human rights groups say at least five people have been shot and killed by police with dozens of others injured. CNN teams reporting paramedics were beaten and arrested by police as well.

As lawmakers floated on the final version of this tax bill inside parliament, crowds stormed a number of government officers setting fire to Nairobi City Hall, the Governor's Office, as well as Parliament. They were discussing amendments to the bill which many say will increase already high cost of living standards out speaking to the nation. Kenya's president called the protests treasonous, claiming organized criminals had hijacked the conversation around the tax bill.

CNN spoke with protesters in Nairobi, including an activist who is the half sister for US President Barack Obama. CNN's Larry Madowo has details on her work, and he shows us the moment they were both tear gassed by police.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AUMA OBAMA, ACTIVIST, HALF-SISTER OF FORMER US PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Young Kenyans who are demonstrating for their rights, they're demonstrating with flags and banners, I can't even see anymore. We are being tear gassed.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the moment the half-sister of the former US President Barack Obama was tear gassed, went live on CNN. Auma Obama, a Kenyan-British activist who lives in Nairobi, among crowds of protesters on Tuesday. Kenya in the grip of a "total shutdown" in response to a controversial finance bill, which includes proposed tax hikes on basic goods, including sanitary products amid a cost of living crisis.

OBAMA: These young people need a future. They have no jobs, over 50% of our population who are under 35 have no jobs. We cannot tax them without jobs. We're taxing the jobless.

MADOWO: The protests are part of the country's "seven days of rage." Tuesday's events turning deadly, with policemen heading and detaining demonstrators, even resorting to live rounds to scattered those who want their voices to be heard.

The (inaudible) these protests and led to this destruction, is seen as an added barrier for those already burdened by the high cost of living. The anger and tension is felt across the country, with people like a woman standing up for what they see as injustice.

Auma Obama has long used her voice to protect the rights of others. Building a Kenya-based foundation, Sauti Kuu, from the (inaudible) to help orphans and young people in poverty. Her voice became elevated after her younger half brother, who she first connected with during her 20s, was elected to the White House in 2008.

She was born in Kenya, the second child in Barack Obama Sr.'s first marriage before he moved and remarried in the US. Barack Obama often spoke of their close relationship reflecting in his book about the trips that Auma thoughtfully organized for him, allowing him to introduce his daughters to his father's ancestral homelands. Homelands that Auma also welcomed him to as president.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER US PRESIDENT: It was Auma who first guided me through Kenya almost 30 years ago.

A. OBAMA: We have to do for yourself, no matter how little you have, no matter how difficult your circumstances, you can still succeed.

MADOWO: Her words from nearly a decade ago, translating once again into action on Tuesday.

A. OBAMA: Look at what's happening.

MADOWO: Her anger and determination fed by many. Larry Madowo, CNN, Nairobi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: We'll stay Nairobi now, and with us this hour is Nicodemus Minde, a researcher with the East Africa Peace and Security Governance Program at the Institute of Security Studies. Thank you for being with us.

NICODEMUS MINDE, RESEARCHER, EAST AFRICA PEACE AND SECURITY GOVERNANCE PROGRAM: Thank you very much. So the president described the protests as treasonous, and then he went on to add this warning. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUTO: I hereby put on notice the planners, financials, orchestrators and arbiters of violence and anarchy that the security infrastructure established to protect our republic and its sovereignty will be deployed to secure the country and restore normalcy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: He certainly taking a very hard line against these protests, which is understandable given the violence that occurred, but they've been going on for about a week or more now, they spread to other cities. And yet, Ruto did not address the moment -- I don't think it's meant to address the cause of the outrage, the tax hikes themselves, and the suffering that people are going through.

MINDE: I think that was one of the main takeaways from the president's speech, which went on a long, almost tired in terms of speaking about the criminality of protesters who are actually very peaceful. But again, leaving now to the very important issue, which is the finance bill. And, of course, we also believe that he did not also give way out, like the way forward in terms of what next after the finance bill.

