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Benjamin Netanyahu Vows To Move Gaza Residents To The South; U.S. Says It Will Pay Undocumented Migrants To Self-Deport; Air Traffic Controllers Lost Contact With Newark Planes; All 133 Participating Cardinals In Rome Ahead Of Vote; Conclave to Elect Next Pope Begins on Wednesday; U.K. Celebrates VE Day With Pomp and Circumstance; Police Say Man Crashes Car Through Gate of Jennifer Aniston's Home; Sean Diddy Combs Appears in Court as Jury Selection Begins. Aired 2-2:45a ET

Aired May 06, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:32]

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

Just ahead, Israel warns of an intensive military campaign in Gaza weeks into their blockade of humanitarian aid, with many Palestinians already struggling to survive.

Widespread delays for more than a week at a major U.S. airport, we're now learning the troubling details about what caused it.

And all 133 cardinals who will vote in a secret conclave to elect the next pope are now in Rome, said to be isolated from the outside world.

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

CHURCH: Good to have you with us, and we begin this hour with new developments in the Middle East, including Israel's latest plans for Gaza and retaliation against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The Houthi-run Ministry of Health reports, Israeli air strikes have killed at least one person and injured 35 others. It's the first time Israel has struck Houthi targets in months, and it comes one day after a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis landed in the vicinity of Israel's main airport.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will have the population of Gaza move to the southern part of the territory for their own safety after the Israeli security Cabinet approved an expanded military operation in Gaza on Sunday called Gideon's Chariots.

More now from CNN's Jerusalem Correspondent Jeremy Diamond. JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Israel is preparing to conquer and occupy large swaths of the Gaza Strip. That's according to an Israeli official, speaking after the Israeli security Cabinet approved expanding Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip, something that will likely happen in a matter of weeks.

The Israeli military is now beginning to mobilize tens of thousands of additional reservists in order to carry out these expanded military operations, and the Israeli prime minister is indeed confirming that Israel has decided to intensify this operation, and making clear that Israel, unlike in the past, Israeli forces, will not just enter and exit areas inside of Gaza, but rather the opposite, he said. That those Israeli forces will remain in the area even after Israeli forces believe that they have routed Hamas from those portions of Gaza.

The Israeli prime minister also saying that this will involve the, "Movement of the population to protect them. But what he is talking about there is the mass displacement of Palestinians, likely from the northern part of the Gaza Strip, perhaps the center of the Gaza Strip, as well, moving that population, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people, towards the southern part of Gaza."

What we understand is that this will be a gradual expansion of this ground offensive, as Israeli officials say that they want to give some more time and space to see whether the announcement of this operation and eventually the expansion of these military operations will result in more leverage to pressure Hamas into agreeing to a new cease fire and hostage release deal on terms more favorable to Israel.

Israel and the United States are also exploring a new mechanism for the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, but clearly this would be a very tightly controlled mechanism that would allow Israel to determine where that aid actually goes to in Gaza, and something that could potentially be used as a way to lure Gaza's population away from certain areas of the Strip and towards other parts of Gaza, facilitating that displacement of Palestinians that Israeli officials are now talking about.

And that seems to be part of the reason why the United Nations and other humanitarian groups involved in the distribution of aid have said that they are not inclined to participate in this mechanism. Instead calling for the crossings to be opened, as we are now reaching more than two months since any aid has gotten into Gaza because of this ongoing Israeli blockade.

Meanwhile, the Israeli military on Monday night carrying out strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen in retaliation for that ballistic missile attack that landed just next to Israel's international Ben Gurion Airport, shutting down that airport for about an hour.

