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Protests Grow Across Israel After Recovery Of 6 Dead Hostages; Harris Holds Lead In New Poll As Campaigns Head Into Labor Day; Thousands Of Hotel Workers Strike For Better Pay, Conditions. Aired 2- 3p ET

Aired September 01, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:42]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Alex Marquardt in for Fredricka Whitfield.

We are tracking breaking news. Frustration, outrage, and profound sadness all spilling out onto the streets of Israel right now. You're looking at live pictures right there from Tel Aviv. Demonstrations erupting across Israel after IDF officials announced the recovery of six of the bodies of six hostages in Gaza on Saturday.

The display you see now is demanding the Israeli government agree to a ceasefire deal to get those hostages home after months of negotiations have failed to produce a deal.

The Israeli military saying that they found the six hostages in a tunnel deep underneath the southern city of Rafah. The Israeli health ministry just revealed that they had each been killed by what they called short-range shots just 48 to 72 hours before their autopsy.

An IDF spokesman describing that -- describing the operation which brought them home earlier today.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Were IDF soldiers actually looking for these six hostages or did they find them as part of a separate mission.

LT. COL. NADAV SHOHANI, IDF INTERNATIONAL SPOKESPERSON: Well, we have been operating above and underground in that area, combatting a terrorists and searching in the underground tunnels as we've done in recent weeks in Rafah.

And this is an area, in my view it's less than a mile from where we found Farhan Elkadi (ph), the hostage that we were able to rescue alive a few days ago.

So there was some idea of hostages being in the area, but this was not specific -- specific (INAUDIBLE) hostages, but part of our ordinary combat missions against Hamas above and underground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Much of the anger and criticism we're seeing today is being directed at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself for not doing more to ensure that the hostages are safe -- safely returned.

He spoke bluntly to his nation, which is really in mourning today in a televised address earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through translator): In recent days, as Israel has been holding intensive negotiations with a mediator in a supreme effort to reach a deal, Hamas is continuing to steadfastly refuse all proposals.

Even worse, at the exact same time it murdered six of our hostages. Whoever murders hostages does not want a deal. For our part, we will not relent. The government of Israel is committed, and I am personally committed to continue striving towards a deal that will return all of our hostages and ensure our security and our existence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: CNN's Nic Robertson and Kevin Liptak are back with me. They've been tracking reaction both in here in Washington and all around the world.

Nic, you are at one of these protests in Tel Aviv. What are people there telling you?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, the organizers say that as many as 300,000 people may have shown up here in Tel Aviv. These are not confirmed numbers. We didn't have a way to verify them.

But what I can tell you, having walked for what seemed like half an hour to get from one side of the crowd to the other there are a lots of people out on the streets here. And some of our team who've been here weekend after weekend -- week after week through this year, say they have never seen numbers like this before.

People are holding placards that are demanding the hostages be brought home. This is not a crowd that is angry among themselves. This is a crowd with a pretty much singular focus right now. And that is to make sure that no more hostages like these six die unnecessarily.

They want the prime minister to do a deal with Hamas however painful and whatever may happen after that deal to bring the others home.

[14:04:42]

ROBERTSON: There's a real feeling here that the six, albeit it appears that they were executed just a few days ago that unless something changes the other 60 or so hostages who are believed to be alive, still held by Hamas could also face a similar fate.

That appears to be the signal that Hamas presents (ph) the Israeli government and that the Israeli government getting a very, very clear signal from their people tonight, Alex.

They don't want more deaths. They want their hostages home, and they want them alive. But I have to caveat this by saying that, you know, some of the people working behind the scenes here have told me they are not expecting a cathartic moment to be coming anytime soon.

They're not seeing a deal on the horizon, but the passion is here and the anger and frustration is here for it. Alex.

MARQUARDT: Yes, that message is certainly loud and clear. Nic Robertson on the streets of Tel Aviv, thanks very much.

I want to bring in our Kevin Liptak. Kevin pick up where Nic left off there. He was talking about the pessimism surrounding the likelihood of a deal.

