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Harris Slams Trump Over "Enemy From Within" Comments; Canada Expels Indian Diplomats; Lebanon: 21 Killed In Christian-Majority Village. Taiwan Condemns China War Games as Unreasonable Provocation; Growing Casualties in Gaza From Series of Israeli Strikes; Two Pandas in Quarantine Ahead of Their Long Trip to U.S. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired October 15, 2024 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:21]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead. Israel's Prime Minister vows to target Hezbollah without mercy as an airstrike kills multiple people in Lebanon's north.

Kamala Harris goes on the attack using Donald Trump's own words against him after the former U.S. President suggested using the military to go after his political opponents.

And Canada expels several top Indian diplomats amid an escalating dispute over the killing of a Canadian Sikh activist.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us. Well, the latest Israeli strike in Lebanon has killed at least 21 people according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. This one hit a Christian majority village in the northern part of the country where displaced people had fled the bombardment in the south.

A Red Cross official says teams are searching the site for victims and survivors buried under the rubble. CNN has reached out to the Israel Defense Forces for comment. A source told CNN growing understandings between the U.S. and Israel have led to a pause in Israeli strikes in Beirut in recent days.

But that hasn't calmed the rhetoric of Israeli leaders against Iran- backed Hezbollah.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESPERSON: All our enemies should know, whether they are close or far away in Iran, they should know that we are determined. We are determined to supply security and safety to our citizens. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The IDF released video on Monday of what it says is a Hezbollah bunker under a house in southern Lebanon. The spokesperson says the group was planning to launch an October 7th-style massacre from the bunker.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning strikes against Hezbollah will continue without mercy even in Beirut. He visited an IDF training base where four Israeli soldiers were killed and 60 others injured in a Hezbollah drone attack on Sunday.

More from CNN's Nic Robertson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Moments after impact, elite Golani Brigade trainees struggle to save lives. The worst of the wounded whisked away to nearby hospitals by helicopter. Others taken by ambulance, medics swarming to the IDF base 40 miles from the front line in Lebanon. Within hours, the toll becoming clear. Four dead, eight others seriously injured, making it the deadliest for troops outside of combat zones since October 7th last year.

HAGARI (through translator): We need an improvement to our defense.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Israel's Prime Minister on site inspecting the damage inside the canteen, which appears to have been the target timed close to 7:00 PM when troops would've been having dinner uncompromising in his response.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL (through translator): I want to clarify, we will continue to strike Hezbollah without mercy everywhere in Lebanon, including Beirut.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): After the strike, Hezbollah claiming it was a complex attack involving rockets, the decoy, Israel's air defenses and a swarm of drones. Regardless of this claim, in recent days they've been threatening strikes on gatherings of troops away from the war at Lebanon's border. And in recent months have released what they claim is drone surveillance video of sensitive sites deep inside Israel.

But Hezbollah may have had unwitting help from the IDF in their intelligence gathering. An IDF promotional video of the base 30 miles north of Tel Aviv reveals its layout in detail, including the location of the canteen. As the IDF expands its cross-border raids, it says are targeting Hezbollah in an increasingly protracted campaign there a new reality is emerging. After heavy blows, Hezbollah is finding its feet and its wings, becoming a lethal threat far from the front lines.

[02:05:08]

The four trainee troops who died all 19 years old.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Jerusalem. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Bobby Ghosh is a senior editor for Bloomberg. He joins me now from New York. Thank you so much for being with us.

BOBBY GHOSH, BLOOMBERG SENIOR EDITOR: Anytime.

CHURCH: So Iran is bracing for an attack from Israel that could come any moment now in retaliation for its barrage of ballistic missiles about two weeks ago. And Iran is vowing to hit back hard if Israel does respond. So, President Joe Biden is now sending an anti-missile system and 100 troops to Israel, which will, of course, deepen the U.S. role in that war. So what does this signal to you?

GHOSH: Well, we're getting closer and closer to what everyone has feared since the beginning of this conflict, which is a wider Middle Eastern conflict conflagration. We're hearing some mixed signals coming out of Washington and Jerusalem. We hear from Biden officials that the Israelis have given them assurance is that Iran's oil and nuclear installations will not be hit. That seems to be calculated to reassure people that they will not be a provocation for a wider war.