[02:05:12]

Israeli fighter jets carried out these strikes about 2000 kilometers away from Israeli soil, striking Yemen's port of Hodeidah, which the Israeli military says has been used to import Iranian weapons and other military equipment. The Israeli military also said that they went after economic targets

inside of Yemen as well. The question now whether Israel will also carry out retaliation against Iran, whom Israel has accused of ultimately funding and being responsible for these ongoing Houthi attacks against Israel.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

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CHURCH: Jeremy Diamond mentioned the discussions between Israel and the U.S. about resuming aid deliveries to Gaza. The Israeli blockade is now in its ninth week, and international aid groups say Gaza is at risk of a manmade famine. Others accuse Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war, which is a war crime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MONTASIRA AL-KAFARNEH, DISPLACED RESIDENT FROM BEIT HANOUN (through translator): There is no food, no water and no aid reaching us. What I'm doing now is trying to separate rice from bulgur and stones. As you can see, we're forced to eat stones because there is no flower, no food, no water, nothing reaches us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The devastation across Gaza is widespread, but humanitarian organizations are doing what they can. One group, INARA says, most people in Gaza get one meal a day, just rice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARWA DAMON, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT, INARA: These shots of the kids helping the team set up for a proper distribution to make sure that everyone gets their share. Even the smallest of them know not to run off with the food that they all have to be able to support each other and share whatever is left.

But this is it. This is the end, the World Food Programme has depleted all of its stocks and the kids that you see here in this video, there's only enough stock left for another 24 hours, one more time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Joining me now from Istanbul. Arwa Damon is the founder and president of INARA, the International Network for Aid Relief and Assistance, and she's also a former CNN Senior International Correspondent who's reported extensively from Gaza. Arwa, thank you so much for talking with us.

DAMON: Thank you for having me.

CHURCH: So, more than two months into Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid, Benjamin Netanyahu and his government are now expanding their military operation in Gaza and plan to move the population to the southern part of the territory. What will this mean for Palestinians already struggling to survive?

DAMON: I mean, how does one even begin to try to describe what this is like in a way that the population there has just been sort of ferried around? And they'll say this themselves as if they were cattle from one location to the other. It's grossly unrealistic. It's incredibly cruel.

And add to that, you know, this plan includes a component that is being discussed of renewed aid distribution, which would be carried out at specific points, run either by the Israeli military or a U.S. private security contracting company, which basically means that large portions of the population are not going to be able to access that humanitarian assistance.

Let's just be realistic about the situation on the ground. It's not as if, you know, if aid is at one location, you can just jump into your car and go and get it. You have to walk the majority of the time. You know, if we're talking about a basic, standard food parcel that can weigh roughly, you know, 30 to 50 kilograms, if we're talking about actually feeding a family for about two weeks. Are people just supposed to somehow carry that weight back to where their tent is located?

You know, the humanitarian community has put out a statement completely and totally condemning this new distribution plan that's being floated as being entirely inhumane.

But when you look at sort of the overall picture of what's being discussed right now, of what has happened over the last, you know, 18 months, when it comes to what the population has endured, there's no way to look at this and not think to yourself, this is just another way to torture the people of Gaza.

CHURCH: Yes, I wanted to ask you about that. What is behind this particular way of distributing food that both Israel and the United States have been discussing?

DAMON: So, Israel has constantly, consistently put forward this narrative that Hamas controls the aid and aid organizations have categorically and consistently said, no, Hamas does not.

I've been to Gaza four times on humanitarian missions with my charity INARA, and I was actually supposed to go on my fifth mission back in February, but I was denied access by Israel with no specific reason actually being given. And this is something that is just, you know, happening to me, there's roughly been a 30 percent increase in denials of people who are trying to go on humanitarian missions or on medical missions to Gaza.

[02:10:25]

But the point is, I've been to warehouses. I've been in the field distributing. I've been to sector meetings. I've been pretty much by this time, you know, all over Gaza. Hamas doesn't control the aid, but Israel keeps pushing forward this false narrative to be able to exert even more control over the population, and Israel wants to exert control over how the aid is actually being distributed on the ground, which, if, again, we look at this plan, is completely unrealistic.

To ask that, you know, people go to limited distribution points that are, according to at least what we know so far, going to be located in a militarized zone, that's great risk to their own lives, and then it just doesn't live up to the humanitarian standards that are internationally set.

