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Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Takeover of Gaza City, Move Puts Israel Closer to Fully Occupying the Enclave; White House Preps for Possible Putin Meeting as Ceasefire Deadline Expires; Intense Wildfires Prompt Evacuation of Thousands North of L.A. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired August 08, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, approving a takeover. The Israeli security cabinet green lights are planned to occupy Gaza City. It puts Israel one step closer to fully occupying the entire Gaza Strip.

Plus, exploding wildfire, one north of Los Angeles burning more than a football field every two seconds, we will take you there live.

We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off today, and here in The Situation Room.

And we begin this hour with the breaking news, Israel security cabinet approving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to take full control of Gaza City. Just hours after that vote, this is what happened. Watch this.

A video on social media showing explosions right in Gaza City. Leaders around the world are criticizing Israel's decision, and Hamas is warning that it will come at a high cost. It also is drawing backlash from Israelis. Mass protests erupted across the country over fears that the move could endanger the dozens of hostages still believed to be alive in Gaza.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I want my government to bring back all the hostages in one deal and to stop this war. To continue the war is a disaster for the Palestinians and for us Israelis as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The father of one hostage is also slamming Prime Minister Netanyahu. He told the BBC, he said the prime minister, quote, prefers the hostages dead so he can intensify attacks on Gaza.

Let's go straight to CNN's Jerusalem Bureau Chief Oren Liebermann. Oren, tell us more about this plan just approved by the Israeli security cabinet.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: After a security cabinet meeting that lasted nearly ten hours into the early hours of the morning, the security cabinet led by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved this plan in what is a major escalation of the war in Gaza, a plan to take over Gaza City.

Now, the Israeli military already controls some 75 percent of the besieged territory, so there isn't all that much left yet, but this is what Israel is now pushing into. In terms of how this plays out, the first phase of this, which the Israeli military already says they're working on and planning for, is essentially to force the evacuation of Gaza City, up to 1 million Palestinians in that area, pushed to the south of the enclave.

At the same time, Israel will set up a larger humanitarian aid effort. But the prime minister's office made clear those additional aid distribution sites will be outside of Gaza City, and that means Palestinians who want aid, who want food, will be forced to leave Gaza City, which will then be declared a closed combat zone.

In terms of the stated goals of the operation, this is what the security cabinet said. These five principles will guide the thinking over what is likely to be a five-month operation, according to sources with whom we have spoken. The goals, the disarmament of Hamas, the return of all hostages, both living and deceased, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip and the establishment of an alternative civilian administration. That means. Israel will not accept Hamas ruling Gaza. Hamas has said this move is Israel sacrificing the hostages and the Palestinian Authority will also not be allowed.

They warned of a worsening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, Wolf. That's what we're seeing unfold and have seen over the recent weeks and months.

BLITZER: And we'll have a lot more on all of this coming up later this hour and next hour as well.

Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem for us, thank you very much.

We're also following breaking news on a potential meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Today, President Trump's deadline for a Russian ceasefire in Ukraine expires.

[10:05:00]

I want to go straight to CNN Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen. And he is joining us now from Moscow.

Fred, where do things stand on this potential meeting between these two leaders?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. Yes, the Russians said the preparations for this potential meeting's potential summit already well underway. However, they also caution that preparations like this, obviously given the magnitude of this summit, and also, of course, the importance of these two leaders, that that could take a little bit of time.

Right now, the Russians are saying that they're still aiming for some time next week for this summit to happen. However, it doesn't seem as though there's an exact date in mind. Yet at the same time, a lot of people are also talking about the summit venue and where exactly all this could take place. And there's a lot of speculation that's going on here in Russian state media, a lot of them talking about countries potentially in the Gulf. Some are also talking about countries in the European region.

But right now, it really is unclear and the Russians are saying that the venue for this summit will be announced at a later date.

One of the things from the Russian perspective that seems to be very important in all this, well, President Trump has a singular focus for this summit where he says that he wants to achieve a ceasefire for Ukraine. For the Russians, they say that it is about more than that. What they want is also a reset of U.S.-Russian relations and, of course, sanctions relief as well. One of the other things that they, of course, want to do is also stave off those secondary tariffs that President Trump has threatened. Vladimir Putin, Wolf, today already conducting two very important phone calls, one with Xi Jinping of China, and one with Narendra Modi of India. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Fred Pleitgen in Red Square, in Moscow, we'll get back to you as well.

