Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Israeli Military Says, Bodies of Six Hostages Recovered in Gaza; Kyiv Says, Russia Hits Its Own Infrastructure to Stop Ukrainians; UNICEF says, More Than 2 Million Children at Risk From Flooding. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired September 01, 2024 - 03:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:00:00]

ANNA COREN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to all our viewers watching in the United States and around the world. I'm Anna Coren in Hong Kong. This is breaking news.

The latest now on what is happening in Gaza. The Israeli military says it recovered the bodies of six hostages from an underground tunnel in the Rafah area on Saturday. The IDF has now identified all six, saying their families have been notified. Israel's defense minister says the six were killed just before troops could reach them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON: According to the initial assessment at our disposal, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short while before we reached them. They were abducted alive on the morning of October 7th by the Hamas terror organization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: The Israeli cabinet is scheduled to meet one hour from now.

Meanwhile, the White House put out a statement that reads in part, it is as tragic as it is reprehensible. Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes and we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.

The news had led to protests in Israel and new calls for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire and hostage deal. The group, Missing Families Forum, is calling for more public protests on Sunday and for Mr. Netanyahu to address the nation.

Paula Hancocks joins us live from Abu Dhabi and Journalist Elliott Gotkine from London.

Elliott, let's start with you. Tell us more about these six hostages.

ELLIOTT GOTKINE, JOURNALIST: So, these are six young people. Five of them were at the Nova Music Festival, which was taking place right next to the Gaza Strip when it was suddenly invaded by Hamas militants and others who killed hundreds in that one place and kidnapped a large number of people as well from that music festival.

Now, perhaps one of the best known of those whose bodies were discovered is that of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who is an American- Israeli. He, of course, on that day of October the 7th, he was seen being herded onto the back of a truck with half of his left arm having been blown off. He was then taken into Gaza. And then a few months ago, a video of him in captivity was put out by Hamas.

His parents have been very vocal. They've met with President Biden. They spoke at the Democratic National Convention some ten days ago as well. This morning, they put out a statement expressing how they were devastated to learn that Hersh had been killed.

The five other people whose bodies were discovered, there's Eden Yerushalmi. She was working as a bartender at the Nova Music Festival. She's 24 years old. She was on the phone with her family giving them effectively, you know, live updates of everything that was happening to her as she sought cover from the militants. Eventually, they caught up with her. Her last words to her sister were, Shani, they caught me.

Carmel Gat, she's 40 years old. She's the only one that was not at the Nova Music Festival. She was visiting her parents at Kibbutz Be'eri. Her mother was killed on that day of October the 7th. Her father survived. She's an occupational therapist and she was described by some of those who were released in the first and only hostage ceasefire deal back in November as a guardian angel.

There was also Almog Sarusi. He was with his girlfriend at the Nova Music Festival. She was mortally wounded. He stayed behind to try to help her and then wound up being kidnapped himself.

There was Alex Lobanov, a 32-year-old Russian Israeli. He was a bar manager at the Nova Music Festival. His wife gave birth to their second child is now five months old while he was in captivity.

And then finally there is Ori Danino, a 25-year-old man. He took a number of music festival goers to safety in his car and then turned around to go back to try to help some more. And then he himself was kidnapped.

So, those are the names and some brief details about the six people whose bodies were discovered underground in a tunnel under Rafah on Saturday by the IDF. They believe, as you say, Anna, that they were killed a few hours or just shortly before the IDF reached them.

[03:05:00]

And there have been a number of very pointed statements criticizing the government, including from the hostages forum, blaming the government and Prime Minister Netanyahu for, in their words, sabotaging these talks and saying that they would have been alive had these talks been allowed to progress.

And I suppose that that viewpoint is given extra credence by what we're seeing from Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. You may recall on Thursday, he was the only member of the cabinet to vote against Israel effectively drawing a red line around its insistence of remaining in the border area between Gaza and Egypt in ceasefire talks with Hamas. Gallant effectively accusing Netanyahu, saying, look, you've got a choice. Either we stay in the Philadelphia corridor or you get the hostages, hostages back. You can't do both because remaining in control of this corridor between Egypt and Gaza, which Israel says it needs to control to prevent weapons being smuggled into Hamas in the Gaza Strip, insisting on remaining in control of that, is a nonstarter for Hamas and will prevent a deal from being done.

