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International Court Of Justice Orders Israel To Take Measures To Prevent Acts Of Genocide in Gaza; ICJ Imposes Provisional Measures On Israel; ICJ Did Not Call For Immediate Ceasefire in Gaza; Netanyahu: Israel's Commitment To INTL. Law is Unwavering; Netanyahu: Like Every Country, Israel Has an Inherent Right To Defend Itself; Netanyahu: Charge Of Genocide Against Israel Is Not Only False, It's Outrageous, and Decent People Should Reject it; Netanyahu: Will Do Utmost To Keep Civilians From Harm's Way, Even As Hamas Uses Them As Human Shields. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired January 26, 2024 - 09:00   ET

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


[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN HOST, CONNECT THE WORLD: It is 6 pm here in Abu Dhabi, 3 pm in The Hague, where the ICJ has ordered Israel to take measures to

prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. I'm Eleni Giokos, and this is Connect the World. Happening this hour, the International Court of Justice has ordered

Israel to take all measures to prevent the commission of genocidal acts in Gaza, and to punish any public incitement of genocide.

That provisional ruling announced at The Hague a short time ago, with the court concluding that it has jurisdiction over the case brought by South

Africa alleging Israel's actions in Gaza could amount to genocide. The court stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire in Israel's war

with Hamas. It did order however Israel to submit a report within one month on what it is doing to respond to the Court's order.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOAN DONOGHUE, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE: The Israel must, in accordance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention, in

relation to Palestinians in Gaza, take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of the

Convention, in particular, A, killing groups -- members of the group, B, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Well, these provisional measures come as the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reports the death toll in Gaza since the start of the war

has now passed 26,000, with 64,000 people injured. It says at least 183 were killed over the past day. There is a lot to unpack here. We've got

Melissa Bell connecting us from The Hague, Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv, as well as David McKenzie in Johannesburg, all standing by for an analysis.

Melissa, let's start off with you. We've just heard from the ICJ that, of course, ruling that just came through immediate measures, it says that

Israel must adhere to. Take us through what you've heard.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I just heard, maybe you can hear behind me lately, some of the pro-Palestinian protesters

listening on a big screen who've been cheering on as every one of those accounts of the ruling came from the Head of the International Court of

Justice here in The Hague. It was just short of a ceasefire, of course, that the ruling went, and yet significantly further towards it than any of

us had imagined. When these proceedings began, we'd listened on the 10th and 11th of January Eleni, to South Africa, and then Israel lay out their

case.

And what we just heard today was the Head of the ICJ essentially go extremely far the direction of South Africa, conceding that it was

plausible, the genocidal acts were being committed, urging Israel to take immediate measures to ensure that there are no further killings of

Palestinians in Gaza group, by the way, that the court recognizes the protected people, nor the further causing of any mental or bodily harm to

them. Now, that is short of a ceasefire, but very close to it.

And I think this is a ruling that Israel is now going to have to respond to it, had been said the fact that they were chosen to represent themselves as

robustly as they did an indication of how seriously they took this course, and its rulings, and no doubt what the wider world will consider as it

takes in these proceedings.

So, an order that I think will now see a great deal of pressure on Israel, certainly to allow more access to Gaza, and probably, Eleni, to alter the

way in which it is perhaps going about its military operation, or certainly the transparency with which it's going about it. The weight of this -- the

UN's highest court such that it will be a very difficult ruling for Israel to ignore.

GIOKOS: Melissa Bell there for us, at The Hague, and we can see those protesters as well. We've also got Jeremy Diamond standing by in Tel Aviv.

And in fact, we've just heard from Netanyahu -- from Benjamin Netanyahu, hailing the ICJ ruling, as what he says, a rejection of discrimination

against Israel.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the Israeli Prime Minister in his comments, making clear that Israel's commitment to international law, in

his words, is unwavering, and also making clear that Israel is not going to stop its war in Gaza talking about the fact that Israel will continue to

defend itself against Hamas which he calls a genocidal terror organization.

[09:05:00]

But what he is also distinguishing in this video message is that the war in Gaza is against Hamas, and not against Palestinian civilians. And he is

also making note of the fact that Israel will, quote, continue to facilitate humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, and continue

its efforts to minimize harm to Palestinian civilians as it continues its military operations in Gaza.

But we're getting some -- far stronger reaction perhaps from Israel's Defense Minister, who is making clear that those who seek justice, he says,

will not find it in the leather chairs of the court chambers in The Hague, slamming The Hague's decision not to reject South Africa's petition

outright to allow this case to proceed. I think now, one of the real questions is, to what extent is Israel going to actually abide by the terms

of this provisional reading -- ruling?

And to what extent will they actually compile this report that the court has demanded of Israel within the next month? I think it's clear that

Israel has decided to kind of play along with this court, up until now, has chosen to defend itself quite arduously in these proceedings. But now, as

it relates to specific actions on the grounds, to what extent will Israel actually move forward with those.

