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Ukraine Looks To Strike Deeper Into Russian Territory; France Detains Pavel Durov In Criminal Investigation; U.S.: Negotiations Meeting In Cairo On Gaza Ceasefire Deal; France Investigates Messaging App Telegram's Role In Criminal Activity. Trump and Harris Zeroing in on Battleground States; Trump and Harris Campaigns at Odds Over Debate Rules; U.S. Believes Iran Still Prepared to Attack Israel Directly; Israel, Hezbollah Still Trading Strikes as Tensions Flare; Dam Collapse Kills at Least 30 People, Destroys Villages in Sudan; at Least 23 Killed by Flooding in Bangladesh; One Dead, One Injured After Ice Cave Collapse in Iceland During Group Tour. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired August 27, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, Ukraine endures another night of deadly Russian strikes just 24 hours after Moscow launched one of its largest drone and missile attacks of the war so far.

More talks on Gaza, negotiators meet in Cairo to discuss a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

And a group tour in Iceland turns tragic after a deadly cave collapsed. Why the disaster is fueling fears about the impact of the climate crisis.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: It is 9:00 a.m. across Ukraine, where Russia has launched another wave of deadly attacks. Authorities report at least five people have been killed in strikes on Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih. Rescue workers are still searching the rubble at a hotel where two people are still unaccounted for. It follows a major missile and drone strike on Monday targeting Ukraine's energy infrastructure that claimed at least seven lives. Rolling blackouts are now in effect for many regions across the country. The Russian Defense Ministry claims it hit all designated targets, including storage sites for weapons sent to Ukraine by Western nations.

Ukraine had been bracing for an attack for weeks after its forces launched an incursion into Russia's Kursk Region, and now Kyiv is once again asking its allies for permission to strike deeper into Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Every leader, every partner of ours, knows what strong decisions are needed to end this war and to end it justly, there should be no restrictions on the range of weapons for Ukraine, while terrorists have no such restrictions.

Defenders of life should face no restrictions on weapons, while Russia uses all kinds of its own weapons, as well as Shahed drones and ballistic missiles from North Korea.

United States, the United Kingdom, France and other partners have the power to help us stop terror. We need decisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: More now from CNN's Fred Pleitgen reporting from Berlin.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A close call for these Ukrainian soldiers filming a missile impacting in a reservoir close by.

Part of the massive Russian rocket and drone blitz destroying Ukrainian energy infrastructure and leaving Residents scrambling for safety. Some inside the Kyiv subway, these people singing, who else will stand up for our freedom today, if not you, if not me.

Kyiv says Russia launched more than 120 missiles and more than a hundred drones. While many were intercepted, others struck areas across Ukraine.

Putin sticks to his style, Ukraine's president says, he's a sick creature, that's been obvious for a long time, but it's also clear that he can only do what the world allows him to do, weakness, lack of decisions, fuel terror.

The strikes possible retaliation for Ukraine's incursion into the Kursk Region in Russia. And Vladimir Putin's army still appears unable to stop Ukrainian troops advancing there. Kyiv saying their forces are making gains even three weeks into the operation.

And another possible blow for the Russian leader after Putin visited Azerbaijan last week, the founder of the Telegram messaging app, Pavel Durov, was arrested in France, revealing Durov was in Azerbaijan at the same time as Putin.

The Kremlin quick to claim Putin didn't meet with Durov in Baku.

DMITRY PESKOV, KREMLINS SPOKESMAN (through translator): We don't know yet what exactly Durov is accused of. We haven't heard any official statements on this matter yet, and before we say anything, we need to wait for the situation to become clearer, what exactly are they trying to incriminate Durov with.

PLEITGEN (voice over): French media reports Durov's arrest warrant is related to Telegram's alleged failure to moderate content, reportedly facilitating money laundering, drug trafficking and the spread of pedophilic material on the platform. [02:05:08]

Telegrams says Durov has nothing to hide. There have been questions about Pavel Durov's possible relations with the Kremlin on Moscow's streets, support for the Russian social media mogul.

It's connected to the fact that the man sticks to his principles, this man says and his main principle is freedom of speech.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Tymofiy Mylovanov is the president of the Kyiv School of Economics and the former Ukrainian Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture, and he joins me now from Kyiv. Appreciate you being with us.

So, there's been another deadly round of Russian strikes across parts of Ukraine overnight, after a massive air attack about 24 hours ago on Ukraine's energy infrastructure. What is the situation there right now and how extensive are these blackouts?

