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Quest Means Business

Israel Confirms Hamas Leader Killed in Gaza; IDF Spokesperson Gives Update in Tel Aviv; Biden Lands in Berlin as Israel Confirms Hamas Leader Killed. Israel Confirms Hamas Leader Killed in Gaza; Investigation Begins into Death of Singer Liam Payne; Puffling Season in Iceland; Biden Arrives in Berlin for Talks on Ukraine and Middle East. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired October 17, 2024 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:13]

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Good evening. We are following breaking news this hour, the Israeli prime minister saying a short time

ago, "Evil has suffered a heavy blow," as his country's military announces the death of Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar. And on that note, Daniel Hagari,

the chief spokesperson of the IDF, is speaking. Let's listen in to what he has to say.

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL'S CHIEF MILITARY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): -- operated in the south of Lebanon -- five IDF warriors fell.

May God bless their memory -- fell during battle with Hezbollah and with other soldier who were injured.

They were searching for terror infrastructure and tackled terrorists and there was battle and the Golani Brigade conquered village of which

Hezbollah used its infrastructure while they are killing terrorists and some of them have been surrendered and been captured by Golani.

The families of fallen have been updated and we hug them and bless them in this difficult time. We wish full recovery to the injured.

In another event during the Holy Day, four reservists have been badly injured from an anti-missile attack to destroy and this is a heavy price.

These warriors fell on the battle of the security of Israel.

In Tal as-Sultan in Rafah yesterday, yesterday, Yahya Sinwar has been killed by IDF warriors. The IDF from the Shin Bet operated for months to

bring intelligence in order to kill Sinwar, the leader of terrorist organization, Hamas in the south of Gaza and one of the founders of the

military arm of Hamas who planned and carried out the massacre of 7th October.

Yahya Sinwar hide in the compound where our forces were operating. We did not know he was there, but we continued to act diligently.

Yesterday night, three terrorists have been identified as escaping and they were shot. Yahya Sinwar escaped alone to one of the buildings. Our are

forces scanned with a drone. Yahya Sinwar was shot in his hand from this shooting. He is seen here in his last moment. He threw wood into the drone

and we saw him, we identified him as a terrorist and he was with a weapon and 40,000 shekels.

There were no hostages and our forces are scanning the compound. They acting diligently in order to keep our fighters safe.

The IDF and the Shin Bet were acting diligently until much they found him and we closed the circuit on him after continuous effort.

What we found intelligence traces and it did not work out, but today, we can confirm that Sinwar's DNA has been found in an underground tunnel few

hundred meters from the tunnel in which the six hostages were killed in August.

Tonight, 101 hostages are in our hearts who are still being captive in Hamas captivity in inhuman condition and we are acting in all efforts to

bring them back those who are alive and those who are dead to be buried, and we will continue to create the conditions to bring them back.

This is major goal and we will do everything to achieve it.

[16:05:10 ]

Even now in South Lebanon and the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria and anywhere else that is needed.

Commander and soldiers are operating in continue to operate whatever it takes in order to secure security of Israel.

I will answer some questions.

REPORTER (through translator): Do we know what the state of the hostages following the elimination?

HAGARI (through translator): We will do whatever we can in order to bring the conditions, to bring the hostages as quickly as possible. We are

continuing to collect intelligence in a huge effort, maximized effort, the diligent course and the Shin Bet and we will continue to do so.

REPORTER (through translator): Does IDF have info, intel on Mohammed Sinwar, his brother? And is he now wanted, number one?

HAGARI (through translator): We are following all terrorist of Hamas. Of course, military commander among them, Mohammed Sinwar. We are following

them since the beginning of the war and we will -- we are continuing to follow them as we proved.

The IDF and the Shin Bet closed the circle on Yahya Sinwar, on Mohammed Deif and other commanders and we will continue with this effort. We will

continue to and close the circuit with everyone who has blood on their hands and responsible and took part in 7th of October.

REPORTER (through translator): Do we know why Sinwar went over to the ground? Was he trying to escape Gaza?

HAGARI (voice over): As I understand, what I've seen on the ground is that Sinwar probably was they underground complex as we found in his DNA a few

hundred meters from the tunnels in which the six hostages were killed.