But at the same time, we've also heard from Netanyahu's office that the Israelis will listen to the concerns of their allies like the United States, but that they will make their own decisions based on their own national security calculations. Now, for Iran to say that if we are struck, we will strike back. That is very familiar rhetoric. Iranians are like the rest of us waiting to see where the strike comes.

And if they have been paying attention as we know they have to the events that have taken place in Lebanon over the last month, then there will be a lot of concern in Iran because Israel has demonstrated an ability to strike deep into enemy territory to find and kill top leadership among the enemy. That's got to putting quite a lot of fear into the minds of a lot of Iranian commanders, as well as political leaders.

CHURCH: And as we await that retaliation against Iran, Israel has of course continued to hammer targets in Lebanon over the past few weeks as it goes after Hezbollah. And Netanyahu has said they'll continue to do so. What do you make of their offensive so far?

GHOSH: Well, Israel sees that the enemy -- the enemy closest at hand and the enemy it has been most concerned about for many years, which is Hezbollah is on the ropes. Their top leadership, not just one or two leaders, but an entire echelon of leaders have been eliminated. Quite a lot of their arms, if not the arms themselves, then the capacity to fire off those arms, particularly the rockets and missiles, have been badly degraded.

So, Israel wants to take advantage of that and keep hitting, the enemy while it is sort of recovering from previous blows. But of course, we've also seen that Hezbollah has not lost its capacity to do damage. Even yesterday, there was a Hezbollah drone strike about 25 miles into Israeli territory. That is quite a significant distance for a country as small as Israel. Four Israeli soldiers were killed in a strike.

Dozens, possibly scores of others were injured. So this is a very different type of conflict from the one that Israel has been fighting in the south against Hamas. Hezbollah, even though it is badly degraded, is a much more formidable for, it has much more sophisticated weapons, a larger supply of weapons as well as battle hardened fighters who are capable of standing up to an Israeli invasion and wreaking some havoc while doing so.

CHURCH: Do you think that a wider regional war is inevitable given where the war in Gaza and in Lebanon stand right now?

GHOSH: Well, Rosemary, in one way of looking at it, the wider regional war is already upon us. The Israel is fighting a two-front land war, one in the south with Hamas, one in the north with Hezbollah. It is also being attacked from Yemen and Houthis, and it has traded, attacks with Iran. so, that ship may already have sailed. The question is whether it now escalates from here into mass casualties in Iran and in Israel.

And that is something nobody could wish for. Nobody in the region wishes for, and certainly nobody in the wider world wishes for. But over the last few months, what we've seen is that wishing for that is one thing and how things actually pan out very different.

[02:10:01]

CHURCH: Yes. Because what we've been seeing is the deadly aftermath of Israeli strikes on a Gaza hospital, sheltering refugees and a school hit on Sunday also sheltering refugees and Israeli troops, as you mentioned, killed by Hezbollah strikes in northern Israel and Israel hit back with its latest strikes in Lebanon killing nearly 20 people. I mean, what will it take to break this cycle of violence?

GHOSH: I honestly can't answer that question because there are calculations that are being, that are being taken here by Israel that frankly, objectively, rationally don't fully make sense to me anyway. It is clear that no matter how much damage Israel does in Gaza and how much it degrades Hezbollah, neither Hamas nor Hezbollah is actually going to go away.

The best that Israel can expect going by recent history with these groups is that there will be a period of destabilization and then these groups will regroup. And the battlefield possibly with even more radical and more violent leaders. So, I think the ultimate solution cannot be a military solution.

But for more than a year now, the Biden administration has been asking the Netanyahu government, what is your day after plan? When does the shooting stop? And then what happens after that? And the Israelis have given no indication of what that might look like until we get some outlines of that. It's impossible to predict what's going to happen.

CHURCH: Bobby Ghosh, we appreciate your analysis and perspective. Many thanks.

GHOSH: Anytime.

CHURCH: OK. We're looking at live pictures now from Tehran, where a funeral procession is underway for an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander, Abbas Nilforoushan has -- was killed with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah by an Israeli drone strike on Beirut last month. Earlier, Iranian state media broadcasted footage of the IRGC's elite Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani whose two-week absence from public view sparked rumors of his death. Qaani was shown attending a ceremony ahead of this funeral.