Meanwhile, we have the president of the United States saying just yesterday, he believes that we're on the verge of a ceasefire deal.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. And he was saying that after these bodies were discovered beneath Rafah. So at least in President Biden's mind, this has not forestalled the prospects of a deal. Certainly, he and his team will continue working towards them.

I think what it is clear is that this adds another layer of complexity to what had been painstaking, very, very difficult negotiation.

And remember, an American delegation had been in the region really for the last almost two weeks, shuttling back and forth between Doha and Cairo, trying to come up with some kind of agreement.

When you talk to American officials, they had said that at least on paper and in principle the sides were not all that far apart. And remember Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in July that we were on the ten-yard line when it comes to reaching a deal.

This I think adds some complexity to that. And when you talk to American officials, they do say it raises some questions about the seriousness of Hamas towards reaching an agreement. But they also acknowledge, of course, that applies pressure on the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to come to a deal. And certainly we're seeing that play out on the streets in Israel today.

President Biden and the Vice President Kamala Harris have now spoken to the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin. They talked to them today and certainly they've gotten to know them fairly well over the last 11 months or so as they underwent this ordeal.

President Biden yesterday in a statement said he was devastated and outraged by these deaths and said, I've worked tirelessly to bring their beloved Hersh safely to them, and I'm heartbroken by the news of his death. He says it's as tragic as it is reprehensible. And he says, make no

mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes. So he is essentially threatening that there will be some repercussions. Whether that's by an American force or by some other force, I think remains to be seen.

Kamala Harris in her statement, doesn't actually explicitly mention the hostage talks and negotiations. She has talked about those extensively, but she doesn't mention them in the statement.

She calls Hamas an evil terrorist organization and says with these murders, Hamas has even more American blood on its hands. She says the threat Hamas poses to the people of Israel and American citizens in Israel must be eliminated and Hamas cannot control Gaza.

So making clear in there that any agreement that they can come to as part of these hostage negotiations cannot include the eventuality of Hamas returning control over Gaza.

I think it's interesting in both of these statements, there is no pressure either implied or explicit on Netanyahu to come to a deal. I think American officials see what's playing out in Israel today and think that pressure is very much coming from inside his own country.

MARQUARDT: Yes. That's a very, very good point and we've heard time and time again from U.S. officials saying, the sides agree in principle but clearly as close as the U.S. says they are, there's some -- there's some real sticking points, some real details that both Israel and Hamas are still apart on. How far apart we don't exactly know.

Kevin Liptak, thank you very much. Nic Robertson in Israel, thanks to you as well.

Let's talk more about these developments with former hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin. He's the Middle East director for the International Communities Organization.

Gershon. Thank you so much for being with me today. We heard Kevin there saying that President Biden has just said that he believes that the ceasefire deal is on the verge of being accomplished.

But how does this horrible news of these six deaths of these young hostages impact those efforts to get the rest of the hostages out and finally reach this pause in the fighting.

GERSHON BASKIN, MIDDLE EAST DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITIES ORGANIZATION: you know, I hate to go against what President Biden said but in reality, Israel is negotiating with itself. The Qataris, the Egyptian mediators and Hamas are not in the same circle of discussions with the state of Israel. Prime Minister Netanyahu keeps putting new additional red lines and conditions on agreements.

[14:09:44]

BASKIN: It's not the problem with the details. The basic problem is that Hamas will not agree to anything that does not include an end to the war. And Prime Minister Netanyahu does not agree to end the war.

I would add to that that what they've been negotiating for the last three months is a bad deal. It was -- it isn't a deal that's going to inspire anyone who's talking about a six-week ceasefire in the first stage during which time Hamas will release 32 hostages.

No one believes that the ceasefire will hold. No one knows what happens to the rest of the hostages after the six weeks.

It's not a deal that anyone's going to work really hard to get because it guarantees that the war will continue. There will be no real ceasefire. And a lot more hostages will die.

We need to have a different deal on the table. There is a possible deal. I've spoken with Hamas, but it needs to go through the official channels. I've communicated with the White House. I've communicated with the Qataris and the Egyptians, as well as with the leaders of the negotiations in Israel. And they need to get onboard with a deal that's going to end this war in three weeks and bring home all the hostages.

