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Hamas Hands Three Israeli Hostages to Red Cross in Gaza; Young DOGE Workers Spark Controversy; North Korean Troops Return to Battle in Kursk. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired February 08, 2025 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Many have been -- many have died also whilst they've been held by Hamas. And, of course, we're now moving closer to this moment of freedom for three Israeli hostages.
We are expecting at least two of them to be released here in Deir al- Balah in Gaza. Another one could be released in Gaza City any moment now.
In the meantime, I would like to end our coverage over now to Kim Brunhuber, who will pick it up right now. Thank you.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
I want to get right to the breaking news this hour. As we can see there, live pictures of Hamas, who is in the process of releasing three Israeli hostages. And we're getting a live look at Deir al-Balah in Gaza, where Hamas fighters have gathered and have erected a stage that you're seeing there as they're jubilantly celebrating this.
You can also hear the crowd behind them as they're being urged on there by the Hamas fighters. We see the Red Cross on the scene there, about to receive the hostages. This is a carefully orchestrated ceremony that we've seen about five times now, as this is the fifth swap of hostages for prisoners.
I want to get to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, who is standing by in London. I want to go first, though, to Tel Aviv and CNN's Jeremy Diamond.
Jeremy, as I've said, we've seen this play out several times before. Take us through what we're seeing and what we're expecting.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. This is the fifth release of Israeli hostages over the course of this, what will be a six week ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
Today, we are expecting the release of three Israeli hostages, all of them men, civilians, two of them over the age of 50. They include Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi. And then we also expect the release of a third hostage Or Levy, who is a 34 year old father of a 3 year old little boy.
All of these men will be returning to very different realities than the ones that they left. On October 7th, Eli Sharabi, his wife and his two daughters were killed during Hamas' attack on October 7th. His brother was also taken hostage but died in captivity, killed, most likely by an Israeli airstrike, according to the Israeli military's assessment.
Or Levy has his 3 year old boy who is waiting for him here in Israel. He has spent half his life without his father. Or Levy's wife was also killed at that Nova music festival on October 7th.
And we are seeing here behind me hundreds of people who have gathered, as they have week after week over the course of this ceasefire, to watch these images live.
To watch the moment when these hostages return or emerge from captivity after more than 15 months of being held against their will by Hamas or by Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.
Right now, the crowd of people that you see behind me, their eyes are glued to a television screen at the front of the stage here, as they are waiting for that moment to happen.
Once it does, I expect the scenes will be very similar to the ones we've seen in recent weeks, as a wave of relief washes over people as they see those hostages emerge alive; cheers, applause as they watch this moment.
It's important to remember that it's not just about the families of these hostages who've been waiting for them to return. In a small country like Israel, everybody knows the names of the hostages by heart. They know them not by their full names but by their first names.
And you are seeing now behind me -- we see Ohad Ben Ami, one of those Israeli hostages emerging. And this crowd behind me is now erupting into cheers as they see him emerge, standing on his own two feet.
Right behind him, you can see Or Levy. I believe Or Levy is that 34 year old Israeli hostage who is also being taken. Again, you can see each of them have two Hamas militants standing by their side, holding them by the arms.
It's important to note that they are not free yet.
This is a final moment of captivity for them, one that Hamas intends to capitalize on, as they have week after week, with these displays, not only showing that they are still in charge in Gaza after more than 15 months of bombardment, after more than 15 months of the Israeli military fighting them in the dense urban environment that is Gaza.
But also, of course, this is a way for them to show that, you know, they are capable of governing, that they are a legitimate authority here, that is standing with the Red Cross. You will then see, as these hostages are now on the stage, you know, being paraded by Hamas.
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You will then see a signing ceremony between Hamas and the Red Cross as a way of kind of legitimizing Hamas' authority in Gaza, a way for them to show Gazans, to show Israelis but also to show the world that they are still in charge in Gaza.
Something, of course, that the Israeli government has made a goal in this war, to eliminate Hamas, to remove it from power in Gaza. And this is a way of Hamas for Hamas to show that that is not the case, at least not yet.
But right now, a very emotional scene in Hostage Square. As I'm watching, people, you know, tears in their eyes, grasping their faces, a moment of relief.
But also, again, a moment of horror as they see that Hamas, the group that perpetrated that terrible massacre on October 7th, the fact that they are still in charge, that they are still showing these shows of strength after more than 15 months of war.