With just three weeks to go until Election Day in the United States, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump found themselves campaigning in the same battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday. Harris slammed Trump for his comments, describing his left-wing critics as the enemy from within. Saying a second term with her Republican opponent would be dangerous for the country.

Her warning comes after Fox News asked Trump whether he thought there would be chaos on election day. He said not from his side, but suggested strong measures be taken against those on the left.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they're the big -- and, and it should be very easily handled by -- if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military because they can't let that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: In an unusual move, Harris played that Trump clip during her rally Monday in the swing state of Erie, using it to warn of the danger she believes would come with another Trump presidency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS (D) UNITED STATES DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He's talking about The enemy within Pennsylvania that he considers anyone who doesn't support him or who will not bend to his will, an enemy of our country. He is saying that he would use the military to go after them. We know who he would target, and we know who he would target because he has attacked them before.

Journalists whose stories he doesn't like. Election officials who refuse to cheat by filling extra votes and finding extra votes for him. Judges who insist on following the law instead of bending to his will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: With both campaigns now in the final sprint, Harris is reaching out for voter support in some unexpected places and hoping to get her message across to some who might not normally hear it.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER (voice-over): Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on a sprint to election day with both candidates beginning a week long stretch crisscrossing swing states.

[02:15:04]

First in Pennsylvania, where the race remains deadlocked. Harris trying to lock in her coalition unveiled new economic proposals appealing to black voters. That plan includes forgivable loans to black entrepreneurs of up to $20,000, promoting apprenticeships and legalizing recreational marijuana. Taken together, it's a sweeping proposal aimed at trying to persuade black voters, in particular black men, amid signs of lagging enthusiasm.

Harris, recognizing the ground her campaign still needs to cover in an interview with The Shade Room.

HARRIS: Black men are no different from anybody else. They expect that you have to earn their vote. And that's why I'm out here doing the work that I'm doing about talking with folks, listening with folks because I'm running for president of the United States and it is incumbent on me to earn the support.

ALVAREZ (voice-over): Monday's stop is the first in a travel blitz for Harris that will include the blue wall states of Michigan and Wisconsin, in addition to Pennsylvania. As the Harris campaign tries to secure a path to 270 electoral votes. Harris and Trump are also taking to the airwaves to reach voters including in new ads in the key battlegrounds.

HARRIS; When the middle class is strong, America is strong and we can build a stronger middle class.

ALVAREZ (voice-over): The vice president confirming she will sit down for her first ever interview with Fox News. The same day, the former president participates in a Fox Townhall with an all-female audience. This, after he refused to do another debate with Harris.

TRUMP: So because we've done two debates and because they were successful, there will be no third debate.

ALVAREZ (voice-over): Trump also focusing on his base. Going after men with a potential sit down with podcaster Joe Rogan.

KYLE FORGEARD, YOUTUBER: I think Joe Rogan has to have you on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TRUMP: Yes.

FORGEARD: Would you do that?

TRUMP: Oh, sure I would. FORGEARD: I think Joe, like, besides us.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I'm doing it.

FORGEARD: Yes?

ALVAREZ (voice-over): In Pennsylvania, both sides also set to pour millions of dollars into ad spending, underscoring how critical the state is for both campaigns.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Maria Cardona is a CNN political commentator and democratic strategist, and she joins me now from New York. Appreciate you being with us.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thanks, Rosemary. Thanks for having me.

CHURCH: So, sources from within the Democratic Party are saying there is major panic within the ranks over where this presidential race stands right now, essentially deadlocked. How pervasive is that panic and how much hope remains?

CARDONA: You know, Rosemary, we're Democrats, so panicking is in our DNA, especially as things get closer to an election and especially this election, which we all knew was really going to come down to the wire. But here's why I am not panicking as much as my Democrats brethren and I hope that they focus their panic on doing more and worrying less. And here's why. So, we've looked at the national polls and the Vice President is up three to four points in most national polls.

But we all know that what really matters are the battleground states. If you look at the battleground states, there's been so many polls that have been out there. She is up in many of them, tied in others, maybe one or two points behind, still in others. What that tells me, Rosemary, is that what she has to continue to do is exactly what she's doing now. She is going out and she's talking to voters where they are.