Our forces closed that compound for a long time, and I believe he was running, moved from underground compound, to houses, trying to escape to a

more secure compound and we continued and without knowing where he is at. In this compound, the Southern Command, 162 Brigade and now the Gaza

Brigade, we continue to operate in order to check that terrorists are not running from this region, and this effort proved itself today.

We saw it happening in the field. He escaped from house to house we found him as a terrorist and we eliminated.

REPORTER (through translator): What's the main goal in Gaza now after Sinwar is eliminated? How is it promoting the bringing back of the

hostages? Any lessons learned after the killing of the six hostages?

HAGARI (through translator): The goals of the war as IDF got from the government are clear. Destroying the military arm of Hamas and we are

acting this matter, of killing Sinwar, this is a major achievement in this goal, but there are still commanders and people who are active and we will

continue with this goal, and we have another mission, very clear to bring about the conditions to return the hostages home as quickly as possible.

This is a main central task. Of course, killing Sinwar is helping this task and we need to see that it is translated into acts. Our task is to bring

the residents of the north safely to their home and we are continuing to operate on the ground operation in Lebanon and Gaza, and in Judea and

Samaria in order to secure the confidence of citizens of Israel.

IDF is all over ground, also with reservists on all fronts. There are achievements and there are high price for the war, but we will continue to

act in these goals, to bring about the residents to their homes security, to bring hostages home as quickly as possible, and to act against our

enemies.

[16:15:30]

(REPORTER speaking in foreign language.)

HAGARI (through translator): This major program of Ireland, it is a wrong semantics. We do not use this plan. We have military plans of the IDF that

does not relate to any other plan. This is our plans we are acting in Gaza according to military plans, of course, it combines the international law

and now in Jabalia, we are harming Hamas infrastructure. We do not them recover there and we will continue to do so precisely according to military

plans, we will not leave it.

In order to achieve a military targets, as we've done until now, we abide by international law in all efforts, just as a political echelon instructed

us, also with the humanitarian effort and we are continuing to bring about humanitarian aid to Gaza as we did until now with the war in Gaza.

I am now going to speak in English.

HAGARI: Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas terrorist organization who was responsible for the October 7th massacre is dead.

Sinwar was responsible for the most brutal attack against Israel in our history. When terrorists from Gaza invaded Israel, massacred Israelis in

their homes, raped a woman, burned entire families alive, and took over 250 men, women, children, and babies hostage into Gaza, 101 hostages still

remain in captivity in brutal conditions.

For the past year, Sinwar tried to escape justice, he failed. We said we would find him and bring him to justice and we did it. It was Yahya Sinwar

who decided to wage war with Israel while hiding behind civilians --

CHATTERLEY: We will leave Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari there, the chief spokesperson for the IDF confirming the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar,

which he described in Hebrew as a "major achievement."

Earlier in the statement that he provided there, he gave some insights too, into the last moments of Yahya Sinwar. He said, we did not know he was

there, but we continued to act with determination. Sinwar fled alone into a building wounded in the hand by a gunshot.

In his last moments, he threw a wooden plank at a drone and we saw, I believe images there of his last moments. He said, we found him with a

vest, a gun, and 40,000 shekels.

He also described in the law past few months that they had found traces of Yahya in Gaza, but that did not lead to his capture. And importantly, I

think too for the hostage families, he said today, it can be confirmed that Sinwar's DNA was found in an underground tunnel a few hundred meters from

the tunnel where the six abductees were murdered at the end of August.

He was also asked questions. A lot of those questions were then tied to the remaining hostages. He said, maximum efforts will be made to try and bring

them home as soon as possible. And he described the killing of Yahya as "helping with that task."

Let's talk more about this. Yaakov Katz is former editor of "The Jerusalem Post" and he joins us now.

Sir, good to have you with us. First and foremost, actually President Biden is speaking in Berlin. Stay with me for two seconds. We will just listen to

what the president has to say.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- move towards a ceasefire in Gaza, make sure that we move in a direction that we're going to be in a

position to make things better for the whole world.