BRUNHUBER: So Jeremy, as we see those two prisoners, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami, standing on the stage there with those Hamas fighters -- and, Jeremy, we've seen varying degrees of chaos or order with these handovers here.
It seems pretty orderly, at least for now. We'll see what happens when they are escorted to those Red Cross vehicles and drive away.
Sometimes those are the scenes that we've seen, unfortunately, with the crowds surging and potentially endangering those hostages who are being released. But here, it seems at least fairly orderly. And this does have repercussions for the deal.
DIAMOND: Yes, that's right. We know that Israel had previously raised a formal protest with the mediators over one of the most chaotic releases, which involved the release of that 29 year old Israeli hostage, Arbel Yehud.
You saw her being absolutely frightened as she was being dragged through a crowd by Hamas militants, a very unruly crowd. Ultimately, she was safely transferred into the arms of the Red Cross.
But Israel viewed the manner in which she was released as a violation of the deal and actually delayed the release of Palestinian prisoners that it was supposed to release that day as a way of protesting that situation.
Since then, we have seen far more orderly releases actually unfold in Gaza and, indeed, today appears to be one of those cases. Once again, it's important to note that, so far, we've seen two Israeli hostages emerge. We are expecting a third to be released as well. That is Eli Sharabi, a 56 year old man who's -- (CROSSTALK)
BRUNHUBER: Yes. Jeremy. I'm just going to interrupt you because we actually see all three of those hostages on the stage here. I have a very small monitor but now we can see Eli Sharabi on the stage there as well.
We can see right now that Ohad Ben Ami, I believe, is speaking. But we are not going to bring you those comments because, frankly, we don't know if they're being made to speak under duress.
So we can just show you the pictures there as all three hostages are now on the stage there and potentially about to see freedom for the first time in some 491 days. Take me through again.
What happens next?
Once the signing ceremony is over, then what happens?
DIAMOND: Yes and thank you for noting that, Kim, because I'm seeing, you know, the screen behind me but I don't have a monitor in front of me. So important to note that all three of those hostages have now indeed been released.
I also think it's important to note that, from what I could see of those two first hostages who emerged, these are quite different scenes. You know, in the past, we've seen these hostages emerge, being made to smile and to kind of wave at the crowd. That did not happen this time.
The far more somber look on the faces of these hostages -- I don't want to read too much into that at this point -- but it could speak, of course, to the conditions in which they were held, to the environment in which they are being released.
And certainly here a lot of people have been watching those images with pained looks on their faces, even as there is this sense of relief that they have finally been released.
Again, what we now expect to happen, if it hasn't already, on your screen -- and you can correct me -- but it will be this kind of ceremony, signing ceremony between Hamas and the Red Cross, once again, a way for Hamas to kind of show that it is in charge in Gaza, to try and portray itself as a legitimate force here.
The legitimate body that has been holding these hostages against their will for the last 15 months. And once they are released to the Red Cross, they will then be driven toward the Israeli border, into the arms of Israeli troops there.
And then shortly thereafter, driven to an Israeli military base in Reim, which is in southern Israel, right across the way from central Gaza, where we expect them to be reunited with a few members of their families.
[04:10:06] From there, they will be taken in helicopters to hospitals here in central Israel, where they will be reunited with the remaining members of their families, undergo medical evaluations, psychological evaluations and begin what I expect will be a long road to recovery.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. Jeremy. We'll come back to you. I want to go now to Salma Abdelaziz, because, of course, the other piece of this exchange is the freeing of Palestinian prisoners.
What can you tell us about that?
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So we don't have timing on that yet, of course, Kim, because as you know and as you've heard there from Jeremy as well, all of this has to happen.
We are still looking at these three hostages in captivity. It is only after their orderly release that then the other process begins. So everyone there in Gaza City, in Deir al-Balah, in front of that stage, is watching to make sure that that happens swiftly, that that happens without incident.
That's what the Red Cross is there for. That is what their vehicles are there for. And then the Red Cross will also be the one busing 183 Palestinian prisoners, set to be released today, to various locations. About 130 of those, 183 will be brought to Gaza.
We understand some of those families are already waiting at the Rafah border crossing at the European Hospital. That's where these Palestinians who have been held are expected to first arrive for treatment and assessment before being released into Gaza.
You also have more than 45 who are going to be released into the occupied West Bank and then seven who are going to be expelled to Egypt. And when you break down the details of this, you begin to understand just how complicated these logistics all are.
