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Trump Acknowledges Starvation in Gaza; Two Israeli Rights Groups Accuse Israel of Genocide; Trump Gives Putin 10 to 12 Days to Reach Ceasefire Deal; At Least 30 Dead in Beijing After Days of Heavy Rain; Kim Jong-un's Sister Says U.S. Can Only Hope for a Summit; King Jong-un's Sister: U.S. Can Only 'Hope' for a Summit; Former Colombian President Convicted of Bribery; Argentina Poised to Re-enter U.S. Visa Waiver Program. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired July 29, 2025 - 00:00 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 INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Yes, they really are starving in Gaza. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a real starvation stuff. I see it, and you can't fake that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And for the first time, the U.S. president acknowledged the crisis, demanding Israel allow every ounce of food into the territory.
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SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Many of them barricaded themselves in their offices with whatever they could.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Fear and death on Park Avenue as the lone gunman armed with a military style rifle opens fire in a New York high rise.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Trump is threatening something that would have an extraordinary impact on the global economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Moscow has less than two weeks to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine, while the U.S. president will impose secondary sanctions on Russian exports.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause. VAUSE: For the first time, U.S. President Donald Trump has
acknowledged starvation in Gaza is real. And he says much of the responsibility lies with Israel. A clear rejection of comments from the Israeli prime minister, who claims no one is starving in Gaza.
Until now, President Trump has mostly blamed Hamas for the crisis. Now he's promising increased U.S. financial aid, as well as establishing food centers in Gaza in conjunction with some very good people, in his words. And he demanded Israel allow all humanitarian assistance into the Palestinian territory.
Israeli officials say a 10-hour longer pause each day in military operations will continue to ensure safe passage of aid convoys and, along with Jordan and the UAE, Israel has been air-dropping food and other supplies into Gaza.
Still, hospitals report another 14 deaths in the past day due to famine and malnutrition. The U.N. aid chief says while there has been a surge in aid deliveries in recent days, much has been lost to looting. And he adds the next few days will be make or break for relief efforts.
For more now on President Trump's plans to address the hunger crisis in Gaza, here's CNN's Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. president, Donald Trump, saying bluntly starvation is real and Israel must do more. Perhaps obvious statements to some but the significance was not lost on many world leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who met with Donald Trump on Monday here in Scotland to draw the world's attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The U.S. will be setting up food centers, Trump said, and will be doing more to help in Gaza. He said it's an urgent need.
TRUMP: But we're going to be getting some good, strong food. We can save a lot of people. I mean, some of those kids are -- that's real starvation stuff. I see it. And you can't fake that. So we're going to be even more involved.
ZELENY: But those comments right there saying you cannot fake starvation were a simple rebuke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who over the weekend said that the starvation was not happening in Gaza. Clearly, the world can see that through images. So now the U.S. president, along with other world leaders trying to come together to work on this humanitarian crisis to lessen the suffering.
It is significant that Trump said, yes, the U.S. would help set up food centers, but it's also a test for this administration, for the moral authority of the United States. There's no doubt about that. Unclear how the America First agenda that Trump has so espoused will fit into this, but he's gone several weeks without really talking about Gaza. That changed with the meeting with the British prime minister. And that, of course, was by design. This is coming as the American president is also denouncing Russian
President Vladimir Putin, narrowing the window for him to make peace in Ukraine, coming as Trump brings to a close his five-day stay here in Scotland, of course, the homeland of his mother, which he talked about frequently. But it's also a mix of Trump family business with U.S. business. He'll be opening a golf course on Tuesday before flying back to Washington.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Edinburgh, Scotland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, Israel is facing growing international outrage over the hunger crisis in Gaza. At home, two leading Israeli human rights groups are accusing the Israeli government of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. One of the groups, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, published a legal and medical analysis documenting what it says is a deliberate and systematic extermination of the health system in Gaza.
Israel's Foreign Ministry dismissed the report as politically motivated, describing the accusations as obscene and baseless, while repeating claims the Israeli military only targets Hamas, not civilians, and extensive measures are taken to avoid harming civilians.
Here's the spokesperson for the Israeli government.
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DAVID MERCER, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESPERSON: When it comes to this accusation of genocide, yes, of course we have free speech here in Israel.
