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CNN This Morning

Harris, Trump Focusing Efforts On Key Battleground States; Harris Focuses On Reproductive Rights At Georgia Rally; Trump Paints Rosy View Of U.S. With Him As President Again; Nearly 12 Million Ballots Cast In States With Early Voting; Israel Still Weighing Options On How To Respond To Iran Missile Attack; Israel Retaliation Plans Leaked On Telegram; Trump Claims Netanyahu Called Him And Said He's Not Listening To Biden's Advice. Millions In Cuba Without Power As Grid Collapses Again; Israeli Pathologist: Sinwar Died From Bullet To The Head; Helene And Milton Likely To Be $50 Billion Disasters; Helping People In Rehab Find A Place For Their Pets. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired October 20, 2024 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:37]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING, Sunday, October 20th. Thanks for joining us. I'm Victor Blackwell.

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Amara Walker. And our colleague, Kaitlan Collins, is in Tel Aviv this morning with new developments out of the Middle East. We will check in with Kaitlan, of course, in just a few minutes.

BLACKWELL: We're starting this morning on the campaign trail. Election Day, 16 days away. The candidates are sharpening their attacks on one another.

Now, we say Election Day is 16 days away, but the voting really is happening right now, most states early voting has begun. Nearly 12 million ballots have been cast so far. The election could ultimately be decided, though, in just a handful of those battleground states. And that's where both campaigns are focusing their efforts.

WALKER: Vice President Harris will attend church services outside of Atlanta. While Tim Walz will start his day attending church in Michigan.

Meanwhile, former President Trump will hold a town hall in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. While J.D. Vance, the attends the Packers' game in Green Bay and a campaign event.

Now, yesterday, Harris campaigned in Michigan, and then in Georgia, where she made the argument that Trump is unfit for office. While Trump held a rally in Pennsylvania, where he called for Harris to be fired. And for about 10 minutes, he also told a meandering and at times lewd story about golf legend Arnold Palmer. Now, yesterday, former President Barack Obama continued his campaign tour in Nevada. He told crowds that Trump's rhetoric is not funny, nor is it a sign of strength. Adding, quote, "Everything a president says is serious." Obama also explained why he believes Trump only cares about himself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: He trying to sell you a Trump bible. Think about that. This is the word of God. Gideon gives it out for free.

He wants to sell you the word of God Donald Trump edition. He's got his name right there next to Matthew and Luke. And the reason he's doing it is because all he cares about is his ego and his money and his status. He's not thinking about you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: This is vice president's 60th birthday today, and she'll spend it in Atlanta. CNN's Eva McKend was at a rally yesterday in Atlanta, where she stepped up her attacks on Trump's handling of key issues. Eva, good morning.

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Victor, Amara, here in battleground Georgia, Vice President Harris elevating the issue of reproductive rights, acknowledging Amber Nicole Thurman's family in the crowd, and how she died because of her inability to get lifesaving care in this state with restrictive abortion ban.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Donald Trump still refuses to take accountability, to take any accountability for the pain and the suffering he has caused, or even to just acknowledge the pain and suffering that has actually happened.

It is my pledge to everybody here, when Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom nationwide, as president of the United States, I will proudly sign it into law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: And here in tossup Georgia, Democrats say it's all about boosting energy and enthusiasm on the ground usher here to lean into that sense of momentum. The vice president going to continue to make her case to voters at a predominantly Black church in Georgia as well as in a Souls to the Polls event, Victor, Amara.

BLACKWELL: Eva McKend, thanks so much. Former President Trump will hold a town hall in Pennsylvania today. He's also expected to work the fry cooker at a McDonald's. He continues to baselessly claim that Vice President Harris never worked at a McDonald's restaurant.

WALKER: Now, Trump made the announcement yesterday during a rally but that was not the most unusual part of yesterday's campaign stop. CNN's Steve Contorno was there, Steve.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Victor and Amara, Donald Trump campaigned in Western Pennsylvania on Saturday for what his campaign described as the beginning of his closing arguments to voters. That closing arguments began, though, with about 15-minute story about local native Arnold Palmer including a somewhat graphic description of the hall-of-fame golfer in the men's locker room.