It's time for this war to end and bring these hostages home. And so, that's what we're ready to do. That's what we're going to be -- and I'm sending

Tony Blinken to Israel -- I guess he's going in five days -- four days -- four or five days. Anyway, he's going. And I talked with Bibi about that.

We're going to work out what -- what is the day after now, what -- how do we secure Gaza and move on.

So, thank you very much.

[16:15:03]

CHATTERLEY: Okay, we were just listening to President Biden now, who has just landed in Berlin and was asked obviously comments -- his comments, I

mean, it is very difficult to hear, I am sure you found that too, but he was talking about obviously, the release of the remaining hostages, and as

the United States has continue to push for of course hopes and focus on a ceasefire.

Yaakov, thank you for your time and your patience there and waiting.

First and foremost, your initial reaction and how the Israeli people are reacting to the death of the leader of Hamas.

Well, Israelis feel that justice has been served. And finally, after more than a year since that massacre of October 7th, which was overseen and was

orchestrated by Yahya Sinwar as the leader of Hamas in Gaza, finally, he has met justice and he has been killed.

But I think there is also a lot of questions, for example, what does this mean for the remaining hostages? Does this make a deal easier to be

reached. We've heard over the last few weeks that there was no one to negotiate with on the other side, that the mediators in Qatar and Egypt had

been trying to renew those talks. But that there wasn't anyone there.

So maybe now, is there an opportunity to potentially finally get the conversations in those negotiations to release those hostages back moving,

and the second question, which I did hear President Biden talk about, of course, is the day after.

What does this mean now that Sinwar is dead? And Hamas, we could say is basically pretty much eliminated its leadership capacity. What does this

mean for the future governing over the Gaza Strip? So these are a couple of big questions, Julia, which still remain.

I know all of these questions and the answers to them are intrinsically tied. Do you think the people there see this as some kind of beginning of

the end of the war in Gaza. And obviously, the questions that Daniel Hagari will ask, they were immediately tied to the remaining hostages.

He suggested that the killing of Sinwar in some way helped with that task. Do you think Israelis believe that? Do you believe that?

KATZ: Well, you know, victory in this war, Julia has always been something that is elusive and difficult to define because of the fact that Hamas was

holding on to so many Israelis as hostages, because you could have had a scenario that Sinwar would have made a deal that would have seen the

hostages released, would have forced Israel to agree to a ceasefire and stop the war.

So while we would have gotten back our people, Hamas and Sinwar would have remained in control of the Gaza Strip, would that have really been a real

victory? I am not sure.

On the other hand, now that Sinwar is dead and maybe we could say Hamas has been stopped, they no longer have a leadership, they are no longer in

control of Gaza, but we don't have our people.

So we also have yet to reach a real victory. We need these two elements for this war, for this war's objectives to be met. Yes, to get back our people

and to see Hamas no longer in control of Gaza. So I can't say that we can celebrate yet and say that the war has been won just by the fact that Yahya

Sinwar has finally been killed. He deserves definitely to have been killed more than once, a thousand times over.

But the fact is that this war will have to continue for Israel to get back its people and to ensure that Hamas cannot reconstitute itself under new

leadership and once again, present a threat to the state of Israel.

CHATTERLEY: I mean, critics at this moment would argue a cautionary tale would argue that Hamas has more than one person, that Yahya Sinwar will now

be replaced and the future direction also will be determined by who he gets replaced by. Is it someone that is more willing to engage perhaps in a

ceasefire, or a significant hard liner too at this stage.

Would you expect to see and would you like to see what the Israeli people like to see, perhaps more international pressure on the Israeli government

now, because the suggestion has been up until now that Yahya Sinwar was a roadblock to any future negotiation -- ceasefire negotiations in the return

of the hostage and the hope perhaps that whoever replaces him, and if the Israeli government is ready and willing, that that would potentially

facilitate sooner rather than later, some kind of improvement in relations, perhaps leading to a ceasefire?

KATZ: Yes, so I don't know if it is pressure that the Israeli people want to see on their government, but I do think that we would like to see the

international community and particularly the United States and reading President Biden's statement earlier and listening to Kamala Harris'

statement as well, you do, it does seem to be that they are in the direction of working together now with Israel to understand and to try to

engineer what this next phase is going to look like.

