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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Israeli Strikes In Gaza End Ceasefire With Hamas; Trump & Putin To Speak By Phone In Coming Hours; SpaceX Crew-9 Begin Return To Earth; White House Ignores Court Order Blocking Deportation Flights. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired March 18, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:31]

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around world. I'm Christina Macfarlane in for Rahel Solomon. It's Tuesday, March 18th, 9:00 a.m. here in London, 5:00 a.m. in New York.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: The fragile ceasefire appears to be over. Israeli airstrikes pounding Gaza over the past two hours.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's been absolutely horrific. Nothing close to anything I've experienced before.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin are set to speak by telephone on Tuesday.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're getting down to a very critical stage. We want to get the whole Russia-Ukraine thing done.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: The SpaceX Crew-Nine Dragon capsule is now en route back to Earth's surface.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore begin their belated trip home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: The fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas is effectively over after more than 320 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza overnight. The Israeli military has declared a massive offensive in Gaza and ordered civilians in multiple neighborhoods to evacuate. The attack was ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, and an Israeli official described it as preemptive strikes targeting Hamas, but declined to provide details about what they claim was the militant groups, quote, readiness to execute terror attacks. Hundreds have been injured in the strike, and local officials say some

people are still trapped under the rubble. The enclave's health care system was already in bad shape after the prolonged conflict between Israel and Hamas. The head of Gaza's biggest hospital says they are completely full and running out of supplies.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is joining us live with more from Abu Dhabi.

And, Paula, I know you've been tracking developments since the early hours when these strikes began. Bring us up to date with the latest.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Christina, this all started around about 2:00 in the morning, Gaza time, when the Israeli military started carrying out airstrikes in Gaza once again, following just a couple of months of relative calm of that ceasefire. But now what we have seen over those hours of Tuesday morning is the death toll rising sharply, well over 320 have now been killed. And as you say, Christina, hundreds have been injured, which for some could be a death sentence in a place like Gaza where the health system has been decimated.

Now, we've heard from the Israeli side, the IDF saying that this is a massive offensive and that they have also started evacuations, forced evacuations once again. So there are certain areas, notably in northern Gaza and closer to the border between Gaza and Israel, where they are telling civilians to move, telling them to evacuate once again.

Now, many residents would have moved back to their areas after that January 19th ceasefire and moved back to homes, many of which were not still standing. But they had tried to live in those areas as best they could, and they will now, in some cases, be forced to move on.

Now, we have also heard from the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations about this. Let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY DANON, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: The Israeli air force initiated a series of attacks against Hamas targets in Gaza. We will show no mercy on our enemies. Let me be very clear: Israel will not stop until all of our hostages are back home. We will make it very clear to the Security Council that if they want to stop the war in Gaza, they have to ensure that the hostages are coming back to Israel. We are committed to bring them back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Now, Israel has been accusing Hamas of repeatedly refusing to release hostages and rejecting a deal that had been suggested by the Mideast envoy for former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Steve Witkoff, who has been in the region he had been proposing a bridging proposal, which effectively meant that there would be an extension of the temporary ceasefire in return for the handful of hostages and Palestinian prisoners. [05:05:08]

Now, Hamas had said that it wanted to stick to the original deal that was agreed to by Hamas and Israel -- Christina.

MACFARLANE: And, Paula, it was reported that Israel consulted the Trump administration before the strikes in Gaza. What response has the U.S. had to any of this so far, and is there any hope at this point for an off ramp?

HANCOCKS: Yes. Israel and the Trump administration confirmed that they had consulted on this before. So Israel had made the White House aware of what it was doing and tacitly given the green light to go ahead. We have seen since U.S. President Donald Trump has taken power that there is a very full-throated support of Israel.

In the past, the previous U.S. President, Joe Biden, did try to -- to publicly and behind closed doors pressure the Israeli prime minister into tempering actions in Gaza into allowing more humanitarian aid in, albeit not very successfully in many occasions. But there doesn't seem to be that pressure anymore from the current White House. So that does raise concerns about where exactly this -- this off ramp might be.

As we know that that President Trump has given more military support to Israel. We know that the vocal support is there very much. And so the question is, if there is a path back to a ceasefire, however temporary, it's not clear at this point where exactly that path is.

It's also not clear about the -- the timeline that the Israeli military and political echelon has at this point as to how long these airstrikes will continue. We've heard from an Israeli official that they will extend beyond airstrikes, potentially meaning well see the Israeli military back in the population centers of Gaza.

So everything is very much up in the air at this point. But yes, Christina, as you say, that there isn't a clear off ramp.

MACFARLANE: All right, Paula, for now. Thank you.

Now, a high stakes phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is set to take place in the hours ahead as the U.S. pushes to end the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. president says negotiators already have topics they want to discuss, including land, power plants and, quote, dividing up certain assets. The Kremlin says the call will focus on issues related to the Ukraine conflict, as well as restoring dialog between the U.S. and Russia. Last week, Ukraine accepted a U.S. proposed 30 day ceasefire. Vladimir Putin has suggested he agrees with the plan in principle, but made further demands and said more discussions are needed.