So all of these steps still need to take place before we get to that Palestinian prisoner release, if it happens on time. For now, of course, I see those live images in front of Ofer prison in the West Bank.
For now, the Red Cross vehicles and the Red Cross workers will be preparing for those steps to take place. Now in the past, Israel has not allowed families to gather outside this prison in the West Bank for security reasons, it says.
But that has happened regardless. And these releases have in the past included minors, included mothers who were arrested while they were breastfeeding, included journalists, alongside those, of course, who have committed more serious and violent crimes.
So there will be poignant reunions that you see take place in a few hours' time. But again, all these steps still need to take place. And I can see now, on that stage in Deir al-Balah, we're beginning to see these three men brought down and hopefully on to that next stage, the Red Cross. I think one of our producers pointed out how it appeared sometimes
that they were leaning on the fighters, an indication of their health and condition.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's exactly right. As we were seeing the pictures there of Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Ohad Ben Ami being led to those Red Cross vehicles -- and Jeremy, I want to pick up on the point that Salma made, a very important point.
The condition of these hostages. Now we don't know exactly their specific condition but certainly there's a reason that those three men were released today. Take us through what the conditions were in terms of the demographics and the health situation of those who were supposed to be released today.
DIAMOND: Yes. That's right. Well, we expected that the six week ceasefire would begin with the release of women who had been held hostage by Hamas and then the female Israeli soldiers, those four field observers or five field observers who were held by Hamas.
And now we are at the stage of men over the age of 50, as well as those considered humanitarian cases, meaning individuals who are sick or wounded or, for some other reason, are fit into that category.
Two of the men being released today are indeed over the age of 50. You have 52 year old Eli Sharabi and 56 year old Ohad Ben Ami. We also have 34 year old Or Levy. And you can see, as I was noting earlier -- and I now have images on my phone of these men as they are being released.
They're being released, looking quite different than the other hostages that we have seen emerge so far. One that is especially striking, I think, is to see Eli Sharabi and how much he has changed after 491 days of captivity. He looks extremely, extremely thin. He has lost a lot of weight compared to images that we have of him pre October 7th.
And, of course, we will learn more, I'm sure, in the coming days and weeks about the conditions in which he was held. But it is clear that these men clearly have lost weight and are not in the best of conditions.
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I don't want to speculate too much further but, of course, we will learn in the coming days and weeks to what extent they have, you know, any injuries, illnesses, et cetera.
But clearly very different scenes. And that's also being reflected on the looks of people here as they not only feel that relief that these hostages have emerged but are also seeing the state in which they are emerging and pained looks of concern on many people's faces here.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. And we have to consider also not just the physical toll but the mental toll. Eli Sharabi, as you mentioned, his wife, daughters, brother, all dead. And several of these hostages as well have had loved ones killed. They will have to be dealing with the new reality even as they celebrate being free, finally.
But it's certainly a very long, long road to recovery.
And Salma, speaking of a long road, I want to turn now to the future. And we have been talking a lot here, at least in the U.S., of Netanyahu's visit to Washington and, of course, Donald Trump's plan to take over Gaza.
Any sense of how all of that might impact as we go into the future and look at how all of this could impact phase two?
ABDELAZIZ: It's very difficult to speak about impact. When president Trump didn't present a plan, he just made a shock announcement. He just shook up and entered a new era in the conflict without actually explaining how and where and when and why and any detail at all.
Now president Trump has said he is going to try to strongarm essentially other Middle Eastern countries, other countries in the region, such as Egypt and Jordan, into taking Gazans in and that he would turn Gaza into some sort of real estate prospect.
Now Egypt and Jordan, Middle Eastern countries have outright rejected this proposal, if you can call it that. And most importantly, Gazans will not leave Gaza. They have fought for 15 months for their survival.
I don't think it comes as any surprise to the 2 million people in that enclave, that they will continue doing so. But for now, I think their focus will very much be on what is playing out right here, right now.
We have seen these three hostages escorted, I think, last we saw, into those Red Cross vehicles. They are still very much not free until they reach that border and are handed over to Israeli forces.
And only when that takes place and only when that takes place in an orderly manner, can those 183 Palestinians, who are held in Israeli prisons, can that process begin of release, which will also involve the Red Cross busing them out of the occupied West Bank.
Some of them, others will be released into the West Bank and beginning that phase. This is the fifth, of course, exchange. And as you've heard with each one of these exchanges, it becomes smoother, it becomes clearer.