[06:05:03]

But when he got on script, he talked about this race in very stark terms about what would happen if he wins versus if Vice President Harris wins.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: With your support, we will bring back our nation's strength, dominance, prosperity, and pride. We're going to do it. This will be America's new golden age. One hundred years from now, the presidential election of 2024 will be looked upon as America's greatest victory. I hope that's true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Donald Trump also played, for his voters, clips of Kamala Harris repeatedly saying that she will support a ban on fracking. Those clips are from her 2020 campaign for president. However, she has since distanced herself from them, but they are continuing to be used by Donald Trump in a critical state like Pennsylvania where fracking is a key issue. He also continued to attack her in darkly and deeply personal terms. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So, you have to tell Kamala Harris that you've had enough, that you just can't take it anymore. We can't stand you. You're a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) vice president. The worst. You're the worst vice president.

Kamala, you're fired. Get the hell out of here. You're fired. Get out of here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Trump on Sunday will remain in Pennsylvania. He's attending a Pittsburgh Steelers' football game. He also hold a town hall, and he intends to stop by a McDonalds to work at the fry basket. Victor and Amara.

WALKER: Steve Contorno, thank you. All right. Joining me now, national politics reporter for the "Washington Post," Sabrina Rodriguez. Sabrina, good morning to you.

Let's start with Trump. He's going to be in Pennsylvania for a second day today, but let's start with where he kicked off his speech yesterday where Steve mentioned, you know, Trump spoke for an entire 10 minutes about Arnold Palmer, golf, and other things. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But Arnold Palmer was all man, and I say that in all due respect to women. And I love women. But this guy -- this guy -- this is a guy that was all man. When he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there and they said, oh my God, that's unbelievable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Yes. Trump was referring to what you all think he was referring to there. Look, in all seriousness, you know, some of his supporters may dismiss what, you know, Trump says and these tangents as he goes on as, you know, typical Trump. Trump may spin it as, you know, a technique that he calls -- he has called the weave in some interviews.

But doesn't this raise some questions about his mental acuity? And, I guess, also the question is, does it become a liability at some point, especially when we're talking about, you know, a few thousand votes and a handful of states that can determine the election?

SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL POLITICS REPORTER, WASHINGTON POST: Absolutely. I mean, that's the -- that's the clear difference in calculations between the Harris campaign and Trump's right now. I mean, Trump's advisers would, of course, privately admit that they would love to see him focus more on the issues. They would love to see him focus on a message of, you know, what is it exactly that Harris has accomplished in the last four years, and talk about the economy, and immigration in these rallies and town halls that Trump's doing where he ends up talking for, you know, an hour-and-a-half, two hours.

By contrast, I mean, Harris' campaigns -- Harris' campaign events you see her speak for roughly 20 minutes, maybe 30. That's kind of the standard on the campaign trail. When you're hearing Donald Trump speak for an hour-and-a-half, two hours on end -- I mean, he talks about anything and everything.

We saw, you know, earlier this week, which now feels like a lifetime ago, but we saw him earlier this week, you know, end a town hall and stopped answering questions and just spend 39 minutes listening to music and just kind of walking around on stage and not taking questions, but really just listening to random songs.

And, yes, it is seen as traditionally a liability with a general election audience to sort of not focus on the issues and sort of have these anecdotes and these moments where you sort of question his mental acuity or you just question what exactly is the point of what he's doing.

But again, that is classic Trump. This is not, you know, a new person that we're being introduced with. And Harris is really banking on that sort of bringing voters home to her.

WALKER: Yes, and the vice president is going on the offensive with Trump's rambling in those attacks as we've seen, but also on the campaign trail. Here is a part of what she said last night in Atlanta.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Now, he's ducking debates and cancelling interviews because of exhaustion.

[06:10:07]

And when he does answer a question or speak at a rally, have you noticed he tends to go off script and ramble?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: I mean, Harris has been asked about her sharper attacks against Trump and portraying him in a more -- more lately as unstable and unfit. How effective -- are we getting indications as to how effective this strategy has been so far?

RODRIGUEZ: I mean, the reality is that we're seeing polls continue to be a dead heat. This isn't a race that we're seeing, you know, movement in the polls in any of the battleground states or nationally and any kind of dramatic fashion. So, that's sort of the reason that we see the Harris campaign leaning into this argument. I mean, we're in this final stretch where, you know, she is out on the road. She's, you know, attacking Trump more directly while still talking about her message.