To another extent, it's important to note that this ruling obviously didn't go as far as South Africa wanted, as far as Israel feared it would, in

terms of calling for an outright ceasefire in this war. That has not happened here. And because of that, there's certainly a significant sigh of

relief among senior Israeli officials, as they look at this ruling.

Even though, this court very much laid out the disastrous humanitarian conditions in Gaza, gave some credence to the claims of South Africa while

it made clear that it wasn't ruling on the merits of the case, it certainly can continue to soil Israel's international reputation. But it doesn't go

as far as calling for an outright cessation of hostilities, which could have potentially put Israel in the position of defying a binding ruling by

this Court.

GIOKOS: All right. We've got David McKenzie in Johannesburg as well. And David, we also heard from the Minister of International Relations, Naledi

Pandor, outside the courts today. And to Jeremy's points, yes the, you know, the wording in terms of the ceasing of fire of the, you know,

military action right now, wasn't in this ruling by the ICJ. But what Naledi Pandor interestingly said that if Israel is going to abide by what

was put out in Court today, that secession would have to occur?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think what's important here to note is that, Eleni, this is a matter that isn't over. As Jeremy mentioned,

Israel is required to give a report in about a month about how it is going towards meeting those requests, those binding requests of the Court to

avoid what the Court says, may at some point amount of genocide as it does its investigation into the horrible circumstances in Gaza. So, from the

South African perspective, they will be hoping for the pressure to be piled on to try and improve the conditions of the people in Gaza.

It was very telling that when someone asked Naledi Pandor, the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation on the steps of the Court, you

know, what does it say about South Africa and Israel? She said, well, this is about the Palestinian people. And as you know, Eleni, the ruling party

here has had a long affinity to the Palestinian cause all the way back to and before Nelson Mandela.

This is a consistent policy stance by the South African government, and they've put the money where their mouth (ph) is, as it were. She said, they

couldn't stand idly by while these alleged atrocities happened. And now, they are going to continue this case in the months and potentially years

ahead. I think an important thing to note as well is South Africa says that it wants to pursue this case, also to try and make a statement about bodies

like the UN Security Council not being effective in trying to push global cooperation. They said, this venue may be a way to do it. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NALEDI PANDOR, MINISTER OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND COOPERATION, SOUTH AFRICA: The member states of the United Nations must oversee the process

and ensure that we create a basis for a global community in which a resort to arms is no longer easy.

[09:10:00]

A resort to abuse is no longer easy. And that more effort is now directed toward negotiation and towards seeking peaceful means of ending conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKENZIE: She did allude to powerful friends of Israel, and you can read the U.S. in that to perhaps persuade Israel behind the scenes to change how

they are pursuing this war against Hamas in the coming weeks to avoid possible censure, in the coming months from this Court. Of course, Israel

has repeatedly denied that it is doing anything in the theater of war. And in fact, they've said that they have tried to protect civilians and provide

humanitarian aid. It will be really important to see whether the behavior of Israel or the sense of how they are working towards these judgments or

at least rulings by the Court play out in the coming days.

GIOKOS: Melissa, just back to you, in terms of, you know, some of the evidence that Judge Joan Donoghue was giving in court, she referred to UN

agencies, of course, you know, the ICJ is the highest court representing, you know, the UN. She also referred to so many of the statements made by

cabinet ministers in Israel as well as former ministers, which was very telling about the way that they looked at the evidence overall.

BELL: I think that's an excellent point, Eleni, so much of the 400-page Israeli defense included the publication, the declassification of

government documents, cabinet, war cabinet minutes, instructions given to the military, both civilian and military documents, suggesting that

whatever the pronouncements of Israeli politicians had been in public, the fact of the matter is that behind the scenes, Israel had been working hard

to ensure the protection of civilian populations in Gaza.

And you're quite right, the fact that the Court's President chose to rule out to include in her comments, some of those statements that were made by

Israeli politicians that South African lawyers had claimed, were indicative of an intent to clearly state what its intentions were in Gaza, and that

those were South African lawyers alleged genocidal, I think that is interesting and an important indication of how the judges felt about the

evidence they were presented, both by South Africa and by Israel, so much, by the way of the evidence, the three hour statements that were made here

on the 10th of January by South African lawyers, were based upon previous statements by UN Secretary General, UN officials over the course of the

many previous decades and years about what was happening in Gaza.

And then more specifically, about the then three-months of war that have taken place inside the Gaza Strip, UN officials, UN agencies that had

repeatedly been warning of their fears of the potential for genocide, that was at the heart of a lot of what the South African lawyers put forward.

And it was picked up on today by the judges.

I think another important point to note is that on so many of the accounts that were read out by the ICJ's President, there was essentially unanimity,

barring one or two dissenting voices here and there, the 17 judges of this Court were fairly unanimous, in their rulings, again, very much in favor of

what South Africa had been requesting the courts to decide, Eleni.