MARQUARDT: That's a very good point. Ceasefire is kind of a misnomer. What we're talking about is just getting a first phase off the ground for about 42 days at which point the sides could go back to war. It's just a temporary pause in the fighting.

Of course, around 32 -- 33 hostages would be expected to come out, which would be a huge relief to so many families and the people of Israel. But it would not be all of the remaining hostages.

Now Gershon, predictably Hamas is now blaming Israel's war in Gaza as being responsible for these six deaths. I just spoke with a senior U.S. official here who says that this calls into question Hamas' seriousness about a ceasefire and adds, acknowledges that this does ramp up the pressure on Netanyahu himself.

There is some debate and I would like your opinion on whether you believe that Yahya Sinwar, the head of Hamas and the Israeli prime minister, do they both want a deal, do you think?

BASKIN: I think it's quite clear that they want a deal, but they want very different deals. Hamas has been very clear for many months already that there's not going to be a deal that doesn't end the war. And Netanyahu wants a deal that will enable him to continue the war.

So they're very far apart in what they're willing to agree to. There's no doubt in my mind from having direct talks with Hamas leaders that they are willing to make a deal. But I've also been told by one of the chief Israeli negotiators that Prime Minister Netanyahu refuses to make a deal that ends the war.

Here is where we're stuck right now. And I really think that the United States has to weigh in a lot heavier. It's not good enough to blame Hamas. Of course, Hamas is responsible for the deaths of these six hostages and many more in all the terrorist attacks that they did. But this war has to end. We are talking about between 40,000 and 50,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. Gaza is destroyed. 2 million people homeless, diseases spreading in Gaza.

This is something that's unacceptable. And the United States has the ability to put an end to it. And that's what we need to see happen.

MARQUARDT: I would like to hear what you think about what the mediators could be doing. Clearly, there's leverage that could be applied by the United States on Israel that, you know, the U.S. is Israel's closest ally. There's leverage that could be applied by Qatar and Egypt against Hamas who each support Hamas and in their own ways.

What can the mediators do to pressure these two sides to get across the finish line when it comes to a deal?

BASKIN: Well, right now I think what the mediators need to do mostly Egypt and Qatar need to ask Hamas, is it true that you're willing to accept a deal which is three weeks long that will release all the Israeli hostages, put an end to the war and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.

If Hamas says yes, they're willing to make this deal, then it needs to be brought to the Israeli negotiating team who have to present it to Netanyahu, to the government and to the people of Israel, so that we can weigh in.

Israel is not a dictatorship and Netanyahu is not the sole decision maker here. The people of Israel are the sovereign, and they need to weigh in as well.

What we need to know, is Hamas serious about making a deal and ending this war? And if they are then we, the people of Israel need to stand up and tell our prime minister that he has to make the deal because Israel has to be committed to the moral responsibility of bringing all these hostages home.

Too many of them have died already. The so-called military pressure that's going to release them has only killed more hostages including the last six.

It was because Hamas apparently heard the Israeli soldiers closing in on them that they executed these prisoners, these hostages, and flew the tunnel that they were hiding in.

This will be the fate of all the hostages if Israel finds Yahya Sinwar and kills him. it's very likely that they will kill all the hostages.

We cannot allow that to happen. This has to end.

MARQUARDT: Gershon, as you've been speaking, we've been showing some of those incredible scenes in Tel Aviv of these huge crowds.

[14:14:44]

MARQUARDT: How at odds is Prime Minister Netanyahu and the far-right members of his government, those certainly who don't want a ceasefire deal with the Israeli people writ large?

BASKINS: Right. It seems from the recent polls in Israel that between 60 percent and 70 percent of the Israeli public want a deal now that includes a ceasefire.

The military, the intelligence in Israel tell the government that they can deal with the repercussions of a deal that would end the war. And Israel pulling back to its international border, even the border between Gaza and Egypt can be dealt with on the Egyptian side of the border with American help and oversight so that Israel can trust that that border is not being used for smuggling more arms into Gaza.

