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CNN International: Blinken Leaves Middle East With Gaza Ceasefire Still Elusive; Obamas Deliver Impassioned Endorsements Of Kamala Harris; Ukraine Goes On The Offensive In Russia; Search For Missing Passengers Continues. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 21, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:01:04]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: It is 8:00. p.m. in London, 2:00 p.m. in Chicago, 10:00 p.m. here in Tel Aviv. I'm Jim Sciutto. Thanks so much for joining me today on CNN NEWSROOM, and let's get right to the news.

After days of shuttle diplomacy in the Middle East, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has now returned to Washington, though without a breakthrough in the ceasefire negotiations. Hamas rejected the bridging proposal presented by the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar, blaming Netanyahu for moving the goalposts.

Blinken insists the Israeli prime minister agreed to the proposal, which included withdrawals of IDF forces from Gaza, but Netanyahu reportedly told the families of those still being held hostage in Gaza to Israel would not leave what's known as the Philadelphi Corridor along the border between Gaza and Egypt, and the State Department official told reporters traveling with Secretary Blinken that maximalist positions by Israel would not be constructive for the talks.

Israel's defense minister says the IDF has defeated Hamas's Rafah brigade and destroyed more than 150 tunnels on and near the corridor. Timing of those comments is interesting.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins me now.

Jeremy, at the start of this trip, Blinken has said, in fact, he said repeatedly, this may be the last best chance and there was cautious optimism over the weekend that largely coming from the Israeli side. Now, I think it's safe to say that that cautious optimism has disappeared and impasse may be too strong a word but is it correct to say that beyond the difference, differences between Hamas and Israel, that there's daylight between the U.S. and Israel now?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, if you look at Secretary Blinken's face last night, right on that runway in Doha. I mean, he certainly seemed frustrated with the state of affairs, frustrated with some of these reports coming out about what these really prime minister is saying behind closed doors to other people, other than the United States. And so, the Israeli prime minister seems to be certainly doubling thing down on this notion of Israeli troops remaining at the Philadelphi corridor, his office actually just released a statement saying that one of the goals of the war is to ensure Gaza never constitutes a security threat to Israel. And the prime ministers office statement says this requires securing the southern border.

So, clearly, showing that they are not going to drop that key demand, which does appear to be he at least if not the single point of contention, then one of the major points of contention between Israel and Hamas at this moment.

SCIUTTO: Do you find it notable that the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has said tonight, well, in fact, we've defeated Hamas's Rafah brigade and that we've destroyed a number of tunnels. Is that -- do you read that at all as signaling that, you know what we might be able to agree to a deal where we don't have a permanent presence?

DIAMOND: Yeah, it's very interesting. I think it's no mistake that he made those comments there and that he went to refer today to make those comments. Gallant is among those in the security establishment to really believe in a deal and who have been behind the scenes pressuring the Israeli prime minister to get to a deal. He's also in the camp and this is what I understand is that whereas Netanyahu says, look, its our security or its a hostage deal is kind of the way that he has framed this that at times, Gallant has been trying to make the case that Israel can achieve the goals of the war and can also reach a hostage deal to get the hostages back.

And that was ultimately is fundamental point today was, look, we've defeated the Rafah brigade. We've destroyed over 150 tunnels. We can also maintain Israel security. We can continue achieving the goals of the war, and we can also bring these hostages home, while they're alive, critically.

SCIUTTO: But if the U.S. and Israel are not aligned on this point. And even if Israeli senior officials, the prime minister and the defense minister and not aligned on this, they cant then even begin to go to the next step, which is to sit across the table from Hamas to see if they could get through the technical details and so on to move a deal forward.

DIAMOND: It does raise questions about how specific this bridging proposal actually is. Is it -- is it broad language about Israeli forces reducing their presence at the Philadelphi corridor, for example, and then details that have to then be worked out?

[15:05:02]

That's kind of the way it appears to be going but it's telling that even if the language is broad enough in that bridging proposal, that even Hamas isn't willing to sign on to that now. So, it shows that the gaps are at the map macro level, but they are also very clearly at the micro level. And there are a lot of things that need to be resolved.

So I think the U.S. talking last week about a ceasefire deal, maybe by the end of this week.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

DIAMOND: It seems very far away.