Now, in the last few minutes, Yoav Gallant, who's already put out a statement expressing his sympathies and his condolences to the families of those whose loved ones' bodies were discovered on Saturday, saying, urging the cabinet to reverse that decision to remain in control of the Philadelphia corridor as a condition of a ceasefire hostage deal with Hamas.

We have heard from President Isaac Herzog. We've heard, of course, from President Biden, from Vice President Kamala Harris, from Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Thus far, not a peep from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. All we've got from his office is a terse statement saying Prime Minister Netanyahu will not attend the previously scheduled school opening later this morning, September the 1st being the start of the school year in Israel. Anna?

COREN: Elliott, thank you very much.

Let's now turn to Paula Hancocks, live for us in Abu Dhabi. Paula, what are the implications of the recovery of these six hostages, you know, considering the circumstances that IDF soldiers were, I guess, within reach of rescuing them? What does this now mean for the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anna, there was a huge amount of pressure on the Israeli prime minister already before this news emerged and he appeared able to withstand it, able to ignore it and continue on his route when it comes to this ceasefire hostage deal.

Now, as Elliott mentioned there, there has been some significant disagreement between the prime minister and the defense minister when it comes to trying to get this deal done, that the fact that that the military man in the cabinet is saying that they don't need Israeli troops along that border, the Philadelphia corridor, between Egypt and Gaza, for the first six weeks.

So, the first phase of this three-phase hostage deal is significant because it is Prime Minister Netanyahu and the more far right elements of his cabinet that have put this condition forward. And this appears to be the most recent stumbling block. There have been many stumbling blocks when it comes to these talks over recent months.

But it's worth pointing that the back in May, the U.S. president, Joe Biden, very publicly announced that there was a deal, that they had said Israel agreed to at that point. It was even being dubbed Netanyahu's deal at one point, and Hamas has said that they agreed to that deal. So, there do seem to be fingers of blame very firmly pointed at the prime minister at this point, that he is the one that is changing the goalposts. Of course, for many months there have been Hamas and Israel blaming each other for this deal not being done.

But the key to this deal, it's not just about getting the hostages back. It's important to remember that a ceasefire is desperately needed for 2 million people within Gaza as well. Part of this deal, a very large part of this deal, is to allow humanitarian aid to get safely into the Gaza Strip. There are plans to flood the area with desperately needed food, water, shelter for those within Gaza. And, of course, remember, Anna, today was supposed to be the day that the polio vaccinations were going to start in earnest.

Now, we understand that is still Ongoing. We understand that there have been some babies, in fact, on Saturday that were vaccinated against polio in the Nasser Hospital. But there will be over the coming days, potentially weeks, vaccinations for some 640,000 children, according to the U.N. and Palestinian health officials, to try and once again eradicate polio from the Gaza Strip. Just recently, there was a baby that tested positive for polio the first time in 25 years.

[03:10:06]

So, this is a crucial vaccination campaign that needs to be done. And it is just another example of how desperately needed this ceasefire is. We've heard as well Palestinian health officials and the U.N. saying, even though they have certain pauses in different areas to be able to carry out this campaign, what they really need is a real ceasefire. So, it is about getting the hostages back in return for Palestinian prisoners being released from Israeli prisons. It is also about having a ceasefire to help those civilians on the ground in the Gaza Strip who desperately need food, water and shelter.

COREN: Yes. Paula, as you say, unfathomable suffering on both sides. Before you go, let me ask you, have we heard from or are we expected to hear from Hamas on these six hostages who were recovered?

HANCOCKS: We have had a statement from Hamas. It is as you would expect. They have said that the responsibility for the deaths of these prisoners lies with the occupation. So, they are blaming Israel for the fact that these prisoners were killed, also saying that the American administration is to blame, blaming the fact that the U.S. is arming Israel, putting the blame at the door also of U.S. President Joe Biden. So, it is a statement that we would have expected from Hamas, deferring blame from themselves and saying that it is Israel's fault. Anna?