[00:10:10]

So that was something that was really lacking from the president's statement, which wasn't quite received well by many Kenyans. VAUSE: and many in Kenya are struggling right now. Prices have surged recently. Basic cost of living is incredibly high. These taxes certainly will not help that. So with that in mind, here's the Archbishop of Kisumu, Morris AKuba. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAURICE MUHATIA MAKUMBA, ARCHBISHOP OF KISUMU: The government must not overtax its citizens, and it should not be in denial about its intended excessive taxation. The country is bleeding and therefore, we invited the government to reflect on this matter with the seriousness it deserves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: All these things made a lot worse, because when he was campaigning for office, the president, I think he promised to reduce taxes, and now they've increased. So what sort of concern is being paid not necessarily by the governor but by other officials, to the demonstrators, and what they say are tax increases that will certainly make their lives so much harder.

MINDE: Actually, the president really campaigned on a platform of taking care of the needs of the very poor people. In fact, his campaign mantra was clear with the poor and hustlers from his own ones. But you can see as the time goes by most of these taxes that he has introduced over the years, have actually been very punitive. And they've actually targeted essential commodities such as bread, oil, fuel, which has really made life very difficult for the local citizens.

So that has been actually the big outcry of many of these protesters. And again, the young protesters also protesting because most of the taxes that have been introduced touch on them directly. And you might find that most of them are unemployed, are very well-educated, seeking ways in which they can be able to enhance their lives and their livelihoods. And it has been very difficult.

And this has been the bone of contention in this whole saga. And, of course, added to this is the fact that most of these politicians are living very lavishly with very opulent lives. And of course, there's a lot of misappropriation of funds and, of course, a lot of corruption in the country. So this has actually really been the big concern of most of these protesting young citizens and the wider public at large.

VAUSE: These measures will raise about $2 billion a year for the government in revenue, which will be used to reduce the budget deficit. They will partly comply with an IMF program and see the percentage of GDP there. It seems President Ruto was caught between the protesters and the IMF, which I guess, you know, isn't a good place to be right now for him.

MINDE: For sure, that's actually a dilemma. In fact, much of the finance bill, which is actually in compliance with the budget allocations for 2024 and 2025 are actually geared towards, you know, supporting external debt, which Kenya owes in terms of externally from big international financial institutions. So part of the financing of this budget for the next financial year is to raise these taxes.

But, of course, you find that is already taxing -- the citizens already taxed too much. And the taxes that have been introduced directly on essential things which are imported commodities, which Kenya still relies heavily on imported commodities, such as fuel and other electronics and other forms have imported material.

So this is actually the burden or the dilemma that President Ruto finds himself in. And that is why you find that it is actually very evident that he has not been able to really address this finance bill even in the statement that he gave last night, which again leaves a lot of room for worry and speculation as to what the country will do in the next few days.

VAUSE: Nicodemus Minde in the room, thank you so appreciate your time.

MINDE: Thank you so much for having me.

VAUSE: Got you. Every Israeli man served three years of national service once they leave high school. Every Israeli woman serves two years, that is unless you are part of the ultra Orthodox community. For years they've been exempt from military duty, not now. The Supreme Court has ordered they must sign up for mandatory service and it must start now.

The ruling is a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his governing coalition which relies on two ultra Orthodox political parties to remain in power. Netanyahu met with reservists in Northern Israel with tensions with Hezbollah, Tuesday. He's tried to advance legislation through Parliament to enshrine into law the draft exemption.

[00:15:07]

Tuesday's court ruling also orders the government to withdraw funding from any religious schools whose students do not comply with draft notices.

With me now is Yonahan Plesner, President of the Israeli Democracy Institute and a former member of the Knesset with the Kadima Party. Yonahan, thank you for being with us.

YONAHAN PLESNER, PRESIDENT, ISRAELI DEMOCRACY INSTITUTE: Hi, John. Thanks for having me.

VAUSE: I guess this exemption, granted Orthodox Jews has long been a source of division and anger in Israel, and that anger seems to have grown over the past eight months with Israeli reserves fighting Hamas in Gaza. I want you to listen to the leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YAIR LAPID, ISRAELI OPPOSITION LEADER: There's no more exemption for the ultra-Orthodox. The games are over, the shady deals are over. The days when some shout will die and not serve, and others die because they served are over. The discrimination between blood and blood is over. If we don't fight together, we will die together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Is that how the majority of Israel's feel about this exemption that the Supreme Court has ended saying that wasn't just blatant discrimination, but one which was born of shady and dodgy political deals?