Ahead of the call, Donald Trump shared his hopes for today's talks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to have a very important call. You know, we've had calls, but were getting down to a very critical stage and we want to get the whole Russia-Ukraine thing done. And I think Ukraine wants it. I know they want it, everybody wants it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Mr. Trump also repeated disputed claims from Vladimir Putin that Ukrainian troops are now surrounded in Russia's Kursk region.

A U.S. federal judge is demanding answers from the Trump administration after it deported hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members under an 18th century wartime act. The White House, for its part, remains defiant that it's on the right side of the law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: This administration acted within the confines of the law again within the president's constitutional authority and under the authority granted to him under the Alien Enemies Act. We are quite confident in that, and we are wholly confident that we are going to win this case in court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: CNN's chief legal affairs correspondent, Paula Reid, breaks down the courtroom drama for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS: This hearing was significant because it represents an escalation in President Trump's expansive use of his executive authority and the extent to which he and his lawyers believe the courts can check him. Now, this hearing Monday focused on a recent controversy over whether the Trump administration openly defied a court order Saturday night to hold off on carrying out deportations of some migrants the U.S. has accused of being affiliated with the Venezuelan gang and to turn planes around if they were in the air.

Now, the judge called a hearing to demand answers about why this didn't happen. During the high stakes hearing, it was clear the judge was not happy, shook his head as the justice department argued that it did not have to comply with an oral ruling. And then, even when there was a written order that they did not need to comply because some of the flights were already outside U.S. airspace.

Now, the judge insisted, it is clear that his powers do not lapse at the continents edge, and summed up how he viewed the Justice Department stance as we don't care at all, we'll do what we want.

[05:10:03]

The Justice Department disagreed with that assessment, but going forward, the Justice Department has some homework to do. The judge sent them home with a list of questions that they could not answer or would not answer in court, about details about how many flights, when they took off, when they landed, who was on them. He expects those answers by noon Tuesday. And the judge was a little cheeky. He said that he would put all of this in writing, since the Justice Department did not think it had to comply with oral orders.

Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MACFARLANE: Well, the latest developments in the case of deported Brown University assistant professor and Dr. Rasha Alawieh. A source says federal agents at Boston airport found photos of former Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah on her phone when she returned from Lebanon last week, and Alawieh acknowledged she attended his mass funeral on Monday. A federal judge delayed her deportation hearing until later this month after her lawyers withdrew from the case.

Here's her attorney speaking to CNN affiliate WFXT in Boston.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANIE MARZOUK, ATTORNEY FOR DR. RASHA ALAWIEH: Our client is in Lebanon, and were not going to stop fighting to get her back in the U.S. to see her patients. And we're also going to make sure that the government follows the rule of law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Well, meanwhile, protesters gathered in support of Alawieh, a Lebanese national U.S. visa holder. And, according to her colleagues, a beloved member of the medical school of Brown University.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DOUGLAS SHEMIN, BROWN MEDICINE: She is a lovely, a lovely person, intelligent, kind. And she's a -- she's besides being an excellent physician. She's also a lovely human being.

DR. SUSIE HU, BROWN MEDICINE: We want to support our colleague and make sure that we can get her return. And that's really our primary objective.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Mexico has arrested an alleged leader of the MS-13 gang, who is on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. Authorities say he was detained in the city of Veracruz and deported to the U.S., where he faces charges that include narco terrorism and racketeering. The FBI accuses him of involvement in gang activities in the U.S., Mexico and his native El Salvador.

The Trump administration has designated MS-13, which originated in Los Angeles, as a terrorist organization. Well, the SpaceX Crew-Nine Dragon capsule has successfully departed from the International Space Station. Its four person crew is now en route back to earth. On board are NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have been on the ISS for nearly nine months. A spacecraft mishap back in June turned their week long mission into an indefinite orbit around earth.

NASA moved up this return flight timeline to take advantage of the favorable weather conditions throughout Tuesday. The Dragon capsule is expected to splash down off Florida's coast this evening.

And U.S. federal employees whose jobs were terminated are being reinstated, but they're still being told not to come to work. We'll explain why.

Plus, military veterans show up at a town hall to speak out against planned cuts to federal services.

And global economic concerns. A look at the latest signs of slowing growth and how Donald Trump's trade policies are playing a major role.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:17:40]

MACFARLANE: More now on our breaking news this hour. The ceasefire in Gaza appears to be over. The IDF have announced a, quote, massive offensive in Gaza and ordered civilians to evacuate from multiple neighborhoods. Overnight, Israeli airstrikes killed more than 320 people, according to the Palestinian health ministry. An American doctor described the scene at one hospital in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. RAZAN AL-NAHHAS, HUMANITY AUXILIUM, GAZA CITY: I was just standing on a -- on a balcony in one of the hospital buildings that has the operating room and the ICU, and from the balcony, there's no morgue here. From the balcony, you can see all the bodies of the people that have been killed lined up.

And I tried to count. And there's at least 50 of them there just wrapped in blankets. And, you know, just waiting. I guess the families were just waiting to -- to figure out the next steps. And they keep bringing more bodies. I, I lost count of how many patients, you know, I pronounced dead myself, but it was at least maybe 15 or 20 with just myself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: The Hamas leader responded by calling the strikes a, quote, death sentence for Israeli hostages remaining in Gaza. Families of those hostages are demanding to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other officials to find out how the military action will impact the safe return of their loved ones.