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But we strongly reject the accusation. It is baseless. There is no intent, key for the charge of genocide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Tirza Liebowitz is the deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights Israel, one of the groups behind the report alleging genocide. She joins us this hour from Tel Aviv.
Thank you for getting up early.
TIRZA LEIBOWITZ, PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ISRAEL: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: Your report details what it calls the calculated and systematic destruction of the health care system in Gaza, as well as the targeting of the system of humanitarian relief. Here's a quote from the report.
"This coordinated assault has produced a cascading failure of health and humanitarian infrastructure, compounded by policies leading to starvation, disease, and the breakdown of sanitation, housing and education systems. These acts are not incidental to war, but rather part of a deliberate policy targeting Palestinians as a group."
The report goes on saying, the only realistic conclusion from all of this is that the Israeli government is embarking on a deliberate policy of genocide. So I gave the big, broad brushstrokes there, but explain how those actions amount to the legal definition of genocide.
LEIBOWITZ: So genocide can be conducted through direct killing that appears in the Genocide Convention. However, and there is wanton killing, as we all know. We hear the numbers. We hear the figures, we hear the figures of men, women and children who are killed in Gaza. In addition, the Genocide Convention also defines the deliberate infliction of conditions of life that are designed to bring the group's destruction.
So we're talking about conditions of life and denying them. That also constitutes genocide. And in our report, we review those conditions of life. We start with the health system, the health system underpins the survivability of a community, of a people, of a nation. Without health, people cannot survive. And we need to imagine in regular circumstances, it's not possible. Imagine now a community, a people, a collective that is being bombarded, injured, wounded and killed. And that health system is in a systematic way dismantled.
In addition to that, we're talking about --
VAUSE: Sorry. Please continue. I didn't interrupt, sorry.
LEIBOWITZ: Beyond the only just the hospitals we're talking about life conditions that have to do with health but are broader than that, what we call social determinants of health, whether it's education, it's the environment. All those things have also been attacked.
VAUSE: So the Israeli government would argue their actions in Gaza are needed to secure the safety of Israel. Your report counters, though, with this, "The scale, pattern and nature of the operations, as well as accompanying statements indicate the implementation of a broader policy aimed at destroying Palestinian society in Gaza and making the enclave uninhabitable."
Is your argument, essentially, that what you're putting forward here is that this was a policy which was perhaps, what, openly debated and discussed among the Israeli security cabinet at some point, or at least at a very high level among government ministers, as opposed to just an unfortunate development how this war kind of played out over time?
LEIBOWITZ: I think we don't have to go far. I mean, we do have the statements from the beginning of the war about the intent. And it's been said in so many ways, starting with the prime minister and through the president and through ministers and through members of the parliament, as well. So -- and the military. So those statements are there and they continue to this day. Our report mentions those statements because they actually help get to
the -- answer the question of intent. But actually our focus is about actions. And so if the claim is we intend, you know, we're targeting the military side, the Hamas, if that's the claim, how does that explain that in the first month of the attack in October 23, already, evacuation orders for 22 hospitals came out. How does it explain the playbook that Israel has been following hospital by hospital, ordering its evacuation, raiding it, destroying equipment, preventing aid, preventing medications, preventing supplies, then targeting and killing over 1500 health workers, including senior doctors?
We have in Al-Shifa Hospital, one of the main hospitals, six department directors who have been killed, including emergency, orthopedics and maternity. How does it explain the detention of hundreds of healthcare workers? All of these facts put together as you correctly read to me beforehand, these lead to the only reasonable inference that this is deliberate. The dismantling is systematic.
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VAUSE: Very quick question, because you did this report in conjunction with another Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem. So why did it take 22 months for you to get to these conclusions? This war has been going on for a very long time.
LEIBOWITZ: That's true. And we're not the first ones. There have been organizations. There have been experts. There have been experts in Israel as well, not human rights organizations, that have called this out as genocide. This has happened. And we read these reports. We relied on them and we added specifically the health perspective based on 22 months of documenting each of these separately.
We've been documenting the following the destruction of infrastructure. We've been following and speaking to some of the doctors that have been detained. We have been receiving calls by hundreds and thousands of families for evacuation of their loved ones because they could not receive health care. We've been doing all of that, and we realized that we absolutely need to call what is happening out.
And the international justice system provides a -- the right tool to name what is happening, which is important to name because it in itself sets off possibilities on the international level. It is also something that we owe to humanity. It is something that we owe in terms of solidarity with our -- with the Palestinian people and with our medical colleagues in Gaza as well.