PLESNER: Well, John, I don't think that there's any single one issue that there's a greater consensus among Israeli citizens from right, left and center, national, religious, traditional and secular. And this is the issue of service. There's an understanding that Israel, obviously is dealing with major existential threats from Iran and its proxies, and that we need a strong modern, high quality military.

And the Supreme Court verdict of yesterday highlighted the fact that a quarter of the cohort of 18 year olds is gaining an automatic exemption. It started when the state -- during the foundation of the state, but the numbers were very small. Now, two things happened. The demographic trends are such that the ultra-Orthodox community grew very dramatically, and now they're about a quarter of the potential men that can serve.

And the second thing is obviously the war that increases the military burden, not only on regular army but also -- but also on reservists. So reservists in their 20s, and 30s, and 40s, need to serve for many days. And this inequality is something that is too difficult for the Israeli society to digest.

On the other hand, Mr. Netanyahu, the prime minister, in his entire a premiership, for decades, is built on the alliance with the ultra- Orthodox parties. He's basically granting them their wishes on their issue, which is mainly recruitment and other sectoral issues. And in return, he gets access to power. So those two trends are now in major conflict.

VAUSE: We should note that the backbone of the Israeli army are the reservists who do their duty year in and year out. It's a very small professional army, actually, but that's why Israel has been able to fight these wars it fights. The ultra-Orthodox who neither believes that their religious studies is how they help protect Israel and Judaism. I want you to listen to the reaction now from an Orthodox rabbi, here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MORDECHAI BLOY, JEWISH ULTRA-ORTHODOC EDUCATOR (through translation): Today is a very difficult day for us, and the feeling in the ultra- Orthodox community is of humiliation that the Supreme Court is trying to intervene and change world order.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: The Supreme Court made it clear that the military must begin drafting ultra-Orthodox men now, but the reality is given they don't really have any kind of real world skills or training, they spend their time studying, you know, the Torah and other, you know, other religious documents. How many of those 60,000 Orthodox men in Israel who could be ready for reservists training, how many actually would be ready to go on day one?

PLESNER: Well, it's a matter of a change of trajectory. Tomorrow morning, the military will not be able to enlist more than 70,000 ultra-Orthodox men who are in a status of deferral of service. But there's another implication, John, the Supreme Court said that unless the Knesset Israeli Parliament comes up with an alternative legislation an exemption bill, this is the attempt of the prime minister to come up with an exemption bill, but he doesn't he's not able given the situation in the war, to actually build a majority for granting such a blanket exemption.

So unless there's an alternative legislation, the Supreme Court said that the Israeli law, the recruitment bill, the current recruitment bill, needs to be applied equally. And for those who decide to dodge service or trying to not do their share, the state can no longer subsidize them.

[00:20:02]

One has to understand that this community heavily relies on state subsidies. The equivalent of scholarship scholarships plus an entire web of state a payments and subsidies. And this will have to stop right now, and this is why it is such a consequential moment in Israel, both substantively and, obviously, it has political repercussions.

VAUSE: Very quickly, just anecdotally speaking, it seems the ultra- Orthodox are the ones who are among the most militant, the ones who support war quite often over diplomacy. Do you think that might change in the future? If their kids are the ones going off to fight a war and their kids don't come back, will those opinions change?

PLESNER: Well, I wouldn't necessarily characterize this community as sort of pushing Israel towards a hardline policies. Generally, their political representatives wanted to maximize the interests of their own sectors, which means maximum subsidies and minimum state interference, maximum exemption, and pretty much allow us to live our autonomous life and just pay for it.

So this was the arrangement that characterize the past decades. And hopefully, this new verdict will put us on a new trajectory.

VAUSE: Yonahan Plesner there in Israel, thank you, sir. We really appreciate your time today. Thank you.