SCIUTTO: Now, my understanding, just hearing an update that President Biden and Vice President Harris were on that call with Bibi Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister now. There's always been a question, you've been covering this -- for this area and this war for some time as to how much pressure U.S. applies to Netanyahu in situations like this to get the deal across the finish line.

Would you expect that in this call they are applying some pressure?

DIAMOND: Without a doubt and I think you also have to keep in mind that Joe Biden, like, this is one of his legacy items that he's looking to achieve is to end this war, to bring the hostages home. And he is now untethered from the constraints of a political reality of an election coming up in a couple of months. We have seen him able to bring more pressure to bear at the longer the war has gone on, whether there are any new tools that he's willing to use as a question. And then, of course, we'll see if he's going to do that.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, if it's carrot and stick, I've always been this question of with withholding some aid perhaps to get a concession like that, but we'll see. Jeremy Diamond, thanks so much.

Back to the U.S., tonight at the Democratic National Convention, it is game time for vice presidential nominee and former football coach, Tim Walz.

And one thing is clear: yesterday will be a tough act to follow. Two of the party's and American politics' biggest stars, former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, pass their campaign's famous message of hope onto Kamala Harris last night before what was -- and you could see some of it there -- an electric and roaring crowd, delivering back-to-back speeches that mixed advice for voters, notes of optimism, as well as some searing jabs at former President Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: His limited, narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who happen to be black.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

M. OBAMA: I want to know. I want to know. Who's going to tell him -- who's going to tell him that the job he's currently seeking might just be one of those black jobs?

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE) BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that's actually been getting worse now that he's afraid of losing to Kamala.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

B. OBAMA: There's the childish nicknames. The crazy conspiracy theories. This weird obsession with crowd sizes.

(LAUGHTER)

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: That particular moment there from the former president garnering a lot of tension last night and today.

CNN's Kevin Liptak joins us now from Chicago with more.

So, Kevin, you brought out some of the big stars last night tonight. It's about this ticket, right? I mean, it's about the vice presidential candidate, of course, tomorrow the candidate herself, Kamala Harris.

So, so what is the plan tonight to introduce Walz in effect to voters?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. And it is an introduction. Tim Walz is someone that does not have much of a national profile. He is an unknown to a lot of Americans. And in fact, when you talk to delegates here, as I've been doing this week, a lot of them say they themselves didn't really have a good idea of Tim Walz before two weeks ago when he became the vice presidential nominee.

And these are some of the most plugged in people in Democratic politics. So it is a task for him to try and demonstrate to the American people that if you were to be elected vice president, he could step into the role if something were to happen to Kamala Harris. But also that he is just generally the type of person that they want to represent him in the oval office. And to that end, I think he will rely pretty heavily, we're told, on him his biography, his roots in Nebraska, his path from being a teacher and a coach to a congressman, to now governor and vice presidential nominee.

He will have some players who were on his football team back when he was a coach in Minnesota, he'll have some former students all kind of making the point that this is someone who people can relate to. And I think what Democrats are looking for him to do is to bring some of that joyful warrior attitude to the convention stage.

Remember he is someone who coined the term weird to describe the Republicans in this race. That's set off a meme factory for Democrats and they think it's probably likely that hell revive that on the stage tonight. The other person that we're going to hear from that I'm going to be

watching very closely is the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

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Obviously, she is someone who obliquely worked to help convince President Biden that maybe he should withdraw from the race. They haven't spoken since then. I don't think shell talk about that much length, but it's always interesting to hear from someone who is in the thrust of something like that.

And of course, we'll hear from the former President Bill Clinton delivering his 12th convention speech, going back to the 1980s. He's had some good ones. He's had some bad ones. And I'm thinking to 1988 when he spoke for twice his allotted time and the delegates started leaving.

He's been relied on in the past as an explainer-in-chief, particularly on the economy. That's kind of something that Democrats are looking for at the moment. A lot of Americans don't say they understand the Biden-Harris record on that front and so it will be interesting to hear from him tonight as well.

SCIUTTO: No question that, of course, leading up to the big day tomorrow with Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket. Kevin Liptak, thanks so much.

