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tv   CNN Newsroom Live  CNN  October 31, 2023 12:00am-1:00am PDT

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♪ hello. and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the united states and all around the world. i'm bianca nobilo in london. israel steps up its ground offensive into gaza, the israeli prime minister says now is the time for war. and there will be no cease-fire until hamas is resigned, quote, to the dust bin of history. explosions have been ringing out in gaza in recent hours, with new images just a short while ago. heavy smoke hanging over the horizon.
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idf says the forces have struck about 300 targets in gaza. earlier on, benjamin netanyahu rejected criticism over civilian casualties. insisting that hamas was preventing people from moving to the safe zone in southern gaza. israeli military says dozens of hamas fighters have been killed. hamas claims that israel's attempts to get into gaza have been unsuccessful. hamas has released a hostage video. and three women that are believed to have been held captive since october 7th. and new details on how a female israeli soldier was rescued from hamas. defense forces say she was saved with a special mission of getting boots on the ground.
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she is medically checked and doing well. and has been able to share her time in captivity. a closer look at the fighting in gaza. jim shudciutto has our report. >> reporter: an israeli tank inside gaza. apparently fires on a passenger vehicle. a sniper in the window of a building. infantry vancing on the ground. and israeli soldiers raise the israeli flag over a gaza hotel. the outside world's vision into the extent and size of the israeli ground offensive so far is limited. the idf said those ground forces have struck some targets. >> translator: dozens of terrorists were eliminated last night, who barricaded themselves in buildings and attempted to attack the forces that were moving in their direction. >> reporter: one measure of the
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forward progress, cnn geolocated where the soldier raised the flag on the hotel. more than two miles inside gaza. one marker in a campaign that's mostly out of sight. what is visible are israeli strikes on gaza and rockets fired from gaza into israel. despite weeks of bombardment, hamas is keeping up its rocket campaign. the israeli prime minister said his war cabinet is refusing calls for a cease-fire. calls for cease-fire is for israel to surrender to hamas to surrender to terrorism. to surrender to barbarism. that will not happen. this is a time for war. >> reporter: on israel's northern border with lebanon, clashes on a second front. the idf says this is an israeli
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strike on hezbollah military infrastructure in lebanon. our team found ourselves in the cross fire, as shells rain down. you can sere the mortar and artillery fire going out. we heard or tillry fire coming from lebanon. and the soldiers telling us there's possible infiltrations across the worder by hezbollah fighters. that's why the concern is so great. >> reporter: the exchange of fire all along the northern frontier. with communities in black, under mandatory evacuation. the sirens and threat of rocket attacks, driving many israeli residents south, away from the border.
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and closer to safety. jim sciutto, cnn, northern israel. clare sebastian has been tracking the latest for us. let's begin of what israel is describing as the active rescue of a hostage. from release to active rescue. i think, trying to make the point that the ground incursion doesn't necessarily prohibit the release of hostages, which is the families' concern. >> yeah. i think that's exactly the point here. this was the first of its kind. we've seen hamas release four hostages, they said, on humanitarian grounds. this is the first time we've seen an actual rescue. and the wording is critical. listen how the israeli spokesperson described this to cnn's anderson cooper. she was rescued, actively rescued. a joint idf and isa israeli
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security agency operation, with boots on the ground. thanks to the ground operations that we're conducting in northern gaza. special forces were able to come in and based on intelligence, get her out. >> this was female idf soldier. the emphasis there is on israel using this as proof, they say, the ground operations serves, rather than threatens efforts to get hostages. there's an element of this is a way of restoring of the israeli defense forces and the intelligence services, given the failings of october 7th. there is that. there's significant questions around what happens to the 238 hostages that the idf says are being held by hamas. this shows they can continue to get them out. significant questions and concerns including in the u.s., this will be complicated by the
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ground offensive. and hamas showed its hand on monday, when it comes to the hostages releasing. three hostages. we're not showing it because of the risk they were under budure. this was seen railing against netanyahu, speaking, saying he had promised to get them out. talks had been ongoing, involving qatar, egypt, and the u.s. to get a significant number of hostages out. concerns are, this is hampered by the ground offensive. the worry is, this is a part of hamas' toolbooks to slow down the ground offenses. >> what do we know so far about how the ground offensive is shaping up? we keep hearing from the idf, they want to avoid civilian casualties, which is why they're asking people to evacuate from north to south.