Because you are right, Julia, Hamas wasn't just Sinwar. There are thousands of Hamas fighters that remain. They might no longer have a clear leadership

in hierarchy, but other people can easily step in or can try to step in to retake control of the organization and try to exert their control and

influence over the Gaza Strip, takeover humanitarian aid.

[16:20:07]

As has been seen in other parts of Gaza, as it has been brought into the Gaza Strip and then taken over by masked armed Hamas men.

But there are issues that need to be worked with, or worked through, sorry, for example, who will take over Gaza? Is it going to be the Palestinian

Authority in Ramallah? Is it going to be some other Arab force that might be able to come in and take control? Or is it going to be some other Gazan

or a group of Gazans?

So there are a lot of it issues that need to be worked with and the more that Israel can cooperate with the Americans, with key European allies,

with our allies here in the region in the Middle East, that will ensure a more stable governance for Gaza and also more security for Israel, which is

prominent here in this whole war. This is what it is about, creating security for the state of Israel.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, it is about beyond the ceasefire and the hostage return. It is about what does the future look like for the entire region?

Yaakov Katz, great to have you, sir. Thank you.

All right, coming up, President Joe Biden saying today, it is a good day for the world as US officials work to assess just who will succeed the

Hamas leader. Will discuss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back and returning once more to our breaking news story, US Intelligence is working to assess who may succeed Hamas leader,

Yahya Sinwar and how his death might impact ceasefire talks. One Israeli official says it could open the door to restarting negotiations for a

hostage deal, others believe the Israeli hostages could now be at risk without clear leadership.

US President Joe Biden just spoke with the Israeli prime minister. He said he would discuss bringing the hostages home.

Clarissa Ward is in London for us.

Clarissa, we were just listening to IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari and he said that he believes the killing of Sinwar will "help the task of bringing

the hostages home." A lot of that will be surely determined on who now replaces Sinwar and what his perspective is on both the hostage return and

also ceasefire negotiations.

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Julia.

And so far we haven't really heard any response from Hamas. There is a lot of speculation as to who would replace Yahya Sinwar if there even is anyone

who can effectively replace him because he was such an iconic leader.

Obviously, there are a lot of rumblings about the potential of his brother, Mohammed Sinwar, although at this stage, it is not even clear if he is

alive.

[16:25:09]

There is also the possibility of someone like Khaled Mashal, who is in exile. But effectively, Hamas' leadership has been basically eviscerated.

So the expectation I think for many on the Israeli side is that there is going to be something, a vacuum in this moment.

Now, when it comes to talks about securing the release of the hostages, that of course, is tied to ceasefire talks, which is something that the

people of Gaza are desperately hoping, may potentially be one of the outcomes of the killing of Sinwar.

There is no sense yet that people are getting their hopes up too much, but at least, you're seeing pretty strong rhetoric coming from people like

President Biden, like the Vice President Kamala Harris, who said, now is the opportunity to really end this war in Gaza.

And up until this point, Prime Minister Netanyahu has effectively laid the blame for the failure of those talks at the feet of Yahya Sinwar saying

that he was inflexible, saying that he was impossible to negotiate with, that he was not willing to make any concessions.

Now, we will have an opportunity to see whether Netanyahu himself is willing to make any concessions and what those concessions might be,

though, of course, it is difficult to understand or really get our arms around the contours of what that might look like until we have a better

sense of where Hamas goes forward in terms of its leadership -- Julia.

CHATTERLEY: Yes, the hours now and days of course, vitally important to understand that in particular.

Clarissa Ward, great to have you. Thank you now.

Now, an Israeli source says there are also concerns that Yahya Sinwar's death could lead to chaos within Hamas. If his brother, Mohammed Sinwar

takes over, "negotiations are totally screwed." That is a direct a quote from a US official.

One Palestinian woman told CNN, the killing won't stop the war in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUHA AL TURK, PALESTINIAN IN GAZA (through translator): Israel claims that he is one of their targets, and that another after his assassination, the

war will stop, but the war will not stop. They will come up with new justifications.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: Osamah Khalil is professor at Syracuse University where he specializes in US foreign relations and the Middle East.