TYMOFIY MYLOVANOV, PRESIDENT, KYIV SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS: Yes, they are extensive. Yesterday, when I was walking from home from my university, the city looked really pitch black. You know, a bus or a car would be a shining lighthouse in the middle of darkness.

But today, it feels better, even though there were attacks all night, and I personally woke up at the sunset, at the sound of another air raid alert and some explosions actually, I think air defense was working.

But I think my apartment probably had about 50 percent of time no electricity yesterday and several hours without water. But that's not atypical. That's more or less that has happened before.

CHURCH: Right. And of course, those strikes must have been terrifying for you and others there on the ground. So, President Zelenskyy is vowing to respond to these Russian attacks. What might that response look like do you think?

MYLOVANOV: Multiple ways I think will materialize soon. First, there might be something related or in the area, of course, since Ukrainian troops are still advancing, but that depends on the Russian willingness actually to relocate troops from the east of Ukraine, from Donbas, to stop Ukrainian advances in Kursk.

I think another answer, or a typical response, is actually typical. It's sort of tit for tat strategy that both parties, both countries now are engaging in, we will likely to launch also massive air strikes using missiles and drones against Russian military and defense infrastructure, because they tend to follow each other.

CHURCH: And you mentioned that advance, Ukraine has been expecting a Russian attack for weeks now in response to the incursion into Russia's Kursk region. Why do you think Moscow has not yet responded directly to those Ukrainian troops on Russian soil, instead choosing to go after your country's infrastructure?

MYLOVANOV: Well, so, perhaps, because if they move troops out of the east of Ukraine, that frontline will collapse. Ukraine can counter attack there too. So, that might be one reason.

Another reason is just simply difficult, because if Ukrainian troops have managed already to dig in. We have seen through this war that no matter how much force one or the other side applies, if the other side is defending and has dug in, it's very difficult to make progress.

CHURCH: And Russia is claiming it hit all its planned targets, including storage sites for weapons sent by Western nations. What will be the likely impact of that loss of weapons do you think?

MYLOVANOV: So, first of all, I'm not sure if it's -- if it's true, because, I mean, I don't know for sure this information is classified. But you know, people talk and when there are major explosions of ammunition depots, they are seen. They're seen because in 2014, 2016 during the first invasion of Russia in the east of Ukraine, when they use drones or sabotage operations to blow up weapons depots that has been known.

So, maybe there have been limited success in this, but my impression from what I've seen in the public domain and also what I've seen privately, you know, by talking to people, is that they really targeted energy infrastructure rather than defense operations yesterday.

[02:10:00]

CHURCH: And how surprised have you been at the success of Ukraine's incursion into Russia's Kursk Region? Certainly it seems to have put President Putin off guard, doesn't it? He doesn't appear to know how to respond to this.

MYLOVANOV: Well, that's absolutely true. I think it shows an element of arrogance in their planning, sort of this -- you know, this very somewhat naive to attitude that we can hit Ukraine, but Ukraine is not allowed to hit us back on our territory, and so they simply did not prepare at all.

So, that tells two things, that they feel that they cannot be punished with the same approach that they are taking against Ukraine. And the second one is that they are out of men because they have put everything they have got to the areas of attack currently (INAUDIBLE).

CHURCH: Tymofiy Mylovanov, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it. Take care there.

Negotiators at the working level are still meeting in Cairo on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal after some progress was reported during weekend discussions. U.S. official says the talks will continue for at least the next few days, and all sides, including Hamas, are represented in the discussions focusing on specific details of the deal.

But inside Gaza, there's been no let up to the fighting, the Palestinian civil defense says at least 16 people were killed in Israeli strikes Monday night across the Enclave, including in Gaza City and in central Gaza's Alma'azi refugee camp. A baby and two children were among the victims.

A senior U.N. official says aid deliveries were paused on Monday because of security risks after Israel ordered new evacuation in Deir Al Balah in central Gaza.

An UNRWA spokesperson says it's become increasingly difficult to distribute aid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOUISE WATERIDGE, UNWRA SPOKESPERSON: Humanitarian operations are also being displaced within these evacuation orders, and the humanitarian response here is being completely strangled and limited our ability of what we can do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: In the West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry says at least five people were killed when an Israeli strike hit the Nur Shams refugee camp. Video obtained by CNN shows smoke rising from the area after that strike. The Israeli military has acknowledged that an aircraft attacked what it called an operations room that so far has not provided any details.