And, I think, one of the clearest differences we've seen in the last few days is just how much Harris now is engaging with interviews. That is clearly after weeks of criticism that she wasn't engaging enough with the media. That she wasn't, you know, doing more off the cuff interviews.

We see her doing one today on her 60th birthday. And that sort of has set her up to be able to criticize Trump more directly. For her to now say with authority, well, I'm out on the road talking to people. I'm doing all these interviews, whether it's with media or podcasts or more informally. Where are you? Why are you now so exhausted?

The reality is both of them are having, you know, insane schedules on the campaign trail on this final stretch. But it does give her the opportunity to really answer that question that a lot of Americans have had about who is Kamala Harris, and we wanting to see her speak more directly to the American people. While, you know, in this final stretch, Trump is maybe pulling away a little bit more.

WALKER: I mean, 16 days left. That's it and we've already seen nearly 12 million Americans vote. I'm just curious what you think of these early voting numbers. I mean, just in these battleground states here in Georgia more than 1 million people have already early voted. Early voting started on Tuesday.

Georgia doubled its day one record. And then you also have North Carolina, another battleground, where you're seeing records being set on the first day of early voting. Are you seeing any anything that shows that, you know, perhaps Republicans or more Democrats are turning out earlier or just to show that there's lot of enthusiasm for this election?

RODRIGUEZ: I mean, I think the first thing we can definitely bank on at this point is that show of enthusiasm or just that show of -- it's not necessarily enthusiasm, but this feeling of the stakes of this election.

I think every time we say how high the stakes are every election but when you see numbers like the ones we've seen in these states in recent days, I mean, it really shows that that has resonated with people and that people do feel a responsibility to vote in the election. And I think we can slice and dice the data around early voting at this point.

You know, you look at in Georgia it's -- it was about roughly 53 percent women. So, if you look at women, then you think, oh, maybe does that benefit Kamala Harris with her message so tailored on reproductive rights and women's rights, and, you know, that distinction with Donald Trump?

But ultimately, I mean, I hate to be the person to say, you know, we won't know until we know. But it is those numbers. I mean, there's no denying that it shows how engaged people now are in these final days leading up to Election Day.

WALKER: Yes, many seem to understand just how stakes this election is. Sabrina Rodriguez, thank you.

And Anderson Cooper moderates the "CNN PRESIDENTIAL TOWN HALL" where Vice President Kamala Harris will face voters and take their most pressing questions. That's on Wednesday, 9:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.

BLACKWELL: Still to come, new Israeli airstrikes in Beirut and Gaza. And the U.S. says highly classified intelligence about Israel's plans to retaliate against Iran have been leaked. Kaitlan Collins is live in Tel Aviv. She's leading our coverage there. We'll go back to her for the latest.

Plus, most of Cuba is still in darkness after the country's national grid collapsed twice in 24 hours. We'll tell you what we know about why this is happening. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:19:07]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Kaitlan Collins in Tel- Aviv. Fighting is still raging here in this region, despite hopes in the U.S., certainly, the death of Yahya Sinwar can lead to peace talks in the area. We have some major developments happening overnight. Israel and Hamas were clashing over a deadly strike that happened in northern Gaza.

A hospital director there says a large number of people were killed in that Israeli strike and that the area around the hospital is still under direct gunfire. The IDF responding saying those numbers are exaggerated and that it's targeting a Hamas terror site there.

Tensions have still been running high as Israel is expected to respond to Iran's missile barrage that happened back on October first, still at any moment. And this is coming as leaked U.S. intelligence is shedding more light on what that could look like, what that response could be, how extensive it might be, as American officials are trying to figure out how this information became public.

[06:20:02]

CNN's Matthew Chance is here with me in Tel Aviv. Matthew, obviously, when we got word last night, these documents have been posted, two of them on Telegram site. They were being widely shared by Iranian voices online. First off, just tell us, what's in these documents, what we learned from this.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, just briefly, I mean, we're talking about two documents that described satellite images but don't show the actual satellite images. One of them is talking about recent exercises that Israel carried out, which looked like planning for certain elements of a potential strike against Iran. The other document is talking about weapons and equipment movements around Israel. Also, you know, in preparation for a potential strike.

