in a crisis caused by a terrorist massacre. warning civilians to clear out, while hamas forces them back. allowing in food and water, which hamas steals.

welcome to all of you watching us in the united states, canada and all around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. five republicans running for the white house sparred on a florida stage wednesday night. the front-runner held a rally down the road. israel is targeting the tunnel system in gaza. is it putting the hostages' lives at stake? and -- >> it's a feeling of joy and of triumph over adversity and not quitting. >> after 118 days on strike, hollywood actors could soon be back at work. what we know about the tentative deal with the studios, coming up.

in miami, where republican presidential hopefuls gathered for the third gop debate. all of them hoping to catch fire with voters two months before the iowa caucuses. the man to beat, donald trump, chose not to participate and holding a nearby rally. tuesday's election saw democratic win. five candidates qualified for the stage this time around. each was asked why they should be the nominee instead of trump. >> you look where we are now, it's a lot different than 2016. and donald trump is a different guy than he was in 2016. he owes it to you to be on this stage and explain why he should get another chance. >> there's something deeper going on in the republican party. i'm upset about what happened last night. we're a party of losers at the end of the day. >> i'll say this about donald trump -- anybody who will be

spending the next year and a half of their life, focusing to keep themselves out of jail and courtrooms, can't lead this party and this country. we need a president and a candidate that will help our base solidify and attract independent voters into our party. >> as much as i am pro life, i don't judge anyone for being pro-ch pro-choice. no republican president can ban abortions. let's find consensus. >> jeff zeleny was at the debate and has the report. >> reporter: at the third presidential debate in miami, the race to beat donald trump was more furious and louder than ever. ron desantis took aim at the former president for the republican losses on tuesday night. >> he said republicans were going to get tired of winning. we saw last night, i'm sick of

republicans losing. >> reporter: former south carolina governor nikki haley who has served as u.n. ambassador in the trump administration, said it's time to move on from donald trump. >> everybody wants to talk about president trump. i can tell you i think he was the right president at the right time. i don't think he's the right president now. i think he put us $8 trillion in debt and our kids are never going to forgive us. he used to radio right on ukraine and foreign issues, and now is trying to be friendly again. >> reporter: haley is gaining moment m in the polls because of herp debate performance. she and governor desantis sparred on china, on the environment, on the handling of their governorships. they are going after one another, trying to the beading alternative to donald trump. it was jim scott to talked about abortion and urged his rivals to

have a 15-week ban. >> reporter: the winner of the evening was not on the stage. that was former president donald trump. he was holding a campaign rally of his own. he has a commanding lead in this race, about two months before voting begins in iowa. jeff zeleny, cnn, miami. >> you heard, gop front-runner donald trump decided to skip the debate in favor of a rally in florida. while in the sunshine state, the former president appealed to latino voters. he compared the criminal cases of himself, to political prosecutions in cuba. >> crock crooked joe biden and left democrats are turning the united states into communist cuba. we have a lot of great cubans

here. the biden regime is trying to put their political opponents in jail, shutting down free speech. taking bribes and kickbacks to enrich themselves and spoiled children. my children aren't so spoiled are they? noel nichol was at the debate and joins us from miami. share us details we wouldn't have noticed watching on tv. >> well, when you're at the debate, it's overwhelming because you've got so many different people supporting all of the different candidates. and there were a lot of little sneers and some people that were doing a little bit of clapping. and the moderator, lester, trying to tell everyone, let's hold the clapping at bay. you can tell, there's a lot of people that, when there was

something that struck with the audience, they would turn to one another and they would nod. or they would give a little thumbs up or something. interesting fact after the debate, when everybody is walk around. big donors there. the rjc, the republican jewish coalition there. the immediate thing they said, who do you think won? and overwhelmingly, we kept hearing nikki haley, nikki haley. now, i am going to be interested in -- my specialty is fund-raising. i want to see who is going to get the biggest fund-raising bump from this. and i suspect it will be nikki haley. she parolely brought it. a lot of the commentators and a lot of the feel, is she brought it to the debate. >> interesting. it got heated at times. between her and ramaswamy.

she called him scum at one point. what do you make of the fair she was taking and the fact they didn't go after the front-runner, donald trump? >> there's two thoughts. donald trump is leaps and bounds ahead of anyone on the stage. no one is coming close. you can go like chris christie style and attack president trump. or try to succeed on your own merit and be a breakthrough candidate on things you are going to do. one thing that ron desantis did was he pointed out failures that donald trump had. and he is saying he's going to pick up the job where donald trump failed.