COREN: Paula Hancocks joining us from Abu Dhabi, thank you, and to Elliott Gokhan in London.

I'm now joined by retired U.S. Army Major General Mark McCarley. General, tell us what are you learning about this operation?

MAJ. GEN. MARK MCCARLEY (RET.), U.S. ARMY: I think what we've thus far seen which points to the recovery of the bodies of these individuals, the story itself, the pain that's associated that's now circulating amongst the friends, the family, the loved ones of those hostages who lost their lives. And what is even more difficult to comprehend is the most recent information, and that is that these hostages were very, very close to recovery and being reunited with their families only to lose their lives. And to comprehend that, to be a parent of a son or daughter or a spouse, it's just too difficult, as I've said previously, to fathom the pain associated with that.

Now, certainly from a military perspective you have to make, and this is what Minister Gallant brought forth, and he clearly identified the options that are present and that at some point the prime minister will have to choose. And that is, you can either continue with the pursuit of this conflict. You can demand this corridor of sorts, this protective corridor on the south side of Gaza between Egypt and Gaza for purely military reasons. Or you can say to yourselves that there is equally and perhaps in many cases much more important needs and requirements that you've identified, and that is to bring forth a ceasefire, the release of all the hostages, and, of course, in exchange, some semblance of the opportunity to bring significant quantities of humanitarian assistance to those in need.

That doesn't say that there'll be victory on either side, but this is a humanitarian crisis, and I think it's going to demand, an action on the part of the prime minister. This event in the last day or so has brought that to the forefront.

COREN: Major General, I'd also be interested in your thoughts on the fact that these six hostages, they were recovered in tunnels under Rafah. Now, considering the IDF operation across much of Gaza, but definitely of Rafah, the fact that they were located under Rafah, what do you make of that?

[03:15:04]

MCCARLEY: It was of no surprise to me at all because this operation, at least the manner in which Hamas has pursued its attack on Israel the most, one of its most lethal, both offensive and defensive measures, was the long-term development of this network of tunnels. It operates in the tunnels, not only from a command and control perspective, but certainly logistically, and it has certainly positioned its leadership and those who are fighting its battles within those tunnels. So, when the information comes to us that a day or so ago when this became quite clear, this loss of these hostages underground, absolutely no surprise. It would not be consistent with what Hamas has done to say that these hostages were located in any other area.

COREN: Because the hostages have been moved around from the tunnels to buildings outside, because obviously we have well reported on those hostages that have been killed in airstrikes above ground.

MCCARLEY: Yes, that is consistent. But at the end of the day, the most lethal systems that have been put in place by Hamas consists of the tunnel network. So, if there was intent to retain these hostages and to put them at distance from the IDF, the location would indeed be these tunnels and you can move around the tunnels to a certain degree. I'm sure that the IDF is developing some sort of network picture of the interconnection of the tunnels. So, there's a tunnel if there's a requirement and the hostages must be removed, then they go, as we've seen in a couple of instances early in the last few months. There have been hostages who have been located in buildings, but, again, the tunnels happen to be the most effective mechanism for hiding and retaining hostages in this conflict.

COREN: Retired U.S. Army Major General Mark McCarley, we appreciate your insights. Thank you so much for joining us.

MCCARLEY: Thank you.

COREN: Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:20:00]

COREN: Israel Defense Forces say they have recovered the bodies of six hostages in Southern Gaza. Military officials saying the victims were killed, quote, a short while before we reached them. The hostages had spent 330 days in captivity after they were brutally kidnapped by Hamas militants on October 7th.

A group that represents families of Israeli hostages says five of those who were just killed had been taken from the Nova Music Festival, and one woman had been taken from her parent's home.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement about the death of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the hostages whose body was recovered in Gaza on Saturday, saying, quote, Doug and my prayers are with Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg Pollen, Hersh's parents, and with everyone who knew and loved Hersh.

