suspected terror not foiled. european officials arrested multiple people for alleged terrorism. we'll have the latest on this quickly developing storely. >> cnn is the first western

media outlet to gain access to southern gaza without a military escort. we'll bring you that report ahead as the defense minister says the war in gaza will last several more months. and exonerated. a man in illinois spent 35 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit. and now his conviction has been vacated and he is a free man at least. he will join us live just ahead. we're following these major developing stories and many more coming in to cnn news central. thanks for joining us this afternoon. it's the top of the hour, and we're tracking a set of counterterror operations in europe. multiple suspects were arrested in germany, denmark and the netherlands today. german officials arrested 3 hamas members for allegedly planning to attack jewish institutions. >> authorities in denmark made several terror arrests that are

unrelated to the germany case. israeli officials claim the suspects were also acting on behalf of ha mast. alex, all of this is confusing as you try to put the pieces of the puzzle together. these different arrests, three countries involved. what has israel shared about the arrests? >> reporter: yeah. four different countries involved. it can be confusing. let's really explain this as best we can. right now it appears that two sets of people have been arrested. potentially in two separate plots. there may be some overlap. we're trying to figure that out. let's start in europe where in germany, they say three people have been arrested in germany for a potential plot to attack jewish institutions. the three people who they say were arrested are long standing members of hamas. this is according to a german prosecutor who participated in

hamas operations abroad. the fourth person was arrested in the netherlands. in denmark, they talked about being being arrested but they didn't mention hamas. what the authorities said is that four were arrested for terrorism offenses, for preparing an attack of terrorism. and they mention an awareness, as they say, of jewish places. one of the people that the danes say were arrested was also in the netherlands. three people arrested in germany. two in the netherlands, and then three more in denmark. denmark said they carried out a series of raids on thursday that resulted in these terror arrests and charges. when it comes to israel, israel is only talking about the plot and the arrests in denmark. the masde, which is the intelligent city agency, they have thanked denmark for everything they did in stopping this plot and making these

arrests. this joint statement from the masad said denmark arrested terrorists acting on behalf of the hamas terrorist organization and thwarted an attack. the goal was to kill innocent civilians on european soil. so here we have both germany and israel claiming that hamas operatives have been arrested for a potential plot in europe. this is really interesting because until now, hamas has really been a local terror group that has focused its efforts on israel. now you have israel accusing them of expanding their operations abroad. >> i want to make sure i have an understanding. the arrest happened in three countries and the two different individuals arrested in the netherlands they are believed to have been involved in separate cases. right? >> reporter: that is correct. arrests in the netherlands. two people there who we don't believe are connected for the time being. we do believe they are separate cases, as you say. the three long standing hamas

operatives in germany, according to the german prosecutor. according to the danes, you have three more people arrested. they don't have an affiliation. just that they were arrested on terrorism charges for a potential terrorist plot. >> meantime, alex, president biden's national security adviser is in israel right now. he was taking meetings in tel- aviv earlier today. we're seeing more daylight between the white house and israel on the next steps on the war in gaza. what's your understanding of what's come out of today's meetings? >> reporter: from what we're hearing from both sources and from john kerby back at the white house in washington, d.c. is that jake sullivan really delivered on this message that israel essentially has limited time. that the u.s. would like to see israel winding down this heavier, more intense phase of the operation and move into a lower intensity phase in the

coming weeks. this is something that we reported a few ago but israel has said basically they're going to fight for as long as it takes. earlier today the defense minister who met with jake sullivan said this war could go on for more than just months. jake sullivan, we're told, made clear to the israelis that international pressure is growing and losing international support. in the coming weeks it is time to wind down these more intense operations to a lower intensity phase. now, at the same time the white house is going to say and has said we're not telling israel what to do. what john kerby said they would like to see the war end as soon as possible. the big question is how israel will respond to this. they made it clear to irraticate hamas. that could take more than a few weeks. >> alex, thanks so much for bringing us the latest. >> while sullivan is in israel to deliver that message to israeli leaders of the need to