PLESNER: Thanks for having me.

VAUSE: Pleasure. Now after more than a year in a Russian jail, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, which is about to stand trial for espionage in the Russian court. A look at what could be the outcome, what will be the outcome, that's next.

Also, the balloon battle on the Korean Peninsula, South Korean activist group has come up with new high tech ways to spread its message.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich has been detained in Russia for more than a year, is about to have his day in court. His trial for allegedly spying for the CIA will begin shortly behind closed doors. Gershkovich has been officially designated as wrongfully detained by the United States, with White House officials accusing Moscow of hostage diplomacy.

But as CNN's Matthew Chance reports, a guilty verdict is almost certain in what his employer describes as a sham trial.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Matthew from CNN. You holding up all right. No questions.

There have been only brief glimpses of Evan Gershkovich since his arrest last year on espionage charges, which he, his employer and the US government vigorously denied. Now after 15 months in detention, the Wall Street Journal reporter's trial is set to begin. With 32 year old faces a sentence of up to 20 years if will likely when he's found guilty.

LYNNE TRACY, US AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA: Evan has displayed remarkable resilience and strength in the face of this grim situation. But it is time for the Russian government to let Evan go.

[00:25:08]

CHANCE: With the raging in Ukraine, Russia began a crackdown at home on free speech, silencing dissidents or forcing them into exile. Against this backdrop that Gershkovich was arrested on a reporting assignment in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. This is video from the website of the tank factory there where Russian prosecutors allege Gershkovich acted "on the instructions of the CIA" to collect secret information. Although no evidence has been made public.

The trial will take place in the city, which is about a thousand miles from Moscow amid an outcry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Journalism is not a crime.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Journalism is not a crime.

CHANCE: Some of the most prominent journalists in the United States are calling for his release. And Tucker Carlson even appealed directly to Putin in his recent sit down.

TUCKER CARLSON, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And I just want to ask you directly, without getting into the details of it or your version of what happened, if as a sign of your decency, you will be willing to release him to us and we'll bring him back to the United States.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translation): We have done so many gestures of goodwill out of decency that I think we have run out of them.

VAUSE: But they're not running out of Americans in Russian prisoners, far from it.

PAUL WHELAN, WRONGFULLY DETAINED IN MOSCOW: I'm innocent of any (inaudible) political kidnapping.

CHANCE: Former Marine Paul Whelan is serving 16 years, what US officials say were trumped up spying charges. Dual citizens Ksenia Karelina, an amateur ballerina from LA, and journalist Alsu Kurmasheva are also in custody. As our Gordon Black, a staff sergeant in the US Army and US school teacher Mark Fogel, critics suspect the Kremlin is collecting US citizens as bargaining chips for a future deal.

With his trial now about to get underway, Evan Gershkovich has become one of the most valuable the Kremlin's hand. Matthew Chance, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: On the Korean Peninsula, one man's trash is another man's, well, it's still trash, and the South Korean military has detected another 350 garbage balloons sent from the North. Pyongyang says it's retaliation for balloon sent from South Korean activists carrying leaflets, which are critical of the daily to Kim Jong Un.

Meantime, a group of activists in South Korea is developing a smart balloon, capable of automated drops. It's the balloon war. CNN's Mike Valerio flew live in Seoul this hour. It's heating up, I guess, is the best way of saying it. And you have a balloon.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, it's not a balloon, John. It's actually a component of a balloon. If we had one of them, it would take up our entire studio. So what this is, you know, it's not a camping lantern. The North Korean defector you're about to meet let us borrow this for a day.

This is a loudspeaker. And what happens, it's attached to a giant balloon. It has this technicolor giant parachute, parachutes to the ground, hits the ground and begins to play from this yellow speaker right here at anti-Kim Jong Un anthem. This is all just part of one group's machinery to win what it calls, John, the information war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIO: In a small Seoul apartment, spitting out of what looks like a pint-sized printer, or an unstoppable ATM, this is the payload of a New South Korean smart balloon, flyers filling the floor but soon scattering across the skies of North Korea.