When I met with Jon and Rachel earlier this year, I told them you are not alone. That remains true as they mourn this terrible loss. Americans and people around the world will pray for Jon, Rachel and their family and send them love and strength. As is said in the Jewish tradition, may Hersh's memory be a blessing.

Well, Jasmine El-Gamal is a Middle East analyst and a former Middle East adviser for both the Pentagon and the U.S. Defense Department. She joins me now from Cassis in France. Jasmine, where does this leave ceasefire and hostage talks with the recovery of these six hostages?

JASMINE EL-GAMAL, FORMER PENTAGON MIDDLE EAST ADVISER: Good morning, and it's absolutely devastating news this morning that we've received. Obviously, as you just said, these hostages were alive shortly before the IDF soldiers found them and it's just a real tragedy.

Now, when it comes to what this says about the ceasefire negotiations, I think it's important to note a couple of things. First of all, the fact that the fact that the Israeli soldiers were unable to rescue these hostages it paints a picture of what we've seen over the last several months, where the majority of hostages that have been released and have been able to go home safely have been able to be released as part of a negotiation agreement and not part of a rescue hostage operation.

These rescue operations are extremely dangerous. They're happening under heavy bombardment. It's a conflict zone. And it's really been to the detriment of these families to have the Israeli government trying to continue to find these hostages through military operations rather than ceasefire negotiations.

Now, we know from a meeting that was leaked a couple of days ago that the Israeli defense minister and other members of the Israeli military establishment have been extremely frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accusing him of dragging his feet over these negotiations at the expense of these hostages who are still there.

We know that Prime Minister Netanyahu is extremely concerned with the Philadelphia corridor, which is the border between Gaza and Egypt. And he continues to insist on having Israeli control, including a physical Israeli presence on the Gaza side of that border, which the Egyptians and Hamas have refused.

And Defense Minister Gallant, according to this leaked transcript of the meeting, accused Prime Minister Netanyahu of choosing that corridor over the hostages.

[03:25:08]

And he warned of the exact scenario that we have seen today. It's just really an unspeakable tragedy. And it goes to show that the longer that these negotiations drag on without any sort of resolution, the more death and the more tragedy we should expect to see in the coming days and weeks.

COREN: Jasmine, there's obviously been growing pressure on the Israeli prime minister to do a deal. We've seen real tension between U.S. President Joe Biden and the Israeli prime minister that is often, you know, boiled over into public. But how much influence does Joe Biden have over the Israeli prime minister? And could he be doing more?

EL-GAMAL: Absolutely. That's a great question. And this is one of the things that we've been talking about for months now is, has the U.S. been using all the leverage that it (INAUDIBLE) in order to get them to sign that deal. And, of course, the answer is no. The reason I say that is because the U.S. is not only Israel's greatest ally and best ally in the region, as we know, but it is also its greatest supporter in terms of military assistance, in terms of financial assistance. Much of the weaponry, in fact, the majority of it that the Israelis have been using in this war over the last ten months now has been U.S.-made. And what critics of the war have been calling on the U.S. to do is threatened to withhold some of that assistance if the Israelis continue to drag their feet on these negotiations.

Now, President Biden's has been unwilling to do so. He withheld one shipment for a short while. He was heavily criticized by that, by the pro-Israel side in the U.S., and he quickly released it. But in terms of activating serious American leverage over the prime minister, we have not seen that since the start of this war, in order to get this ceasefire deal done and to get these hostages home and stop the horrible, horrible situation that we're seeing in Gaza right now. That leverage has not yet been used. And, of course, the question that everyone asks is when the stakes are so high and when there's so much death and destruction, why is the U.S. still unwilling to use its leverage to get this deal done?

COREN: Jasmine El-Gamal, we thank you for your insights and for joining us.

EL-GAMAL: Thank you so much. Thank you.

COREN: Meantime in Gaza, the first group of babies have received polio vaccinations as a massive U.N. campaign to vaccinate more than 640,000 children gets underway. Gaza had near universal polio vaccine coverage before the war, but it has since dropped below 90 percent.