Well, it was not all attacks on Donald Trump last night. The Obamas also delivered impassioned endorsements of Harris that called back to 20 years ago when Obama's 2004 DNC keynote speech at the convention catapulted him to political -- political superstardom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

B. OBAMA: I am feeling hopeful, because this convention has always been pretty good to kids with funny names who believe in a country where anything is possible.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

B. OBAMA: Because we have a chance to elect someone who has spent her entire life trying to give people the same chances America gave her.

She won't just cater to her own supporters and punish those who refuse to kiss the ring or bend the knee.

She'll work on behalf of every American.

That's who Kamala is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Well, the energy in the convention hall extended well beyond the prime time speaker line-up, into even ceremonial roll-call. Each state's delegation chose a song to soundtrack their moment nominating Kamala Harris from Bruce Springsteen to Lady Gaga, Stevie Nicks, Tupac Shakur, even a surprise, live performance by Lil Jon representing Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIL JON, RAPPER: Ladies and gentlemen, we are here today to official nominate Kamala Harris for president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: They had the hall dancing.

Joining me now is Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, Democrat from Virginia. She was there for Virginia's roll call and is on the advisory board for the Harris campaign.

Congresswoman, thanks so much for taking the time.

REP. JENNIFER MCCLELLAN (D-VA): Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Let me begin. You were there for Virginia's moment last night. The song was "The Way I Are" by Timbaland, feature featuring Keri Hilson and D.O.E.

Tell us about that moment why that song was chosen for Virginia, but also why a song for each of the states, the kind of give it this carnival atmosphere.

MCCLELLAN: Well, we wanted to highlight a Virginia native and Timbaland is from the Hampton Roads area of Virginia and Congressman Bobby Scott, the dean of our delegation doing the intro. We wanted to make sure we highlight local talent and "The Way I Are" means that Kamala Harris is coming as she is, Tim Walz is coming as he is, accepting everyone as they are because there's room in this country for everyone, no matter their walk of life and they're going to build a ticket and a country that leaves no one behind.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this. So there were certainly a lot of excitement in that room who are Democrats trying to appeal to though in this convention is it the base that's already with them or to try to win over undecided because of course, undecideds are the ones that might very well decide this election?

MCCLELLAN: We're trying to reach out to everybody. We're reaching to every voter where they are to first thank Joe Biden for the amazing work that he did as president, and to introduce all voters to Vice President Harris and Tim Walz and lay out their vision for the country. And -- but we're not taking anything for granted and worked meeting every voter where they are in every way possible.

SCIUTTO: I want to talk about for a moment the change in message between Biden and Harris.

[15:15:04]

Harris seeming to deliberately move to a more positive message, a more hopeful one, a more forward-looking one.

And I wonder, is that something that her campaign has tested on, tested in focus groups? Or is it more of a gut call?

MCCLELLAN: I think that this is a message and a tone that reflects Kamala Harris herself. She has always been known as a joyful warrior, looking forward to the future, this campaign has been always about, are we going to move forward into the future? Are we going to go back to the past policies of Donald Trump? But she's bringing her own unique perspective, her own unique personality to the message and to the tone.

But that is, that is all Kamala.

SCIUTTO: I want to ask you about two specific policies. The first being price gouging because you know, following the vice president's economic speech last week, there were some who interpreted her remarks and her policy proposal as espousing price controls as opposed to going after price gouging, for instance, during times of crisis, a pandemic, et cetera.

Can you explain what the actual policy is?

MCCLELLAN: Democrats, whether it's House Democrats, Senate Democrats, Vice President Harris and Governor Walz, we are focused on lowering costs for the American people and that includes making sure we don't have price gouging, particularly in times of crisis like we have seen during the COVID crisis, during when we've had tropical storm and hurricanes.

And so, she's looking at that, but she's broadly looking at to help lower costs for the American people, whether it's childcare costs, whether it's health care costs, whether it's homeownership as opposed to the former president, who his policies, particular his tariff policy, has by independent experts then said will be a tax increase on the American people that particularly the middle-class, and would increase costs for consumers.

So we are looking holistically at doing what we can to help lower costs for American people.

SCIUTTO: But are you looking to set prices, to institute price controls for certain products, including groceries?