Of course, that being said, nothing that has been happening in Gaza right now actually lives up to any sort of humanitarian standard whatsoever.

But again, this is very much Israel pushing forward this very false narrative, and I'll say that over and over again, false narrative that Hamas controls the aid.

CHURCH: And Arwa, critics accuse Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war, which, of course, is a war crime. Is that what's happening in Gaza?

DAMON: I don't see how you look at watching (ph) and come to any other conclusion, Israel very openly declared that no humanitarian assistance would be entering Gaza. The Strip is entirely under siege.

Again, another false narrative that is being put forward is that there is plenty of food in Gaza. That is categorically untrue.

And so, when the Israeli government comes out and says, we're stopping humanitarian aid, that is very clearly starvation being used as a weapon of war, because blocking access to food, medicine, water for over two months right now is a tactic that Israel is openly using, and we're seeing the consequences on the ground.

Look, the World Food Programme does not put out a statement saying our warehouses are depleted, the World Central Kitchen does not say, you know, our community kitchens are about to run out of what they're able to use as supplies to cook with. My team on the ground does not say, Arwa, we have to stop distributions because there's no rice left in the stocks, and we're not really able to source any on the market right now, you don't see continuous images of children scraping the bottom of a food pot just trying to get a few extra grains if people were not hungry.

And what's especially disturbing about all of this is not just that we're witnessing in real time starvation being used as a weapon of war, but that you know, the world's self-declared most powerful democracy, the United States seems to be completely at ease with this tactic being used.

CHURCH: Arwa Damon, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

Multiple explosions have erupted in Port Sudan on the Red Sea. These images coming into CNN show huge plumes of heavy black smoke billowing into the sky, as well as fires. According to Reuters, there's no word yet on the cause of the blast.

This is happening near Sudan's main maritime port, where hundreds of thousands of displaced people have sought refuge from their country's civil war and what's become the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Aid agencies and army aligned government ministries have set up their headquarters in the coastal city. Until recently, it had been relatively untouched by attacks. We'll bring you more details as they become available.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department has unveiled a new plan promising to pay undocumented migrants who return to their countries of origin voluntarily. President Trump says those who don't take the offer and who are detained and deported will, "Never get a path to come back in." CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has details.

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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The Trump administration on Monday announcing a new program, one intended to have undocumented immigrants in the United States self-deport. According to the Department of Homeland Security, this would include a one way airline ticket and also a $1,000 stipend.

According to senior Trump officials, this would still be more cost effective. They say that arresting an individual, detaining them and deporting them can cost the administration around $17,000 and a ticket and a stipend would be less than that.

[02:15:01]

They also teased incentives down the road, saying that it's possible that someone who is undocumented now and leaves voluntarily may have a chance of returning in the future.

Now, immigration attorneys say it's more complicated than that, and many cases are unique. There's also the question of travel documents and what would happen for someone who doesn't have one, even if they want to return to their home country.

Now it's also, in many ways, a concession of how difficult it is to deport undocumented immigrants. That has been true for multiple administrations as the federal government deals with limited resources and personnel. The administration intent on trying to see through President Trump's mass deportation pledge now offering another way for undocumented immigrants to leave the United States.

Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: President Trump will welcome Canada's Prime Minister to Washington in the day ahead. It's Mark Carney's first visit to the White House since he took office in March. The two are expected to focus on tariffs and the U.S.-Canada relationship. Carney broke tradition by visiting Europe instead of the U.S. on his first official foreign trip, his liberal party won elections in Canada just last week, keeping him in the role of Prime Minister.

U.S. officials warn the nightmare of one of the busiest airports in the country is not over yet. Just ahead, air traffic control audio reveals the issues that have caused massive delays at Newark Liberty.

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[02:21:03]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. One of the busiest airports in the U.S., Newark Liberty continues to be plagued by widespread delays more than a week after a communication outage led to staffing shortages. Air traffic control audio recorded by the website, LiveATC.Net and obtained by CNN, reveals the tense moments authorities say prompted some controllers to take trauma leave.