CNN's Nada Bashir has been following the developments on the Gaza ceasefire talks, and has more now from Cairo.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN REPORTER: Well, despite notes of optimism from U.S. officials on the progress of ceasefire negotiations, we've yet to see indications of any significant breakthroughs, and, frankly, little movement in efforts to narrow the gaps between Israel and Hamas following talks here in Cairo over the weekend, working level discussions are expected to continue focused on the finer details of a proposed agreement.

However, there are still believed to be significant sticking points. Hamas has once again stressed that any agreement must include guarantees for an eventual transition from an initial six week pause in fighting during the first phase of the proposed deal to a permanent ceasefire in the second phase.

Israeli officials have yet to provide such guarantees with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in June indicating that Israel would seek a continuation of the war following an initial pause.

Now, according to officials, there also continues to be disagreement on the terms surrounding the longer term presence of Israeli forces within the Gaza Strip, while Israel has proposed to station a reduced number of troops along the Philadelphi Corridor, a buffer zone between Egypt and southern Gaza, Hamas has reiterated that it wants to see a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.

However, one senior U.S. official has told CNN that negotiators believe Hamas may be more flexible on an Israeli troop presence in Gaza during that first phase of the deal, with ongoing debate as to whether parts of the Philadelphi Corridor should be considered densely populated areas, and therefore areas where troops should not be present under the terms of the proposed deal.

Now, officials say mediators expect that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar will receive a copy of the latest proposal in the coming days, though, the timing of any expected response remains unclear.

For now, discussions continue to try to hammer out those finer details of the proposal and to bring Hamas and Israel to some sort of agreement, but there is no indication that that agreement is in any way imminent.

Nada Bashir, CNN in Cairo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Joining me now from Jerusalem is Gershon Baskin, former hostage negotiator. He's also the Middle East director of International Communities Organization. Thank you so much for joining us.

[02:15:07]

GERSHON BASKIN, MIDDLE EAST DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES ORGANIZATION: Thank you.

CHURCH: So, we are hearing reports of possible progress with this latest round of ceasefire and hostage release negotiations, what is your sense of where things stand right now and what hope do you have that a deal can be reached?

BASKIN: I think your report was pretty accurate from what I've been hearing, there are still some sticking points. The Philadelphi Corridor, the borderline between Gaza and Egypt is still one of them, but they are talking about reduced numbers of Israeli troops along that border, perhaps bringing it down to zero. There's a lot of Egyptian pressure on the Israelis to trust the Egyptians that they will be able to secure that border. The Egyptians maintain that there were no smuggling tunnels underneath that border, which Israel claims is not correct. We don't know what the truth is.

There's also a significant sticking point on the release of Palestinian prisoners, their numbers, the number of vetoes that Israel would have on those released, and also the question of whether or not those serving life sentences would be forced to leave the area, as Israel was demanding. Hamas, of course, disagrees to that.

But the main thing that I would say about the whole negotiation is that they're negotiating a bad deal. In the first six weeks, there will be a release of 32 of the Israeli 109 hostages, what they're calling the civilian hostages, leaving another 77 of them -- 77 of them in captivity for an unlimited number of amount of time, and this is a bad deal. It's bad deal for Israel. It's bad deal for Hamas, because the war will continue. There are no guarantees that after six weeks, there will be a permanent ceasefire.

I think that the media have seemed to scrap the whole thing and put a new deal on the table, which talks about ending it all in three weeks, ending the war, Israeli withdrawal, return of all the Israeli hostages. This is where the focus needs to be to get this over quickly.

CHURCH: Well, let's look at that. I mean, so you're suggesting a better solution is out there. This is your idea of how this could be better brought to a close. How would that work though, exactly?

BASKIN: Well, I think that what needs to happen is that the mediators need to tell the Israelis and the Hamas that what we're negotiating now for months is a bad deal. It won't end the war, it won't bring the hostages home. It doesn't give either side what they really need to get and what they really want. And I think that it would be best if the United States would have put on the table this new deal.

That would say, let's send it all in three weeks. It can be done. There can be an Israeli withdrawal to secure positions. Israel can secure the border. The Americans can promise the Israelis that they will help to secure the Egyptian-Gaza border. All 109 hostages would be released, and a great number of Palestinians, it would be released from prison.

My suggestion is to the Israelis that they allow these people to be released to their homes, because Israel has a better chance of observing them, of monitoring them if they are released to their homes.

The ideal can be made. It's all a question of political will, of whether or not we want to get this war done, whether or not the United States is willing to lose its leverage on Israel and the Egyptians and the Qataris on Hamas, and I think it's all doable.