Now, days after a federal judge ruled that five probationary workers must be temporarily reinstated, several government agencies are doing so by placing employees on administrative leave. The internal revenue service, environmental protection agency and food and drug administration are among those that sent emails to employees telling them they were reinstated, but not to come to work. The Trump administration has so far let go of tens of thousands of probationary workers.

And at a town hall hosted by Democratic Senator Tim Kaine in Virginia on Monday, military veterans raised their concerns over planned cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Trump administration has set a goal to let go about 80,000 employees from the V.A.

Kaine told reporters he shared the vets' concerns.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): The mass firings of federal employees hit veterans harder than any other group. On top of that, if you tell veterans were going to fire up to another 80,000 people who work for the V.A., you're telling them that its already hard to get care.

[05:20:02]

Now, it's going to be much harder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MACFARLANE: Many people at the event say they were worried health, health care for veterans would be impacted. Others said their concerns was that their loved ones would lose their jobs at the V.A.

Now, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has postponed a tour to promote his new book after facing sharp criticism of his handling of the government funding fight in Congress. Protests have been planned to coincide with Schumer's events in a number of cities. His office says the tour was postponed because of security concerns.

Democratic strategist Paul Begala told CNN there is widespread anger in the party over Schumer's decision to avert a government shutdown by voting to advance a Trump-backed funding bill. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I've never seen a party this angry at its leader in Senator Schumer. It's incandescent. It's hard for me to describe. I mean, they're furious.

And here's why: he had something very valuable. He had votes to pass the continuing resolution that Republicans could not do without them. And he traded them away for nothing.

I want the government to stay open. Most Democrats do. The funding level is actually not all that bad. There was some terrible stuff they added to it, but why not come to them a month ago?

Seriously, this was strategic as well as tactical. Tactical was bad to cave without a compromise. Strategically, he should have come to his party a month ago and said, here are our principles.

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: If Schumer wants to survive the next four years and not to be primaried, he needs to embrace the Ruben Gallego's, the younger, diverse leadership that can --

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Have a succession plan of some sort.

HINOJOSA: Have a succession plan of some sort, and then say, you know what? I'm not going to continue in leadership what's -- after the midterm elections. And I think that would take some pressure off. And that's what people want to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCAFARLANE: Now, a new warning from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which says the Trump administrations trade war will hit global growth hard. Its in its quarterly report, the organization says U.S. economic growth will slow to 2.2 percent this year and just 1.6 percent next year. But the main targets of President Trump's trade policy will fare much worse. Canada's economy is now expected to grow less than 1 percent this year, far less than the previous prediction of a 2 percent growth. And Mexico's economy is expected to shrink by 1.3 percent.

And in another troubling sign, spending in the U.S. retailers last month was much weaker than expected. Retail sales account for about a third of overall spending in the U.S.

U.S. fashion chain Forever 21 is on the chopping block again. It filed for bankruptcy Sunday for the second time in six years, citing fierce competition from foreign fast fashion brands. The company previously went bust in 2019 when it shut down 200 stores. It says stores and websites will stay open while it seeks a buyer, and some of its -- for some of its assets and winds down. The rest expect to see liquidation sales in stores.

Now, just three months into 2025, and already the U.S. has surpassed the total number of measles cases for all of last year. Ahead, I'll be speaking with our medical analyst about how disinformation could be fueling the outbreak.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:27:44]

MACFARLANE: Turning now to a troubling health trend in the U.S., according to a CNN tally, there have been at least 320 measles cases reported this year, meaning the number of cases just three months into 2025 has already surpassed all of last year's total. The high number of cases is driven by a multistate outbreak, with Texas alone reporting 259 cases this year. New Mexico trails with 35 cases, but experts say this is probably a severe undercount.

Meanwhile, health officials are bracing for this outbreak to unfold as disinformation threatens already low vaccination rates.

Joining me now from Washington, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, is the CNN medical analyst and a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University.

Thank you so much for joining us.

You know, it's crazy to think just 25 years ago, the U.S. declared victory over the measles disease. But that, as we've been saying, is clearly not the reality now. How alarmed are you? And should we all be by these numbers of cases were hearing reported?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Very alarmed. And I think there's a lot of reason to expect that this count will continue to rise. In the United States, we've seen a dramatic increase in levels of vaccine skepticism over the last several years. You know, fueled by disinformation being propagated by social media.

A recent survey by the Kaiser family foundation in January found that 25 percent of -- of parents thought the benefits of the MMR vaccine were outweighed by the risks the risks outweighed outweigh the benefits. And that was up over 5 percent from just a few years ago. And that's being fueled by basically a tsunami of misinformation being spread on social media.

MACFARLANE: When did this misinformation really take hold, and where is it emanating from in your view?

REINER: Yeah, so, so that's very interesting. A study a few years ago during the COVID pandemic trying to figure out where the misinformation about COVID vaccines was stemming from.

I looked at about 800,000.