MCCLELLAN: We are looking to make sure that corporations and business owners don't engage in price gouging. And where we can, were looking to reduce costs, whether it's allowing Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs, whether it is providing assistance for first- time home buyers to put a down payment on that house, whether it is helping to invest in the childcare system so that we can lower costs.

We are looking across the board at how we're going to lower costs, consistent with what many -- many administrations in the past have done.

SCIUTTO: Before we go, you know, that those numbers have not been nearly as large as organizers said, they might be. There are protests in support of the state of Palestine against the progress of the war here in the Middle East, in Gaza. Some have noted changes between Harris and Biden in terms of how they talk about this conflict with a particular attention to civilian casualties.

Does Harris intend to shift U.S. policy as relates to the Middle East and the war in Gaza?

MCCLELLAN: What Vice President Harris and President Biden, their entire administration has been focused on making sure that we have a negotiated ceasefire deal that includes a release of the hostages. That includes robust humanitarian aid for civilians in a -- Palestinian civilians and making sure that we are putting the Middle East region on a path to long-term peace. That is not a change.

And so, hopefully, there is a deal on the table that we are very close to, accept former President Trump is doing everything he can to undermine that deal because he prefers to put his own selfish interests above those of the people.

SCIUTTO: Congresswoman McClellan, thanks so much for taking the time, especially with the music behind you there in the auditorium as they prepare for tonight's performances.

MCCLELLAN: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, big stars such as the Obamas were not the only ones who got prime-time speaking slots on night two of the Democratic National Convention. Harris's husband, second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, also took the spotlight to share his personal side of his wife, the vice president, including how a blind date set up with then attorney general of California got off to a bit of a rocky start.

[15:20:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG EMHOFF, SECOND GENTLEMAN: I got Kamala's voicemail and I just started rambling. Hey, it's Doug.

(LAUGHTER)

D. EMHOFF: I'm on my way to an early meeting. Again, it's Doug. I remember I was trying to grab the words out of the air and just put them back in my mouth. And for what seemed like far too many minutes, I hang up.

By the way, Kamala saved that voicemail and she makes me listen to it on every anniversary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: I imagine we've all left voicemails we regret.

Let's go to our political panel now, Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton, Meghan Hays, DNC consultant, former aide to Biden. Good to have you both on. I'm not going to ask you about embarrassing

voicemails you left yet.

I do want to start on the convention. Meghan, as a Democrat, can you tell us who Democrats are trying to appeal to at this convention? Is this more about exciting the base or is it about winning over undecideds and independents?

MEGHAN HAYS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's both, right, like they're coalescing behind the base or bringing more people in, the enthusiasm is palpable. You can feel it in the room. It's very exciting here. John Legend performing or doing his rehearsal behind us now. So that'll be exciting for tonight.

But I think that they're doing both. They are appealing to all the different audiences and all the different people that they're going to need to win in November.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, and sorry, Shermichael and Meghan that I have you competing with John Legend, but I'm sure you'll do. I'm sure you'll do your best.

I wonder Shermichael, as you watch this convention and you watch the energy there, you also watched the ratings, which seemed to have been higher for this convention than the RNC, do you get a sense that Republicans should be worried about the state of the race based on what they're seeing there and what you're seeing there?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, because I think that what we have seen so far should have been expected once Vice President Harris got into the race. We almost immediately saw the poll numbers begin the shift within the first three to four days. They have maintained.

She's improved her margins with key constituencies, Hispanic voters, Black voters, albeit she's still behind for where a Democratic candidate needs to be, I think Democratic voters are excited.

If you would have asked most of them three months ago, if they thought that President Biden could win, they would have said no. I think today a lot of them believe that they can win, which is why a lot of them have come back home they're excited and I believe many are going to put in whatever work they can as volunteers to attempt to win this race.

But some fundamentals still have not changed. You have not seen policies being discussed. I have not seen direct appeals to men writ large, particularly young Hispanic and Black men. And so, I'm waiting to see if well see the vice president or maybe her running mate attempt to develop messaging or policy positions and their remarks to appeal to some of those demographics.

SCIUTTO: Meghan, I wonder what your responses to that because the polling to today shows that Harris is certainly gaining support as well -- as compared to Biden among women, among young people, among Black voters, even Hispanic voters. But the advantage Biden had right was with white and older voters.

