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Video Shows Civilians Running for Life after Israeli Strike; Christian Leaders Visit Gaza after Strike on Catholic Church; Gaza's Hospitals Struggle as War Grinds On; U.N. Calls for Accountability for Violence in Syria; Some Trump Supporters Angry over Handling of Epstein Files; South Korea's Jailed Ex-President Yoon Indicted on New Charges; Dozens Killed, Hundreds Injured in Pakistan Rains, Floods; Japan Divided ahead of Sunday's Nation Upper House Vote; Married CEO Caught Canoodling with Coworker Placed on Leave. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired July 19, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching around the world. I'm Salma Abdelaziz in London.

Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, cameras capturing the moments a child escapes an Israeli airstrike in Gaza. Details on that strike and where things stand on the latest round of ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.

U.S. President Donald Trump is taking on "The Wall Street Journal" after a published story about a letter, reportedly with his name on it, sent to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

And a kiss cam reveal made him the talk of the internet. Now this married tech CEO is learning his fate after embracing a coworker.

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ABDELAZIZ: Let's start with video that shows just the sheer terror of the war in Gaza.

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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): You are looking at two children and a woman running for their lives after an Israeli strike at a refugee camp in central Gaza on Thursday. Health officials say the area was hit twice, leaving five people dead and 20 others injured.

One witness says this footage shows the second strike, which happened after an Israeli evacuation order.

The targets?

Well, they included a U.N. school used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians. This satellite image from Thursday morning appears to show dozens of their tents, all within just 100 meters of the strike zone.

Now two religious leaders paid a rare visit to Gaza on Friday after Israeli fire struck the territory's only Catholic Church. The Latin and Greek Orthodox patriarchs of Jerusalem went to the church, where three people were killed the day before. Several others were injured in that attack.

The visiting patriarchs said they want to remind the congregation they are not alone.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Pope Leo XIV about the attack on Friday.

Mr. Netanyahu expressed his regret and repeated his claim that, quote, "stray ammunition" had hit the church.

Israel and Hamas are trading accusations of dragging their feet at ceasefire talks in Qatar but U.S. president Donald Trump says he's optimistic about the negotiations on Friday.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We got most of the hostages back. We're going to have another 10 coming very shortly and we hope to have that finished pretty quickly.

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Now Mr. Trump has said things like this before, even suggesting recently that a deal could be reached within days. But as Nic Robertson reports, the agreement remains stubbornly elusive.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: A couple of weeks ago, president Trump really gave the impression that potentially a Gaza ceasefire deal was getting close. That really seemed to run out of real estate momentum about a week or so ago. Both sides stuck in the negotiations.

Then a couple of days ago, Israel agreed to not position troops on a key corridor inside of Gaza, the Morag corridor. That seemed to breathe some optimism back into the talks again. But now both sides blaming each other.

Hamas saying that they're not seeing Israel talking seriously about a permanent ceasefire. And if they say, if Israel can't do that, then they cannot guarantee pauses in the future. And they cannot either guarantee that, under the current discussions, that 10 living Israeli hostages would be released.

And Israel is saying that Hamas is the holdup right now because they refuse to give key data about how many Palestinians would be released for how many Israelis. So the talks again running out of momentum.

And enter that the situation, where the two Christian patriarchs, the Latin Catholic patriarch and the Greek Orthodox patriarch, traveled from Jerusalem into Gaza.

An incredibly rare occurrence allowed by the Israelis because Israel had hit the only Catholic Church, where about 600 people, mostly children, were taking shelter on Thursday.

The prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that, in essence, sorry for this errant ammunition, an indication of the pressure on him to get a ceasefire deal done.

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That he would allow these Christian leaders to come into Gaza as such a sensitive time, when malnutrition is up, food prices are up, tensions inside of Gaza are up, the patriarchs coming to that church that was so important to the previous late Pope Francis.

He was in daily contact with the priest in that church during the Gaza conflict. Indeed, the priest was hurt when a piece of Israeli ammunition hit the church, killing three people, injuring nine, including the parish priest there.

The two patriarchs gathering the injured in that strike to take them back to Israel proper, take them back to Jerusalem for medical treatment.

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, also speaking with Pope Leo, who asked him to ease the humanitarian situation inside of Gaza, who asked him to avoid hitting holy sites again, indicative of the pressure on the Israeli leader that he would that he would have these calls with the pope.

That he would offer apologies so quickly, is a resolution to the war close?

It doesn't appear to be so right now -- Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

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ABDELAZIZ: Now Saturday marks one year since the birth of a little boy, who became known as Gaza's miracle baby. Malek Yassin was born shortly after his mother was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Doctors say they didn't realize right away that she was pregnant.