Israel and Hamas have agreed to pause fighting in three phases beginning today and running through September 12th to help aid workers distribute the vaccine safely. But Palestinian health officials stress that brief ceasefires will not be enough to get the job done.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YOUSEF ABU AL-REESH, GAZA'S DEPUTY HEALTH MINISTER: We call for a real ceasefire so that this campaign can really succeed because all the arrangements that have been done cannot secure its success, although our teams will go to all locations, and wherever there is a Palestinian person that is in need of this vaccine, despite the dangers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COREN: Stay with CNN. We'll be right back

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:30:00]

COREN: Welcome back. A quick recap of breaking news out of the Middle East, a group representing Israeli hostages held in Gaza is calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the nation. In their words, he needs to take responsibility for abandoning the hostages. The statement came after the bodies of six hostages were recovered in Gaza on Saturday. The IDF says they were brutally murdered by Hamas a short while before troops reached them in the Rafah area.

Earlier, the hostage families group called on the Israeli public to mobilize, saying the country will tremble in the coming hours.

Well, joining me now is H.A. Hellyer, Middle East Studies Scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He's also Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies. He joins me now from London. Tell me, what does this latest development -- how does it complicate efforts for a ceasefire and hostage release deal?

H.A. HELLYER, MIDDLE STUDIES SCHOLAR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Thank you very much for having me. I think what you've had over the past few months, but it's intensified consistently is a serious concern from the hostage families in Israel vis-a-vis their own government. And, of course, when it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu himself, he's come under severe criticism from wider Israeli society, the families of the hostages but also from within his own cabinet, as we've seen over the past few days in various media leaks, and also within the negotiation team.

And what we've seen in the past seven months in particular is that whenever there are negotiations that seem to be moving forward, we see leaks from Israeli negotiators, indicating that Netanyahu himself is intervening in the negotiations and sabotaging them. And what we've observed over recent weeks, again, with regards to the hostages, is this constant criticism that Netanyahu is prioritizing, something other than the hostages, as he pursues his goals over this current period.

And, you know, the latest accusation, which Gallant, his own defense minister, apparently made himself was that he was prioritizing Israeli control over the Philadelphia corridor in the way that Netanyahu wants it, as opposed to having any sort of presence at all over the lives of the hostages.

[03:35:07]

And keeping in mind that the Philadelphia corridor is is governed in terms of the military presence that's allowed to be there by the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, and the Israelis have completely ignored that over recent months.

So, I do think that this latest and desertification of criticism is quite serious, but having said that, Netanyahu has managed to do with all of this criticism over the past seven, eight months and he's still in office.

COREN: With the support, obviously, of his far right, ministers. But tell me, Doctor, how will this be seen within Israel, especially in light of the prime minister's leadership? We're hearing these calls for mass mobilization on the streets. Does this present a tipping point moment for Israel? Will it put his position as prime minister in jeopardy?

HELLYER: So, that's a good question. I do want to say that Netanyahu owes his political survival not simply to the far right within Israel. What you've seen over recent years is the mainstreaming of far right sentiment within parties that traditionally were not far right. And that's important because that also explains he has been able to remain for quite so long. You've had many members of his own party of Likud be very clear about their support for policies that traditionally one would have expected only to belong to the far, right, and Likud is not the far, right? So, I think that you do have to keep in mind that mainstreaming of quite extremist political opinion in the mainstream.

Now, does this make his position untenable? I don't think it makes it untenable. I think it brings about more pressure, but it doesn't make it untenable, because, again, he maintains the support of a sufficient number of the Knesset members in order to continue his government. What would make his position more untenable would be actual leverage being used by the United States particularly regards to arms transfers, offensive arms transfers and protection of the U.N. Security Council. I don't expect that anytime soon. I do think that that's partly what would eventually mean that Netanyahu would have to change course and his government would come down.