What's the plan? What's the plan to win over them?

HAYS: I think that the plan remains the same. I think that those voting blocs have white older voters are those people are always going to come home to the Democratic Party where a union strongly belt from the middle-class out. You've heard that a million times from President Biden, but also Vice President Harris and also Tim Walz. He's -- I mean, he is very much has very Bidenesque policies in his in his thinking here too.

And I think you will hear more about that in his remarks tonight. I think that the vice president will also be talking more about her appeal to additional voting blocs into coalesce the base, but I do think this is a time to be celebratory and to make sure that the enthusiasm is palpable going into the final stretch of the campaign. She's only been in the race for a month.

So that, you know, things are still coming together. And obviously, but I agree with Shermichael that both candidates need to start talking about policy and to move into the fall.

SCIUTTO: Yeah, she's only been in a month, but there are only two months ago, right? I mean, it's amazing how quickly this is moving.

Shermichael, a deliberate noticeable effort by Kamala Harris to sell a more positive message, even that -- even that sign we saw behind her and Walz their freedom, less of the democracy in peril, more here's the positive future that we offer you.

I wonder. Would you like to see a similar switch from Trump and the GOP?

SINGLETON: I mean, I would. I'll tell you this, I think that Democrats are smart to be more affirmational about the future. I think writ large people yearn for that especially after the past, what, eight years of tribalism and division in the country.

[15:25:04]

I think their next task, however, will be now that we're painting this positive picture, here's what a positive picture attached with policies would look like. And maybe they'll figure that out.

On the reverse side, I think Republicans, particularly former president, has been too negative. People are angry. I'll give him credit there. People are angry about wage issues, about the cost of living, cost of goods, gas, et cetera, people are worried and maybe angry about the immigration crisis. I think some folks are even worried about some foreign policy issues.

And that's great and all, and it's great to recognize that anger and frustration. But you need to talk about how you're going to positively affect change to deal with those things. And so, I'm looking at it, I'm looking at duality here I suppose, Jim, of what both sides need to do to potentially win this thing in November. SCIUTTO: Yeah, yeah. Vibes -- vibes and policies and certainly some begging for more detail I think he can say from Republicans and Democrats.

Well, Meghan Hays, Shermichael Singleton, not enough time to go through your voicemail messages, but thanks very much for joining and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Ukraine's cross-border advance into Russia unthinkable just a few weeks ago continues as Ukrainian forces press on taking key bridges in the western part of the country. This is Russia says it shot down dozens of Ukrainian drones, including 11 aimed right at Moscow. The city's mayor calls this one of the largest drone strikes by Ukraine aimed at the Russian capital ever.

Ukraine's President Zelenskyy says Ukrainian forces are strengthening themselves in the east to repel a Russian advance there.

CNN's Oren Liebermann joins me now from the Pentagon.

I wonder, Oren, as you speak to defense officials, how do they view this ongoing incursion?

[15:30:01]

Do they view it as a dangerous moment for Ukrainian forces or one that has really put -- put Russia on more questionable footing?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: A bit of both, Jim, and frankly depends on where you look. When you're talking specifically about Ukraine's incursion into Russia, into the Kursk region, there you see the Pentagon saying this was a surprise move, one that caught the Russians off guard and where the Ukrainians were able to occupy see some lens, some 400 square miles, and where they continue to push partially because they had that element of surprise, and were able to find a weak point that shows -- a weak point that shows the adaptability of the Ukrainian forces and how quickly they're able to take advantage of where they see a weak spot in Russian lines.

Now that advance has slowed since it begun earlier this month, but it has shown Ukraine's different abilities with the weapons they're using.

A different story in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is advancing there and that's where you hear the warning that Russian forces there are advancing faster than was expected. Local Ukrainian authorities warning civilians there to evacuate tens of thousands ahead of advancing Russian forces. So it's not all simply a great story for Ukraine as they've been able to push on Russian lines there. They are losing ground in eastern Ukraine.

Still, it shows how difficult this fight it is and has been for such a long time now. In terms of the drone attacks they've been able to carry out Ukraine's ability to manufacture its own advanced drones and to use those against Russian forces. Ukraine has shown and the expectation is they'll continue to show that ability.