nikki haley said it was the best guy for that time. but we need a new person up there. the way to go after trump used to be to say, the base loves him but he's not good in the genera what did you hear or didn't hear fr the candidates last night? >> what i'm aring there is the endorsement, from the iowa governor to ron desantis. and you have polling coming out

that's beating biden. you have scenarios with that. the key thing to look for, other than what's going on with the polls. sometimes the polls are not always right. one thing that is right, that's the small donor. obama capitalized on the sll donor. that's a momentum voter. anyone that will give a $20 bill, $100. is it going to be away from the trump rally or nikki haley or ron desantis? who is going to get the small donor? unlike the big donor, that small donor shows momentum and passion and a vote. >> we'll be watching for that.

we have about a minute left. i want to ask you about this. it is one of the most important issues. abortion. but it seemed almost as though tuesday's election results didn't happen. the candidates barely discussed it, which was a surprise given how much of a decider it is at the polls. they don't seem to have moderated positions all that much. as a republican strategist, does that surprise you? >> no. but it should. on the republican party platform, isife. on our platform is one of our beliefs. but it's not resonating. and how many times do we lose elections in 2022. we got a taste of itit a couplef days ago. how many more elections, especially with suburban women, are we going to lose without getting it right? and having a discussion. let's have a discussion that's thoughtful towards women about abortion.

>> absolutely. thank you for being here with us. appreciate it. >> thanks. the political end game in gaza, more than a month of israel's war against hamas. israel says the troops are in the heart of gaza city, targeting the infrastructure and commanders. earlier, benjamin netanyahu says israel will be in charge of gaza's security in definitely after the war. antony blinken pushed back against that. saying gaza should not be occupied by israel or be a staging ground for terrorism. blinken said the palestinian authority should run gaza and the west bank. as israel pounds gaza with unrelenting air strikes it says much of it isn't aimed at buildings and fighters on the g massive network of tunnels that hamas uses to hide and store weapons and maybe hostages.

israel said it has destroyed 130 tunnel shafts. orrin lieberman shows us the subterranean war. >> reporter: the israeli military controls the air. and says they've encircled gaza cityty on the ground. undernrneath the sururface, ham still has ththe advantage.e. israel i is going g after hamas underground infrastructure. this soldier shows an electric system that he sayays circulula air undergrouped. the idf says it has destroyed 130 tunnel shafts. that's a small fraction of the gaza metro. a woman said through her daughter, it was like a spider web of tunnels underground. >> there's huge network of tunnels underneath. >> reporter: this veteran and co-writer of the hit show. >> the amount, the spread, the

wide and the strength and all of it, it's so crazy you cannot understand to the e bottom how g it is. >> reporter: israel says there's hundreds of kilometers of tunnels below gaza. in 2017, cnn was given a look at a jihad tunnel. its walls creating a maze that favors the defender. >> the terrorists can pump out from this hole, shoot a few shots of ak-47, go down, walk 100 meters to the east or to the south, and, boom, pop out from another entrance of the same tunnel and shoot against the israeli forces as they try to understand where they are. >> reporter: israel created an underground smart border. the barrier worked sort of.dgin

crcreated a tunnelel in n a dif way. isis dug tunnels in mosul, iraq, helping to create the underground passage ways. israel faces another challeneng. hamamas is believeved to be hol ththe hohostages underground. possibly in different groups. any attempt to sink the tunnels could threaten bringing them home. the numbers were fairly low. even in 2014, during the war between israel and hamas, the number of tunnels was in the dozens. now, however, the idf has to deal with kilometers of tums underneath gaza, a process that is just beginning. for more on all this,

elliott gotkine, joins us. what more are we learning about the differing visions for gaza's political future. >> maybe we should focus on what they agree on, united states and israel agrees that hamas can no longer be in power or in a position to carry out attacks of a sort that they did on october 7th or threaten israeli civilians. it's hard to see israel wanting to be in a position where it outsources that to the palestinian authority o a peacekeeping force, including arab allies of the united states and israel. what might be the likeliest scenario and it's early days because this war is ongoing, is something akin to the west bank, where the palestinian authority administers part of the west bank and israeli forces come and go.

operational flexibility to take out security threats. of course, the problem with that scenario, is the palestinian authority, seeing what is going on in the west bank, because it is administering the territory, is they may not want to be in the same positions again. but the palestinian authority is unpopular. it is weak. it is widely viewed as corrupt. its leader, mahmoud abbas, is in the 19th year of a four-year term. they are hardly going to add to the laundry list of criticisms, by being a puppet government of the israelis or the united states in the gaza strip. what abbas did say to blinken when they met, he would consider going back into gaza, retaking control because the palestinian authority was in control from 2005-2007, hamas ejected it violently from the gaza strip.