CHURCH: So, why isn't that getting done? Why aren't they choosing to go down this road that you suggest?

BASKIN: Well, the speculation is that the Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to continue the war for his own political purposes. Perhaps the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar wants to continue the war as well, showing that he can bring Israel down to its knees. This would be a victory for him.

But what we all need to understand is that there are no victors in this war. There are only losers, and we keep losing, all of us. On both sides of this war in the entire region is still at risk of a much wider regional war, and everything needs to be done to stop it. It's been going on now for 10 months. It needs to end.

CHURCH: Yes, and of course, the fear of a wider war in the region, also inside Gaza, the deadly Israeli strikes continue, and the hostages remain imprisoned by Hamas.

So, how does this cycle of violence stop? What is the mood in Israel when it comes to Prime Minister Netanyahu, is there any sense that he wants this war to end and wants to bring the hostages home? What's the sentiment of the families of these hostages and a lot of Israelis?

BASKIN: The Israeli public is behind the hostages, but not to the extent that they're willing to force Netanyahu to end the war or to go to new elections. The majority of Israelis want Netanyahu out, and yet our political system is such that it's very difficult to bring the government down unless it breaks up from within.

That could happen, but it doesn't look very possible that people will actually vote themselves out of a job, knowing that they probably wouldn't return to the Parliament after the elections.

[02:20:02]

So, and the families of hostages have not been able to gain enough public support to march in the streets to get this deal done, because the issue has been politicized and Netanyahu and as people have been able to convince enough Israelis that those people who want to deal are leftists and against the country, and those people who don't want to deal and want the war to continue are brave patriots. And once the issue has been politicized, without a very clear deal on the table and a Hamas agreement to release all the hostages, it's very difficult to mobilize the public against the government.

CHURCH: Gershon Baskin, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it. Your analysis and perspective.

BASKIN: Thank you.

CHURCH: The battle between online privacy and safety is in the spotlight as the founder of Telegram faces charges for criminal activity taking place on his messaging app that is just ahead.

Plus, an historic SpaceX mission gets pushed back. Why the company isn't taking any chances with preparations for Polaris Dawn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.

SpaceX has pushed the launch of its Polaris Dawn mission to Wednesday after finding a helium leak in ground equipment. SpaceX posted an update on X late Monday evening saying teams were taking a look at the piece called the quick disconnect umbilical. Both the Crew Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket are in good condition, according to the post.

The five day Polaris Dawn mission will attempt the first ever commercial spacewalk, the crew of four civilians are heading to the highest altitude of any crewed space mission since the Apollo program ended more than 50 years ago. French President Emmanuel Macron says the arrest of Telegram Founder

Pavel Durov in Paris on Sunday was, "In no way a political decision." Supporters of the Russian born CEO say he's a political prisoner and that his arrest is an attack on free speech.

French officials are quick to shoot that down. The power's public prosecutor says Durov is facing 12 separate charges as part of a broad investigation into criminal activity on the popular messaging app. Alex Marquardt explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He's been called the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia, tech billionaire Pavel Durov, the creator of the globally popular messaging app Telegram.

PAVEL DUROV, FOUNDER, Telegram: 12 billion messages delivered daily.

MARQUARDT: (voiceover): Now in custody in France after French police arrested him at a Paris airport.

French authorities say that Durov's arrest is part of an investigation of charges that Telegram was allegedly complicit in aiding money laundering, drug trafficking and distributing child pornography.

[02:25:02]

French prosecutors also say that Durov refused to comply with demands to help intercept potentially illicit communications.

In a statement, the company said Durov has nothing to hide. It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.

DUROV: I truly believe that privacy of our users and what they trust to us and our responsibility for them is the most important thing in our business.

MARQUARDT (voice over): Durov was flying to Paris from Azerbaijan, where Russian President Vladimir Putin also visited last week. The Kremlin has denied that Putin and Durov met.

Durov had also created the Russian app VKontakte, known as Russia's Facebook. He fled the country in 2014 after refusing to turn over user data from the app to the Russian government.

Russia tried to ban Telegram in 2018 but lifted the ban in 2020.

With 900 million users worldwide, Telegram is used by everyday people, governments and companies to send official messages, but the app's encryption also makes it popular among criminals and terrorists.

In France, it was found on the phones of the terrorists who attacked the Bataclan concert hall in Paris. DUROV: They were also using iPhones and Android phones. And microchips

kind of misleading to say that we were responsible, or any other tech companies responsible for that.