But what you can see in this split screen very obviously is that Hamas is still very much in control of Gaza. And that's what it wants to project today, that it is the authority there on the ground.
And it is the authority that prime minister Netanyahu should be negotiating with, even if he only sees the solution through Washington, D.C., and not the mediation efforts that are happening in the Middle East.
BRUNHUBER: All right. And I want to draw the viewers' attention to the right hand side of the screen there. We're seeing a view of Kibbutz Be'eri, where two of the hostages are from, Eli Sharabi and Ohad Ben Ami. And you can see there some of the smiles amongst family members as they are anxiously awaiting with their loved ones.
I want to turn now to Miri Eisin, who's a senior fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism and she's also a retired colonel who worked in Israel's military intelligence. She's in Tel Aviv.
You've been watching this along with me. What strikes me, Miri, I mean, we've seen, you and I, a few of these, talks at length about these hostage takeovers over the last couple of weekends.
This one, I'm struck by, A, this one was a very seemingly, so far, at least, an orderly handover but also struck by the physical state of the hostages as they were led onto the stage and then to the waiting Red Cross cars and as well their somber looks.
When you compare that with the sort of triumphant and celebratory emotions we saw with some of the other hostages.
COL. MIRI EISIN, SENIOR FELLOW, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR COUNTER- TERRORISM: There's no question that when I viewed these three men, you know, it could be you, me, our husbands, our friends who were taken from their homes on October 7th; one of them, you said before, killed.
And Kim, I'm going to say they were murdered. His wife and three kids were murdered and he was taken into captivity.
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And he's coming out now. So they were dressed in horrific clothes. I want to remind everybody, all of these people were snatched from their homes. The young women observers were snatched in their pajamas. The young women observers were touted (ph) out in military uniform.
And these three men now are dressed in horrific uniforms. By the way, it's also written in Hebrew on the uniforms, meaning there's a lot of messaging going on, the way it's being staged, the symbols that they're trying to send out, Hamas not just as control, as Salma was saying before.
But they're trying to send out additional symbols. "Look at how we rule."
They especially want to make a comparison that our hostages, these people that were brutally taken on October 7th, from their pajamas, from their bed while they killed the wife and children.
Are the same as, for example, some of the Palestinian prisoners who are going to be released this afternoon, who are terrorists who were actively arrested, put on trial, convicted, given time and are now being let out.
And I hate that equivalency. And I think that Hamas is trying to show that in a very strong way.
BRUNHUBER: As I mentioned, Miri, this is the fifth swap of hostages for prisoners from the previous hostages who've been released, who have now been taken to hospitals. They've been reunited with their families.
What are we learning about how they've been treated, what condition they were in?
EISEN: One of the worst things is understanding how Hamas is staging this, in the sense that all of them were treated horrifically. And then, as it was gradually getting toward the release, then they were given what I'm going to call slightly better, can I call it, conditions.
They were moved around a lot and most of them were always very near high ranking Hamas officials. This is because the Hamas officials want to use the hostages themselves, not just as a bargaining chip but also as a defense mechanism.
In addition, you hear both about the way that they were all -- psychological terror, which is, you know, for us, I'm sitting here, as you said at the beginning, I don't know Ohad and Eli and Or but I know them.
And inside captivity, they were given a lot more access to both media, to knowing what's going on as part of the psychological warfare, to make it worse for them, meaning they were both secluded and then shown very specific type of pictures.
So it's very hard to know how they're going to recover. And the last thing I'll say is that there's no question that the three men that we're seeing come out today, they look emaciated, they look horrible. I'm allowed to say that. Right.
And that's just in the staged moment on stage. I'm going to hope that, once they come back into Israel and they're not in these horrific brown prisoner uniforms as this, they were arrested and put on trial and put on jail and held against, OK, these are people that were snatched out of their homes.
I'm hoping that afterwards they'll be able to contend a bit better with the new reality. We all know them and they've been in captivity for 491 days.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, certainly. As I mentioned before, a very long road to recovery for these hostages. There are still some 76 hostages still in captivity, alive or dead.
So I want to turn now to the future. Over the weekend, Israel is expected to send the their negotiating team to Doha, to sort of talk about the deal's second stage.
But the delegation members -- and this is according to Israeli media -- are not authorized to advance the deal until Netanyahu returns to Israel next week and briefs the cabinet about his meeting with Donald Trump. So take us through where we stand right now as we look toward the future of this deal. EISEN: I'm going to first say that, in the future, the deal, in the
immediate sense, even before we get to the second stage. And, Kim, you and I have spoken about that and my -- my stomach is churning.