Great to have you with us, sir. A lot of the discussion now is what next? What does this mean? What does it mean for the ceasefire negotiations?

But just first and foremost, Hamas isn't one person, but how significant is the death of Yahya Sinwar for sentiment, whether that is in Gaza, for

Hamas, or even in Israel, in your mind?

OSAMAH KHALIL, PROFESSOR, SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: Well, he was obviously a very important figure. And in fact, I think what is important to remember

is that he held considerable sway over Hamas within Gaza, but there was an external leadership and Sinwar stepped into this dual role of military

leadership and political leadership after Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated by Israel in Iran, just about a month or so ago.

So Sinwar has stepped into this dual role just over the past really six weeks. Again, he has -- he had a lot of sway and a lot of respect within

the movement, but it is a movement, so there still retains a large number of fighters, it has a large number of members. And even if his brother

steps into the role, some of the key things that Hamas has wanted out of the ceasefire remain and that is not just the release of Palestinian

prisoners held in Israeli jails, but the return of Palestinians to their homes in Gaza, and of course, a permanent ceasefire, and not just a

temporary one and that is where the major stumbling blocks between Israel and Hamas have been, and that still needs to be resolved.

CHATTERLEY: This is a multifront war. Of course, we've seen the Israelis more aggressive about tackling Hezbollah in recent weeks as well. And at

least up until a few days ago, the suggestion has been that any ceasefire that took place with Hezbollah in Lebanon would also need to be tied to

Gaza on what is taking place there as well.

Do you believe that the Israelis, for their part will look at this victory and be able to say, look, now is the time for us, perhaps to -- to perhaps

give more concessions in these ceasefire negotiations, assuming that whoever replaces Sinwar for Hamas is willing.

KHALIL: Well, that would be the hope. Unfortunately, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already indicated in a statement today that that

won't be the case. In fact, he seems to be pushing again and again and finding a different set of excuses each time.

There have been a number of attempts at a ceasefire and they've come very close really since December. We've passed a year, the year anniversary of

the October 7th attacks, but we are also fast approaching almost a year, if not 11 months, of ceasefire negotiations and it has been Netanyahu that has

been the consistent stumbling block and impediment.

Now, although the Israelis want to -- want to blame the White House, the Biden administration has tried to blame Sinwar, we do know in fact from

Israeli negotiators that it has been Netanyahu who has been consistently undermining these negotiations and he indicated that yet again today in his

statement announcing Sinwar's death.

So I think what we really need to look at is what can the Biden administration do here? They really need to take the lead and push this

ceasefire forward. If in fact Sinwar was the major impediment as they've consistently claimed, then that should be easy to resolve a ceasefire, but

that doesn't seem to be the case. And in fact, most Israeli commentators say that's not the case, that in fact it was Netanyahu.

As we've also seen this issue with how do we get Hezbollah a ceasefire in Lebanon, a ceasefire in the Red Sea with the Ansar-Allah Houthi movement in

Yemen, as well as a ceasefire in Gaza, and these three are connected as much as the White House says they're not.

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: What more should the United States be doing then to your point? Because they do have leverage, they

have weaponry, they have aid, they do have leverage should they choose to use it. What more should they be doing?

KHALIL: Well, the United States has enormous amount of leverage. It hasn't been using it at all quite frankly. In fact, what we've seen is robust

diplomatic, political, military, and economic support to Israel. Every time the Biden administration publicly or claims that there's a red line, they

allow that red line to be erased.

What we're seeing is it was only about a month or so ago that the Biden ministration threw up their hands and said, we don't see a ceasefire

coming, a ceasefire agreement coming until the end of the year. And in fact, saying, we're not going to do anything until after the election. So

if in fact the Biden administration believes that Sinwar was the major stumbling block, Sinwar is now dead, and now it's really incumbent on

Secretary of State Blinken and our President Biden to really push for this ceasefire.

We're looking at a massive humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Some 400,000 Palestinians are trapped in northern Gaza and besieged. They haven't had

food come in for 12 days. There's already over 1.4 million Palestinians have been displaced. And you're talking about we're heading into winter.