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but air strikes are continuing in southern areas. >> they are continuing. the idf has this slow and meticulous. saying they are looking for hamas operatives and infrastructure and going in where they see them. he said, they are focusing on the north of gaza, which is why they have renewed the calls for people to evacuating saying the epicenter of where hamas operates. if they see hamas targets elsewhere, they will be targeted. it's not going to be limited to the north of the gaza strip. you can see, this is new video coming in from the israeli defense forces this morning. showing israeli ground troops in gaza. it does not seem, looking at this video, like they are in the dense environment as of yet. mostly on the outskirts as they push forward. this is ongoing. and we get the sense, given the ongoing air strikes and evacuation, that it is ramping
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up. >> clare sebastian, thank you. the former head of israel's national security is with us now. thank you for being with us this morning, sir. >> thank you. >> can we pick up on the point that my league was making, in terms of israel's ground offensive. we are hearing from the israeli government, the differentiating factor is that it's not an objective to kill savlians. how do we know that civilians are being asked to evacuate for safety. >> the way i understand what we are doing today, in south -- in the south area of gaza, we are
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hitting only military installations of hamas. we're not destroying buildings. this is a way to explain, on one hand, it is a war. on the other hand, we have to avoid as much as possible civilian fascialties. as long as this war will continue, we shall not stop. and i have to remind to myself and to you, that hamas is doing everything by using his people as human shield. it is becoming more and more complicated. unfortunately, and i'm sad to say it, it will be -- it is a bloody war. it will be a bloody war on both sides. what i want to emphasize is something, which is not exactly related to your question. what is missing today is the
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public debate, on the israeli side, the day after. i think that we have to understand that the whole context of this war we can achieve our goals only if we shall bring the our understanding the concept of a better future. and better future for all of us is to revise the process, which will create a reality of two states. why it is so important. once we speak about it, once we declare that this is the goal of this war, the goal of this war, we do not have war against the palestinian people. we have a war with hamas.
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in order to destroy ra hamas, w have to understand that hamas is not only a terror organization. it is but not only a kerrer organization. hamas is an ideology that created a military ocean. we can even hit the political leaders who led this horror that we faced on the 7th of october. but we cannot destroy the ideology. as long as we do not destroy the ideology, hamas will regain its power. the power of hamas, comes from support of the people. the only way to destroy the ideology, this radical ideology that became an isis ideology, is by presenting another ideology.
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and the only ideology that the palestinians will support and will shift their support from hamas, is a political horizon. a political horizon of two states. palestinians are a people. what they want is -- they call it freedom and to see the end of occupation. we have to understand, this is the only way to destroy hamas, as an organization. this is the only way to win this war they use all of the military power. >> i wanted to get to that point with you, this idea that obviously, you can destroy hamas' infrastructure. you can eradicate hamas terrorists that exist. but it doesn't mean that more aren't going to be generated in their place because of what's happening right now.
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any counterterrorism expert would warn of that. what is realistic here? there's a sentiment turning against israel because of what people see as some indiscriminate attacks on civilians within gaza. you'll need the international community on side and palestinian hearts and minds to want to get onboard, with a more moderate ideology where people can live together. it teams like everything that is happening is taking the situation so far away from that. >> i understand and i totally agree. we should not be able to convince the world that we are not only killing hamas activist and not only killing without our intention, civilians. who are used by hamas, as a
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human shield, as long as we shall not present the day after. and the day after should be a political horizon to both people. we made mistakes in the past. they made mistakes in the past. it didn't work in the 90s. it is for us to learn hour mistakes in the past and it is for them to understand it. and i believe it will even shape the attitude of the world, when they see this horrible pictures. that are sending from the battlefield. if you ask me, i think that -- well, i'm not in a position to give advice. to american people and american leadership or the international community. but in this case, it will not come. a better future, concept will
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not come from the israelis. and it will not come from the palestinians. it should come from the international community. if i understand president biden and macron and even the saudis and many arab leaders. they start to talk about it. and i hope they will present it and i can with the way i understand israelis, the moment that it could be on the table, we should accept it. not our government today. probably not our prime minister. we should change our government, if people will understand that it is a viable, better future. i know it because there are some deeper ways in the behavioral of the israelis.