But what about Shiri Bibas?
What about (INAUDIBLE) the babies, OK?
We have to state this clearly. They're part of the first stage of the deal. They're not here yet. And I think that part of this could also be, you know, nobody wants to get to that stage where, why are they not coming out?
And that second stage is supposed to be about negotiating how we bring out the rest of live and then dead, but the live Israelis, who again, some of them were soldiers, active soldiers who were fighting on October 7th against the Hamas infiltration, invasion, attack, massacre and were taken hostage.
But additional ones that are in that quota of the second stage are Israelis who were at the Nova party, that Hamas have decided that they're -- what they're going to call Israeli soldiers. We have compulsory service. They did do their service in the past. They were taken from a Nova party at 6:30 am.
So you have to negotiate what you do with that. Hamas is demanding a much higher exchange rate. What a horrible term for those men that are going to still be alive in captivity.
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So that's -- you have to negotiate that.
How many Palestinian prisoners that were, again, arrested, put on trial, given time and are sitting in Israeli jails that the Red Cross can visit, that they have lawyers who can visit them?
I mean, again, this isn't a happy situation. That comparison is the quota. But that second stage is also about a redeployment of Israeli IDF forces, both on the Israeli-Egyptian border -- that was at least part of what they said from the beginning -- and also in the greater other areas of the Gaza Strip.
So that's already a different stage. That means not just ceasefire; it means a movement of Israeli forces. And that one is going to be, you know, a big stage, very important. It's a point where Hamas hold cards.
It's called young Israeli men, older Israeli men. I mean, let me be straight. If you're 48 years old, I love you, you're not necessarily what you would call young. And they're holding them as if they're Israeli soldiers. So that we need to get those hostages back. The price goes up. And in that sense, it becomes a much more challenging negotiation.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, certainly, most of the stumbling blocks sort of definitely start now as we sort of turn the corner toward that second phase. And we've heard, from both the Israeli side and from Arab countries as well, that Donald Trump's plan that he kind of announced surprised everybody about taking over Gaza.
That could jeopardize this next phase.
What do you think the implications of Trump's plans will be, if there are any?
EISEN: There are always implications in a statement like this, which is so far from statements we've ever heard.
I'm going to be very upfront. That kind of a statement heard from the president of the United States that coincides with some of the very, very far right positions inside Israel is something that kind of overwhelmed us all. We're all still trying to take it in.
Why, in that sense, does it impact it?
Because at least in as far as domestic Israel goes, it emboldens far right positions in Israel. They would call that a transfer here. They're calling it relocation to help out the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip.
I really never thought that I would hear an American president, at least the first time that he said that, say that he would send in U.S. capabilities, you know, like we, the U.S. should take it over. That has not happened anywhere in the Middle East. That is very different.
So I'm waiting to see what it actually means. I think before in the program, Salma said it isn't a plan; it was a statement.
But it definitely impacts the continuation of the negotiations because, within the prime minister's government right now, the ones that are still in the government -- already one of the ministers has come out very strongly in support of this idea.
This is not a mainstream idea and that's going to impact domestic politics, which immediately impacts the agreement inside a government to continue with the hostage deal. And that's worrisome, to say the least.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We'll leave it there. But always appreciate getting your perspective on these momentous days, as we see another three Israelis held hostage by Hamas on their way back to Israel. Miri Eisin, thank you so much.
All right. So we've seen half of that exchange. Now Israel is due to release 183 Palestinian prisoners. Stay with us for updates as this breaking news continues.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Three Israelis held hostage by Hamas for 491 days are on their way back to Israel. They were released earlier this hour in Deir al-Balah, Gaza. The Red Cross is escorting them to the Israeli military and later Israel is scheduled to release 183 Palestinian prisoners.
This is all part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement. I want to talk about this with H.A. Hellyer. He's a senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies.
Good to see you again. So here we are. this is the fifth hostage release, prisoner exchange, three weeks into the ceasefire.
How do you assess the process so far?
HA HELLYER, SENIOR ASSOCIATE FELLOW, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE FOR DEFENCE AND SECURITY STUDIES: Thank you very much for having me on the program.
So I think that the coming days are going to be really quite delicate. We're coming toward the end of phase one. And the real test of this entire sort of outline of a ceasefire is really phase two.