I believe North Korea can change when the deification of Kim Jong Un is cracked, and sending these smart balloons is the way to achieve that.

CNN is identifying this man simply as Mr. Choi. He's a North Korean defector and the cofounder of the group called the Committee for Reforming and Opening North Korea. Choi asked for his identity to be concealed because of the ever elevating drama surrounding balloons crossing between North and South Korea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Free North Korea.

VALERIO: For years, activists in the South have sent balloons North, filled with KPOP music, money and leaflets describing life outside North Korea. North Korea calls those deliveries trash, and for about a month now it sent more than a thousand trash balloons South.

This is Choi's compact command center, wind direction and GPS routes of his balloons all at his fingertips.

Our smart balloons are preset to start distributing the leaflets at a specific point after calculating wind speed and direction. This way the leaflets will be distributed within the planned area. We can cover 300 to 400 kilometers this way.

He works his day job comes here 3D prints parts and assembles them for five to six hours -- meters or every kilometer, making sure more people can see them.

As for his motivation, Choi is a North Korean defector with family still trapped there. He majored in engineering at a North Korean University and watched YouTube videos to get a better idea of how to build next generation balloons. As for his critics, calling for the balloon tit-for-tat to stop, Choi says these are striking a nerve.

[00:30:13]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): To those who criticize our activities, it's like saying let's help maintain a dictatorship in South Korea.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OK, so John, I know it can seem weird and a very bizarre story for anybody watching this right now, who is outside of the Korean Peninsula.

But you know, this is serious stuff. A closer look at some of these leaflets that go out, you know, it's saying for all our Korean speakers and readers who can look at the screen a little closer, it's telling the people of North Korea to rise up in some of the initial paragraphs.

You know, it says, essentially, tired of starving? Are you tired of dying at the hands of this repressive regime? It is time to rise up.

So you know, John, this guy says that he's going to keep sending his balloons, even though there is enormous pressure to end this tit-for- tat. Around 11 p.m. last night, we had cell phone alerts that went off all over Seoul. If you were in a restaurant with your buddies, you know, it definitely interrupts life. You look at your phone, it says, "More trash balloons." And you hear this increasing rhetoric from the North.

So watch this space. We are not done here yet, John.

VAUSE: I guess on the bright side, it's balloons and not missiles. Mike. Mike Valerio there in Seoul. Thank you.

Well, in a moment, we'll head to Gaza, where growing famine has left helpless parents to do nothing but watch their children slowly starve to death.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: A report on Tuesday is warning almost all Gaza will be facing famine within three months. Nearly half a million people are expected to face catastrophic levels of hunger during that time, as well.

CNN's Paula Hancocks reports parents say they could only watch as their children fight for survival and others don't. A warning: her story contains some very disturbing images.

We'll get to that story in a moment, but this is one of the issues which has been ongoing within Gaza, which has been sort of covered up at the -- or are being ignored while these ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire continue. And they've been stalled.

But we now have a situation where the aid trucks, which is crucial to any kind of ceasefire negotiations, whether or not that actually takes place, we do not know. We now have that report from Paula Hancocks. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Amil (ph), meaning hope, was born two months premature. She died after just four days, her family says: a baby born into war in Northern Gaza.

[00:35:07]

"It's a result of her early birth," the head of pediatrics says, "which is a result of malnutrition and starvation of her mother."

This is the fourth child that's died in this department this week.

Amil's (ph) father says they were displaced with no shelter, food, or water. "A real starvation," he says. "My girl died because of this."

Hospitals across Gaza are full of malnutrition cases, doctors say, needing special care that simply does not exist.

Younis (ph) is 9 years old. His mother takes off his T-shirt to show the painful evidence of malnutrition and extreme dehydration. She says he was healthy until they were displaced multiple times from Northern Gaza to Rafah, to a beach area where she says they don't even have a tent.

Food was no longer available. His mother says, "There were bad living conditions and polluted water. I'm losing my son in front of my eyes."

More than 50,000 children require treatment for acute malnutrition, according to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. Eight months of war have decimated the health system, water sanitation, and food distribution. Clean water has become a luxury many struggle to access.