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when israelis a week ago were asked who should replace hamas, when and if the vacuum after we shall defeat hamas. and between 70% to 80% of israelis said that it should be the palestinian authority. we couldn't hear this answer i don't know, months ago. but today, we are looking to everybody who is ready to talk to us, in order to replace the horror that was presented by hamas. and i believe this initiatative should come from the international community. in this case, i think biden, which is perceived in israel as a great leader. many israelis see him as the grandfather of this nation. the way he supported us.
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it's for him. it's for the saudis. it should come within the context of a regional initiative, based on the initialtive. >> i appreciate you taking the time to speak to me this morning. i wish we had more of it. i hope to speak to you soon. thank you. coming up on the program, more than 2 million people in gaza are in desperate need of clean water according to unicef. how they arere coping, n next.
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the palestinian red crescent society says it has received f food and medical supplies from 26 trucks in gaza on monday. that is not nearly enough. and the humanitarian situation on the ground is grave.
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they warn that lack of clean water and fuel and supplies are putting civilians in danger. the united nations is calling for the crossing that links gaza to israel, to open to allow humanitarian deliveries to come through. the chief of unicef says the lack of clean water on gaza is on the verge of becoming a catastrophe. melissa bell shows us the gravity of that situation. >> reporter: in gaza, the fight for survival grows more desperate by the hour. civil order is breaking down with u.n. aid warehouses swarmed. many of the people have been displaced and are now in desperate search of the basics. the water shortage so bad, that some are turning to the sea for the supplies they so desperately need. >> the services are not set up for this. the shelter now is supposed to
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be a school. and a classroom that is supposed to have 20 kids or 30 kids attending a school every day. you have more than 100 people sleeping, eating, drinking there. those are the people that we know. those are the people that we used to talk all the time, laugh all the time. >> reporter: all eyes are on the rafah crossing, the last lifeline in and out of gaza. >> before the war, some 400 trucks a day went into the enclave, according to the world food program. a flow now reduced to a trickle, with fewer than 200 getting through rafah, since the war began, a crossing that is as crucial as it is uncertain. >> we will keep going until the end. until they get all of the humanitarian needs. god be with them.
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we are their egyptian brothers. our hands are their hands. we've been here for 15 days already. we'll stay as long as it takes. >> reporter: it's at the nearby airport that aid arrives before being loaded on to egyptian red crescent trucks on their way to rafa'h. the convoys go through inspection by israeli officials before the aid can be delivered to those who desperately need it. >> since we got here 20 days ago, we only got two coupons worth of aid, each of which is only sufficient for a small child. >> a stranglehold that aid agencies is unlikely to be fixed without a cease-fire. >> there's going to be starvation. there's going to be a health crisis. malnutrition is going to be an issue. talking about people who are
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reducing food to avoid going to the toilet. it's as simple as that. >> for now, those inside gaza, there's little hope that more aid will get in and even less that they will get out. melissa bell, cnn, cairo. still to come, israel issues its highest travel alert for parts of russia after an anti-semitic mob storms an airport. video and analysis about the incident.