And negotiations on phase two are due to begin very shortly. We haven't seen, incredibly, how should I say, enthusiastic signs from the Israelis or indeed from the United States.
And the latest statements from the White House and from the Trump administration have really not put the ceasefire process into a great place. You know, talking about creating a Riviera on Gaza, clearing out Gaza of its Palestinian inhabitants permanently, not even temporarily.
All of that just emboldens the most egregious approaches that are spreading around in Israeli politics at the moment. I think this is why you saw Netanyahu so visibly pleased in the White House when he went, because there's really no commitment there to really ending the war.
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The commitment there is, you know, we're going to sort of bob and weave for this particular period. But our eventual plan is simply to remove Palestinians from Gaza and put something else there instead, which, of course, is the dream of many in Israel's right wing and far right wing, I would say.
And I think that a correction ought to be viewed here. As I said here, based on the last guest that you had, this is not a minority position. in Israel, there is very strong support, within Israel for Trump's suggestion. You saw even, quote-unquote, the "moderates" in Israel's Knesset,
people who were supposed to be, you know, in the opposition against Netanyahu, expressed support for Trump's ideas. So I think we have a very long road ahead in front of us if we're looking to see any durable, sustainable peace.
BRUNHUBER: Well, yes. From the Palestinian position. I mean, it certainly seems to signal the death of any possibility of a two state solution. So you wonder what incentive Hamas would have to negotiate if Gaza is, as Trump suggests, turned over to the U.S. and Palestinians evicted.
HELLYER: Absolutely. I mean, look, Hamas doesn't need many excuses to be a terribly bad actor. I think it's shown that multiple times over history over the last weeks, months, years and so on. That's not really in question.
But on a basic strategic level, if you're in any negotiation with another party -- and whether we like it or not, Hamas is the party with which these negotiations and negotiations are taking place.
You're making it very clear that you're not interested in anything but the complete and total removal. OK?
Not even, you know, surrender at this point but even complete removal of not just Hamas but all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
I mean, I don't see how this remotely qualifies as trust building measures for allowing this process to unfold in a positive fashion. But clearly that's a secondary priority with regards to, you know, the parties involved in this case.
BRUNHUBER: But let's expand it to the wider region. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak suggested that maybe Trump is sort of floating this extreme scenario to jolt Arab states into proposing better ones.
I mean, is that a likely scenario?
HELLYER: No, I don't, to be honest. And I think that's frankly wishful thinking. I think the reality is that Donald Trump was entirely genuine in terms of his proposal, despite the fact that, of course, it's completely unworkable.
And, you know, I think we should also call things by their appropriate names. This is ethnic cleansing. I think it should be described as such. it is literally the textbook definition of it.
And I don't think that it was meant, as, you know, an opening salvo in a negotiation. I think this was entirely meant genuinely, completely absent of considerations within the region, including among American allies.
I mean, you saw, within a few hours of this proposal about a Riviera or something. you saw Saudi Arabia, which is one of the United States' closest allies in the region, come out at 4 am Saudi time, 4 am, come out very strongly, very openly against the proposal.
You've seen the Europeans do the same. You've seen the U.K. do the same. You know, there's been virtually no country around the world, with, of course, the exception of Israel, come out with anything but incredible opposition to it.
Because it signals that, of course, not just the death blow to a two state solution but would be a war crime, you know, forcing people to leave and refusing to allow them back.
And, you know, I think that the proposal was very clear that this would not be a temporary measure, anyway, not that anybody would take it seriously if it was proposed as such. But that it would be intended to be a permanent, you know, resettling of Palestinians from Gaza somewhere else.
And then creating, you know, this quote-unquote, "Riviera" in Gaza. I mean, it's quite extraordinary that, you know, two weeks into the new administration, we're hearing proposals like this. But this is where we are.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. Extraordinary, as you say. H.A. Hellyer, we're always appreciate getting your take on things. Thank you so much for being here with us.
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HELLYER: Thank you.
BRUNHUBER: All right. We have much more on our breaking news coverage. Coming up next, a judge is stepping in as president Donald Trump tries to dismantle a vital humanitarian aid agency. We'll have details straight ahead. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Three newly released Israeli hostages are now in the custody of the Israeli military after nearly 500 days in captivity. They were released just minutes ago by Hamas in Deir al-Balah, Gaza. The Red Cross is escorting them to the Israeli military. Later today, Israel is scheduled to release 183 Palestinian prisoners.