But after she was brought to the hospital, they soon discovered the baby's heartbeat and quickly performed a postmortem C-section. Malek was then taken for resuscitation and it was found that he was just fine.

We're now joined by one of the doctors who was on the medical team that saved little Malek. Dr. Travis Melin, an anesthesiologist who works at Nasser Hospital and Khan Yunis, Gaza.

Thank you so much. First of all, Doctor, for joining us. Before we get to the miracle baby, I've just heard from our producers that there's been a mass casualty event in Gaza.

Can you explain to me what's happening right now where you are?

DR. TRAVIS MELIN, ANESTHESIOLOGIST, CADUS: Yes. Basically this morning there's a mass casualty alarm in the hospital and that went off around 6 or so in the morning. So we all went down to the ER.

And there was about maybe 30 people that had been killed and some 70- odd that had been injured, mostly coming from the GHF site, is our understanding.

And the injuries we're seeing are predominantly gunshot wounds from this particular mass casualty.

ABDELAZIZ: You said the GHF site. So that's the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation site. This is a very controversial group that has been distributing aid in Gaza. But dozens of people have been killed trying to get that aid.

Can you tell me exactly what you understand took place?

And talk to me about the injuries you're seeing. We understand that, so often, children and the youngest are among those who are the victims.

MELIN: Yes. I mean, basically, we get it through a word of mouth and kind of discussion with locals here that, you know, these patients came from the area. I think it's probably more than, you know, tens of people. There's probably hundreds of people that have been killed at those sites at this point.

But I've seen the injury patterns. Like I said, are mostly gunshot wounds. This particular time, though, other times there are, you know, explosive injuries as well. So today, a lot of the patients, you know, were just sporadic gunshot wounds. There were some that were very clearly shot directly in the head, kind of sniper type style.

And there were other ones, you know, in the abdomen and the arms. But lots of very severe injuries to the torso and head. And a lot of those patients are now in the operating room, kind of as we speak.

ABDELAZIZ: An absolutely horrifying tragedy that is unfolding right before you. Now you say that at least 30 bodies have arrived in the hospital this morning, dozens more wounded. Eyewitnesses are telling you that these are victims from people who are trying to gather aid, trying to get food in a place that's on the brink of famine.

Explain to me what resources you have in the hospital to treat those victims. The hospital system is, of course, on the brink of collapse.

MELIN: Yes, it's, I think, hard to describe the scene to anyone who hasn't been here. But you know -- and the floor is literally completely full of blood. There are people that are, you know, kneeling down to put a breathing tube in, for example.

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There are people bringing the next patient in, tripping on you, trying to find a spot, just a physical space on the ground, to lay someone down. There's, you know, not only are medicines and supplies critically short but there's not even physically space in the floors to amass all these people.

And Nassar has a big ER. And there's -- and there's still not enough space to fit everyone that was injured this morning. Yes. And as far as medications and supplies, I mean even sterility type things are lacking.

You know, simple things like alcohol, clean equipment, iodine, those type of things, let alone the fancier things, like ventilators and different medications that we would like to use in the ER.

ABDELAZIZ: I can't imagine how you're providing medical care in the situation you're talking about here. You said blood on the floor, patients being treated for gunshot wounds on the ground. You don't even have basic sanitation, basic alcohol to clear the area.

Is this an unusual morning for you in Gaza or is this something you see every day?

And in particular, can you speak to me about children?

I know you've treated so many in the past.

And how many of those victims, those youngest, that you see coming into the hospital?

MELIN: Yes. Sadly, no, this is this is not an abnormal day. The days where we don't have a mass casualty are kind of the surprising ones. And we're all kind of, you know, waiting for that to happen.

But occasionally we'll go 24 or 48 hours without a large event, a large mass casualty like this happening. As far as the children go, you know, it kind of varies day to day. But you know, the majority of the patients that we see, especially from explosive trauma, are children.

And, you know, on some days it seems like they are even specifically targeted. It feels like we have had kids on a number of occasions, we've had multiple kids come in with gunshot wounds to the head, down to -- I think the youngest I've seen was maybe 2.5 years old. Yes. Go ahead.

ABDELAZIZ: No, I was going to ask you, what do you need right now?

I mean, you've laid out an absolutely catastrophic situation on the ground. There are attempts, of course, to negotiate a ceasefire. There have been calls for more aid, more assistance.

But can you explain for our viewers, what do you need right now as a doctor in a hospital in Gaza?

MELIN: We need a border that lets all the medical supplies in. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of more trucks of everything. There's literally almost nothing here. People are starving. The desperation is it's so palpable.