MARQUARDT (voice over): Durov's arrest has revived questions about the responsibilities of social media companies to moderate their content and assist law enforcement versus protecting their users' privacy and freedom of speech.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement on social media, France is deeply committed to freedom of expression and communication, and that the arrest is in no way a political decision.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Sweeping through swing states and bickering over debate rules, we are tracking the latest moves in the race for the White House.

Plus, the school in northern Israel prepares to open its doors in a new location after violence forced it to move away from the border with Lebanon. A look at how school officials and students are coping, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:30:00]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. With 70 days to the election, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump are laser-focused on the battleground states likely to determine the winner. On Wednesday and Thursday, the U.S. vice president campaign will visit Georgia, a swing-state polls show has been leaning towards Trump, but the Democrats believe they can flip it as they did in 2020.

And the Trump campaign is heading to Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania later this week. These are states that bolster the so- called Democratic blue wall that Trump toppled in 2016 and President Joe Biden flipped back four years ago. Meanwhile, during a campaign stop in Detroit on Monday, Trump cast doubt about whether he will in fact debate Vice President Harris as scheduled on September 10. CNN's Kristen Holmes has details.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The debate over debates continues, both campaigns, the Harris and the Trump campaign appear to be at an impasse this time over whether or not the mics will be muted while the other candidate is speaking at that September 10 ABC debate. Now originally, Donald Trump and President Joe Biden had agreed to terms that were similar to that of the CNN debate, that first debate in which the mics would be muted as we saw at that CNN debate, while the other candidate was talking.

Now, the Harris campaign is saying that they want those mics unmuted. Now, Trump's team says that is not what we agreed to, but a lot of this here is just posturing as each side tries to figure out what is best for their candidate. However, Donald Trump himself talked about this while he was in Virginia commemorating the third anniversary of the Afghanistan withdrawal, and he seemed to essentially undercut his own campaign. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So, we're thinking about it. We're thinking about it. They also want to change the rules. You know, the deal was we keep the same rules. Now, all of a sudden they want to make a change in the rules because she can't answer questions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And you are going to hear a lot of posturing, a lot of spin. For example, I will remind you that it was just three weeks ago when Kamala Harris was brought into the top of the ticket, when Donald Trump backed out, and Kamala Harris steam saying, you can't do that, it doesn't matter who is at the top of the ticket. You already agreed to the debate. Donald Trump's team saying, no, everything has changed.

Obviously, now we are almost an incomplete opposite situation in which Donald Trump's team is saying we want to agree to those original rules that we already agreed to with President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is saying, nope, I'm at the top of the ticket now, things have changed. Again, all of this posturing, all of this, the campaigns trying to make sure that their own candidate looks the best when they take the stage and the big question, of course, will they take the stage at that September 10 debate. One thing we know is leading up to that, Donald Trump's campaign says that he is going to be pounding the pavement. It is going to be "Trump on steroids." They say is ramping up his travel, he is going to be in battleground states. We have heard this before. We will wait and see if it actually comes to fruition.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, Detroit, Michigan.

CHURCH: A White House official says the U.S. still believes Iran is prepared to attack Israel directly. This comes as tensions flare in the Middle East amid an intense exchange of rocket fire over the weekend between Israel and Iran's most powerful proxy, Hezbollah. Iran has vowed a response over last month's assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, a sentiment echoed again by a top Iranian military general.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. GEN. MOHAMMAD BAGHERI, ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS (through translator): Revenge for this criminal act, whether by the Resistance Axis or by the Islamic Republic of Iran is certain. The Islamic Republic of Iran will not fall into media games and provocation, and will decide how and when its revolutionary action will be taken.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Israel meantime is stressing that its military will continue to degrade Hezbollah's capabilities and "eliminate more commanders". This comes after the latest exchange of strikes between Israel and Hezbollah has residents near the border with Lebanon on high alert. CNN's Jim Sciutto shows us how they are dealing with the ongoing violence.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (voice-over): On Kibbutz Dafna, less than two miles from the Lebanese border, students at the Har VaGai School fled just after October 7th, quickly abandoning their lockers. Those mandatory evacuation orders came almost a year ago now, yet the threat remains more present than ever. Last month, a rocket burst through the roof for the school's gym and just this past weekend, the most intense crossfire along the border this year.