The winter months are coming. We know that the death toll is far higher than the 42,000 than the official number, and that's only going to increase

because of famine, because of disease.

And we still have people buried under the rubble. So we're likely looking at a death toll that is four to five times as high as the official count

and again winter is coming. And so it's really incumbent on the United States here to begin applying pressure in a way that they have not at all -

- with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In fact, what they instead have done they continued to reward him with increasing amounts of

aid, increasing amount of weapons. And this has now reached the point where we have a regional conflict.

We have a war with Yemen, the United States and Britain just bombed Yemen last night, and the Ansar-Allah movement is continuing to block and impede

shipping into the Red Sea, again, claiming they want a ceasefire with, as long as there's a ceasefire in Gaza, they will seize. We now have a war in

Lebanon, and we have an extensive regional tensions, Iraq, and of course tensions between Iran and Israel.

So it's really incumbent on the Biden administration now to step up, if this is an opportunity for them to grab it and push for a ceasefire.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. The question is, is this that catalyst? We'll see. Sir, good to have you. Thank you.

Now, after the break, the investigation into the death of Liam Payne. Police in Argentina have been called to his hotel by staff who were worried

about the singer's wellbeing. We'll have a report from Buenos Aires, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:36:38]

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

Liam Payne, the former member of One Direction, was likely alone when he fell from a hotel room in Argentina. That's according to the public

prosecutor's office, which has been piecing together the circumstances of his death.

Fans have created a makeshift memorial outside the hotel, leaving notes, candles, and flowers in his honor. The hotel had called police to check on

Payne shortly before his death. Officers found the room's television had been smashed. The prosecutor's report says there were signs he'd been

drinking and using drugs.

Now, as a teenager, Liam Payne became an overnight sensation along with his One Direction bandmates. Max Foster looks back at his life and his career.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A tragic end to a life cut short. British singer Liam Payne died on Wednesday after falling from a

third floor balcony at a Buenos Aires hotel, according to police.

At 31 years old, he spent half of his life as a pop music superstar after being plucked from obscurity by music mogul Simon Cowell.

Just 16 when he became a founding member of the boy band One Direction, product of Cowell's reality TV show, The "X Factor."

He found near unrivaled global stardom with One Direction bandmates, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson.

"We're heartbroken by the sad passing of Liam Payne. He was immensely talented. And as part of One Direction Liam will leave a lasting legacy on

the music industry and fans around the world," the "X Factor" said in one of the first tributes shared on Thursday.

From his humble beginnings, Payne ended up epitomizing the dreams of stardom for the social media generation.

LIAM PAYNE, SINGER: When you go outside and those people screaming and running down the street after you -- I don't want to touch. No, and people

were running after your car and stuff, like that's a bit mental for us, but adjust to it as well.

FOSTER: Together, One Direction sold more than 17 million records. They told the world and they built a legion of devoted fans.

The band's biggest hit, "What Makes You Beautiful," became an anthem of early Gen Z culture. One Direction split up in 2015 and they went on to

solo careers. In 2017, Payne became a father to Bear Gray Payne with then girlfriend Cheryl Tweedy, a former judge on the "X Factor U.K."

Less than three years later, Payne released his first solo album, "LP 1." Payne also began to open up about the weight of fame and his mental health

struggles.

PAYNE: But there's times where that -- that level of loneliness and people getting into you every day, getting into every day, like I say, just --

every so often you're like when will this end, you know, and then that's almost nearly killed me a couple of times.

FOSTER: He spoke publicly about his issues with substance abuse.

[16:40:01]

PAYNE: I was, all right, I need to fix myself.

FOSTER: Authorities are now investigating the circumstances of Payne's death. Staff at the Buenos Aires hotel had requested urgent police

assistance shortly before Payne fell. That's according to a 911 call obtained by CNN's local affiliate Todo Noticias.

UNIDENTIFIED 911 OPERATOR (through text translation): What's going on in the location, sir?

UNIDENTIFIED HOTEL RECEPTIONIST (through text translation): We have a host who is overwhelmed with drugs and alcohol. And well, even when he's aware,

he breaks things up. He is tearing the whole room apart.