She's talking to young voters on podcasts. She's talking to men voters on the venues where they listen to. She's talking to conservative voters. She's going to be talking to Fox News, as I'm sure you heard. She did 60 Minutes. She wants to do another CNN debate, but Donald Trump is scared to come and debate her again because she wiped the floor with him last time.

CHURCH: Perhaps in response, though, to that panic, Kamala Harris has agreed to her first ever interview with Fox News this Wednesday. Why would she agree to go into Trump territory and risk a hostile reception so close to Election Day? And what does she need to say and do to convince Fox viewers that she is a better option for president? CARDINA: That's a great question, Rosemary. And I get that all the time, as you can imagine. But the fact of the matter is that there are a lot of independents who watch Fox. There are a lot of Democrats who watch Fox just to understand what is -- what the conversation is being had there. And there are also a lot of disaffected Republicans who are watching Fox News. And one of the Vice President's strategies that she is focused on that we know is working, is bringing together as part of her coalition disaffected Republicans who understand just what an existential threat another four years of Donald Trump would be.

[02:20:07]

You've seen so many of the Republicans that have come out against him and his and for Vice President Harris have been people that have worked the closest with him when he was in the White House for four years. You have General Milley, according to a new book by Bob Woodward saying that this man is a full-on fascist, that he is a huge danger to the country. You have so many other Republicans who have said, on the record, this man is cannot get anywhere near the Oval Office again.

So, I think you're seeing a lot of Republicans really rethink whether they should even think about pulling the lever for Donald Trump for another four years.

And a lot of them are over on Fox News, and I think she's making the point that it is a lot more important to put country before party and that she wants to be the president for all Americans. Not just Democrats, not just progressives, not even the independents that voted for her.

CHURCH: At the same time, though, Harris is warning black men about the danger of voting for Trump. So, why are some black men deciding to choose an old white man, who has never championed their cause over a woman of color who has? What is going on here? And can some of these black men be convinced to support her in 21 days?

CARDONA: I do think that they can be convinced to support her, Rosemary. And in fact, just yesterday, she put out a very detailed robust agenda specifically for young black men that focuses on the opportunity economy. Being able to start a business with forgivable loans of up to 20,000. Focuses on diseases that essentially, are diseases that, are over populated by black men that they suffer disproportionately from those diseases.

Focusing on being able to get a good education whether that's at a college or whether that's at a vocational school. Focused on family and being able to give the tools to -- have these black men make ends meet, with their family. And so, I think that that is an opportunity agenda that is specifically focused on talking to black men about how this is somebody who's going to wake up every day thinking about how she can help make their lives better.

Again, the contrast being versus Donald Trump, who is only in this to fight for himself. There's only one person that Donald Trump has ever fought for, and

that is himself.

CHURCH: Maria Cardona, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

CARDONA: Thank you so much, Rosemary. Appreciate it.

CHURCH: Still to come, Chinese military drills around Taiwan draw criticism from the U.S. and fears of a bigger conflict. What residents of Taiwan and experts think after the break.

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[02:25:12]

CHURCH: Two Commonwealth countries are locked in a diplomatic crisis over an assassination on Canadian soil. Canada expelled six Indian diplomats on Monday, including the High Commissioner after police linked them to the murder of Sikh separatist leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June last year as well as other acts of violence against Sikh separatists in Canada.

India has called Nijjar a terrorist. Canada had asked India to revoke the diplomatic immunity of the half dozen diplomats so they could be questioned in the murder investigation. Not only did India refuse, it retaliated by swiftly expelling six high-ranking Canadian government. Canada's Prime Minister is defending the need for a police investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTINE TRUDEAU, PRIME MINISTER OF CANADA: The evidence brought to light by the RCMP cannot be ignored. It leads to one conclusion. It is necessary to disrupt the criminal activities that continue to pose a threat to public safety in Canada. That is why we acted. Because we will always be there. First and foremost, stand for the rights of Canadians to feel safe and secure in their own country.

We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The Indian government released a statement accusing Canada of smearing India for political gain and said the aspersions cast on the High Commissioner are ludicrous and deserve to be treated with contempt. Canada is home to the largest population of Sikhs outside their home state of Punjab in India.