And the people who are going to get this food, those are the ones that that have nothing. You know, food right here is, you know, it's a luxury of the privileged. You know, if you're lucky enough to have some money left, you're, you know, you're the only people that can afford, you know, actual food.

Everyone else is going to these, you know, massacre sites, you know, to do their best, even though they know that it comes with this incredible amount of danger. So we need, you know, humanitarian, you know, access to the standard humanitarian things.

And we need our patients to be fed. The patients, you know, with these injuries, like even if we can keep them alive, from the medical standpoint, we can't feed them. Their wounds will never heal and they won't survive what are, you know, totally survivable injuries.

ABDELAZIZ: Food is a luxury for the rich in Gaza. People are being treated on the floors of hospital. Dr. Travis right now is dealing with a mass casualty event. At least 30 people killed, according to what you've seen on the ground, dozens more being wounded. These people were simply trying to get food in a place that is starving.

Thank you so much, Dr. Travis, for taking time to speak to us.

MELIN: Yes, of course.

ABDELAZIZ: A ceasefire between Syria and Israel appears to be holding hours after it was announced by the U.S. ambassador to Turkiye. The U.S. envoy says Turkiye, Jordan and other neighboring countries have embraced the deal. Syria and Israel have not yet commented on the reported agreement.

The ceasefire comes after Israel launched airstrikes on Syria on Wednesday. Israel says they were aimed at protecting the Druze, a minority group.

Clashes erupted last weekend between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes that prompted the Syrian government to deploy troops to quell the fighting and the U.N. is now demanding accountability for human rights violations.

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RAVINA SHAMDASANI, U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE SPOKESPERSON: Credible reports that our office has received indicate widespread violations and abuses, including summary executions and arbitrary killings, kidnappings, destruction of private property and looting of homes in the southern city of Suwayda.

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Among the reported perpetrators were members of the security forces and individuals affiliated with the interim authorities, as well as other armed elements from the area, including the Druze and Bedouin.

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ABDELAZIZ: The Syrian Network for Human Rights says more than 300 civilians were killed and more than 400 people wounded in southern Syria since the clashes erupted last weekend. The monitoring group says the victims include women, children and medical personnel.

Now CNN cannot independently verify the figures but we have reached out to the Syrian government for comment. The U.N. says more than 79,000 people were displaced inside Syria between last Sunday and this Thursday evening.

The reported ceasefire between Syria and Israel follows on the heels of a truce announced between other factions on the ground in southern Syria. More details now from CNN's Ben Wedeman on that truce.

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BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: A ceasefire was supposed to be in effect Friday between clashing Druze fighters and tribal militias in the southern Syrian city of Suwayda. The ceasefire, mediated by U.S., Turkish and Arab diplomats, is shaky at best, with fighting reported Friday to the north and West of Suwayda.

This latest round of communal violence in Syria has left several hundred dead and, according to the United Nations, almost 80,000 people have been displaced. The fighting has drawn in Israel as well, with Israeli planes earlier this week striking targets in Suwayda as well as in the heart of Damascus.

Israel claimed it was coming to the defense of the Druze, a Muslim minority also present in Israel and Lebanon since the fall of the Assad regime last December. The Druze-run Suwayda military council has been the de facto power in the city and has been hesitant to allow Damascus to extend its authority there.

Many Syrians and not just the Druze distrust a provisional government dominated by figures who, until quite recently, were members of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, an offshoot of Al Qaeda. This week's violence is the latest outbreak of communal fighting in post-Assad, Syria.

In March, around 1,500 people were killed in fighting between pro- government forces and members of the Alawite minority, of which the Assad dynasty were members. May saw clashes between Druze forces and government security, in which more than 100 people were killed.

Now Friday, the U.N. human rights office expressed alarm at credible reports, it said, of summary executions, arbitrary killings and kidnappings by all of them -- government forces, Druze and Druze and tribal fighters. The ceasefire is at best hanging on a thread -- I'm Ben Wedeman, CNN, reporting from Rome.

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ABDELAZIZ: The U.K. is imposing sanctions on three Russian military intelligence units and 18 officers. British officials accused them of carrying out a sustained campaign of malicious cyber activity, including aiding a strike on a theater in Mariupol in Ukraine in 2022. More than 1,000 people were sheltering in the theater at that time.

Ukraine says the strike killed hundreds of them. But CNN has been unable to independently verify that death toll.

And president Trump filed a $20 billion libel lawsuit against the publisher of "The Wall Street Journal" and several others over a story about alleged letters given to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, including a note reportedly bearing the president's name.