There's other breaking news we're following, wildfires growing larger and larger and moving faster in Southern California. They forced several thousand people just outside Los Angeles to evacuate their homes. This is a time lapse video showing the Canyon Fire overnight. It burned the equivalent of a football field every two seconds. You can see the thickness of the smoke across California's Ventura County.

CNN National Correspondent Nick Watt is on the scene for us. Nick, what can you tell us?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, as you say, this fire exploded overnight, 3,000 acres in just an hour. You know, it used to be that fires would bed down a little bit at night in those sort of cooler, damper conditions. As the climate changes, not so much.

Explosion overnight, as I say now, Mike, if you pan over here, the fire started down here near Lake Piru and is moving over those hills. A couple of rural communities in there, and then the town of Castaic on the other side of those hills, 20,000 people live there.

Just to give you an idea of exactly where we are, we're about 40 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, about ten miles from Six Flags Theme Park, and, of course, anxiety in this part of the country after those terrible fires in January, that anxiety has been heightened since then. Now, so, 250 firefighters on the ground, aerial assets as well, trying to contain this fire. We'll get an update in the next hour or so, I would imagine, in terms of how many people are under evacuation orders. Last, we heard it was just a little over 4,000.

And as you mentioned, Wolf, this is just one of many fires burning in Southern California right now. The fire up near Santa Barbara in the hills up there, that's been burning since last Friday. That's now burned over 150 square miles.

Now, the concern, of course, is these fires that are burning in the hills around Southern California, that they reach areas of population. That's the fear. That's why they're trying to contain these fires. This fire right now, Wolf, 0 percent contained. Back to you.

BLITZER: I assume that smoke is reaching you, right? You can smell it? You can feel it?

WATT: Oh sure. I mean, we can smell it, but it's moving that way. I mean, listen, the fire right now up in those hills, which makes it hard for us to actually find it and also hard to fight it. There is smoke. You could see it as I was driving up from Los Angeles this morning.

And as I say, that smell of smoke around here, that brings back memories of January. You know, there was those terrible fires in L.A. itself and Altadena and Pacific Palisades, but I was also up here late January when another fire was threatening the town of Castaic.

So. Tension, anxiety high, so far, no injuries, no structures lost, but they need to contain this fire as the weather conditions, the high, high temperatures, the low, low humidity, and the dry and the dry brush, all of those conditions are, are going to continue through the weekend at least. So, they need to get a handle on this fire today. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Nick Watt, stay safe over there. Thank you very, very much.

Also happening now, it's deadline day for Democrats in Texas. The State House of Representatives is set to reconvene soon to weigh Republicans' new political maps, GOP officials are warning that Democratic lawmakers who don't show up today could lose their seats.

CNN Senior National Correspondent Ed Lavandera joining us from Austin, Texas, right now. Ed, what do we know about the Democrats' plans?

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ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's no indication, Wolf, that they are going to show up again today. In about four hours, the Texas House of Representatives is going to try to reconvene, and assuming that the Democrats don't show up, they'll quickly gavel out. There will not be a quorum met here. And as we see that drama continue to unfold, we are almost a week into this political saga. The Republicans here in Texas continue to ratchet up the rhetoric. The governor of Texas, Wolf, now saying that if Democrats don't return, he will consider escalating the number of seats that they redraw, that they try to get out of the new redistricting match from going from five to possibly as many as eight. This is more of what both sides are saying here this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): We do expect a quorum to be coming sometime soon. But listen, it's not -- we're not afraid because a special session lasts 30 days, and I will be calling special session after special session and we are going to get these maps passed regardless of how long the Democrats hold out in these leftist states like Illinois and New York and others.

STATE REP. JAMES TALARICO (D-TX): They are literally threatening to remove the people's representatives from office. And so this is a page out of an authoritarian playbook we've seen in other countries. They may be coming for Texas Democrats now, but if this continues, they eventually come for all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: Wolf, Republicans have been saying here in Texas that they were threatening to arrest these members if they do not show up. In my conversations with Democrats over the last few days, even though Republicans have been saying that we haven't seen any evidence that anything like that has happened has happened yet, Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Ed Lavandera in Austin, Texas, for us, Ed, thank you very, very much.