The biggest problem that we have is that in the he ended the day, this needs to be settled at the political level in the neighborhood with the regional countries, Egypt and Jordan and the Emirates in Bahrain and the Saudis all need to sit together because none of them together with Israel want to see Hamas controlling Gaza.

We need a political solution. We cannot destroy Hamas militarily. We only provide more fuel to the fire of supporting Hamas as long as Israel stays in Gaza.

And this is where there's a great dilemma in Israel because the people of Israel don't want to see Hamas ruling Gaza anymore. But the government of Israel hasn't submitted any kind of political thinking on how to make that a reality.

MARQUARDT: Gershon Baskin, I really appreciate your thoughts and nuance on this rather complex, and of course, highly sensitive, highly emotional issue. Thank you very much.

BASKIN: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: We'll continue to follow our breaking news out of Israel and Gaza throughout the hour but first, we are now just 65 days out from the 2024 election. What new polls are revealing about the state of the race.

Plus thousands of hotel workers across the country are walking off the job this holiday weekend. What employees are demanding before they return to work.

[14:16:40]

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MARQUARDT: It is Labor Day weekend, which signals we are now in the final stretch of the race for the White House. Tomorrow, Vice President Kamala Harris will be on the campaign trail in the battleground states of Michigan and Pennsylvania.

In Pennsylvania she'll be joined by President Joe Biden, a native of the state. They'll be making a rare joint appearance together in Pittsburgh. That state is a critical must-win for both sides, both the Harris and the Trump campaigns. A new national poll just came out today. It's giving us a bit more insight into where the race stands with just 65 days to go until the election. This poll from ABC News, "The Washington Post, and Ipsos, has Harris leading Trump 50 percent to 46 percent among registered voters. You can see that that is outside the margin of error of 2 percent.

CNN's Danny Freeman joins us now from Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, where President Biden has been vacationing.

Danny, what do we know about this joint campaign event between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alex, what we know at this point is that tomorrow we're going to see President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on the trail for the first time together since the Democratic National Convention, the first time since Kamala Harris became the official nominee for president for the Democratic Party.

And notably this will also be the first time the two will appeared together specifically in a battleground state. Of course, where are they going? Battleground Pennsylvania like you said, Alex, a crucial must-win state if Vice President Harris hopes to get to the White House.

And what we know about this specific event is they're heading to Pittsburgh. The details at this point are still a little bit murky, but just for some context President Biden it has gone to western Pennsylvania a number of times, specifically on Labor Day in years past as recently as 2022. He was rallying steelworkers. So I think we can see probably something similar to that in the coming day or so.

Now the Harris campaign, Alex clearly sees President Biden as an asset in a state like Pennsylvania, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania because those white working-class voters are so crucial to potentially flipping the state one way or the other.

They feel that Scranton Joe is the best person to be in the commonwealth, back with her starting on Labor Bay. But we still shall see what the campaign feels the president's role should be as we continue on to this next two-months sprint towards November. Biden saying yesterday that he plans to be on the road for Harris basically from tomorrow on.

Meanwhile, Alex, we have also learned that starting on Tuesday, the Harris campaign intends to launch a bus tour starting in Palm Beach, Florida. That bus tour is going to feature celebrities. It's going to feature surrogates. And it's going to be focused primarily on reproductive rights.

And we've also learned it's expected to make at least 50 stops in addition to rallying voters in a state like Florida or other places where they're again going to be making these stops. They're hoping to energize volunteers and other campaign workers who they hope will jump on board and help make sure that she has a fighting shot of winning the White House come November. So all of this Alex, between Labor Day tomorrow and then this bus tour kicking off later this week, a clear signal that like you said, we are in that final sprint towards November and we're going to be seeing a lot of these people out on the trail, especially in places like Pennsylvania moving forward. Alex.

MARQUARDT: Yes. And we're certainly going to see the Harris campaign seizing on the issue of reproductive rights, particularly as we've heard these flip-flops from Donald Trump in the past few days.

Danny Freeman with the president in Delaware. Thanks very much.