But, you know, we've been in this position multiple times over the past sort of nine to ten months now, where Netanyahu's position seems untenable, but actually he manages to hold it together because his allies and his rooting coalition are unwilling to let him go. And he's also willing to bend as much as possible in order to make sure that his government survives, even if it means, unfortunately, that there's an expense when it comes to policy that could bring about a ceasefire in Gaza that would save the tens of thousands of people that are suffering and, you know, tens of thousands of people who have died as a result of IDF attacks on Gaza, which I think is important for all of us to keep in mind.

COREN: Absolutely. H.A. Hellyer, we thank you for your time. We're going to have to leave it there.

Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:40:00]

COREN: We're keeping a close watch on the breaking news of the bodies of six hostages recovered in Gaza. But let's take a look now at some other important stories today. Well, Kyiv says Russia has conducted strikes in its own territory to try to slow down Ukraine's incursion in the Kursk region. The strikes reportedly hit civilian infrastructure in the town of Sudzha, which is now held by Ukrainians.

They say Moscow is, in their words, wiping the town off the map, sometimes using the so-called glide bombs. Well, these are Soviet era dumb weapons that Russia has upgraded to make them more accurate. As Fred Pleitgen reports, Moscow is also using them to hit civilian targets in Ukraine.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Russians are continuing to use their air force to drop some pretty heavy munitions, not just on frontline communities inside Ukraine, but also, of course, on Ukraine's frontline forces as well.

The Russians on Saturday hitting a town, the Ukrainians say, inside the Kharkiv area of Ukraine. Two people were killed there, but importantly, the Ukrainians are saying that the Russians used what's called a FAB-500 bomb with a guidance system. Now, that bomb has half a ton of explosives in it and obviously causes massive damage. The Russians also using glide bombs to attack the city of Kharkiv on Friday, killing several people there.

Now, the Ukrainians are saying that they are continuing their push into Russian territory, trying to advance further into the Kursk region, but they're also saying that the Russians are using their aviation there as well to use those heavy weapons to attack Ukraine's frontline troops.

All this, of course, one of the reasons why top level Ukrainian officials, including the defense minister, went to Washington, D.C., to try and convince the Biden administration to allow Ukraine to use some of the most long distance American supplied weapons to try and hit Ukraine some of Russia's airfields that they're using for their aviation.

On the whole, the Ukrainians are saying they're still able to advance deeper into Russian territory, but they are on the back foot in the Donbas region on the eastern front, specifically around the city of Pokrovsk, where the Ukrainians continue to say that they're trying to hold the line, but they also acknowledge that the Russians are making slow but steady progress.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv.

COREN: In Germany, voting is underway in two eastern states for key elections. The far right, Alternative for Germany Party, or AFD, is expected to take the most votes. That possibility prompted thousands of anti-far right protesters to take to the streets on Saturday.

[03:45:01]

They marched in the capital of Thuringia, one of the states holding elections. If the AFD wins, it will be the first time a far right party has held a majority in a German state parliament since World War II.

UNICEF warns that more than 2 million children in Eastern Bangladesh are at risk from the country's worst flooding in more than 30 years. Major rivers are overflowing due to the unprecedented monsoon rains, drenching the country and causing misery and danger for millions.

Well, for more on these devastating floods, Emma Brigham joins us now live from Dhaka. She's the Deputy Representative for UNICEF in Bangladesh. Emma, great to see you.

I was in Bangladesh with a CNN crew covering the devastating floods just over a week ago. We were in Feni, which was the epicenter of the floods, at the time, rescuing people who were trapped and stranded in remote areas was obviously the priority for the army, the navy, for volunteers. But obviously, a week on, the cameras have gone, the waters have subsided. The needs are just as great. Explain to us the situation on the ground.

EMMA BRIGHAM, DEPUTY REPRESENTATIVE, UNICEF BANGLADESH: Thank you very much. And indeed, as you saw last week, I think we find that all of the services that children and families need have been impacted by the floodwaters when they were high and now following the recession of those waters.