VAUSE: Tirza Leibowitz, it is a -- it's a very big report. It's very detailed. It is obviously not an easy thing to accuse your own country of genocide, but we appreciate you being with us and going into some detail for us as well. Thank you.
LEIBOWITZ: Thank you.
VAUSE: Still no word on a motive after a mass shooting in a Park Avenue high rise in Midtown Manhattan. Four people, including an off- duty police officer, were killed by a gunman identified as a 27-year- old from Las Vegas, who shot and killed himself inside the building. He was recorded on security video walking into the skyscraper with an M-4 assault style rifle in broad daylight, not far from some of the most iconic venues and tourist spots in New York.
Police gave new details a short time ago about the gunman's travels leading up to the shooting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA TISCH, NEW YORK CITY POLICE COMMISSIONER: The initial investigation shows that Mr. Tamura's vehicle traveled cross-country through Colorado on July 26th. Then Nebraska and Iowa on July 27th. And then in Columbia, New Jersey, as recently as 4:24 p.m. today. The vehicle entered New York City shortly thereafter.
According to our law enforcement partners in Las Vegas, Mr. Tamura has a documented mental health history. His motives are still under investigation, and we are working to understand why he targeted this particular location.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The building where this took place, 345 Park Avenue, is home to the corporate offices of the National Football League and the Blackstone investment firm, among many other businesses.
Moscow now has less than two weeks to reach a ceasefire deal with Ukraine after the U.S. president unexpectedly slashed his initial 50- day deadline to no more than 12. If they fail to reach an agreement, then the U.S. will target Moscow with harsher economic penalties. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Donald Trump's determination. The Ukrainian president taking to social media to thank Donald Trump for, quote, "his focus on saving lives and stopping this horrible war."
But so far, Trump's ultimatums have not fazed Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin has only ramped up its brutal attacks on Ukraine's cities in recent weeks.
CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has more now reporting in from Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PATON WALSH: Well, there has been obviously a positive Ukrainian reaction to the news of a significantly shortened deadline from U.S. President Donald Trump, suggesting again, Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, this is about peace through strength and how Vladimir Putin essentially respects power. But I don't think there's much positivity that suddenly in the next 10 days we'll see an urgent peace deal signed and agreed to by the Kremlin.
Bear in mind that at the moment, Ukraine is experiencing significant issues along its eastern front line, with three key towns at risk of some kind of encirclement by Russian forces. Russia's progress incremental, yes, but beginning in this intense offensive to show some kind of strategic gain, the shortened deadline will certainly remove concerns that this 50-day deadline had originally given the Putin administration most of the summer to pursue their offensive.
But it doesn't immediately cause change in Russia's military maneuvers. And indeed, the 10 days ahead could cause Russia to advance significantly in other areas.
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And you have to also bear in mind, too, exactly what Trump is indeed threatening here. The secondary sanctions or tariffs won't necessarily be directed towards Russia. They're directed towards Russia's primary customers of energy, China and India. Now, China is utterly dependent on Russian oil and gas and a key ally of Moscow. India is an American ally that's also dependent on Russian gas and indeed, through complex mechanisms, has been allowed to keep buying Russian oil and gas to essentially keep the global oil price lower.
In the event of sanctions or tariffs against these two key customers, that's going to cause havoc across the global energy market, probably cause American gas prices to rise to some degree. So Trump is threatening something that would have an extraordinary impact on the global economy, for sure. And indeed potentially mean that he's doing things that his predecessor, President Joe Biden felt were perhaps a little too severe.
This may cause Beijing to reach out and pressure Moscow, but they have suggested, in talks with E.U. diplomats that they ultimately think they can't afford to see Russia lose this war because that would mean the U.S.'s primary focus shifts entirely towards China. So I'm sure there are many in Ukraine here who hear sirens like you can hear now every night that will welcome the renewed urgency that indeed Trump's new deadline sets to finding peace here or addressing Ukraine's issues on the front line. But I don't think many people here believe it's going to suddenly change their course in the war.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Eastern Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come here on CNN, deadly flooding and landslides in China's capital, with 80,000 residents forced to flee the torrential downpours. We'll have the very latest in a live report when we come back.