[14:24:44]

MARQUARDT: What are the presidential candidates really promising to American voters? See what their records reveal about how they will lead on the new "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER". That's airing tomorrow night starting at 8:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

Protests erupting in Tel Aviv where tens of thousands of demonstrators are demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finalize a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza as an IDF general warns that the remaining hostages in Gaza are in quote "immediate danger".

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MARQUARDT: Happening right now, tens of thousands of Israeli protesters are marching through the streets of Tel Aviv demanding from the Israeli government a hostage deal in Gaza.

MARQUARDT: The bodies of six hostages held by Hamas were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza over the weekend. One of them was a 23- year-old Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin.

[14:30:04]

Public outrage may further complicate negotiations for a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

Joining me now is CNN international correspondent Paula Hancocks.

So, Paula, you've been tracking these talks. After the bodies were discovered on Saturday, President Biden here in the U.S. and the negotiators were on the verge of a deal. Is it -- do you believe that to be true or is that overly optimistic?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, it's interesting for recent weeks and months the optimism has been coming from the Biden administration almost exclusively, they have been very positive in the way that they believe these talks are going. Speaking of being -- talking about the final details, the nuts and bolts of the talks, and they have been working level talks ongoing in Cairo and then in Doha to try and clear the final hurdle.

But we have also heard that from the U.S. side, a U.S. official saying that this potentially shows that Hamas is not serious about the negotiations, the fact that they are killing hostages in their care at this point. So, it's difficult to see whether or not this will make a big difference to the talks. The fact is those talks have been ongoing for months now and there have been suggestions that they were close to a resolution many times over recent months, as you know.

What is very obvious at this point though is the growing gap between the prime minister and Benjamin Netanyahu and what he wants to put forward for this deal. And for example, the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, we know that the prime minister in a suit -- in a cabinet meeting just last Thursday has put up effectively another roadblock to this deal, saying that they want to make sure that the Israeli military is on the border between Egypt and Gaza, to make sure that weapons cannot be smuggled through.

The defense minister has said according to many reports and CNN has learned that this is not necessary. This will mean a deal will not be done. Hamas will not agree to it. The hostages will not come home in a security cabinet meeting, just today, we understand as well that Gallant has called this a moral disgrace -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: And Paula separately on this question of polio which has been seen for the first time in 25 years in Gaza, the U.N. is calling for pauses in the fighting in Gaza while its workers tried to treat hundreds of Gaza children with the polio vaccine. Are we seeing the necessary pauses in the fighting?

HANCOCKS: Well, we have been hearing from the U.S. on this. They have called for a real ceasefire, a highlighting how important this deal is. There are U.N. tents that have been set up outside the Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital just in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. And they have been managing to administer some of those polio vaccinations.

Let's listen to what one of those on the ground said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOUISE WATERIDGE, UNRWA SR. COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER: It's been an extremely complex vaccination campaign, probably one of the most difficult we've seen in the world. We have had ongoing bombardment. This has stopped this morning, it's quite quiet now. We are hopeful that this will last throughout the campaign.

This is very critical because we simply cannot vaccinate children while they are running for their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: So this will go from today until September the 12th. There will be three 3-day pauses. So you'll have three days in the center of Gaza, three in the north, three in the south, where the U.N. is hoping to be able to vaccinate about 640,000 children. That's about 90 percent of the children population in Gaza -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: Yeah. And then they have to try to do it all again in a few more weeks for the second dose of this polio vaccine.

Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi, thank you very much.

For more perspective on all this, I want to bring in CNN political and national security analyst as well New York -- "New York Times" writer David Sanger.

David, there's a lot going on here. You and I have been tracking these talks in Cairo and Doha between all the different sides. You heard President Biden saying just yesterday that he believes that they're on the verge of a deal might be a little bit overly optimistic. Where do you think things stand and how are these discussions going to be impacted by this horrific news this weekend of the six hostages who were killed?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Alex, thanks for having me. It is horrific, particularly for those six families, but also for the families of the hundred or something other hostages who are left -- who are all thinking, of course, that had the deal been done in July when Secretary of State Blinken said we were inside the ten-yard line.