Well, Taiwan's defense ministry says more than 150 Chinese military aircraft have been detected operating around the island as part of a new round of war games started by Beijing. China says it's a response to what it calls Taiwan's separatist acts. Taiwan says it's unreasonable provocation.

CNN's Will Ripley explains how the military exercises could cause international waves. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTENATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here in the Taiwanese capital, there is certainly no palpable sense of panic. Most people just going about their daily lives, even as leaders condemn this latest round of People's Liberation Army drills. China pointing to last week's speech by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te as the reason for launching these drills, although experts say they were probably just combing through his speech, looking for any line that they could use as an excuse, frankly, to launch yet another round of military exercises.

They did the same thing after Taiwan's presidential inauguration back in May of this year. Those drills by Taiwanese estimates cost China millions of dollars. They say China spent billions of dollars during the whole year of 2023, staging military drills near Taiwan. So, people around here are certainly used to this. In the scheme of things, these drills are not as large or intense as of yet as previous drills that we've seen, even though China did dispatch one of their aircraft carriers off the east coast of Taiwan.

But analysts say, these exercises are still very dangerous and problematic and a reason for Taiwan and the world to be concerned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN MING-CHI, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR FOR CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY CHINA, NATIONAL TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY: I think they want to impose a new normal. They are approaching closer and closer. So, it's highly dangerous that will leave us very short response time.

WEN-TI SUNG, NONRESIDENT FELLOW, GLOBAL CHINA HUB, ATLANTIC COUNCIL: Beijing definitely wants to show force, but it doesn't want to show force to increase so much in intensity or quality so as to almost forced the hand of American presidential candidates to come up with much more tougher line posture against Beijing.

RIPLEY: For its part, the U.S. is warning that these military drills have the potential to ratchet up tensions in this region. China's Coast Guard also involved. They put out a map on Chinese state media showing those red blocks, the different locations around Taiwan where the drills are taking place. Also, at Taiwan's outlying Matsu Islands. And what experts say is that this is intended to show Taiwan what a blockade could look like.

Of course, a blockade analysts say could be a precursor to an invasion. Taiwan relies very heavily on imports of, among other things, coal to generate energy. So, a blockade could very quickly turn the lights off here for a lot of people. And yet regular folks who are aware of these drills say this has been happening. They're used to it, and they're going on with their daily lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): If they actually attack, we'll just have to deal with it. Hopefully they won't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I think no matter what happens, peace is the most important thing.

[02:30:00]

RIPLEY: Keeping the peace is certainly a priority of a lot of folks around here, and these drills, while provocative, experts say aren't really moving the needle any close towards an actual armed confrontation.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWSROOM": More suffering in Gaza after Israeli strikes hit a hospital compound. We'll hear from survivors and aid group and the Israeli military. Back with that and more in just a moment.

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CHURCH: According to "Doctors Without Borders", the death toll from an Israeli strike outside Gaza's Al-Aqsa Hospital has now risen to five. "Medecins Sans Frontieres" says this is the seventh time a hospital compound has been hit since March. Thousands of people have been sheltering on its grounds. Meanwhile, several Palestinians were rushed to a separate hospital in Gaza city after a strike in Jabalya. CNN's Nada Bashir has the latest on the Israeli attacks. A warning though, her report contains disturbing images.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): What once was a shelter for the displaced, now ablaze after a deadly airstrike by the Israeli military targeting a hospital complex in Central Gaza. Desperate attempts to quell the fire seemingly hopeless. Some of the footage from this devastating night is simply too harrowing to show. Displaced civilians still alive, engulfed in flames.

These smoldering structures are all that remain of the tents which have occupied the grounds of the Al-Aqsa Martyr's Hospital throughout this past year of relentless war. Several people were killed and dozens more badly injured. As dawn breaks, the severity of this latest nightmare becomes clear. Little has been left untouched by the blaze. Many of those who survived the night were spared only by a matter of meters.

It was extremely difficult. The fire consumed people before it consumed anything else, Abu Yusef (ph) says. There were people in the midst of the fire that we couldn't pull out.