lower the intensity of the operations, cnn new reportings on how the idf is carrying out the war and how it could be leading to more casualties. >> more than 18,600 people have been killed in gaza since october 7th. cnn katy joins us with more details. you're learning that israel has been using a large number of what's known as dumb bombs. right? >> reporter: that's exactly right. the u.s. intelligence assessment compiled by the of the national intelligence and dried to my colleague and myself says that between 40 and 44% of all of the air to surface ammunitions have been unguided and dumb bombs or gravity bombs. experts say dumb bombs are less precise and pose a greater danger to civilians on the ground. particularly like a densely populated area where the

difference between life and death is a matter of a few feet. there are ways to make unguided ammunition more precise. through the application of a sort of targeting kit that you can sort of attach to these munitions. it's not clear whether or not israel is using the kits or has enough of them and in particular, what the rules of engagement are and what it considers to be an acceptable threshold for potential civilian loss on any given strike. that's why you are hearing from current and former u.s. officials who spoke to natasha and myself through the course of this reporting saying that israel's heavy reliance on the so-called dumb bombs is really a contradiction of what they are saying publicly about doing everything they can to protect civilian life. >> really important reporting. katy, thank you so much. >> our cnn reporter saw some of

the horrors up close with her own eyes. we are the first western media outlet to gain independent access to southern gaza without any israeli military escort. clarissa joins us now. you got this rare access and went to a field hospital where medical staff has gotten used to hearing constant bomb strikes a day. bring us there. bring us inside. tell us what you experienced. >> reporter: well, pamela, it took us weeks and weeks and weeks to negotiate this access. up until this point, we have really been relying on the heroic and extraordinarily courageous work of journalists inside gaza who have been paying an incredibly high price. the highest death toll in any recent conflict for journalists. more than 60 killed inside gaza. and all of us international journalists on the outside have been struggling with how to get

in. israeli and egyptian authorities have been blocking the free passage of journalists into the gaza strip. as you mentioned, we were able to get in with a team of medical volunteers who are working at a newly established field hospital that has been set up. we took a tour of the facility and met the doctors and patients. within moments of being here, we heard a strike. i want to play a short excerpt of our story. have a look. arriving at the field hospital, we meet dr. nadokbe. no sooner does our tour begin when -- this is what you hear all the time now? >> yes. at least 20 times a day. >> reporter: at least 20 times

a day? >> maybe more sometimes. which i think we get used to it. >> reporter: one thing none of the doctors have gotten used to is the number of children they're treating. the u.n. estimates two-thirds of those killed in this round of the conflict have been women and children. 8-year-old janan was lucky enough to survive a strike on her family home that crushed her femur but spared her immediate family. she says she's not in pain, so that's good. her mother was out when it happened. i went to the hospital to look for her, she says. and i came here, and i found her here. the doctors told me what happened with her, and i made sure that she's okay. thank god.

they bombed the house in front of us and then our home, janan tells us. i was sitting next to my grandfather, and my grandfather held me, and my uncle is fine. he is the one who took us out. the doctor says it's hard not to. >> i work with all people. like adults. but the children. it's something touching you. >> reporter: touches your heart and tests your faith in humanity. >> clarissa, seeing the pain in that mother's face tells the whole story. i want to ask you has a followup what you were able to show us on the ground is so ill museum mating bringing the realties to the forefront. there's a group of humanitarian

organizations who wrote we are no strangers to human suffering, but we've seen nothing like the siege of gaza. did you hear that there? >> reporter: oh, absolutely. you hear that from almost every aid worker that you talk to who has been on the ground there. who have operated in other conflict zones. i think it's because of the nature of gaza. the fact that it's sealed, densely populated. the fact that there's no place for people to go. there's nowhere that can be considered a sanctuary or safe refuge. there's no sense really at all, pamela, that we're seeing the drastically needed uptick in aid to prevent this from teetering even beyond the humanitarian catastrophy into something darker and grim. the doctors said they are treating patients that would be