So, it offers some insight, these documents together, into what Israel may be planning but it's not specific. You know, it has been described to me by one Israeli source that I spoke to earlier today as embarrassing rather than damaging, a minor leak, which opens up all sorts of questions as to, you know, what the source of it might be, what the motivation of it maybe as well.

COLLINS: I mean, the Israeli officials that you've spoken with, the sources you've spoken with, how are they viewing this in terms of does it change their response at all? Or are they saying not really?

CHANCE: Well, they're not -- they're not sort of sharing with me, you know, what this does to any timing of a potential Iranian -- Israeli strike on Iran. I mean, as far as, you know, officials are concerned, this is something that is likely to happen. No one is talking to us about the timing of it.

But they are saying that they are waiting to see what the outcome of the U.S. investigation is into what the source of this leak was. Again, they're describing it as a minor leak. If it is a sort of, for instance, an Iranian spy in U.S. intelligence, which is one of the possibilities, I think, that's being looked at.

What, you know, my sources are telling me is that it seems very odd that something of this small significance would be leaked and potentially risk exposing the asset inside U.S. intelligence. Another thing that's been speculated about here in the Israeli media, and is being talked about around watercoolers and Israeli officials as well is it's a deliberate leak in order to try and deter or delay any kind of Israeli strike on -- Israel. It's not clear that it was, but it is something that Israelis are kind of thinking about, and talking about, and speculating about.

COLLINS: Yes, they seemed kind of not amused but irritated in a way that it's out there and, obviously, as we're waiting for this attack to happen. Matthew Chance, thank you for that reporting.

I also want to get some analysis here from CNN political analyst and "New York Times" national security reporter, David Sanger. David, you've been reporting on this as well. In terms of just from the U.S. view and they're looking at how severe this leak is, what are you hearing from U.S. officials first on what they think the extent of the damage of this information becoming public is?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, first, Kaitlan, not much damage from the information itself. It didn't go to the timing or the targets of any potential Israeli attack on Iran. Instead, it described what the U.S. saw mostly from its spy satellites about Israeli preparation. And they were exactly what you would expect to see.

The assembly together of missiles, the dispersal of potential targets of Iranian retaliation. In other words, moving some of Israel's assets that are normally at bases that could be struck in response, getting them out of the way.

So, then the big question, as Matthew said, is why did we see this? It looked a lot like the leaks that we have seen before from -- that came out of disgruntled lower-level military who had access to some of this. It was classified, but not at the highest level. And so, I think U.S. officials' biggest concern is, is there more of it?

COLLINS: Yes. And Jack Teixeira, of course, the U.S. airman who is charged after he leaked a trove of documents online still something that is a bit of a sting inside the U.S. intel community. But, David, as far as what this response looks like, you know, wasn't -- it was just a few days ago when President Biden was traveling abroad. He was asked if he knew what Israel had planned, what they decided to do in response to that attack by Iran. He said, yes, and yes, that he knew when and what it was going to look like.

I mean, obviously, the U.S. had big concerns about just how far Israel was going to go in that response, whether or not they target Iranian nuclear sites, oil facilities. Those were all concerns they had in terms of how escalatory that response could be in this region.

SANGER: So, the yes word was that -- as the president said, yes, and yes, the other day, that he knew when and where this site -- these attacks would happen.

[06:25:08]

It strongly suggested that he was -- had already sort of signed off on the nature of the strikes. We don't know that for sure. But as you said, he wanted to avoid escalation and that meant avoiding the nuclear and energy related sites.

But there is some pressure inside the Israeli government to go big here, to use the moment. You heard that from some of the right-wing members of Prime Minister Netanyahu's cabinet. And they would like to go after those sites.

There is a bit of a middle ground, Kaitlan, and we don't know that this will happen, and that is that Iran is believed to have hidden some of its nuclear facilities, not declared them, inside some military bases in Iran. And it wouldn't be shocking if those bases were among those hit which would enable the Israelis to say, we didn't go after anything nuclear.

COLLINS: Yes. And that's the question of, you know, how imminent that response could be, what that could look like. I mean, from what we've seen from the prime minister's office, I mean, after the death of Yahya Sinwar, he only seems more emboldened in his decisions.

And on that front, David, I'm just curious as you've been reporting on this at length, we heard from former President Donald Trump talking about the phone call that he had with Netanyahu. Netanyahu called him after Sinwar was killed. He said they finally did connect. Listen to what Trump said about that conversation at a rally last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: And Bibi called me today and he said, it's incredible what's happened. They said it's pretty incredible.