the pla would go back in but as a broader political process, which would have clear road map towards an independent palestinian state on land occupied by israel in 1967, with east jerusalem as its capital. given the mistrust between the israelis and the palestinian authority and given the current government says it plans to have security responsibility for the gaza strip,ing there the palestinian authority in the short term in control of gaza, seems somewhat wishful thinking right now. as i say, we're very much still seeing the war rumble on. israel is focused on that. and i don't think they spend a huge amount of time thinking about what happens the day after. the one thing is that hamas cannot remain in control. and what about the 240 hostages that hamas abducted on october

7th? even if there's a military decision or adpreemt agreement coming in to administer the gaza strip, how is that possible unless all of the hostages are released? >> so many unknowns. the skies above syria, the u.s. has retaliated against iranian-backed militias attacks american forces. two f-15 fighter jets struck a weapons depot used by affiliated militias. the u.s. says the it's likely the facility is using weapons the groups were using to strike the forces in the region. the troops and bases in syria aeroiraq have been targeted some 40 times after october 17th. after four months, the a actors strike is over. and the union is celebrating.

what we need to know about the tenttive agreement with hollywood studios. and the u.s. says good-bye to furry former residents. how this may be the end ofof paa didiplomacy. stay witith us.

the months' long actors strike is officially over. it ended just hours after the actors union reached a tentative agreement with the major film and television studios late wednesday. the group praised the deal saying it provides the biggest contract gains in the history of the union. and gives compensation protection in the use of artificial intelligence, which had been one of the main stake i sticking points. >> we worked hard to put together and have and push for a package we a package we felt comfortable to do. that's not easy to do around a.i. we weren't going to give up looking at that and seeing what would make us feel good and

comfortable for the members. it felt like a big accomplishment. we feel good about where we are. >> fran drescher posted, we did it. three-times the last contract. it has to be ratified by the 160,000 members of the sag-aftra union. i asked media critic brian lowery, why the union decided to strike now. listen to this -- >> strikes are driven by technology and the change to streaming has really upended the business model of hollywood. actors at various levels are suffering. and once the strike started to drag on, which is how the studios try to break the resolve of the guild. the guild said, if we're going

to endure this pain, let's endure it now and take as long as it takes to get a deal that we want. as one actor put it several months ago, so we don't have to do this again in three years. six months, half this year has been sacrificed to strikes by the writers and the actors. the longer it dragged on, it felt this had to be a watershed deal to justify that. antony blinken is on his way to new delhi after wrapping up talks in seoul. he met with south korea's president and foreign minister to discuss growing military ties between north korea and russia. he thanked the president for south korea's pledge to provide humanitarian assistance to gaza. >> in the middle east, the

united states appreciates korea's sending humanitarian assistance to palestinian civilians. i had a chance to update mr. pak on my travels throughout the region and how we can address urgent needs on the ground. he is focused on the indo-pacific area. blinken's visit comes after a whirlwind trip to the middle east. coming up, donald trump's oldest daughter testifies in civil cart in the defense of her father.

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welcome back to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada and around the world. i'm kim brunhuber. this is cnn newsroom. five u.s. presidential candidates took part in a raucous debate full of arguments and name-calling. donald trump didn't take the stage with his rivals. there was a wide range of opinion about giving support to ukraine. but the candidates were in alignment of support for israel in the war against hamas. here's what ron desantis and nikki haley said about that. >> finish the job once and for all with these butchers, hamas. they are terrorists. they would wipe every jew off the globe if they could. he cannot live with that threat by his country. everybody prodessing in favor of

hamas. they hate and would kill you, too. >> it's been a month since the attacks in israel. and now, it's creating discord in congress. >> reporter: well, tensions in the house democratic kcaucus ha gone on. democrats are split over policy. some systems are pushing for support of israel. and there's more progressive members that are calling for a cease-fire and urging the white house to prioritize the lives of innocent palestinian civilians. democrats are divided over personalities and tactics and rhetoric. one example is a democrat who was censured on the house floor with the support of 22 house democrats. in a rare rebuke for her use of an anti-israel chant.