FOSTER: Millions of his fans are now in shock, as the music world grapples with losing another star far too young.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: And just in the last few moments, the members of One Direction, Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, and Louis Tomlinson just released a

group statement on the death of Liam Payne describing their devastation. This is just a part of it.

It says, "In time, when everyone is able to, there will be more to say. But for now, we'll take some time to grieve and process the loss of our

brother, who we loved dearly. The memories we shared with him will be treasured forever."

Now, as you heard Max Foster report, hotel staff told police Payne was acting erratically and said they were particularly worried about him having

access to a balcony.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED HOTEL RECEPTIONIST (through text translation): And we need someone to be sent to us urgently, because, well, I don't know if the

guest's life is at risk, he is in a room that has a balcony and well, we're a little afraid that he'll do something that puts him --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHATTERLEY: And Dario Klein is Buenos Aires for us.

Dario, there's layers of sadness attached to what's happened in the last day and a half, but that is particularly poignant that the hotel and even

guests were raising concerns about his state of mind and the fact that he was in a room that they recognized might be dangerous to him.

DARIO KLEIN, CNN EN ESPANOL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Julia. Yes. That's part of the investigation going on right now here in Buenos Aires where, as you can

see, people gathering here around this hotel. Dozens of women, of girls, that were influenced by One Direction during their whole teenage years.

They are arriving here. They're leaving their tears, their candles. Everybody is shocked here, tried to find out what happened, why Liam fell

from the balcony.

And yes, the devastation is going on right now. The prosecutor's office that sent a statement where it says that everything indicates that the

musician was alone when the fall occurred. And it says also that a series of substances were seized in the musician's room that would prove that

previous situation of alcohol and drug consumption that goes in hand with what the managers of the hotel said in that 911 message, that he was acting

in an aggressive way, but they're still trying to find out what happened.

The autopsy says that he had internal and external injuries, and also one of the main issues that the autopsy shows is that there was no defensive

position. While that might show that he was unconscious when he fell down from the third floor of this hotel in the back part, going to the

courtyard. A courtyard that normally has, I was told, coverage like a little roof that could have saved his life if it was open, but it was

closed at that time.

So that's the reason why everybody is here grieving and with a lot of sorrow, lot of tears, singing in the Liam song, hugging all the time and

trying to find out what happened and trying to know what will happen next - - Julia.

COATES: Yes, Dario, we were just looking at the faces of some of the girls. They're crying, looking so sad, talking on phones, you can see the emotion

and the sadness I think and the shock on their faces. There was just a girl behind you that pinned a message saying, forever young and forever loved,

rest in peace. Very sad.

[16:45:07]

Dario, thank you so much for that report. Dario Klein there.

All right. We'll be right back after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: More than a million Atlantic puffins flock to Iceland each year, but their numbers are now on the decline. Rising sea levels and

overfishing have made them vulnerable, especially when they're young.

This week on "Call to Earth," we'll see how one remote island community is trying to give them a fighting chance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINA MACFARLANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Around five miles of Iceland's southwest coast between frozen waters and volcanic rock is

Vestmannaeyjar, an archipelago home to around 4,500 people, and the world's largest colony of Atlantic puffins.

KIM CUPPLES, GENERAL MANAGER, BELUGA WHALE AND PUFFIN SANCTUARY: We can get anywhere from 500,000 to a million puffins each year. They tend to start

breeding in early spring and then we get the babies anywhere from kind of early August to mid-August.

Once they are hatched after about six to eight weeks, they then start fly or move towards the north. So what they will do is they will meet their

burrows, fly into the sea and then they will spend the next few years just at sea.

MACFARLANE: This brief window each year when the puffins begin to take flight is known as puffling season. But in recent years, numbers have

dwindled, seeing puffins classified as vulnerable in 2018. And as with many other members of the animal kingdom, flying the coop isn't always as easy

as it may seem.

CUPPLES: Puffins are not great flyers and so typically what happens is they, with the winds around Vestmannaeyjar, there's lots of heavy weather,

so they will start to fly and then the wind will, depending on which way it's going, bring them back into the towns, and that's when we start seeing

poor little stranded puffins in car parks, you know, in parks, by buildings. So that's kind of one way that they bring -- come back.