Mr. Trump denies he wrote the note. Meanwhile, he asked the Department of Justice to release some grand jury testimony from the case against Epstein. CNN's Kristen Holmes is covering all of this from Washington for us.

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Trump promptly filing that lawsuit Friday against "The Wall Street Journal" and News Corp., following that article the day before about a letter given to Jeffrey Epstein, alleged letter, that president Trump denies from him for Epstein's birthday.

And this is something obviously, he said he was going to do. But the timeliness of it, the fact that it happened so quickly, just goes to show you how angry president Trump was about them publishing this story.

But overall, the sentiment inside of the White House has shifted when it comes to this story. They really spent the last two weeks on the defensive. Everything was a pushback to not only journalists and Democrats but also to their own loyalist base, who have been so angry about the way that this Epstein case has been handled.

Now what we're seeing is a slow drip, drip, drip of Trump, kind of trying to appease his base.

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He obviously asked the attorney general to unseal the grand jury testimony. But there are still a lot of questions, even from some of his biggest supporters, as to what exactly this means.

They still believe there's going to be redactions. And generally speaking, his base believes there is still far more files or information about the investigation that needs to be released.

As of now, we saw president Trump. We tried to ask him questions all day long about this. He ignored any questions about Epstein, clearly not wanting to talk about it. But he did feel free posting about it.

One of the things that he did say put us on Truth Social, "If there was a smoking gun on Epstein, why didn't the Democrats, who controlled the files for four years and had Garland and Comey in charge, use it?

"Because they had nothing." Clearly this is now a new talking point here. But I will tell you one thing. After that article came out on Thursday, we have seen a coalescing circling of the wagons around president Trump in a way that we hadn't seen before. But whether or not that lasts, that is the question -- Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

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ABDELAZIZ: Dozens are dead after summer monsoons flood Pakistan. Just ahead, we'll update you on the extreme weather and hear from an aid worker there.

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ABDELAZIZ: This just in: South Korea's jailed ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol has been indicted on new charges tied to his short-lived declaration of martial law last year. Those new charges include obstruction of the exercise of others' rights by abuse of authority, ordering the deletion of records and blocking the execution of arrest warrants.

The impeached and deposed former leader is already on trial for charges of insurrection, which is punishable by death or life imprisonment. He has denied all wrongdoing. His lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on these new charges.

Now in just the past day, at least 63 people have died and nearly 300 have been injured from flooding in Pakistan. Islamabad is dealing with relentless rain that's lasted for weeks in some areas of Punjab province. Floodwaters were more than nine feet deep. Streets are blocked and residents are working to clear debris and mud.

Pakistan has set up seven flood relief camps to provide food and medicine but some people say they need to see more support from their government.

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ASAD ALI, PUNJAB RESIDENT (through translator): Nine feet of water destroyed our homes. Everything is gone. Utensils, belongings, everything.

But you know what hurts the most?

No government official came to ask how we're doing. No sympathy, no help. We're just poor people.

But aren't we Pakistanis, too?

Don't we deserve some compassion? ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The summer monsoon rains are critical for

crops and water supplies across South Asia. But climate change and rapid urban development are blamed for turning the monsoons into extreme flooding.

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ABDELAZIZ: Scott Whoolery is UNICEF's Chief of Field Operations and Emergencies in Pakistan. He joins us live from Islamabad.

Thank you so much for making the time, first of all, to speak to us in the middle of what is a challenging catastrophe. I want you to speak to me about what those challenges are for you in providing that emergency relief. And in particular, I want to speak about children. I understand they make up about half of the victims.

SCOTT WHOOLERY, CHIEF OF FIELD OPERATIONS AND EMERGENCY, UNICEF PAKISTAN: That's right, Salma, and thank you for having us today. What we're witnessing across Pakistan right now is the devastating intersection between extreme weather and extreme vulnerability.

We're especially seeing that with children. We've seen 93 fatalities since the monsoon season started in June. We're just weeks into the monsoon, which will go into September, and we're already seeing the heightened risks, especially to children of the monsoon rains.

The memories of the 2022 floods, which were historic and devastating to the country, are really heavy on people's mind. The country is on edge. Honestly, children are scared when it rains.

ABDELAZIZ: That's terrifying to hear, that children are scared when it rains.

What do you need right now to provide the emergency services to those most impacted?

What services, what help do you need?

WHOOLERY: Well, UNICEF is well prepared. We have supplies. We have experienced staff. We have experienced partners. And when the need is there, we're ready to respond.

The most difficult thing is how quickly these floods are resulting in landslides and flash floods, potential drowning, electrocution. And it's very difficult for populations to be properly prepared and to get out of risk's way. So we're seeing this across the country.