normally fairly straightforward. because they're being treated in unsanitary and unhygienic conditions, they said they had a man with a wound to his head. there were worms inside the wound. the doctors had never seen anything like it before in his medical career. >> wow. thank you so much clarissa for your courageous and so important reporting. thank you. a quick update now. ukrainian and moldova are one step closer to join the union. european leaders are praising this decision calling it strategic and a day that will remain engraved in the history of the european union. the process between opening negotiations and finally becoming a member could take years, we should note. ukraine's president vladimir zelensky called it a victory for its country and said history is made by those who

don't get tired of fighting for freedom. the legal bottle over abortion rights is heating up as the issue remains front and center in the 2024 race. plus, putin just held his first year end press conference since russia's invasion of ukraine. what he said about the war, moscow's relation with the u.s. and detained wall street reporter.

this just in. majority leader chuck schumer announcing the senate will return to work next week. all of this to allow more time for immigration talks to play out in hopes in reaching a deal for ukraine. >> let's take you to manu raju. what are you hearing? >> reporter: this could potentially be a significant development. the senators were expected to leave town today and not return

until january. because there's been progress made in bipartisan negotiations in the senate with the biden administration, they believe that there needs to be more time for these talks to play out. dealing with border policy. changes in how immigration restrictions are in place with the migrant crisis we're seeing at the southern border with mexico. the white house has offered a number of concessions to republicans to move forward with more restrictive policies. they're not there yet. chuck schumer said they'll return on monday to give more time for the negotiations to play out. this is significant. not just on the policy of immigration but because riding along with that will be aid to ukraine. ukraine says is desperately needed in the war against russia. also aid to israel. that's tied to this as well. as well as other major issues such as aid to taiwan and other allies around the world. they're all contingent on this negotiation over border security, border policy that's

happening urgently right now in the united states' senate. there are a lot of questions here. even if they are to reach a deal in principle by monday, which is chuck schumer's goal, they have to get the votes to get it out of the senate and get it through the republican led house that left town until january. huge questions. one top republican senator, john cornin, he said he's dreaming. >> no shortage of hurdles ahead. manu raju, thanks for the update. there are a wave of legal battles focused on abortion access rippling across the united states. >> yeah. since the supreme court's landmark decision that overturned roe v. wade last year, two dozen states have banned or limited access to the procedure. we have a closer look at the legal battles taking place. whitney, some of these involve laws that date back to the 1800s. right? >> reporter: that's right.

and particularly in arizona. the question there is which law on the books should super seed the other? it's a near total ban on abortion. there's a law on the books that was enacted in 202 that allows for abortion up to 15 weeks. those laws are both still on the books. each side arguing that the other is the law of the land. here's a quick snippet of how they were made to arizona supreme court justices this week. >> abortion is healthcare. i'm not sure that anyone has ever said those words in this courtroom before. they bare repeating. abortion is healthcare. what that means is the decision will have a profound impact on the ability of pregnant arizonaens to access that healthcare. thankfully reaching the correct decision is not difficult. >> this protects the mother and protecting unborn children as they near viability. >> reporter: so, in theafter

math of roe v. wade, there are questions that state supreme courts have to answer. the arizona 1864 law, there was an injunction that said you can't enforce that law. once it went away that injunction went away and that's the debate in arizona boris and pamela. >> whitney, justices in the new mexico supreme court are also hearing arguments. what's happening there? >> reporter: theirs is different. new mexico has a right to abortion. they have pretty liberal laws. some of the most liberal laws in the nation when it comes to abortion. local municipalities tried to roll that back. and so in some cases they put forth basically stringent business licensening, which would make it impossible for an abortion provider to provide an abortion. there's a debate about which law super seeds the other. that's the major theme. who has the right to ban or law