leagues are learning about another internal incident. it occurred when the house was set to vote to condemn hamas and express support for israel. and she asked debbie wasserman schultz, a prominent, jewish democrat, about the prospect of democrats voting against that resolution. here's what she had to say. >> there's a vote that's going to happen. are you concerned that some democrats may not support this? >> i would hope that all members would support a resolution that condemns terrorism. the brutal attacks that were perpetrated against the israeli people. we have 218 hostages. they took 222. someone who votes against this, i would think doesn't have a soul. >> those comments were made directly before the vote. but 15 house democrats ended up not supporting the resolution. most of them, members of color and several muslim democrats.

they were upset by the comments. they raised it with hakeem jeffries. he's been in the middle of it all. this is a debate that's playing out behind closed doors and spilling into public view. ivanka trump took the witness stand to testify for her father. she was cordial and courteous. but her testimony raises questions about her credibility. >> reporter: ivanka trump breezed past cameras. inside a new york courthouse, not saying a word. ahead of her testimony in the state's $250 million civil fraud

trial against her father and his company. new york attorney general letitia james addressed reporters before the proceedings. ivanka trump secured, negotiated loans to obtain favorable terms based on fraudulent statements. >> reporter: on the stand, ivanka repeatedly said she didn't recall when she was pressed for details about several projects she worked on before she left the organization in 2017, including the old post office in washington, d.c., which was converted into a trump hotel. a deal her father says ivanka spearheaded. >> i'm honored to be here to support my family and my daughter, ivanka, for her dedication to this project. >> reporter: during her testimony, she did not recall asked about a deficiency letter from the government. asking for clarity how the trump

organization handled finances. the hotel was sold in 2022. and ivanka testified she profited from that sale. she was also asked about financing for trump's doral resort and spa in florida and was confronted with an e-mail she wrote to other trump organization employees about the bank's loan term proposal saying, it doesn't get better than that. the bank required donald trump to maintain a $3 billion network to maintain favorable loan terms. but according to an e-mail in court, ivanka changed the requirement to $2 million, as part of the loan negotiations. even though trump's 2011 financial statements estimated his net worth at $4.2 billion. they agreed on $2.5 billion.

the exchange is significant because the attorney general is accusing trump of falsifying his net worth to get better loan rates. ivanka was dismissed as a subject in this case. and she tried to distance herself from her father's financial statements. >> i don't know what was prepared of his behalf for him as a person. >> reporter: and during cross-examination by her father's attorney, she testified about the relationship she cultivated with the bank and their willingness to do business with trump's company. the bank had tremendous excitement to have our account. trump's lawyers will put on their defense, which is expected to begin next week. ivanka's cross-examination gave a preview of how the banks were all repaid and there's no victim here. it's unclear if that will

persuade the judge. paula reed, cnn, washington. dozens of palestinians scramble to get away from fighting i in n gaza city.y. someme of the civilians using t evacuation corridors set up by the idf say they are encountering along the way.

the u.n. high commissioner of human rights is accusing israel and hamas of war crimes. it accuses israel of collective punishment on the people of gaza that amounts to war crimes. and u.n. human rights chief says the atrocities committed by hamas on its attacks on israel are also war crimes, including the holding of hostages. in response, israel says its attacks on military target are

subject of international law. and it carries out the assessment of whether the damage to civilians is excessive. as israeli troops tighten the grips on gaza city, palestinian civilians are pleaing south. the u.n. says 50,000 of them have made the journey since saturday, using temporary evacuation routes created by the idf. some describe seeing along the way is nothing short of horrific. >> reporter: taking only what they can carry, families are fleeeeing gagaza city. they wave white flags made of anything they can find.. and as the s sounds of w war ec around thehem, they signal agai they are innocents. >> translator: now, we are in the safe area but you can hear the bombs behind us. all of our houses are gone. nothing is left. the israeli military has been

calling for weeks on all those living in the northern part of the e strip to movove e southwh. most recently opening what it called safe corridors for limited windows of time. pushing thousands here, to where evacuees describe a harrowing journey. >> translator: we saw along the road destruction, and dead bodies. one young man was stripped naked. we witnessed unbearable scenes. the only way to reach the route is by foot or by cart for those that can find room. there was heavy shelling on our route. they cut everything off to force us out of our homes. israeli troops are now in the heart of gaza city. as israel's defense minister

apparently declared the entire city, the whole of the enclave's largest population center, a legitimate target. t >> translator: gaza is the biggest stronghold ever built. they have tunnels connecting to hospitals and schools. >> reporter: the u.n. calls this exodus forcible displacement and accuses israel of the collective punishment of 2 million people. many fear they will never be allowed to return home. some say this is reminiscent of the expulsion of palestinians from their towns in israel. we walked a long way. it felt like by 2023. we walked by dead people ripped to shreds. children were tired because there was no water. and there were elderly that couldn't walk. and those that do make it,