[14:35:02]

Or if it had been done at some of the other moments when President Biden suggested he thought they were on the verge of a deal, that those six might be alive today, and many of them may have been returned already to their families.

So this really does underscore the degree to which time does not appear to be on the side of those trying to strike the better deal, which is what you've seen the prime minister, Prime Minister Netanyahu attempt time and time again, where they're on the verge of a deal and then he says he's got additional concerns. Most recently, on Thursday that Israel needs to be able to keep troops in that corridor in Gaza and, of course, that's slowed down a final agreement as well. And we don't know if Hamas would have agreed.

It doesn't to me sound like there's anything in this in this set of killings that would do anything that would speed things along perhaps the pressure on the street, on the prime minister may speed some things along.

MARQUARDT: It seems to me, David, there is a difference in approach between Israel and the United States where the U.S. would like a temporary pause in the fighting to then become a permanent ceasefire while Israel has quite vocally said they reserve the right after a first phase, after the first six weeks, to return to the fighting, what do you think about that?

SANGER: You're absolutely right. And the way it's designed, Israel would have that, right. The hope that the United States and this negotiators have, and this has been worked out by Bill Burns, the CIA director, Brett McGurk been working on this for the -- for the National Security Council and others.

Their hope is that once a ceasefire is in place, it's very difficult for the Israelis or anyone else to go back in and then violate it, whereas the prime minister's view has been, he'll do six weeks if that's what it takes to get the hostages back. But his ultimate goal is the complete and utter destruction of Hamas.

And it's interesting that in recent days, he's even lost his defense minister on this who believes that Hamas is not in a position right now to strike Israel again, and they ought to get the best deal they can for the hostages.

MARQUARDT: With Hamas demonstrating clearly here that they are willing to execute hostages to apply pressure to Israel. And we're seeing this pressure in the streets of Israel tonight do you think that this is going to act as an accelerant to these talks?

SANGER: Well, one would hope it would, but remember, there are two elements to these talks. One is what's happening at the working level. And then there's getting agreement from Prime Minister Netanyahu was every political reason to want to drag it out. You know, he knows that as soon as the deal is made people beginning to ask questions about the intelligence failures that led to October 7 and the slow response of the IDF, the Israeli Defense Forces.

And then there is the leader of Hamas, Sinwar who wants a guarantee for his own life and also has relatively little to gain from striking this agreement and believes that the Israelis and maybe now the United States would come after him.

I thought it was interesting, Alex, that in President Biden's statement after this tragic killings, he said make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for their crimes. That seemed to suggest that with the killing of an American hear, it might not just be the Israelis who go after Sinwar.

MARQUARDT: Yeah, and certainly, the U.S. has been helping Israel trying to attract Sinwar down and has helped --

SANGER: A lot of intelligence you have to go do that. That's right.

MARQUARDT: Yeah, yeah. You know, it's certainly helped track down some of the senior Hamas military commanders. But Yahya Sinwar very much still at large.

David Sanger, thank you very much for your time today.

SANGER: Great to be with you, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Quote, Russia is, once again, terrorizing Kharkiv. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's renewed call for support following a massive attack on Ukraine's second largest city.

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[14:44:16]

MARQUARDT: New, today, Russia has launched yet another round of attacks against civilian infrastructure in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Today's strikes injuring dozens, including five children after hitting a mall, a sports center and residential buildings. Now, search and rescue teams are digging through the rubble to try to reach people who may still be trapped.

CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen has more details from Kyiv.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Alex.

Yeah, it certainly but another pretty devastating day for the city of Kharkiv. That, of course, has had so many days where the city has been bombed, where the city has suffered missile attacks as well. This time, it was an array of munitions, unclear whether it was aerial bombs or missiles that hit the city of Kharkiv and the Ukrainians say that more than 40 people were injured in those attacks, including several children.

[14:45:04]

There was one area where the rubble was still being cleared well into the evening hours. And if we look at this week, we could really see an uptick in those Russian aerial attacks.

In fact, the city of Kharkiv was also hit on Friday by a massive attack, killing seven people there. And then, of course, yesterday in the Kharkiv region, there was another attack killing two people where the Russians used a massive aerial glide bomb with half a ton of explosives in it.