abortion. this is zeroing in on businessing licenses and whether they have the right to enact business licenses that fly in the face at the right to abortion. here's a brief look at how those arguments were made this week. >> we have the inherent right to create regulations for businesses. >> women and communities have a constitutional right to access reproductive healthcare. >> reporter: again, so many questions. these cases certainly cases to watch. and then meanwhile today, wyoming supreme court justice is set to decide how an abortion ban there is going to play out. so, again, many more questions and the major theme here in the aftermath of roe v. wade, this is falling on the states and a handful of state supreme court justices to decide the law of the lands. >> ahead of a big election year next year. >> whitney, thanks so much. here now to discuss the

political implications of the abortion debate and much more is lee ann caldwell. she's an anchor for washington post live and cnn presidential historian and former director of the nixon librarian. >> we saw the role that abortion played in the midterm elections. are you anticipating with the cases playing out we'll see the same momentum going into 2024? >> well, democrats and my democratic sources say absolutely. that's part of what they're banking on and being extremely successful once again in 2024. and it's not just the issue generally of abortion versus, of democratic candidates and republican candidates. there are likely going to be ballot initiatives on some of the critical battleground states. not only in battleground presidential states but ballot states that are important as

well. including nevada, arizona are a couple of the states that abortion rights groups are trying to get placed on the ballot. this is absolutely going to still be a big issue in the next election. >> yeah. and the abortion debate is trickling into the republican primary contest we're seeing play out. nikki haley says there needs to be compassion and accused republican men not knowing how to talk about it. how do you think the gop field is handling it? >> they are struggling with this issue. that might be an understatement. they're trying to refine their messaging and trying to walk back and move away from some of their extreme positions they had before previously, such as national abortion bans, et cetera. republican operatives are encouraging republican candidates. not only people like nikki haley and down ballot to move away from talk about national abortion ban and talk about the

whole woman and about the importance of the entire situation when abortion is coming into play. and you also see donald trump, who is the clear front runner, who is trying to have a very nuanced stance on this. saying he is, you know, he's said over the past sev a nation ban is not the way to go. and so this is an issue that republicans know is a liability for them, but they are still struggling how to balance that narrative on the campaign trail with what some of their beliefs actually are. >> tim, let's pivot to the effort by house republicans to impeach or at least have an impeachment inquiry of president biden. we've had multiple conversations with lawmakers on and they've not yet been able to establish any concrete evidence that joe biden somehow profited off of his family's business dealings when he was vice president. nor that he abused power to enrich his family members when he's been in office.

what do you make of this effort? >> well, it seems to me, given there's been no evidence produced, that this is revenge. that this is the first stage of the former president trump's revenge tour. he now has control of part of one house of government. and he has been putting pressure on his allies in the house to embarrass his opponent in the 2024 campaign. or his likely opponent. so i see this as political. i mean, keep in mind what's wrong about the effort in the house. number one, the alleged corruption happened before biden was president. the impeachment opportunity or

tool was created by the founders to remove someone from their current office for high crimes and misdemeanors committed by them in their current office. it was not designed to go after somebody for something they did before they entered their current office. so, historically, this approach to president biden makes absolutely no sense. number two, the attack on hunter biden makes perfect sense when done by the department of justice. hunter biden is currently under indictment for three felonies and a number of misdemeanors. there's no question that the u.s. justice system is doing what it's supposed to with hunter biden. since there's no evidence that his father participated in these crimes,after all, president biden was not indicted with his son, there's

no basis for what we're seeing in the house. it's a waste of time by the house and the house, it seems, is not going to be doing the work it needs to do to fund the war against putin and to support israel. >> we have to leave the conversation there. thanks so much for being with us. still to come on news central, a 13-year-old is facing criminal charges for allegedly creating a detailed plan for a mass shooting at a synagogue back in september. details on that in just moments.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

a 13-year-old is now in custody after being accused of plotting to attack a synagogue in ohio. >> according to court documents the teen posted a detailed plan to commit a mass shooting at a jewish temple in canton. this was back in september before the hamas terrorist attacks on october 7th that sparked the ongoing war with israel. bryn, how did law enforcement find out about the alleged plot? >> reporter: we just learned this detail plan was posted online on the social media site discord, and it's actually people inside discord who were tracking this sort of thing and alerted the fbi. from there, local authorities were also alerted and that