Also new this morning, we're learning more about the man President Trump wants to temporarily fill a vacancy at the Federal Reserve. He's nominating Steven Miran, who's been an advocate for Trump's tariffs and a critic of the Federal Reserve's independence. Meanwhile, there's still no jobs data chief. The president fired the previous one just a week ago and said he would name a replacement in three to four days.

Let's go to CNN Senior Reporter Matt Egan, who's joining us from New York. Well, what can you tell us, Matt, about the nomination of Steven Miran?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Wolf, there's a lot of economists who are skeptical about the president's historically high tariffs. Stephen Miran is not one of them. He's served as the brains behind this tariff regime. He has provided the intellectual support for this trade agenda.

Now, Miran is a Harvard trained economist. He worked at Treasury during Trump's first term, currently the chair of the Council for Economic Advisers. And like President Trump, Miran has not been shy about criticizing the Federal Reserve, arguing that they've been too slow to cutting interest rates. Now, what's notable is Miran has really changed his tune on that front. As recently as last September, Miran argued on social media that the Fed was making a huge mistake by slashing interest rates that month, arguing that the Fed was playing politics ahead of the election.

Now, keep in mind, back then, inflation was cooling. Flash forward to today, inflation is heating up. It's actually higher than it was last September, and Miran is arguing the Fed must cut interest rates because he believes that the overall Trump agenda is going to be deflationary.

Miran also argued at the time that we need to close the revolving door between the Fed and the rest of the executive branch. And, Wolf, Miran could now be the latest to walk through that revolving door.

BLITZER: All right. Matt Egan reporting for us, Matt, thank you very, very much.

This is a very special day, by the way, right here in The Situation Room. 20 years ago today, August 8th. 2005, we launched The Situation Room. Some of the headlines at the time, NASA was trying to bring the Discovery shuttle back to Earth. We also had an exclusive report about the U.S. government preparing for a possible terror attack. And new audiotapes of Marilyn Monroe were released. Here's a look at how it all started that day. Watch this.

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BLITZER: You're in The Situation Room where video and reporters from around the world are coming into CNN in real time. We also have the capability to bring in live data feeds from news organizations at home and around the world. Let's take a closer look at what's incoming right now, following lots of stories.

Scheduled reentry of the shuttle Discovery off this morning, they're hoping for a better weather tomorrow morning. Low clouds over Florida. Discovery astronauts try again very early tomorrow morning.

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BLITZER: Throughout the next two hours, by the way, we're going to have some other highlights and moments from the past 20 years. Stay tuned for that. We'll have a major report on the history of The Situation Room coming up in the next hour, a very special surprise as well to help us celebrate 20 years.

[10:15:00]

And still ahead Hamas' warning that Israel's plan to take over Gaza City will come at a, quote, high cost. I'll speak to the father of an Israeli American hostage to get his reaction.

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) GUY RAZ, FORMER CNN REPORTER: Wolf, behind us, you can see the lights of Navaja Kaleen (ph). This is the largest Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip. Now, in about a month's time, this settlement along with 20 other Jewish settlements in Gaza will no longer exist. The Israeli government having had made the decision to begin the process of removing its citizens from this strip of land at first occupied 38 years ago.

[10:20:04]

Now, Wolf, the narrative of this pullout, of course, differs depending on who you speak with. For Palestinians, it's regarded as a relatively insignificant step, perhaps a small step. For most Israelis, the Gaza pullout is seen as a painful and traumatic event.

What is certain, Wolf, is that the Gaza pullout ultimately is the biggest change in this conflict in a very, very long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That was reporting for our then reporter, Guy Raz, from the launch -- on the day of the launch of The Situation Room, exactly 20 years ago today, that report, and it occurred just ahead of Israel's withdrawal, complete withdrawal at that time from Gaza.

That was then. This is now.

Protests have erupted across Israel today after the Israeli security cabinet approved a plan from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take full military control of Gaza City. It's not a complete reversal of 20 years, but it's a hugely significant moment. The plan includes the forced evacuation of about 1 million Palestinians to Southern Gaza. The deadline is October 7th, the second anniversary of the Hamas terror attack that ignited this war.