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APPROACH AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: No, you do not have a bravo clearance. We lost our radar, and it's not working correctly. Radar service terminates. Squawk VFR, change approved. If you want a bravo clearance, you can just call the tower when you get closer.

PILOT: OK, I'll voice for that frequency from you. OK.

APPROACH AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: OK, no, just squawk VFR, look up the tower frequencies. We don't have a radar, so I don't know where you are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The Federal Aviation Administration acknowledged Monday that the agency's antiquated air traffic control system is affecting its workforce. CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean reports.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: The FAA is now essentially confirming our new reporting on this saga. This paints the best picture yet of why delays at Newark have been going on for days. It all goes back to an incident last Monday at the key radar facility responsible for Newark flights. And a source familiar with the incident tells me controllers there lost both radio and radar systems for an undisclosed amount of time. That meant controllers were essentially doing their jobs blind, which led to at least five controllers taking what's called trauma leave, something they're legally allowed to do, they're now off for the next 45 days.

This is a huge development, and the FAA has been investigating the cause of the equipment outage that triggered the staffing shortages, but now Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer is calling for the Department of Transportation inspector general to launch a probe immediately. This is what he said about the cause of the outage at the Newark radar facility. Listen.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): The technology is old and must be updated. It was one of the things that one of the things that happened at Newark is a copper wire burnt. Why are we using copper wire in 2025? Have they heard of fiber?

MUNTEAN: Schumer also called out last year's move of the Newark radar facility from Long Island New York to Philadelphia. The goal there was to shore up staffing issues, but Schumer says it actually made problems worse. The FAA is not detailing a fix in the near term. Controllers do jobs that are location specific, meaning they cannot be pulled from one area and dropped in to another. Pete, Muntean,

Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The cardinals are in place, and the Conclave will begin on Wednesday. Still to come, we'll tell you about the lengths the Vatican is going to ensure total secrecy during the vote to select a new pope.

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[02:28:35]

CHURCH: The Vatican is getting ready for the Conclave to elect Pope Francis's successor, starting Wednesday. The Vatican says all 133 cardinals who will vote have arrived in Rome. The Conclave begins with a single ballot on the first day. After that, four ballots will be held every day until a pope is chosen.

Italian state media says mobile phone signals will be deactivated and signal jammers will be used in the Vatican, all part of an effort to ensure complete secrecy during the conclave.

So, let's get more on the conclave now from CNN Vatican Analyst, Elise Allen, she joins us live from Rome. Thanks so much for talking with us.

ELISE ALLEN, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Good morning, Rosemary. It's my pleasure to be with you.

CHURCH: Wonderful. So, on Wednesday, all 133 Cardinals will enter the Sistine Chapel to start the process of electing the next pope. But what happens between now and the moment the conclave gets underway? What do they do?

ALLEN: Well, Rosemary, so this morning in Rome, cardinals are having their final pre-conclave meeting. They've been having one every day. Yesterday they actually had two of them because there are so many who wish to speak still, and they needed to fit them all in.

So, this morning, they're having that final meeting to discuss what they think are the greatest challenges and needs of the world and of the church today, and what kind of profile in the next Pope might best fit.

You know, that -- you know, the needs that they see. You know, who might best be able to respond, you know, to the needs and the challenges of today, inside the world and inside the church.

[02:30:00]

So this is really their final opportunity to talk about those things as a group. And in between now and then, they're having lunch, they're having dinner, they're moving from their residences into the Vatican, Santa Marta guest house where they will all be in lockdown, basically, together as of tomorrow morning.

So tomorrow morning, they have their final moments to move their things over to that residence inside the Vatican. And then there will be a mass, sort of inaugurating the process. They'll have the final moments of break. They'll have lunch perhaps, and some time to rest before arriving to the Pauline Chapel, the Vatican's Apostolic Palace, where they will have a brief prayer before filing into the Sistine Chapel and going through the final prayers and swearing of this oath of secrecy before the Sistine Chapel doors close, and the conclave begins.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": So once the conclave gets underway, what happens exactly? And how long do you think it will likely take the 133 Cardinals to select a new Pope?