But he wouldn't listen to Biden, because if he did, they wouldn't be in this position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: That moment there is what caught my ear, David, where he said that Netanyahu told him he was not listening to President Biden. What do you make of that comment from Trump?

SANGER: Well, you always have to take things that Donald Trump says with some skepticism. But in this particular case, I am inclined to believe him. Because if you just look at the set of behavior every time President Biden has asked Prime Minister Netanyahu to take the win, consolidate his military victories and turn them into longer- lasting political victories, the prime minister has pretty much ignored him.

We saw that happen time and time again. When you talk to Israelis, they frequently say these days that Vice President Harris urged them not to go into Rafah, in southern Gaza. They went there and that is how someone accidentally they tripped across Sinwar and ended up killing him.

So, their view is, had they listened to President Biden, that both the leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah would probably be alive today. Now, the American view of this is know when not to get into overstretch, and know when to take your victory and turn it into something permanent. Because otherwise, the American argument is, you'll end up looking back at this era as a series of tactical military victories that did not ultimately make Israel safer. And that's the dividing line. There is a moment, we just don't know where that is. And of course, an attack on Iran, that'll raise the question anew.

COLLINS: Yes. And, of course, the fighting has not stopped. We're seeing it right now continuing in northern Gaza and Lebanon as well.

SANGER: That's right.

COLLINS: And now waiting for what that Israeli response to Iran is going to look like. David Sanger, as always, excellent reporting. Thank you for that.

Amara and Victor, obviously, big questions here about what is going to happen next and how Netanyahu is going to use this moment. But most notably this intelligence, you know, just raises real questions about what Israel's response on Iran is going to look like. If it's deterred by this, that does not seem to be the sense that we are picking up from when we speak to Israeli officials here on the ground.

WALKER: Yes. Thankfully, it looks like this leak did not cause a lot of damage as you've been talking with our correspondents and analysts. But of course, the concern is that it happened. Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. We'll check back with you later.

All right. Coming up, millions of people across Cuba are entering another day without electricity after a major power plant failure. We'll have the latest from Havana after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:34:14]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this morning, millions of Cubans are once again dealing with a nationwide blackout.

The nation's power grid collapsed Saturday for the second time, just hours after electricity was starting to be restored from Friday's blackout.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: CNN's Patrick Oppmann is on the phone from Havana.

Patrick, why has it taken so long to restore the power there?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, I was just up on the roof of my house, and I could not see any light in this entire city of about 2 million people. That was not obviously provided by a generator.

When you talk about these power plants, it's a bit like Cuba's old cars, where, you know, you open up the hood, and you've got parts from Russian cars and Chinese cars. You know, they're called Frankensteins here for a reason.

[06:35:00] And the problem is, well, when they break down, when these power plants break down after so many years of not being properly maintained, of being essentially jerry-rigged, nobody can really get them up and running for very long.

So, you know, yesterday, the first time in parts of Havana, we started getting a light back. We got in my neighborhood for about an hour, hour and a half, and it all crashed, again, the entire system, the entire country. And there have been no updates since then, which is worrying.

The issue we're going to probably get into soon is, at least here in Havana, no one's had water in their house because you don't have electricity, you don't have water, there's no pumps that are working since Thursday. So, people are going to begin to run out of water if they haven't already.

Yesterday, we were filming by some bread lines, and of course, there were more people than there was bread. And understandably, people got a little upset after waiting in line for a couple hours and not having anything to show for it.

So, we've seen some scattered protests in the dark overnight. And it's just a question of how long this will go on for and how long people will be able to keep their cool, because it's getting worse. It's not getting better.

BLACKWELL: Yes, this goes from an annoyance to a danger, a threat. Patrick Oppmann for us there in Havana. Thank you.

Still to come, new details on how Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed. We'll hear from the Israeli pathologist who conducted the autopsy.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:41:14]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on-camera): I'm Kaitlan Collins on the ground in Tel Aviv, Israel, where right now we are watching all of the developments happening after the death of Yahya Sinwar. This morning, the Hamas-run government information office says that 73 people have been killed after Israel bombed a heavily populated area in northern Gaza.