We're seeing especially difficulties in remote areas, where information is often lacking for them to be prepared. As far as those who are impacted by it, it is really being able to have the right coordination and get information on those who are affected and get the right services in to them.

Fortunately, we haven't seen major infrastructure damage so far or interruptions in services. But the impact on individual people's lives is hard to overestimate. ABDELAZIZ: And when you talk about preparedness, I want to read you a

quote from a Pakistani senator, Sherry Rehman.

And she says, "This is not just bad weather. It is a symptom of an accelerating climate crisis."

Could a disaster like this one have been mitigated?

And how can Pakistan prepare for a future when we're speaking about the climate crisis?

WHOOLERY: Well, Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change.

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The resources to be able to mitigate that impact and to invest in adaptation simply haven't been there.

And so while we see increased impacts of climate change, we have much more destructive storms. We've had heat waves in Pakistan with temperatures up to 50 degrees. We simply aren't able to keep up with our adaptation and our efforts to the changes in climate change. We feel we're behind and falling further behind.

ABDELAZIZ: Behind in climate change. I will remember that you said children are terrified of the rain. Scott Whoolery, thank you so much for your time.

WHOOLERY: Thank you.

ABDELAZIZ: The Trump administration is celebrating the return of 10 Americans released by Venezuela in a prisoner swap with the United States. That story and much more just ahead.

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ABDELAZIZ: U.S. officials say the Trump administration has completed a large-scale prisoner swap with Venezuela; 252 Venezuelans deported from the U.S. and held in a notorious prison in El Salvador were sent back to their home country on Friday. In exchange, 10 Americans held in Venezuela were released.

Now the future of Japan's coalition government is on the line in tomorrow's upper house elections. Immigration has emerged as a key issue with a small right-wing party leading the change. As CNN's Hanako Montgomery reports, the prime minister scrambled this week to launch a new task force aimed specifically at foreign nationals.

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Japan's ruling party faces trouble heading into Sunday's upper house elections. Polls show the Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner could lose their majority, something we haven't seen in years.

That could force the prime minister to resign and a new coalition government made up of smaller opposition parties to form. And political analysts say it really comes down to three things: a rising cost of living, a weak currency and trade tensions with the U.S.

The prime minister hasn't landed a trade deal, putting Japan's auto industry at risk. Inflation is also pushing up prices and the weekend is luring in record tourists while driving up everyday costs for locals. Now interestingly, immigration has suddenly become a hot button issue.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): We will oppose the excessive acceptance of foreigners and foreign capital to protect Japan's culture, public safety and economy. We will establish a new comprehensive immigration policy agency.

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MONTGOMERY: A small right-wing party, the Sanseito, is looking to capitalize on widespread voter frustration, blaming immigrants for stealing jobs, draining taxes and driving up crime.

But the data tells a different story. While Japan's foreign population has more than doubled in the past 20 years, it still only comprises about 3 percent of residents. And crime during that period has actually dropped.

And with a growing labor shortage, Japan has said it needs immigrants just to keep daily life running. Still, this fringe party is gaining traction, especially with men under 40, according to some local media polls. That's thanks in part to its massive YouTube following.

They've tried to attract attention by copying some of U.S. president Donald Trump's well-known political branding, promising a Japan first agenda. But even if they win big on Sunday, this is no MAGA movement just yet.

A strong performance for the party would only see them control a fraction of seats in Japan's parliament.

But despite their small size, they've shifted the political conversation enough that the ruling party just launched a task force targeting, quote, "crimes and disorderly conduct" by foreign nationals, vowing to pursue, quote, "zero illegal foreigners."

And whether it helps them at the polls or backfires will soon be clear -- Hanako Montgomery, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE) ABDELAZIZ: Everyone has seen it. A Coldplay concert video goes viral and, the next thing you know, a CEO is put on leave.

The kiss cam seen around the world showed two coworkers snuggling but there's a lot more to the story just ahead.

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ABDELAZIZ: A married tech CEO caught on a giant screen, snuggling with a female coworker, has been placed on leave. His company. Astronomer, made the announcement on Friday.

This video shows CEO Andy Byron hugging the company's chief people officer, Kristin Cabot. It happened at a Coldplay concert while the band performed the JumboTron song. Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin joked about how quickly the couple tried to hide.

And, of course, the video very quickly went viral. Astronomer says its board is launching an investigation.

Thank you for joining us. I'm Salma Abdelaziz. "WORLD SPORT" is up next. Then at the top of the hour, CNN NEWSROOM continues with Kim Brunhuber.