triggered a bunch of alerts to the local synagogue where the threats were being talked about, and also this teenager's school. law enforcement said it caused a significant public alarm, and then the teenager was arrested. now, it's unclear exactly what the court documents because this person is a juvenile, there isn't much detail about what exactly this plan entailed. and also, really not much detail of what happened when the arrest took place. were there any weapons? how serious was this plan? those are all questions outstanding. however, that teenager has been charged with two misdemeanors. inducing panic and disorderly conduct. as you mentioned, this happened in september before the october 7th attack in israel. but, of course, we know the incidents, the anti-semitic incidents have been occurring and going on and heightened prior to the the war and a surge after it. both anti-semitic incidents and incidents against muslims and

arabs as well. for this particular incident, the adl did release a statement saying they were horrified by what they learned and also for young people like this suspect, we hope this can be a teachable moment. hate and threats on social media, as in real life, cannot and will not be tolerated. this teen is expected back in juvenile court next week. and my understanding is the judge will decide what sort of punishment they'll face. >> bryn, thank you so much. still ahead. what vladimir putin says needs to change for moscow to restore relations with the u.s.

no peace in ukraine until russia achieves its goals. that's the message today from vladimir putin. speaking for several hours this morning in his first end of year news conference since invading ukraine. he claimed his country is making gains in the war. if ukraine doesn't stand down and accept russia's terms, moscow will have to solve the problem by force. joining us now with more is steve hall, former cia chief of russia operations. steve, putin said solve the problem by force. what do you make of that? more tough talk from a strong man or more of a real threat for ukraine? they're already using a lot of force. >> right. one wonders what does he mean? they'll be even more force than already the massive force that

he's already used much to the detriment of the russian military, which has lost significant not only personnel but military arm that's on the ground. this is like in the battle days we used to watch the russian leaders, the soviet leaders and figure out what they meant by what they stood. it's the modern day putin trying to get the word out through himself and the propaganda. things are going well for ukraine. not really true for the russiaens. the perceived softness of the continued support for ukraine. both in the united states and possibly in europe. those are the themes that putin through himself in presentations like this as well through the propaganda are trying to get through to russians. >> it's interesting because during his end of year speech, there was a lot of, it was all propaganda. on a background screen, there were some actually challenging

questions. like when will tv russia align with real russia? what did you make of that? >> yeah. there were a couple of fascinating moments where you saw some stuff that perhaps we could talk about in terms of opposition or disagreement with putin. i think what is actually more reflective of is how difficult it is for the kremlin these days to filter out and keep the message on point. in the battle days, again, he would pick up the phone and cancel a newspaper or take a television station. when you've got these telegram channels and other stuff on the internet, it is much more difficult for the fsb, the internal security service to try and monitor and to try and track all those people down. it's really much, much more difficult. it's a delicate balancing act. trying to answer the questions and opening the floor to stuff he'd rather not deal with. >> the speech, of course, comes as continued aid to u.s. is stalled. putin gloating that freebies

ukraine gets from western allies is ending. how much of an opening does putin sense here? >> well, i think he's very hopeful. one of the things that putin misunderstands a bit and understands and doesn't want to talk about is the democratic process, whether it's asession to the eu came today in the european context or a continued funding from the united states, those are part of a messy democratic process, which of course putin doesn't worry about. he rules with an iron hand. there's nobody that is questioning where he's sending money or questioning what his motivations are or how long his support will go on for trying to take ukraine down. he doesn't have to deal with that. in the west we have democracies wrestling with that and he'll take advantage of that and try to get out to his people in russia that support is weakening. >> steve hall, as always, really good to hear your analysis. thank you. moments ago, biden was asked about israel's war in

gaza. here's what he said. >> did you want israel to scale back its assault on gaza by the end of the year? do you want them to tone it down? move to a lower intensity phase? >> i want them to be focused on how to save civilian lives. not stop going after hamas. but be more careful. thank you. >> a man in illinois, as we just heard from president biden there speaking about that. a man in illinois is out of prison after spending 35 years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit. he joins us live up next.