In terms of what Ukraine will do with the land it has seized from Russia, there the Pentagon is being very careful in its wording, not supporting the Kursk offensive, but once we've pressed officials here, they instead say they support Ukraine's defense and Ukraine's territorial integrity. So, the Pentagon and the Biden administration is still being very careful in how they address Ukraine's incursion into Russia.

SCIUTTO: Listen, I mean, it's remarkable, right? Gaining ground and holding ground inside Kursk and able to fire multiple, multiple times on the Russian capital.

Oren Liebermann in the Pentagon, thanks so much.

Well, another story we've been following closely -- four bodies have now been found and recovered as rescuers continue searching for those who went missing on a super yacht that sank in Italy in a storm earlier this week. A CNN team witnessed Italian authorities transferring -- transferring four body bags to ambulances. This at the Sicilian port of Porticello earlier today.

The yacht sank early Monday. Rescuers are now fighting the clock to find -- well, the possibility of any remaining survivors.

CNN's Barbie Nadeau has been following the intense search and rescue efforts underway.

Sad event today, in that they found four victims. Do they hold any hope that there might still be an air pocket in that yacht there on the bottom of the sea or is that hope fading?

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah. You know, that hope has faded at this point. They are assuming they'll find these last two bodies. In fact, they have located where one is, but they just couldn't get to it in daylight today, so they're going to go back out tomorrow, weather permitting and try to cover that fifth body or actually should be the six because they did recover a body when the -- when the yacht went down on Monday.

Then they've got to find the last person inside this yacht. What we understand though this yacht is on its side, kind of the 90 degree angle at the bottom of the Mediterranean. These divers can only spend like 10, 12 minutes underwater at a time , and they're met with all sorts of debris that was inside this luxury vessel.

And so it's very, very challenging, you know? But you've got to remember, there were 15 survivors, including a one-year-old baby girl. Those survivors, of course, are watching all this too there in a hotel that actually has full view of the recovery and resurgence search operation here in Sicily.

And there's also a criminal investigation going on, so they've been interviewing those survivors. They talked to the captain for a couple of hours. We understand to try to determine if there was any human error involved in this tragedy, Jim. SCIUTTO: Yeah, yeah, just unbelievable they have to watch that outside

their window there.

Barbie Nadeau, thanks so much for covering for us.

Well, our live coverage from Tel Aviv continues right after the break. I'll be joined by the president of the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance on the work still being done to feed and protect civilians in Gaza attention.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:38:04]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back.

The IDF's humanitarian zone in Gaza continues to shrink as it keeps issuing evacuation order after evacuation order. CNN analysis estimates now stretches roughly 40 square kilometers. That is just over 10 percent of Gaza's total area. The U.N. estimates that each square kilometer in that zone has 30,000 to 40,000 people taking shelter today. Thousands are fleeing parts of southern Gaza after the Israeli military issued another evacuation order.

Arwa Damon is the president and founder of INARA, the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance, former colleague of ours here at CNN. She joins us now from Gaza.

Arwa, thanks so much for taking the time.

ARWA DAMON, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER, INTERNATIONAL NETWORK FOR AID, RELIEF AND ASSISTANCE: Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: You're experiencing this firsthand. Five of the shelters that your organization works with are under today's evacuation orders, in two of your own staff, also under those orders.

I wonder when these orders are issued, where are people moving to? And can they have confidence when they move that the new location is safe?

DAMON: I'll answer the second part of your question first. No. No one has any confidence that any location is actually safe because the vast majority of these people who are been told to evacuate today, for example, were all already forcibly displaced multiple times. It's become something of the first question you ask someone who is a stranger, or we haven't seen for a while how many times have you had to evacuate?

We also need to take into consideration that, you know, the vast majority of these people are evacuating from attended existence into the unknown. So if we just take a look at what happened with the residents of our shelters today, they didn't know where to go. They didn't know how to get there and they didn't know what to do.

They have very little time to actually pack up whatever it is that they have used to manufacture and piece together their tents -- whatever mattresses, blankets they might have, clothing items they might have, because they he can't leave any of this behind because if they do, they're not going to be able to source it again.