RAVIT ROSENTHAL, HEAD OF HAR VAGAI SCHOOL IN NORTHERN ISRAEL: This is the sign of our school. It is written Har VaGai School and those three buildings are ours.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): Now, as a new school year begins, Head of School, Ravit Rosenthal has built an entirely new school 20 miles south for more than 1,000 displaced students.

[02:35:00]

Instead of a tree-lined campus set around a babbling brook, classes will take place this year in once empty warehouses. On September 1, they hope a new school year will begin here.

ROSENTHAL: Lot of students are depressed, teachers are not in very good situation, and they are waiting to come to school to see each other because they want to fill back our community in Har VaGai.

SCIUTTO: The school is outside the evacuation zone in the north, but it is still within range of rockets and missiles and drones from Lebanon. So, it has air raid shelters like this one, in fact, 18 of them surrounding the school, like all these shelters, reinforced walls, reinforced doors like this, and close enough to the classrooms, so the students can get here very quickly in the event of incoming fire.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): But the shelters cannot shield the students and teachers from the stress of war.

ROSENTHAL: We are afraid. I cannot say that I am not afraid, but I know that me and my team will do the best to make good for the kids.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Few days ago, I woke up at 8 a.m. from the rockets and they were very close.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): 17-year-old Ziv Zinger (ph) is going into his final year of high school.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We feel kind of cheated, how you feel -- you feel very connected to the old school. You know, we had grass, and we had the river flowing through the school, and it doesn't feel like home. SCIUTTO (voice-over): The goal then is some measure of stability. The same classmates, same teachers, same subjects, even without the same sense of safety. Merav Atmor (ph) is sending her 12-year-old son.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This routine, it is something that keep them safe in their mentality. But you go to school every day, you see yours friends, you see your teachers, I think it is very important.

SCIUTTO (voice-over): One promising sign of that routine, Maton (ph) just beginning seventh grade tells us he is more nervous about his classes than the rockets. For Ravit, the school is her contribution to a way forward.

ROSENTHAL: Very angry about to a lot of things that's going on in Israel, but our mission now to take care of more than 1,000 students and 130 teachers, so I must do the best now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Coming up, how the war in Sudan is causing problems for the country's infrastructure, turning heavy rains into a deadly crisis.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: At least 30 people have died from flash flooding in Sudan's Red Sea State. The United Nations Humanitarian Office says torrential rains caused a major dam to break, releasing almost all of its water and sweeping away entire villages.

[02:40:00]

Hundreds of people are believed to be missing. More than 500 days of bloody civil war has already taken a massive toll on the country, diverting government attention and resources from vital infrastructure. Aid groups have warned for months that the country is on the brink of collapse and starvation. The U.N. says the collapsed dam will only add to the misery of the Sudanese people.

Flooding from monsoon rain has killed at least 23 people in Bangladesh. Meteorologists say the water levels are receding, but very slowly. They also say it is not enough to bring relief if the monsoons continue. Officials say millions of people are isolated in remote areas with flood waters blocking roads and preventing aid from coming in. The water has also submerged huge areas of land and poses a threat to crops, according to the Bangladeshi agriculture ministry.

An American tourist is dead following the collapse of a cave inside of glacier in Iceland. He was part of a group of tourists exploring the cave. The incident raises new fears for the safety of this popular tourist activity as the earth's temperatures rise. Our John Vause has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One of Iceland's most popular tourist attractions, now the site of a tragedy. An ice cave in Breidamerkurjokull (ph) glacier collapsed on Sunday, killing one American, injuring another. The couple was touring the glacier in southern Iceland when disaster happened. The collapse prompted a major search for two additional tourists believed trapped under the ice.

SVEINN KRISTJAN RUNARSSON, CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT, SOUTH ICELAND POLICE (through translator): It is difficult to get equipment to the area. The rescue missions are therefore mainly done by hand, digging and breaking the ice. So yes, these are very challenging circumstances.

VAUSE (voice-over): But, no one was found and police have since confirmed there have been only 23 people on the tour, not 25. The (inaudible) is now raising questions about potential role of human caused climate change. Iceland is warming roughly three times faster than the rest of the planet because the burning of fossil fuels and carbon emissions. And the renowned Breidamerkurjokull glacier has been melting since 1930, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Tourism brings in billions of dollars to Iceland's economy and tourism officials there are now said to be drafting a new report on glacier tours in the wake of the collapse, as questions linger about their safety, especially with global temperatures on the rise.

John Vause, CNN, Atlanta.

CHURCH: I want to thank you for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is up next. Then "CNN Newsroom" will continue with Max Foster and Christina MacFarlane in London.

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[02:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)