The IDF says there is enough aid in Gaza with distribution is the problem.

JAMES ELDER, UNICEF: It's not just about getting it in. And there are far too little coming in. That's why we have an unprecedented nutrition crisis for the youngest children in Gaza. It's not a safe place, an enabling way to -- to deliver that aid.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Aid groups say lawlessness on the ground is making their job of delivering aid to those who need it increasingly dangerous.

Dr. Sharif Matar (ph) says he's seen around 120 children on this one day at the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. He estimates up to 20 percent of them were suffering from malnutrition, diarrhea, inflammation. Infections are prevalent, he says, caused by lack of sanitation or clean water.

"This boy is 1.5," he says. "He weighs less than six kilograms. There's no subcutaneous fat. His body is effectively eating itself."

The United Nations has already warned one million Palestinians will be at risk of starvation and death by mid-July. That is just weeks away.

As with everything in this war, it is the young who bear the brunt.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Much will seem familiar during Thursday's presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. The faces the same, just a little older and wrinklier. The comb-over -- comb-overs a little thinner, but four years on since their last go round and the differences are also profound.

One is an indicted, twice-impeached, convicted felon. The other is Joe Biden. The issues have changed, as well. Here's Brian Todd.

[00:40:05]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: How are you doing, Wolf?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The pressure on each man to perform Thursday is evident, but it's the profound changes in America's political climate from 2020 which could be a deciding factor in the Trump-Biden debate.

JOHN DAWSEY, POLITICAL INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": 2020, Biden successfully and effectively made the election a referendum on Trump's leadership.

This time, he's trying to make it a referendum on Trump again. Do you really want this guy back in office? And Trump has tried to make it a referendum on Biden's record.

TODD (voice-over): Two seismic events since the 2020 debates: the January 6th insurrection, which Donald Trump is accused of inciting, and which he denies.

And Trump is now a convicted felon, found guilty of falsifying business records in his hush money trial, something President Biden might be under pressure to highlight more at the debate.

AMY WALTER, PUBLISHER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, COOK POLITICAL REPORT: Thus far the issue of his felony conviction doesn't seem to have moved voters in one direction or the other.

TODD (voice-over): In 2020, analysts say American voters were looking for a leader who could manage them out of crises, including one, the likes of which they'd never seen before.

WALTER: We were in the middle of COVID, and that was the centerpiece of the conversation in 2020.

TODD (voice-over): Also, in 2020, the Black Lives Matter protests were raging across the country, following the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

Unemployment in America surged at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, a dynamic that has completely turned around as we head into this debate.

But analysts say President Biden could be hounded by another economic factor that's different from 2020.

WALTER: The issue that is really plaguing him and is frustrating voters overall is the cost of stuff. Inflation has been a factor.

TODD (voice-over): Another enormous political and social sea change from 2020 stems from an event that occurred in late June of 2022.

DAWSEY: Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, by judges that former President Trump largely picked, and it was a key promise of his.

And that's proven to be an unpopular decision, according to polling on both sides, and has hurt Republicans in a lot of different elections.

TODD (voice-over): And an evolutionary change from 2020: the steady drumbeat of voters' concerns over the candidates' ages.

Joe Biden, at 81, is the oldest president in American history. If Trump wins, he'll be the oldest president ever at a swearing in at age 78. Both men facing escalating criticisms for memory lapses, mistaken identity references, and other worrisome signs.

DAWSEY: Both sides are trying to exploit that, and both sides also know, particularly on the Biden side, I feel like they understand that it's a key vulnerability that they're having to deal with.

TODD: The analysts we spoke to point out another significant difference between this debate and the ones in 2020. This Thursday's debate is the earliest one in the calendar year in the history of televised presidential debates, which will likely prompt the voting public to pay attention to the candidates, the issues and their differences for a longer period of time.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

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VAUSE: You can watch the CNN presidential debate right here on CNN. Coming up June 27 at 9 p.m. Eastern. Just a day away. Or so.

I'm John Vause, back at the top of the hour with more CNN NEWSROOM. But first, WORLD SPORT starts after a short break. See you back here in 17 minutes.

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