I was in Feni at the same time as you were, and we've had teams on the ground ever since. And what we've seen is that the health facilities that children would normally go to for vaccinations were inundated with water, so they are not able to happen at the moment. The water facilities that people use to get clean water to bathe from (INAUDIBLE), we estimate that around 7,000 schools in the impacted districts are not able to function as schools. Instead, they're either acting as shelters for people who have been made homeless, or they are themselves not usable because their (INAUDIBLE) covered in water. This all means, of course, that many of the supplies that either health facilities held or schools held are no longer usable. They've all been destroyed by the high flood waters.

So, UNICEF has been on the ground providing many of these supplies. We estimate to have reached around 850,000 people so far. We've provided 3.7 million water purification tablets to make sure that people have clean water to drink, 250,000 oral rehydration salt, so that as people get dehydrated, they're able to rehydrate properly. We're providing a lot of psychosocial support to families. This is, as you mentioned, the first time this has happened in almost 40 years. And so these families are absolutely devastated by the loss of their livelihoods, all of their household items. And so the mental stress that they're suffering is significant.

And finally, also providing therapeutic for malnourished children, we're seeing increasing numbers of children who are suffering from malnourishment because they haven't been able to get either clean water or good food for at least the last week.

COREN: Emma, I wanted to ask you about the situation regarding, you know, medicine. One man that we met in Feni, he was looking for his family, as were countless others. You know, he has since found them, but they are in a remote area. And he said there is a desperate need for medicine for the elderly, but also for the young. How are you going about accessing those remote areas?

BRIGHAM: It's still a work in progress, I have to say. I think in Feni, many more of the remote communities have now been reached. But in Noakhali, which is the district just south of where you visited, we estimate that around 50 percent of households still have not been reached one week after the floodwaters were at their highest. That means that we have incredibly vulnerable households who have not yet received the support that they require.

The army on the ground, they're providing still a lot of (INAUDIBLE). Items supplies are being helicoptered also from Dhaka to these locations to make sure that supplies are made available, but that's part of the reason behind our appeal for support. These are unprecedented times in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a country that's normally very good at dealing with cyclones, with flooding. They happen all too frequently. But this case is different. It's happened in an area that doesn't normally suffer from cyclones and flooding. So, the preparedness levels were not what they should have been amongst communities. Communication has been really damaged by floodwaters.

[03:50:00]

So, it's hard to get the support to where it's needed most. And the coordination amongst all of the parties on the ground is proving to be a challenge as well. So, we're really appealing to partners, to individuals, to please continue to support Bangladesh, because, as you mentioned, supplies are needed now more than ever.

We're seeing increasing cases off diarrhea, particularly amongst young children. So, that's something that we're really concerned about at the moment and obviously need to get supplies in to be able to support those vulnerable young children.

COREN: Well, Emma, we certainly appreciate the work that you and UNICEF are doing. The Bangladeshis are incredibly resilient people, but they definitely need the world's help. Emma Brigham joining us from Dhaka, thank you so much.

Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COREN: An update now on the breaking news out of the Middle East. A group representing Israeli hostages in Gaza is calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the nation. The statement came after Israeli troops recovered the bodies of six hostages on Saturday.

[03:55:00]

The IDF says they were brutally murdered by Hamas a short while before soldiers reached them.

The hostage families group says Mr. Netanyahu should, in their words, stop hiding and take responsibility for abandoning the hostages. The group has called for protests in the coming hours to push for a deal on releasing the remaining hostages.

Well, the parents of one of the hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, spoke at the Democratic National Convention last month. Here's some of what they said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL GOLDBERG-POLIN, MOTHER OF ISRAELI-AMERICAN HOSTAGE: At this moment, 109 treasured human beings are being held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. They are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. They are from 23 different countries.

The youngest hostage is a one-year-old red headed baby boy, and the oldest is an 86-year-old mustachioed grandpa. Among the hostages are eight American citizens. One of those Americans is our only son. His name is Hersh. JON POLIN, FATHER OF ISRAELI-AMERICAN HOSTAGE: This is a political convention, but needing our only son and all of the cherished hostages home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COREN: Our thoughts are with Hersh's parents and the parents and families of the other hostages who were found.

I'm Anna Coren live in Hong Kong. Kim Brunhuber picks up our coverage right after this short break.

Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:00:00]