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This is all part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. president Donald Trump says he's removing former President Joe Biden's access to classified information. In a social media post, the president said he would immediately revoke Biden's security clearances and stop his daily intelligence briefings. The decision comes exactly four years after Biden also limited Trump's
access to national security details after the January 6th Capitol attack. President Trump said he views that move as unfair.
And Donald Trump is facing pushback after his aggressive efforts to cut down the federal workforce.
A judge is temporarily halting his plans to lay off thousands of workers at the U.S. Agency for International Development and ordered the agency to reinstate hundreds of others who have already been placed on leave through at least February 14th.
The agency provides humanitarian aid around the world but president Trump is trying to dismantle it and wants to keep fewer than 300 workers. The judge's ruling came after a pair of labor groups representing USAID employees filed a lawsuit Thursday.
They warned that dismantling the agency will inevitably result in deaths and medical hardships in places where American assistance is desperately needed. The judge set a hearing next week to consider a broader block to president Trump's plans.
And crews were already seen taking down the agency's sign at its headquarters in Washington. Black tape has been put over other signs and seals around the building. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more from the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The Trump administration's move to put more than 2,200 workers on administrative leave at the USAID, that foreign aid group, placed on hold Friday night by a federal judge here in Washington.
Only the latest example in a series of cases we have seen, where federal judges have stepped in to temporarily pause this very swift work of this Trump White House.
Now the judge, who is a Trump appointee, is saying that there is no need to have this done so quickly and said that both sides would be heard going forward. There was about a 90-minute argument or so before his chambers on Friday.
And he issued a ruling, putting a temporary hold on some 2,200 workers or so being placed on leave at midnight Friday.
Now we watched throughout the day on Friday, as the sign at USAID, just a few blocks from here at the White House, was literally taken off the building. Now many workers also have been dismissed. But this judge making this ruling temporarily, holding, putting a couple thousand workers on hold.
Now this is all coming, of course, as president Trump is defending the work of Elon Musk, who is leading the Department of Government Efficiency. But at a news conference on Friday, the president was asked if there is anything off limits for Elon Musk. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, we haven't discussed that much. I'll tell him to go here, go there. He does it. He's got a very capable group of people. Very, very, very, very capable. They know what they're doing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: So saying we haven't discussed that much certainly raises the question if Elon Musk is leading the charge at the direction of the president or if the White House is finding out after the fact what Elon Musk is doing in agency after agency across this government.
But there is no question; as this third week of the Trump administration begins to wind down, so many movements have been made and federal workers on edge and some soon to be out of jobs -- Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: "Time" magazine has put Elon Musk on its cover and, provocatively, it has him sitting behind the desk of the U.S. president, known as the Resolute Desk. The image of power comes as the head of DOGE carries out a campaign to gut the federal workforce. On Friday, Trump was asked what he thought of the cover. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: Mr. President, do you have a reaction to the new "Time" magazine cover, that has Elon Musk sitting behind your Resolute Desk?
TRUMP: No.
QUESTION: In "Time" magazine?
TRUMP: Is "Time" magazine still in business?
I didn't even know that.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The president has been selected as "Time's" Person of the Year twice, most recently in 2024.
A DOGE staffer who resigned after being linked to racist social media posts is returning to the department after the White House voiced support for him.
Marko Elez is one of several young engineers helping Elon Musk shrink government agencies. But critics are raising concern over the group's inexperience and lack of accountability. CNN's Kyung Lah reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So here we have Luke Farritor, who is winning the first letter's prize on behalf of the VeSUVius Challenge.
LUKE FARRITOR, VESUVIUS CHALLENGE, GRAND PRIZE WINNER: Thank you.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Luke Farritor, was the first person to decipher a word from an ancient scroll that had been buried in volcanic mud for centuries.
FARRITOR: But for the kind of the first part of the challenge, through July, I was interning at SpaceX and just kind of doing this in the evenings and weekends.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the word for us.
LAH (voice-over): He went on to win the grand prize in a global competition. A 22-year-old undergrad at the time.
FARRITOR: My friends were there. I was cheering, jumping up and down, you know, screaming, crying, all the stuff. I run most of the things from my laptop. It's just a normal MacBook, don't worry. But then I've just got like five surplus computers in here. This is what I do most of my work, from.