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israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu says there
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will be no cease-fire with hamas militants, saying this is the time for war. israeli troops are pushing further into gaza. and israeli military officials say they have send more ground forces into the enclave. israel is warning people in northern gaza with increasing urgency to evacuate. mr. netanyahu insists he is not imposing punishment on palestinian citizens. but the entire population is being dehumanized by this war. israel has issued the dire travel warning against dagestan after a plane was stormed over the weekend. pu putin pointed blame at western agencies, suggesting they used social media to stir up unrest. with ukrainian president
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zelensky called it a signal that moscow's hold on power is slipping. >> for the second time this year, russia is losing control over events. we see the mutanteers are heading to moscow and no one is stopping them. the power in dagestan is evacuating, leading to a real upheaval. >> since the start of the israel/hamas conflicts, some college campuses and communities in the u.s., is seeing a rise of anti-semitism. cornell's president says the police are investigating a series of threats made against the jewish community and plans to step up security for jewish students and organizations. in beverly hills, california, a sur survivor's home was targeted. great to speak to you this
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morning. thanks for joining us. the mob in dagestan is problematic for putin. i want to get this into the fact that he is blaming this on fermenting by western intelligence agencies in ukraine. putin's basis for invading ukraine was to eradicate naziism. and he has an anti-semitic mob trying to attack passengers getting off a plane. that's difficult for him to deal with. he hasn't condemned hamas outright for the attacks of october 7th. >> it's one thing. we have seen condemnation of the attacks. putin is trying to balance on the fence, to maintain his relationship with israel. but also with the arab world. this is problemmatic. not just because of the straightforward politics. but because he has to deal with
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a muslim population that's an increasingly large share of the russian population. disproportionately represented in the armed forces and is subject to jihadish tendencies, that is against moscow as it is israel. >> the channel on telegram, where the details of this flight was posted, is one that isn't also an anti-putin or anti-russian channel because they are agitating for their own independence. that's another important element here. exactly. this is the basis on which the claims whereby they're saying, it's down to foreign and secret services and like. we have this channel, that has helped whip up very vicious
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anti-semitic actions, not just the airport incident. which has been linked to an exiled russian, who is based in kyiv. he said he had no relationship with it since outautumn of last year. there's just enough of an excuse, what putin doesn't want to attack is the fact that he has a real problem currently, with muslim extremism in the north caucuses. >> this is one example of the rise in anti-semitism that we are seeing globally since october 7th. and israel's retaliation to that. there's been a rise of islamaphobia in the united kingdom and other areas. the anti-semitism recording of those attacks seems to be higher. what do you think is going on there? obviously, people are having deep emotions to what they're seeing. online, the images of civilians
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being killed. losing their children. hospitals being attacked. it's more complicated than it seems. what's going on behind the rise of anti-semitism and islamaphobia? >> i am a russia specialist. i'm not the best place to talk about what happened there. i think what strikes me is one of the key differences between the responses. in the west, century, support for the palestinians has been associated with a form of leftism. that associates with an attack on american dominated and the like. interesting when one compares it to russia, russia has a long and dark history of anti-semitism, which has been beginning to decline. we see the current russian generation, in a variety of opinion polls. they're less anti-semitic than the ancestors.
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what we find is actually, it's amongst russian nationalists. one finds support for israel, the country, if not the wider jewish cause. they think israel is a country that stands up tough for its own interest. there's a lot of complexities in this issue. the big difference is that, in the west, support for the britain cause, at the very least, is associated with certain left-wing causes. whereas, in russia, it's much more clearly linked to whether you have happen to be orthodox christian, not religious at all or muss lim. >> i don't want to extrapolate too much. correct me if i am. it's interesting what happened at the airport, that the telegram channel that we discussed, is anti-russian. it shows there can be a
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coordination and a result of that, based online, that could be threatening to putin's control to some extent. how much of an issue is social media in that record for putin? is it becoming more so? >> i think it's becoming more so. what we have to recognize is that russia is a security state with a powerful and brutal and effective internal security apparatus. it's striking that one of the first moves that the authorities did with the protests and riots at the airport is to jam communications. not just phone calls but also social media could not be used to summon more people and coordination and the like. they're clearly aware of this. the problem for the kremlin is you have a whole variety of channels that have been active, trying to stir up russian
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businesses that are muslim origin, against the kremlin. and russia's internet is not like china's. the state cannot create a firewall around the country. it's easy to circumvent the controls. they're good at tapping phones and watching meetings. a lot of the agitation has move into social media. >> that's fascinating. really interesting to talk to you. thank you for joining us this morning. >> thank you. we'll be right back after this short break.