bombardment and siege await them in the south, too. there is no true escape. if you would like to help with relief efforts, go to cnn.com/impact. and you can find vetted organizations that are providing assistance. that's cnn.com/impact. almost seven months into the sudanese civil war. we're learning testimony about the abuses that millions are facing in western darfur. the evidence includes newly obtained video showing rsf forces abusing minority civilians under their control. going to bring in david mc mckenzie. what more are we learning? >> reporter: we know there's

been targeted ethnic killings allegedly against the african minorities in west darfur, from the rapid support forces and the aligned arab militia. what we see in the videos is disturbing. you have armed men hitting and whipping and abusing a collection of men squatting on the floor, some of them looking terrified at the situation. we located the videos to one of the centers of west darfur, to a zone called ametta, near the military installation that's been recently taken over by the rsf. that was partially controlled by government forces in recent weeks. because of the fighting and what appears to be at the least, abuse and rounding up of civilians and others, in that zone, many people are streaming

out over the border. the fear is worse atrocities were committed in the last few weeks, like we saw in that city earlier this year. we put the questions to the rsf. and they could not confirm ethnic cleansing. the rsf does not target civilians. today, we are fighting side-by-side, with the people of sudan to restore our country to democratic rule. frankly, the evidence that has developed over almost seven months has shownize. there's been witness accounts, cnn reporting, u.n. investigations that speak to mul multiple mass graves and abuse of the populations. many of them are streaming into chad. in recent days, doctors without borders say that area sees a

rapid influx. thousands of people coming over in a few days. more than in the previous month combined. this is the testimony of one woman that managed to plea. >> they told me my brother was killed and we don't know where he is. my mother and my sister's children came. we don't know where my father is. they burned everything. we didn't bring anything with us. only god and our clothes. >> from a military standpoint, the rsf has consolidated control of darfur. they want to move to the north and other significant center of population. that could mean more alleged atrocities like we're seeing in the past few days.

kim? >> disturbing. david mckenzie in johannesburg. thanks so much.. we'l'll be rightht back.

the most popular residents at the national zoo in washington, d.c. are on their way to china. they were chipped by fedex on a plane dubbed the panda express. it's a sign of the escalating tensions and the end of what's been known as panda diplomacy. david culver has details. for weeks, visitors at the national zoo in washington, have stopped by to say good-bye. >> i want to see them before they leave. the zoo's three giant pandas headed to china. zoo staff called this a hiatus in the wildly popular panda program. but chinese officials will not say if the pandas will be back. you might wonder why this matters. there's more pressing issues between the u.s. and china p. as we look deeper, where pandas are leaving and going, you get a better sense of the new world

order that china is hoping to craft. the cuddly creatures, used for china's diplomatic and political needs, in places it hopes to gain. but its focus is on conservation and research. the panda diplomacy kicked off in 1972. chairman mao gifted two pandas to the u.s. seeing the popularity rise, china sent more pandas, loaning instead of gifting them. at its height, there were 15 pandas in the united states. the last decade, the numbers have dropped, coinciding with the worsening china/u.s. relations. that leaves four pandas at the u.s., at the atlanta zoo. the contracts for those pandas

expire next year. no word on any extension. that could mean by the end of 2024, the only panda in zoos in all of the americas would be right here in mexico city. she belongs to mexico. she's 33. old for a panda but still a main attraction here. and they are bracing for a possible surge in visitors. what would you say to americans who may not have a panda to visit at their zoo? >> come to mexico. >> reporter: the pandas that leave the u.s., travel to china by plane. the destination. earlier this year, videos claiming that pandas returning from the memphis zoo were being ab abused. a narrative partially fueled by chinese state media. chinese doctors defended the treatment of the panda. but others highlighting where

pandas are seemingly living the life, like russia. not surprisingly, china's northern neighbor got a new pair in 2019. xi jingping alongside his so-called best friend vladimir putin at moscow's zoo. there's been pandas at other countries, including denmark, finland, and germany. and qatar getting their first panda last year. regions where china looks to bolster relations and increase infl influence. staff is hopeful they will lend over more pandas. >> we're hopeful for the future. >> reporter: that's up to china to decide. zoo officials tell me they have no plans to ask the state department or the white house for help here. instead, they will hope that the chinese counterparts grant them

continued in the panda program. i'm kim brunhuber. cnn newsroom continues now.

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