[15:40:15]

And what we end up trying to do and keep in mind the number of people that we're dealing with as INARA in this particular case is miniscule compared to the majority of the Gazan population, but it's a series of frantic phone calls trying secure some sort of transport, whether it's, you know, a truck or a minibus or anyone who actually has a vehicle to be able to assist especially some of these locations that have the elderly in them.

We have a number of our shelters that also have children with some disabilities, children with injuries that are in them as well. It's not as if they can pick up hail a taxi and go move somewhere else, not to mention the sheer density and volume of people that has been packed into this space. I mean, you don't move here very quickly at all, even on a good day when there's an evacuation order, it's complete chaos.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this. It's been more than 100 days since Israel gain control to all the checkpoints into Gaza. And when the Israeli prime minister spoke before the U.S. congress, a couple of weeks back, he blamed the slow flow of aid into Gaza entirely on Hamas. Tell us what your experience is on aid getting into Gaza.

Is -- are Israeli forces allowing enough aid in?

DAMON: Look, what we've historically seen from the onset of all of this is Israel effectively abdicating any sense of responsibility when it comes to either preserving civilian lives or facilitating access to humanitarian assistance. The big challenge that we face as organizations is multi-tiered when it comes to access to humanitarian goods.

You initially have the challenges trying to get anything through the variety of Israeli restrictions. Some are official, some were notified about, sometimes you don't even know shipments just get rejected.

And then you have the added challenge that has become increasingly difficult over the last few months, and that is this widespread looting and criminal activity that is taking place. The vast majority of it, Jim, actually happens on routes that the Israeli forces designate for aid organizations to be able to go and pick up the assistance. We're quite simply not able to travel those routes safely, which is why a number of humanitarian organizations have been calling for either alternate routes or for some sort of ability, capacity to be able to secure those routes.

For example, to be able to use Gaza's police force at the very least to secure these convoys. But that has been attempted in the past. And those police ended up being on the wrong side of an Israeli strike.

What this has resulted in, things like hospitals. Already barely limping along, not having any modicum of even the most basic things they need to treat patients. I was in Aqsa hospital yesterday. A few days ago, there is a girl who's a year-and-a-half, she needs a

basic tracheotomy or something to, it's a piece of plastic and something that should be readily available in any ICU anywhere in the world. They don't have that piece. They can't stabilize her.

And if this little girl survives all of this, she's going to wake up and find out she's an orphan.

SCIUTTO: Arwa, we appreciate the work you're doing there and let me just say given the danger, we hope you and your team are able to stay safe. Thanks so much for joining.

Well, former, President Donald Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, are hosting a rally in North Carolina right now they say focusing on national security. We'll take a look, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:47:03]

SCIUTTO: Former President Trump has spent the week of the DNC attempting to counter program it, draw some attention away from it. Today, he's in North Carolina and just moments ago, he wrapped up remarks there alongside his running mate, J.D. Vance.

CNN's Steve Contorno was listening to it all.

Steve, I know the plan here was to address national security. Oftentimes, Trump doesn't stick with the plan, goes elsewhere.

What did he talk about today?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: There's a little column A, little from column B, Jim. Certainly, he spent some time sharing his worldview and recapping what he did as president, and on the world stage, explaining why he was sometimes firmly with our adversaries and tough on our allies. He was also very critical of the Biden administration's troop withdrawals in Afghanistan. And he said as president, he will ask for the resignation of every officer involved in troop withdrawal from Afghanistan on day one.

But he was also it was also very clear he's been closely watching the DNC in Chicago. Take a listen to what he had to say about President Obama's speech last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Did you see Barack Hussein Obama last night, taking shots? He was taking shots at your president, and so is Michelle. You know, they always say, sure, please stick to policy, don't get personal. And yet, they're getting personal all night long this people. Do I still have to stick to policy?

(END VIDEO CLIP) CONTORNO: Trump went on to ask his audience if he should continue to stick to policy, or if he's allowed to get personal, the overwhelming response was that he should get personal and its further explaining their sort of campaign's point of view on this whole matter going forward.

Senator J.D. Vance, his running mate earlier in this event, said that his in his view, the mantra going forward should be mean tweets and world peace -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, we should note, he deliberately Trump says Barack Hussein Obama, that's a deliberate tactic that he uses often to draw attention to what he sees as different.