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a group challenging donald trump's eligibility for the ballot in colorado used donald trump's words against him in court on monday. citizens for responsibility and ethics in washington, played clips from his election night speech when he urged supporters to fight like hell at the u.s. capitol on january 6th. marshal cohen has more. >> reporter: day two of the trump disqualification trial kicks off tuesday in denver, colorado. a group of voters, republicans and independents, filed a lawsuit against the former president, trying to make the case that he is not eligible to serve again. that's because of the 14th amendment to the u.s. constitution. which was ratified after the civil war. it says any american office
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holder who swore and oath to the constitution and engaged in insurrection is disqualified from returning to office. it's from the 1800s. it hasn't been enforced in over 100 years. that's why some people think this is going to be an uphill climb. here's one of the attorneys for the challengers in court with his opening statements. arguing this is the law of the land and the law needs to be enforced. >> our constitution prevents people who betray their solemn oath, as trump did here, from serving in office again. colorado law gives the voters the rights to make sure their votes will count, by coming to this court and ensuring that only eligible candidates appear on our ballots. trump engaged in insurrection and cannot appear on the ballot. >> that's the perspective of the
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challengers. on the other side of the courtroom was donald trump's attorneys. the former president not attending this trial in person. instead, has a team of lawyers there. they are making the case this lawsuit is improper. it's taking the voice of the voters out of the 2024 election and trying to sub pert the electoral process. listen to what one of donald trump's attorneys said on monday. >> this court should not interfere with the rule of democracy. this lawsuit seeks to cancel that principle. this lawsuit looks to extinguish the opportunity for millions of coloradans, colorado republicans and unaffiliated voters, to be able to choose and vote for the presidential candidate they want. >> we're expecting more witness
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testimony on tuesday. this trial is supposed to go all week. and eventually, the judge in denver has said she wants to issue a ruling by thanksgiving. that's not going to be the final word. no matter who wins or loses, everyone expects an appeal that may go all the way to the u.s. supreme court. marshal cohen, cnn, washington. the stars of "friends" has broken the silence after the death of the castmate, david perry. they write, we're all so utterly devastated by the loss of matthew. we were more than just cast mates. we are a family. there's so much to say. right now, we're going to take a moment to grieve and process this unfathomable loss. perry starred on the hit sitcom from 1994 to 2004.
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he died saturday at his home in l.a. matttthew perry y was 54. we'll l be right b back.
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we have pictures coming in right now from kenya, where king charles iii and queen camilla are being welcomed in nairby. kenya's president and his wife are leading the welcome at kenya statehouse. its charles' first visit to a commonwealth country since he became king. the state visit comes as kenya celebrates the 60th anniversary of its independence from britain. the u.s. military says its
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troops have been under attack for weeks now in syria and iraq. pentagon officials tell cnn that iranian-backed forces have attacked about two dozen times since october. >> reporter: we've seen an acrease in attacks since october 17th. that number according to the pentagon is at 23 attacks in iraq and syria in the course of the last two weeks or so. the problem is here is that the u.s. carried out strikes on facilities linked to iranian-backed groups that it accused of carrying out attacks. the purpose of the strikes 'strikes was that the u.s. would protect itself and to send deterrents from iran and iranian proxies, look, the u.s. will carry out strikes, if needed. since the strikes, we've seen half a dozen more attacks on u.s. forces. the message not getting across. the question, will the u.s. act
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again? will it carry out more air strikes on the groups that it accuses or attempting to with rockets or drones? the u.s. has left open that possibility but it has to weigh that of the risk of broader escalation that is something the u.s. is trying to avoid. from president joe biden on down, they are trying to draw distinction between the conflict in gaza, between israel and hamas and other actors in the middle east. saying that this is about the ongoing defeat of isis. those are not distinctions that have been recognized by many actors, including iranian-backed groups in the middle east. that's made it difltd for the difficult for the u.s., to try to keep the conflicts separate. oren leibermann, cnn. in jerusalem, a tribute was given to the people taken hostage by hamas. these rows of empty beds and
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cribs are meant to represent the hundreds of israelis that were kidnapped on october 7th. visitors to the exhibit stand in silence and prayer. some stop to take photos. others hold signs of the missing loved ones. thank you for joining us. i'm bianca nobilo. and i'll be back with more news after this break.
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