Right now, I should note, CNN cannot independently verify these figures. The IDF has claimed that they are exaggerated, and the IDF has argued that its operation was targeting a Hamas terror site and insisted it was making efforts to avoid civilian casualties.

But what this shows you is that the fighting is very much still raging. There have been hopes that after Sinwar's death, given he was the mastermind of that October 7th attack, that it could lead to more momentum for peace talks here in the region. But as we're learning more details about what his death looks like, including those final moments, there have also been questions about how precisely Sinwar was killed.

Israel's chief pathologist spoke with CNN's Jeremy Diamond after performing the autopsy on the Hamas leader. He argued that he believes that, judging from his autopsy, Sinwar died from a bullet wound to the head. Here's more of Jeremy Diamond's report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The final moments of Yahya Sinwar's life captured on an Israeli military drone's camera. The Hamas leader is visibly wounded. Israeli troops, who don't yet know Sinwar is the man in the headscarf, have surrounded him, and he is about to be killed. But how?

After an initial exchange of gunfire, the Israeli military says this tank fired on the building, and has suggested this is how Sinwar was killed. But at Israel's National Forensic Institute, the doctor who conducted the autopsy on Sinwar's body has drawn a very different conclusion.

CHEN KUGEL, ISRAELI PATHOLOGIST: The cause of death is a gunshot wound in the head. He has a bullet in his head, and there is a severe traumatic brain injury. He has injury from other sources, like a missile injury in his right forearm, a fallen masonry on his left leg or thigh, and many shrapnels that entered his body, but only in the chest they caused the severe damage. But the cause of death is the gunshot wound in the head.

DIAMOND (voice-over): As for comment, an Israeli military spokesman told CNN they are still working to learn all the details of how Sinwar was killed.

Kugel said he is confident in his analysis.

KUGEL: We see the bullet in his head, and there is no other entrance.

DIAMOND (voice-over): He was also involved in the DNA analysis that confirmed the body recovered by Israeli troops was in fact Sinwar's.

KUGEL: They have a suspicion that this is a Yuki Sinwar, and they sent a sample, a finger that they cut from his body in order to make the DNA profile.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Sinwar's left index finger cut off of Sinwar's body in Gaza, delivered to Dr. Kugel's lab, and confirmed to be a DNA match. This is where Sinwar was killed, in the Tal al-Sultan area of Rafah in southern Gaza.

CNN has geolocated this as the building where Sinwar met his end, in an area empty of civilians. And ravaged by war in recent months. In this video from the scene, emaciated buildings line a street torn up by tanks, as Sinwar's body lies in the rubble. That body has now been taken to an undisclosed military site.

KUGEL: It's in the military hands. I don't know exactly where is the place.

DIAMOND (voice-over): While the Israeli government decides what to do with Sinwar's body, his final moments are being seen very differently. While some see a terrorist brought to his knees.

[06:45:02]

YOAV GALLANT, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (through translation): Sinwar died while beaten, persecuted, and on the run. He didn't die as a commander, but as someone who only cared for himself.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Others see a resistance fighter making his last stand.

MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI, SECRETARY GENERAL, PALESTINIAN NATIONAL INITATIVE: This image will make him look like a hero for most Palestinians and most Arabs and most people who are against Israeli occupation and against the oppression that Palestinians are subjected to.

DIAMOND: In the end, he lay dead, surrounded by the rubble of a war he helped unleash.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (on-camera): Our thanks to Jeremy for that reporting. We'll be back in a moment with more news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:08]

BLACKWELL: Hurricanes Milton and Helene could end up being two of the costliest storms in U.S. history.

Back-to-back disasters, they decimated property, left millions of homes without power or safe drinking water, killed dozens of people. Experts say once all the damages are calculated, each storm could cost $50 billion or more.

Joining us now is Adam Smith, an economist and meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Adam, good morning to you. What was it, if there's anything unique about these storms that pushed them above, potentially, we don't know yet, but potentially above that mark of $50 billion, why are they so expensive?

ADAM SMITH, NOAA ECONOMIST & METEOROLOGIST: Good morning. They're so expensive because they've hit millions of people, their lives, their livelihoods, and they had multiple hazards, high wind, flooding, even storm surge.

And from Florida to the Carolinas, just so many people on the path of these powerful, increasingly powerful storms, it equates to tens of billions of dollars of damage, and that's a conservative estimate.