The Ukrainians for their part though, appear to be fighting back. They launched a massive drone attack against Russian territory on Sunday as well. The Russians saying that they shot down almost 160 drones in 15 regions of Russia, but there were some hits, apparently. In fact, an oil refinery in the Moscow area, but then also an energy facility in the city of Tver.

And, of course, as we know, that's pretty remarkable because Tver is well north of Moscow and really far away from a Russian territory. So the Ukrainians must have used some very long distance drones to achieve that -- Alex.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Fred Pleitgen in Ukraine, thanks so much for that reporting.

Thousands of hotel workers here in the United States walking off the job for a multi-day strike. What this means for your Labor Day weekend hotel stay.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:56] MARQUARDT: Right now, thousands of hotel workers all across the United States are on strike. They're demanding better pay and better working conditions.

This was the scene earlier today in Boston when the walkout began, the strike is impacting hotels from Massachusetts all the way to Hawaii.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is covering all this for us.

So, Gloria, what more can you tell us about this strike?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, Unite Here is a union that's representing these workers. There's at least 10,000 of them that are currently on the picket line striking across a several cities in the United States, and at least at 24 hotels. And as you said we are in the middle of a major travel holiday.

Now, what do these workers want, Alex? Well, they are saying that they want a return to the conditions that they had before the pandemic, as we know, the hotel industry was so severely impacted because of the pandemic and they had to make several changes.

Specifically, they want a return to daily cleaning -- to daily cleaning of hotel rooms, something that many hotels did away with during the pandemic. They say that now it takes them much longer to clean those rooms because there's more days in between, takes more hours, it takes more people and that they're not getting the wages to recognize for that work.

Now, as you said, were in the middle of this major travel holiday. So the question is, how are the hotels going to respond?

And we do have a statement from the Hyatt Hotel chain, which is one of the hotel chains that's being affected by this. They said that but they were disappointed to see that the union was calling for this strike. But that they look forward to continuing to negotiate a fair contracts and recognize that contributions of Hyatt employees.

Now, there is 23,000 rooms across this strike that. Could be affected by this any everywhere from Boston to Connecticut, to California, Hawaii. All of these cities are being affected, and we've seen the union employ this tactic before, right? They have chosen to strike around either major events or major holidays clearly to send a message about just how much their work impacts the industry and how much they are needed in order to keep hotels working -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: Gloria, what does it mean for the guest, for the tourists who are trying to spend their Labor Day holiday in these hotels this weekend?

PAZMINO: Yeah. For now, what we are seeing is that hotels are expecting to have to operate with a much smaller staff. So far, the hotels that are being impacted by this strike are continuing to stay open, but they will have smaller staffs available because many you have the workers are walking the picket line as you're seeing there in Boston, either right in front of the hotel affecting potentially as people are coming into the hotel seeing that people are on strike.

But for now, hotels are just having to keep their staff to a smaller team.

MARQUARDT: Slimmed down. Gloria Pazmino. Thanks so much for that reporting.

We are continuing to track the breaking news out of Israel where thousands, even tens of thousands of protesters are demanding a ceasefire and hostage deal following the killing of six Israeli hostages, one of whom was an Israeli-American held in Hamas captivity. Their bodies found in southern Gaza this weekend. We will be live in Tel Aviv, next.

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[14:59:14]

MARQUARDT: This is CNN breaking news.

Hello, thank you so much for joining me. I'm Alex Marquardt, in today for Fredricka Whitfield.

We are on top of breaking news this hour. Right now, tens of thousands of Israelis are filling the streets of Israel in protest. Demonstrations demanding that the Israeli government broker a ceasefire -- ceasefire our deal with Hamas after Israeli military officials say that they recovered the bodies of six hostages from Gaza this weekend. The IDF announcing that they discovered the bodies of all six hostages deep in a tunnel underneath Rafah, which is in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli health ministry saying that they were each killed by, quote, short range shots, they believe just 48 to 72 hours before their autopsy.

Many demonstrators are blaming the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his inability or unwillingness to bring hostages home.