LAH (voice-over): What he does now is work for DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, headed up by Elon Musk, who's brought in a group of gifted young engineers, some in their early 20's with no prior government experience. Their current job assignments unclear. But it is clear they're part of the Trump administration's plan to slash government agencies.
Democratic senators sent a letter to the White House describing how DOGE staff has seemingly unfettered access to classified materials and American's personal information. In federal court, government lawyers said Marko Elez had "read only access" to a highly sensitive payment system at the Treasury Department.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ignition lift off.
LAH (voice-over): Elez, who previously worked at SpaceX, has been the center of attention. His DOGE position was terminated after "The Wall Street Journal" uncovered racist and eugenic posts on an account linked to him. But then Elon Musk, the vice president and Trump himself weighed in.
PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The vice president says, bring him back. What do you say?
TRUMP: Well, I don't know about that particular thing but if the vice president said that, did you say that?
I'm with the vice president.
LAH (voice-over): Another DOGE worker, Edward Coristine, who called himself "Big Balls" on social media, was fired from an internship with a data security firm called Path Network in 2022, accused of leaking information to a competitor. A spokesperson telling CNN his contract was terminated after the conclusion of an internal investigation into the leaking of proprietary company information that coincided with his tenure.
The injection of unconventional outsiders is alarming some federal employees. This man who spoke at a Virginia Congressman's town hall this week, didn't identify himself out of fear of retaliation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We had Elon Musk in our building and after he visited the building called for a 50 percent cut of the entire agency.
My colleagues are getting 15 minute one-on-one check-ins with 19, 20 and 21-year-old college graduates asking to justify their existence.
LAH (voice-over): Most of the hires are connected to Elon Musk's companies, like Ethan Shaotran.
ETHAN SHAOTRAN, AI DEVELOPER AND FOUNDER OF ENERGIZE AI: This is a really exciting time for young folks, for old folks, for everyone.
LAH (voice-over): He was a runner up in a hackathon contest put on by xAI, an artificial intelligence company Musk founded. Shaotran spoke in 2023 about how AI will change the future.
SHAOTRAN: Really, for the first time in modern history, it's not the physical laborers, the farmers, the factory workers who are being displaced but it's the white collar workers, the knowledge workers, the engineers, lawyers, doctors, teachers and for a lot of the folks in this room, that's really scary. That's really concerning.
LAH (voice-over): Now Shaotran is a special government employee, a source tells CNN.
Gavin Kliger on LinkedIn lists his job as special advisor to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. A 2020 Berkeley graduate, Kliger worked in Silicon Valley for Twitter and then for a data intelligence company. He spoke about that work at a conference in 2023.
GAVIN KLIGER, DIRECTOR, TITLE MARKETING: Additionally, any system with a human in the loop is not going to scale well.
LAH (voice-over): In a blog post last year, Kliger wrote about two of Donald Trump's then nominees and showed himself as fiercely loyal to the now president.
Kliger recently removed a Substack post where he charged $1,000.00 to subscribe and read "Why DOGE: Why I gave up a seven figure salary to save America."
LAH: We didn't pay. And we did try to reach all of the hires we were able to identify. In addition to reaching out to their family, their friends and classmates, we didn't hear back from anyone -- Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BRUNHUBER: The U.S. State Department has announced a $7 billion arms sale to Israel that bypassed the congressional review process, according to a Democratic lawmaker.
Now the sale comes days after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with president Donald Trump, the first foreign leader invited to meet with Trump at the White House.
The weapons could include thousands of Hellfire missiles and bombs. The Trump administration made the sale without the congressional review process that would have given lawmakers time to ask questions and raise concerns about it.
Ukraine's president says his country's mineral resources are on the table as part of a possible security deal with the U.S. He says he's willing to trade some of Ukraine's critical minerals for security guarantees from Washington. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The Americans. helped the most and therefore the Americans should earn the most. And in rebuilding Ukraine, they should have this priority. And they will. I would also like to talk about this with president Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: The U.S. president already said this week that he wants access to Ukraine's mineral riches in exchange for more U.S. military aid.
Meanwhile, Zelenskyy also says North Korean troops have been sent into battle in Russia's Kursk region again.
[04:55:04]
Earlier reports said that North Koreans were pulled back after taking heavy casualties. But the Ukrainian president says they launched a new attack alongside Russians on Thursday and suffered major losses again.
All right. That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. I'll be back with the latest on our breaking news coverage on the release of three Israeli hostages and the Palestinian prisoner exchange. That after a quick break, please stay with us.