BLACKWELL: So increasingly damaging, also increasingly costly. So, let's put up first, the first $50 billion plus storm was Andrew. That was in 1992. There wasn't and these numbers are adjusted for 2024 inflation. There wasn't another one until Katrina in 2005, 13 years between $50 billion storms.

If you look at the last seven years, there have been five in just the last seven years. And potentially Milton and Helene could be added to that. Why are they happening more frequently now? What explains this?

SMITH: There are a few factors. First, we have a lot of more energy in the ocean and the atmosphere from climate change that helps supercharge these different extremes into billion-dollar disaster events, whether they're wildfires, droughts, floods or hurricanes. And also, we have more exposure and more vulnerability, people building and living in harm's way.

So, the combination of our exposure, our vulnerability and climate change, enhancing some of these extremes into billion-dollar disasters is why we're seeing a high count and high cost for these different extremes that we're facing today.

BLACKWELL: Yes. I talk about the people living in harm's way. How should the cost of these storms and the frequency of them now inform the conversation about rebuilding in some of these repeatedly vulnerable coastal communities?

SMITH: That's a great question. So, in the 1980s, for example, we used to have a billion-dollar disaster event every three months about on average. But in the last decade, we've had these billion-dollar disasters about every three weeks. So, we're getting these compound disasters with cascading impacts.

So, what that tells us is, yes, we need to learn from these disasters and rebuild and make better decisions based on what we learned. For example, Asheville, 20 years ago, before Helene hit Asheville, was hit by another hurricane. We tried to bury the water pipes 25 feet down in the ground, but Helene washed away those backup water pipes.

So, the 20th century and 21st century infrastructure and building codes sometimes still are not up to the standards that these extreme events unleash on us today.

BLACKWELL: Yes. After Andrew and I lived in Florida for several years. After Andrew, the building codes across the state changed because of just how damaging that storm was. And you say that now they need to -- to be updated again. What should change?

SMITH: Yes, I think Hurricane Andrew in 1992 with Florida and the building code change they made their studies show a lot of the newer buildings, particularly post 2000, have fared much better for hurricane events. And so, Florida did a great job learning from Hurricane Andrew.

Different parts of the country, it seems, needs to also learn from the extremes that they face and try to make adjustments similar to like Florida made after Andrew, because that'll save time and money and lives into the future.

BLACKWELL: Yes. An independent insurance company rating agency found that the three large insurance company agencies in Florida, three of them closed almost half of the claims from last year with no payment to policy holders. What does this cost increasing costs mean for even writing policies in Florida?

SMITH: Yes, I'm not an expert in that regard, but we do see areas like Florida, California, Louisiana that have been hit by many back-to-back events, whether they're floods, hurricanes, severe storms sometimes. And that does stress different financial and human systems.

And so, yes, we need to learn from these different extremes and re- fortify ourselves in terms of not just the present, but build for the future. And there's a lot of different areas of progress that we can -- we can look at and try to make adjustments to, because it's always an iterative process and we can only help ourselves moving forward.

BLACKWELL: And (inaudible) --

SMITH: And the think the key is.

[06:55:04]

BLACKWELL: Go finish. Go finish your thought.

SMITH: I was going to say the key is the decisions we make today clearly have long term impacts into the future.

BLACKWELL: Yes. And I was going to say, the season isn't over. So too far into the future. We have several weeks left.

Adam Smith, thanks so much.

WALKER: Well, many pets are surrendered because their owners cannot find temporary homes for them when they desperately need one. And that is where this week's CNN hero steps in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN KING, UDR PET RESCUE: When somebody makes that decision to go into treatment, is where the bravest decisions we'll make.

(INAUDIBLE), OK?

When people needed to go to rehab, and they don't have a place for a dog, what we'll find out is how big of a need it is. We provide free temporary fostering services for people that are ready to change their life.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dice (ph), she has the same (INAUDIBLE) so long. Hi!

KING: And it becomes their motivator. Just stay healthy. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that face.

KING: When we find a foster, we will do a temporary foster contract. You're saving that dog's life and the owners life. And we're able to prevent a dog going to shelter.

We cannot have the solution on these nice dogs. We can't. I want to be the voice of the dog and to help them, because they don't have that voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: And for the full story, go to CNNHeroes.com.

We'll be right back.

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