The other way is obviously they follow the moon, essentially the light on the sea from the moon, and they'll get distracted with the lights of the

town and come back into the town that way as well.

[16:50:09]

MACFARLANE: And that's where the people of the island come in. Stranded pufflings are rescued from the streets each night, and passed to the sea

life sanctuary in cardboard boxes to be checked for avian flu or any other injuries they may have picked up on their travels.

ENRIC, ANIMAL CARE SUPERVISOR, BELUGA WHALE AND PUFFIN SANCTUARY: One of the puffins that we have had here are positive. So very good. We are just

going to take a check on this bird. Looks like has an injury on the leg.

CUPPLES: We see all sorts of elements at the sanctuary. It could be something from being oiled if they go into the harbor and there's lots of

cruise ships, or it could be that they've got eye injuries, wing injuries, foot injuries. There's a whole host of injuries that they can have. A lot

of which are recoverable and we kind of keep them, monitor them. and then when they're fully recovered, they can be released hopefully.

MACFARLANE: This local family has rescued five pufflings already this season. And after a month in rehab, the last one is ready to be released

back into the wild. All it needs is a little help in the right direction.

CUPPLES: The release is a very exciting time I think for everyone. For the birds as well because they get to kind of go off in their natural life and

continue on with their journey. I think it's really important that humans come together and look out for the natural wildlife that can't help

themselves. And I think that's a really great thing that everyone is doing here is that they are able to rescue these puffins and give them a life

that they might not have had if they were left stranded in the middle of a road. And I think that's great to be able to pass along.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHATTERLEY: Let us know what you're doing to answer the call with the hashtag, "Call to Earth."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHATTERLEY: Welcome back to QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

We're learning more about the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. An IDF spokesperson says Sinwar was killed in Rafah close to where the bodies of

six hostages were recovered in September. Israeli ground and tank troops were in the area because they believed senior Hamas commanders were nearby.

The spokesperson says those troops were shot at and so they fired back with a tank. It was only when they inspected the rubble that they realized

Sinwar was among those dead.

[16:55:02]

And the death of Sinwar is expected to be at the center of discussions between U.S. President Joe Biden and his European counterparts. The U.S.

president is now in Berlin to meet with leaders from Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. They're planning to discuss the Ukraine war and how to

resolve the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East. In the last hour, he said that he told Israel's prime minister, quote, "Now is the time to move

on."

Kayla Tausche is in Berlin for us with the U.S. president.

Kayla, great to have you with us. The question is, is this death the catalyst that facilitates a hostage release, ceasefire negotiations, and a

path towards longer lasting peace? Because that's the question.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And certainly that is the hope of the U.S. and the White House at this point. The White House and

its allies have been pushing for that for the better part of a year at this point and have been met with some resistance both from Hamas, which they've

pointed to all day today that Sinwar was the chief obstacle to such a deal. But there's also been some resistance from Israel and that's led to

increasing frustration on behalf of President Biden with his Israeli counterpart as they appeared at odds in recent communications which became

increasingly rare because of that.

And so now officials point to the common language between the readout that the U.S. released after the phone call that the two held while President

Biden was on a secure line aboard Air Force One, and the readout the Prime Minister Netanyahu's office put forward. They've had very similar language

to what President Biden said in his readout. And that has given U.S. officials some hope that perhaps now they are on the same page, or at least

closer to being on the same page than they were in the past.

That being said, what happens next is the big question. We understand that President Biden is going to be discussing with his allies here in Berlin

how they can pressure Israel to perhaps have an end to this conflict and whether they can have a diplomatic offramp. And so that is going to be the

conversation that's taking place going forward.

CHATTERLEY: Yes. We'll continue to watch that very closely.

Kayla Tausche, for now, thank you so much.

And that wraps up QUEST MEANS BUSINESS. I'm Julia Chatterley. Thank you for watching. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts now

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.

We begin this hour with the breaking news. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the horrific October 7th attacks that killed over 1200

people in Israel, including 46 Americans, Hamas kidnapping more than --

END