this is the moment brian fields was waiting for for decades, freed from prison after 35 years. convicted for a murder he did not commit. you can see him hugging his sister and niece as he begenz a new chapter of his life. back in 1988, he was a college athlete studying to be a police officer. and on one unlucky day according to the illinois innocence project, a drug operation threatened him. as he fled, bullets that were meant for him struck a 6-year-old boy and his mother rgs ultimately killing the child. in a twist of fate he was convicted of the murder on the mother's testimony, even though she was never shown photos . newly surfaced evidence and testimony finally cleared his name and the conviction was vacated. brian beals joins us now.

thank you for being with us. first, i wonder how you are doing? >> i'm doing great. last night, i had dinner with three generations of my family and they are getting me focused on the future. >> i'm glad you can share some time with them. the world is a completely different place now than it was in 1988 when you were wrongfully convicted. i'm wondering what the biggest challenge has been for you so far? what are you excited to experience? >> technology is challenging. i got a phone yesterday and i was trying to figure out how to work it. it is just seeing the city, the way it moves, the automobiles, the feel of everything, it is going to take some time to get used to. >> yeah, i'm sure it has to be head spinning to experience what it is like to see the things that phones are capable of now and things that day to day have

changed since the '80s. let's take a step back. walk us through the process to get you free. >> yeah, my sister has been a tireless advocate for me for all 35 years of my incarceration, oftentimes, meeting opposition and continuing to work on my behalf. and the innocence project, they came in and in a matter of months, unravelled kind of a terrible situation. i'm so grateful to her and that team. >> it has to feel good that you are heard. the wrongful conviction represents a grave miscarriage of justice not only for you but for also the victim and their family who have been denied true justice for decades. i'm wondering what is your message for that family and have

you been in touch at all? >> i have not been in touch but i rolly hope that through this process and coming to get -- i hope at some point justice can be there for them as it has for me. >> yeah, you were studying to be a law enforcement officer. you saw a lot in the courtroom on the other side of that process. what did you take from that experience? what do you think needs to change in the justice system? >> yeah, specifically, my major was administrative justice. i feel like after spending 35 years within the system, i have learned so much. i wanted totake what i have learned and become an advocate for people in prison, incarcerated people. that's my plan moving forward and balance that with building a life. >> brian, that is so inspiring because i don't sense any of

what i imagine i might feel in a situation like that. you had 35 years of your life taken from you. and i don't sense any bitterness or any anger. do you feel like you are going to seek compensation for that lost time, for that wrongful conviction? >> i spend my time incarcerated helping others. i was an educator, program creator, and that really saw me through. the friendships and the camaraderie with other guys, and i want to continue focus on helping those guys, and whatever else happens happens. >> yeah. we should point out just this week, four wrongful convictions have been overturned and folks were released across the country . i imagine there are other folks in the same situation you were in right now, innocent, behind bars, hoping to get a chance to prove it. what would you say to them? >> so the system is broken. and we really got to pay

attention to what is wrong with the system. i want those guys to keep the faith. it took 35 years for the truth to come out in my case. hopefully it doesn't take that long but stay focused and ultimately, whatever happens, stay in the fight. >> brian beals, we are so grateful for your time. >> you're welcome. >> and we are glad ayou are a free man. we look forward to keeping in touch with you in the future. thank you for joining us. >> thanks a lot. >> of course. the lead with jake tapper starts right now. >> being a journalist is the best job in the world, asking challenging questions of the folks who run the worlrld . >> i is ukukraine e going g to e war? >> of cocourse. >> thehe l lead with j jake tap, cnn, n next.

first time i connected with kim, she told me that her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.”

connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. i'm here to thank you.