ALLEN: That's the big question and it's been a big one all along, because so many of these Cardinals come from places that are sort of far away and remote. They don't know one another. They don't know Rome. And so these pre-conclave meetings they've been having have been really essential. S some people are expecting, the conclave to be, like we've seen in the past couple of years, maybe two, two-and-a-half days. Others are expecting it might be a tad longer just because there are more of them now, and they don't know each other as well.

So we're expecting maybe something around Friday, we might have the white smoke, but we have to see. Once the Cardinals get into the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday, they will have the first ballot, the first vote that evening, and they're only going to vote once. And from Thursday on, then they're going to be having four votes a day. So they're getting right down to business. They're going to have a mid- morning vote in -- and then, sort of a close-to=noon vote, and then in the afternoon, they'll have two.

So, we could get smoke at any point after the first ballot of the day, or the second, or the third or the fourth, you know. So anytime from nine in the morning until seven at night, it's possible from Wednesday on, assuming that we don't get one on Wednesday night, which I don't think anybody is expecting.

CHURCH: That would be a surprise. So of course, it is considered to be one of the most diverse groups of Cardinals, isn't it? Most of them appointed by Pope Francis himself. So, who do you consider to be the top contenders and to perhaps the most likely to become the next Bishop of Rome?

ALLEN: Well, I think that's what everybody is asking themselves right now. There's been constant discussion about this since, of course, Pope Francis has passed away, who is best going to -- who's best going to be suited to step into his place and sort of carry forward some of the reforms he was trying to do, or do things differently. It depends on what the Cardinals decide they want.

One of the consistent personalities they've been talking about since the beginning is the Vatican's Secretary of State under Pope Francis, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. He's an Italian. He'd be seen as a seasoned diplomat who could carry forward the Pope's geopolitical agenda. But there's also been talk of another Italian, Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who also shares much of Pope Francis' agenda and would be seen as in -- as somebody who's in great continuity with what Francis was trying to do.

But there's also been a few mention of maybe an Asian candidate, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle from The Philippines. Also Pablo David, who's also from The Philippines, he's gotten some attention. A Frenchman, Jean-Marc Aveline from Marseille. There's been a lot of different candidates kind of popping up, and it's sort of anyone's guess as to what they're going to decide once those doors close. But right now, it seems to -- Parolin seems to be going in the biggest frontrunner.

CHURCH: All right, we should be watching to see what the outcome is. Elise Allen joining us in Rome, thank you so much. Appreciate it. And we'll be right back.

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CHURCH: Four days of celebration are underway in the U.K. to mark 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Monday's events included a full array of military pomp and circumstance with more than 1,300 troops marching through Central London. There were fly-past by the Royal Air Force, red arrows, modern jets, and a Lancaster bomber from World War II.

King Charles and several generations of the royal family watched over the spectacle. They later hosted a tea party at Buckingham Palace for veterans and others, who lived through the war.

Police have detained a man for allegedly driving his car through the gate of a home owned by Jennifer Aniston. Los Angeles Police say they responded to a call about a "burglary suspect" at a property that records indicate belongs to the actress, and the security guard held the suspect until they arrived. Police are still investigating if the crash was accidental or intentional. An officer told CNN the home owner was there at the time of the incident.

Music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs appeared in court on Monday as jury selection began in his federal criminal trial. He told the judge he was a little nervous as lawyers questioned potential jurors.

[02:40:00]

15 people were assessed as jurors on the first day with many showing knowledge of the case. Several said they'd seen the hotel surveillance video of Combs assaulting his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura. One potential juror was dismissed after calling the video damning. Combs has pleaded not guilty to five charges, including sex trafficking. He faces up to life in prison if convicted on all counts.

I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then I'll be back at the top of the hour with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stay with us.

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