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VAUSE: Northern China has been pummeled by heavy rains in recent days and in the -- on the outskirts of Beijing, the storms have turned deadly, killing at least 30 people. Flooding has devastated local infrastructure, damaging dozens of roads. Power supplies are out for more than 100 villages. Chinese state media reporting the flooding has forced more than 80,000 people to be evacuated.
Live now to Hong Kong with the very latest. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout.
So, you know, this is Beijing. This is the capital. You know, I spent a lot of time there, never had floods. So why is it now vulnerable to this flood risk?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, and these are heartbreaking scenes that are playing out in Beijing and across the country these heavy rains have triggered these devastating floods and landslides, taking the lives of dozens of people in Beijing. At least 30 people have been killed as a result of this heavy rain.
The situation is particularly dire in Beijing. Usually in arid and dry community there, simply not used to the deluge of water that is pouring down on them. According to state run media they're now reporting some 80,000 people in Beijing have been displaced. They're also reporting that dozens of roads have been damaged and electricity and power has been simply cut off to more than 135 villages.
I want to show you this video of Miyun District in Beijing, where you can see the devastation as a result of these heavy rains. You see the swollen rivers. There have been villages and village homes that have been destroyed, damaged or even partially or fully submerged as a result of these rising waters and the rain there.
Beijing has issued its highest level flood alert and the villagers have been speaking out. Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MR. ZHENG, 82-YEAR-OLD VILLAGER (through translator): For half a day and half a night didn't stop at all. It finally stopped a little after 2:00 a.m. in the morning.
GUO SHUZHEN, 74-YEAR-OLD RESIDENT (through translator): This morning I spent half the day here cleaning up and going through the cabinets. All the trophies, certificates and medals my son won from competitions across the country through the Beijing disabled persons federation were all knocked over on the ground. So I put them in order. It's already been two days and no one's come to help him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: And it is not just Beijing. There is heavy rain across the country. State-run media have been airing and screening video of the downpour and the torrent of rain in places like Hebei, Inner Mongolia, as well as Tianjin. We've also heard from the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, who has been urging officials to do the utmost in search and rescue and to look for the missing. He issued a statement saying this.
Let's bring it up for you. Quote, "Emergency response must be activated and carried out at the earliest possible moment to fully protect people's lives and property." Xi Jinping has also urged authorities to properly relocate the tens of thousands of people in the Chinese capital who have been displaced as this unfolding disaster goes on.
Back to you.
VAUSE: Kristie, thank you. Kristie Lu Stout there reporting live from Hong Kong on these flash floods, which seem to come out of nowhere for a lot of people, water rising very quickly.
We'll take a short break. When we come back here on CNN, President Trump said he'd like to reach out again to Kim Jong-un, and maybe have some nuclear discussions. But is North Korea ready for those talks? A live report in a moment.
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VAUSE: Welcome back to our viewers all around the world. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Some things never stay the same. And so it goes with Donald Trump, it seems, and North Korea. State media there reports the odds of another summit between Kim Jong-un and President Trump is being not so great. The sister of Kim Jong-un, who's a high ranking official, saying things have changed since the last meeting between -- more than six years ago.
Live now to CNN's Will Ripley in Taipei.
There's also a major condition before these talks ever even begin, according to Kim Jong-un's sister.
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John, it all has to do with the D word. I'm talking about denuclearization of course. That's the big sticking point. The North Koreans say they're not interested in talking with the United States about getting rid of their nuclear weapons. They've kind of made that clear with the repeated barrage of missile tests. They haven't done a nuclear test in quite a while, but they probably could at any point if they wanted to.
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And so, when Kim Yo Jong did signal in state media that talks with the United States are possible, it's only if the United States accepts North Korea as a nuclear weapons state.
And the White House, which has been trying, reportedly, to deliver a letter from Trump to Kim to restart a dialog, which the North Koreans at the United Nations mission in New York reportedly wouldn't even accept. They came out and said that President Trump is very much still open to talks with Kim about a fully denuclearized North Korea.
So, at this point, there's still some distance, to say the least, between what conditions the United States would like to talk and what North Korea's very powerful younger sister of Kim Jong-un is signaling would be possible.
But I do think that we should watch this space closely, John, because later this year, in October, President Trump is expected to travel to South Korea to meet with President Xi (ph), the South Korean president, who's also signaled he's open to engaging with the North, even though the North Koreans say they're not interested in that.