Joining us now is Ruby Chen. He's the father of 19-year-old Israeli American hostage Itay Chen. He was a soldier in the Israeli Army. According to IDF Intelligence, sir, Itay Chen was killed during the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel. His body was then taken into Gaza. Ruby, thanks so much for joining us.

Have you received any new information since the last time we spoke, and that was not that long ago, about the latest efforts to try to bring your son home?

RUBY CHEN, SON ITAY TAKEN HOSTAGE BY HAMAS: No, unfortunately, we have not received any new information. You know, we had hope when Edan Alexander, U.S. Israeli IDF soldier came out. You know, we spoke to Mr. Witkoff. He said that we should have hope that he would be able also to reunite us with our son as well.

BLITZER: And do you believe Itay Chen, your son, is alive or is he dead?

CHEN: Well, Wolf, we just don't know. You know, it's a lowest type of psychological warfare. This terrorist organization's not acknowledged, A, that Itay's in their possession and, B, what his physical status is. So we just don't know. And we have, of course, some hope that maybe he was able to get some medical attention.

But, again, the Hamas have not allowed doctors any type of medical attention to get to the hostages. And I think we saw the results of that over the last weekend's videos that came out of how treat hostages.

BLITZER: What's your reaction, Ruby, to the Israeli security cabinet's decision overnight to take over Gaza City?

CHEN: I think it just proves again the objective of dismantling Hamas supersedes the objective of releasing all the hostages. It's unfortunate. You know, we feel like we are collateral damage, where the IDF chief of staff says that this plan will put at risk the living hostages as well as the deceased of never being found.

And, nevertheless, this government decided that they prefer the dismantling of Hamas than trying to find a way to reach an agreement to release the last hostages.

BLITZER: And on that point, Ruby, I want to get your reaction to the comments of another hostage's father who -- that he says the Prime Minister Netanyahu prefers the hostages dead because it makes military options easier. And that father told the BBC, and I'm quoting now, once you convince everybody that they are all dead, you can say, okay, we can go brute force on the Gaza Strip, bomb everything.

First of all, do you agree with that father, Yehuda Cohen?

CHEN: No, I think it's a bit extreme, that statement. I know Yehuda, his heart is in the like place. But I think what we should focus on is the responsibility of the Netanyahu government on what happened on October 7th. Yes, I have no thoughts about Hamas. You know, they are an evil organization, but I have no expectation from them. But I do expect the responsibility of the prime minister that October 7th, that happened on his watch.

He knows how to fix it, or, you know, there was a contact that was breached between the people here and the prime minister. And they need to find a way to fix that breach. And the way to do it is to bring all the hostages home, 50 of them still, and start the rehabilitation of this conflict, which has been on pause for 22 months.

[10:25:00]

BLITZER: Just a short time ago, Hamas said that Israel is fully aware that expanding the Gaza war will mean sacrificing the hostages. What's your reaction to that statement from Hamas?

CHEN: I think that what we need is more of an international intervention. I think that, A, the mediators need to go public and say who is to blame for the latest collapse, as well as seeing that, you know, President Trump, he has been in office for six months. They inherited a framework that they have reached a conclusion after six months that there is a low probability to execute on it, and now we need a different type of plan. Maybe this is the time to look at the international community, specifically the E.U., the U.K., that still have hostages in Gaza as well as U.S. citizens, and bring them home together.

And, you know, think of Camp David, you know, 1979, maybe now we need to get everybody together at Mar-a-Lago. Nobody, you know, gets out, no media and they hammer out a deal. I think that it's been too long. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza was the hunger that is going on there, the suffering of my family, as well as 49 other families. We need to put an end to it. And I think everyone understands that this cannot go on and the United States' strategic interests in the region are at risk, which is ending conflict stability and prosperity for the people in the region.

BLITZER: Ruby Chen, good luck to you and good luck to your family, and we hope you're reunited with Itay Chen, your son, soon. Thank you very much for joining us.

CHEN: Thank you for having me. God bless.

BLITZER: Thank you. And coming up, a deadline day for the Texas State Democrat. I'll ask one of them why he's staying out of Austin, and if he's afraid of potential legal action.

Stay with us.

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