Steve Contorno, thanks so much.

After the break, we're going to break down new U.S. presidential race polling showing big shifts between Vice President Harris and Trump as the Democrats prepare for night three of the DN C convention.

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[15:52:03]

SCIUTTO: This week's Democratic National Convention is, of course, a critical opportunity for Kamala Harris to introduce herself to a broad swath of the electorate who are so far wondering about her vision for four years in the Oval Office. A new CBS poll found that more than a third of voters said they don't know what she stands for. Less than half that number say the same about her opponent, Donald Trump. Of course, he served his president for four years.

And yet poll after poll show Harris making major gains in this race, that same poll has her ahead of Donald Trump.

So what are the numbers tell us?

I want to bring in someone who knows the data, Larry Sabato joins me now, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

I wonder if you could tell us where you believe this race stands today, that that question, if the election were held today, who's winning?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA CENTER FOR POLITICS: I would say neither and both. That is it's very, very close. Now, remember that's a big pickup for Democrat, because before President Biden dropped out, Democrats had been dropping through the floor.

So it depends on the poll, it depends on the state. If you look at it as a whole, you can see that maybe, maybe Kamala Harris has a tiny edge and some of the critical battleground states, but it's just too early to know and remember, people don't poll, Jim, during conventions because you want to wait and see what the cumulative effect of the convention was, to determine whether there was a bounce for the candidate. And we'll -- we'll get a lot of that back next week.

SCIUTTO: Let's take a look for a moment behind the numbers that we've seen so far. For instance, if you look at the ABC/"Washington Post" poll, there were three major shifts in three groups, independence, Harris now winning, whereas Trump was winning against Biden-Harris, making big inroads with voters under 40 as well, a 20-point swing towards Harris in that group and also closing the gap with Black voters gaining 12 points compared to Biden.

Together, that begins to look like the Obama coalition.

SABATO: Exactly right. And after last night, wouldn't you think that had been reinforced or maybe expanded? Also, there have been indications that Hispanics, Latinos have been moving back into the Democratic camp. For awhile, a half of them had gone to Trump and to the Republicans.

So, as a group -- as a whole, I would say right now, it's looking much better for Democrats although they're certainly not out of the woods. But we've got to look at those critical post-convention polls next week.

SCIUTTO: RFK Jr. has said he's going to give an address to the nation later this week. We don't know what he will announce, but there've been long been questions about who voters he was more likely to take away from, Trump or Harris.

[15:55:04]

Related question: if he were to drop out, where would that support most likely go, Trump or Harris?

SABATO: If he drops out and he doesn't endorse either of the candidates, then I would expect the vote mainly to just split and that's what the current data show, about half of his 5 percent and he's down to five. Remember he was originally in the upper teens, lower 20s.

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

SABATO: Now he's down 5 percent. About half of it, 2.5 percent, going to Kamala Harris at about half of it, 2.5 percent going to Donald Trump. Gee, that means probably it doesn't have a big effect.

But if he ends up surprising us and endorsing a candidate, then that could be different, maybe it shifts and additional point to the candidate he's endorsed, but even that isn't assured. You know, when you get down to 5 percent and look at the Kennedy coalition if you can call 5 percent a coalition, they are very unusual as a group, just as Kennedy, as unusual as a candidate. I think they might splinter.

SCIUTTO: Before we go, you have the conventions now. By the end of this week, Republicans have theirs, Democrats have theirs. You have a debate coming up in September. Of course, that that'll be a big event. Are those the remaining big events that could swing this election either way? SABATO: You really want me to answer that? I mean, this has been an unbelievable campaign. And every time we think things are basically set, something big happens. On paper, those are the events that we would look at.

But in fact, some other things may happen. Maybe it's in the Middle East, maybe it's in some other part of the world, maybe there's a big endorsement or two or three that we're not counting on.

So, Jim, stay tuned, as you all always say in the news business. Stay tuned.

SCIUTTO: For sure. I would preclude being in the region that I'm in now speaking of things that could be impactful.

Larry Sabato, thanks so much.

And thanks so much to all of you for joining me today. I'm Jim Sciutto in Tel Aviv.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" is up next.