Could that be an opportunity, when Trump is in the region, to have a chit-chat with Kim Jong-un like he did back in 2019? Should be pretty interesting. So, we're keeping an eye on it.
VAUSE: They're always playing a bit coy, a little bit not interested, at least initially. And then things tend to warm up a little bit, hopefully.
Will, thank you. Will Ripley live for us in Taipei.
Thailand's acting prime minister says the situation is now calm after the Thai army accused Cambodia of deliberately violating a ceasefire just hours after it went into effect.
Thai military officials say Cambodian forces carried out multiple instances of attacks in a contested border region. But Cambodia's defense ministry denies those claims.
And the country's militaries plan to continue negotiations Tuesday, the day after leaders agreed everyone should put down their weapons.
Ahead here on CNN Alvaro Uribe becomes the first former Colombian leader to be found guilty of a crime. We'll have details on his conviction and when he'll be sentenced, next on CNN NEWSROOM.
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VAUSE: Independence Day celebrations in the Peruvian capital of Lima turned violent, with anti-government protesters clashing with police.
Several people were reportedly injured as the demonstration approached Congress. That's where President Dina Boluarte was delivering a speech, detailing plans for mining and construction projects worth a combined $10 billion.
It remains to be seen if that deal will help President Boluarte's approval ratings, currently standing at 2.4 percent.
In an unprecedented development, a Colombian judge has found former President Alvaro Uribe guilty of bribery and abuse of process, which is similar to abuse of power, in a decades-long witness tampering case.
It's the first time a prominent Colombian leader has been convicted at trial.
Stefano Pozzebon has details now, reporting in from Bogota.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The ruling that found the former
Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe, guilty is historic, because it's the first time ever that a former head of state has been convicted of a crime in Colombia.
POZZEBON (voice-over): Uribe has been one of the most powerful and consequential leaders in Colombian recent history, and on Monday, he was found guilty on two charges: abuse of process and bribery.
This is coming at the end of a judiciary case that has lasted for more than 12 years.
At the same time, Uribe was found not guilty of a separate bribery charge. Also, the attorney general --
POZZEBON: -- is demanding jail time, and we know that the sentence will be read at the end of the week.
POZZEBON (voice-over): Many in Colombia have celebrated the ruling against Uribe, who has often been associated with paramilitary formations in some of the darkest chapters of Colombia's civil war. At the same time, he has never been found guilty, up until Monday night.
POZZEBON: Uribe's defense instead has already claimed their intention to appeal the ruling and claimed innocent.
This ruling carries enormous significance also because Colombia is --
POZZEBON (voice-over): -- less than a year away from a presidential vote where many expected Uribe to play a key role in selecting a unitary candidate for the right-wing and conservative movement.
POZZEBON: It is yet to be seen if the fact that he's been found guilty in this process means that he will also lose some of his political weight.
For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
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VAUSE: The U.S. secretary of homeland security will head to Chile in the coming day. That's after visiting Argentina, where Kristi Noem lavished praise on the government of President Javier Milei, an ally of President Trump.
And now, it just so happens the Trump administration is trying to make it easier for Argentinians to visit the United States.
CNN's Cecilia Dominguez has our report from Buenos Aires.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CECILIA DOMINGUEZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The United States Department of homeland security --
DOMINGUEZ (voice-over): -- secretary, Kristi Noem, is in Argentina and met on Monday morning with President Javier Milei.
After the meeting, it was confirmed that Argentina and the United States signed a statement of intent to work toward Argentina's reentry to the visa waiver program.
DOMINGUEZ: What does this exactly mean? Currently, Argentine citizens are required to obtain a visa to enter the United States.
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The visa waiver program will allow citizens from Argentina, in this case, to travel to the U.S. for tourism or business without having to apply for a visa in advance.
Argentina was previously a part of the program back in 1996, during the presidency of Carlos Menem, but it was removed from the program in 2002.
While the process to reentry [SIC] the program takes time, as it requires meeting strict security standards, the commitment was formally established this Monday. U.S. officials, Argentina's national security minister, Patricia Bullrich, and Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein were part of the meeting, as well.
Cecilia Dominguez, CNN, Buenos Aires.
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VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause. Please stay with us. More news at the top of the hour. In the meantime, WORLD SPORT starts after a short break. See you right back here in about 19 minutes.
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