Nearby, Omma Hamed (ph) gathers whatever belongings were not destroyed in the fire. The shoes of her daughter and granddaughter, both injured overnight, she says. I quickly woke my daughters up. I kept chanting wake up, wake up. The fire is above us, she says. We ran to the hospital. I saw people injured with shrapnel wounds, people who were completely burnt. My neighbors were killed, all burnt alive while they were sleeping.

[02:35:00] The Israeli military has acknowledged responsibility for the strike, saying its forces were targeting a Hamas command and control center, they say, was embedded within the hospital complex. Adding that steps were taken to limit civilian harm, but no evidence has been provided by the Israeli military to support these claims. It was however known to the military that civilians had been sheltering on the grounds of the hospital complex for months, at least 5,000 people, according to hospital officials.

Inside the hospital, another gut wrenching scene, these other victims of a different strike, which targeted the Al Mufti school in Nuseirat on Sunday. Among the bodies, little Yeman (ph), his grandmother overcome with grief as she cradles her grandchild. Yeman (ph) is one of at least 22 people who were killed after Israeli forces struck the U.N. run school, which had become a shelter for many.

Another sanctuary targeted in a war which has shown no mercy for so- called Safe Zones. Another name added to the growing list of more than 42,000 killed in just over a year. Another reminder that it is civilians who continue to pay the highest price in Gaza.

Nada Bashir, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: The Gaza Health Ministry says more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed in the enclave since the start of the war. The office of the U.N. Secretary General is urging both sides to protect civilian lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHANE DUJARRIC, SPOKESPERSON FOR U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL ANTONIO GUTERRES: The Secretary General condemns the large number of civilian casualties in the intensifying Israeli campaign in Northern Gaza, including its schools displacing sheltered Palestinian civilians. He strongly urges the parties to the conflict -- all parties to the conflict to comply with international humanitarian law and emphasizes that civilians must be respected and protected at all times. Humanitarian assistance into Gaza is woefully inadequate and is at the lowest level in months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well in the coming hours, two Chinese Pandas, Bao Li and Qing Bao are set to arrive at Washington's National Zoo. They will spend the next 10 years here in the United States on loan from China, a renewal of the panda diplomacy which dates back decades, but comes amid recent tensions between the two countries. CNN's David Culver got an exclusive look at the preparations for the panda's long overseas journey.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We've traveled here to Sichuan, China for a rare look at preparing these pandas for their very long journey.

[02:40:00]

We're in and around the city of Chengdu. It's known for spicy hot pot, its mountainous landscape and giant pandas.

CULVER: We're actually going to go meet now with some of the folks from the Smithsonian National Zoo from D.C. who have flown here and are part of the transition team to bring Bao Li and Qing Bao back to the U.S.

CULVER (voice-over): So we can't go back there, but that's where Bao Li and Qing Bao are. They're in quarantine and those you saw there were the zookeepers from the National Zoo, as well as some caretakers from China.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So they both have pretty different personalities. Bao Li has a huge personality, so he's very vocal, he's very energetic, and he is always kind of like up doing something. Qing Bao is the polar opposite. She can be almost always found in a tree or sleeping on her climbing structure.

CULVER (voice-over): The panda pair will fill a void at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C. For the past 11 months, the Panda exhibit has sat empty. Now as part of the terms of the Smithsonian's exchange program with China, late last year, the zoo's three pandas were sent back here to Chengdu.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think people realize how attached you get.

CULVER: When you're here, I mean, in this setting, what has stood out to you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here? The sheer number of pandas.

(LAUGH)

CULVER: It's crazy, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's crazy.

(CROSSTALK)

CULVER: I mean, you turn here and you're like, oh, you can go there. You can go there. Nowhere else do we have something like this.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nowhere else, this scenery is obviously beautiful, and the commitment.

CULVER: Pandas were on the brink of extinction. But in recent years, they've moved from endangered to vulnerable, but there's still more work to go.

The panda exchange also called panda diplomacy dates back more than 50 years now, when China gifted two pandas to the U.S. following President Nixon's historic visit. Today, they're given on loan and they are a strategic diplomatic tool, serving as ambassadors of hope and spreading global goodwill. Somehow Pandas were able to unite nations, something we could use about right now.

David Culver, CNN, Chengdu, China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: I want to thank you joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. "World Sport" is coming up next. Then I'll be back in 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom." Do stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT)

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