GIOKOS: All right. Melissa Bell, thank you for that analysis. Melissa Bell at The Hague for us. We still have Jeremy Diamond, as well as David

McKenzie with us. But I want us to hear the statement from Benjamin Netanyahu. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: U.S. commitment to International Law is unwavering. Equally unwavering is our sacred

commitment to continue to defend our country and defend our people. Like every country, Israel has an inherent right to defend itself. The vile

attempt to deny Israel this fundamental right is blatant discrimination against the Jewish state, and it was justly rejected. The charge of

genocide leveled against Israel is not only false, is outrageous, and decent people everywhere should reject it.

On the eve of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I again pledge as Israel's Prime Minister, never again, Israel will continue to defend

itself against Hamas, a genocidal terror organization. On October 7th, Hamas perpetrated the most horrific atrocities against the Jewish people

since the Holocaust. And it vows to repeat these atrocities again and again and again. Our war is against Hamas terrorists, not against Palestinian

civilians.

[09:15:00]

We will continue to facilitate humanitarian assistance, and to do our utmost to keep civilians out of harm's way even as Hamas uses civilians as

human shields. We will continue to do what is necessary to defend our country and defend our people. Israel's --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GIOKOS: Right. Right, that's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the reaction of the ICJ interim verdict.

Jeremy, we just, you know, heard that, you know, almost in a way he's framing this that this is being ruled in favor of Israel. But at the end of

the day, this is an interim verdict. This wasn't a ruling on genocide per se, that could take years. What are people reading into the ability of

Israel to take immediate action on what the ICJ has recommended in terms of measures? It needs to start thinking about as it continues this war in

Gaza.

DIAMOND: Yeah, well, on your first point, first of all, I mean, these Israeli officials are very much amplifying and echoing the fact that the

ICJ, in this provisional ruling, did not rule on the merits of the case. And that is something that they are certainly stressing right now.

As it relates to the provisional measures, I mean, if you look at them, there are about six different orders that the ICJ has outlined here in

terms of steps that Israel needs to take. The sixth step, of course, is that report ordering Israel to commission -- to submit a report to the

court within a month as it relates to measures one-through-five. I think if you look at those measures, Israel is going to argue that it's already

doing four out of the five.

They are going to argue that they are already taking measures to prevent the commission of acts of genocide, they are going to argue that they're

already ensuring that their forces don't commit these acts. And they are already arguing that they are providing humanitarian aid. I think the one

measure out of those five that Israel has not shown any intent to act on it, and the question will be whether or not they do act on this, is as it

relates to public incitement to genocide, because we have seen a number of members of Israel's government make very inflammatory comments as it

relates to Palestinians.

A few of those comments were read by the Judge on the Court today who was reading that ruling. But the order here from this Court says, to take

measures to prevent and punish direct and public incitement to commit genocide. And that's not something Israel has addressed so far. And so, it

will be interesting to see, whether or not, in the next month, they take any steps at all to address those kinds of comments by Israeli government

officials.

GIOKOS: David, you know, in terms of what we heard from the Foreign Affairs Minister, Naledi Pandor, she really, you know, was basically framing this

as ruling in favor of what South Africa had wanted. She didn't use the word disappointment because ceasefire wasn't bought in to this interim verdict.

But she seemed very content with what did come out. And again, talking about the international community that will have to apply pressure for

Israel to make good on what the ICJ is now requesting, and of course, legally binding.

MCKENZIE: It is legally binding, but as we've been reporting, it's not enforceable. So, it's really the ball is in Israel's court of how they

respond to the ICJ's ruling today. There will be increasing pressure on Israel to try and change the way it's conducting that war. And as our

colleagues in Washington have already been reporting, the U.S. administration of Biden has been trying to sway Israel into some kind of

better situation for the Palestinian people as this war drags on. I think from the South African perspective, it's an important moment. South Africa

wants to show that it has a role on the world stage in pushing what it calls multilateralism.

You know, I really want to reiterate that there is a disappointment within the global south communities developing nations, that bodies like the UN

Security Council, are ineffective in trying to sway the way that the world deals with these kind of conflicts because of the veto power of countries

like the U.S., China and Russia. This has been an explicit move by South Africa to go somewhere other than the UN General Assembly or the Security

Council, to try and push for a better scenario for the Palestinian people, of which they've had a long affinity to. Again, it depends on how Israel

responds to this, but this is an ongoing matter that South African lawyers will be involved in, and now that they've had a victory of sorts in this

initial phase, they could be expecting more support from other parts of the world.

[09:20:00]

It all depends on what happens next. I think critics of South Africa will say that, while it might be laudable in their eyes to push for justice.

There was, of course, the invasion of Ukraine by a hostile power in Russia, and South Africa refused to condemn that at the UN General Assembly.

So, there is some politics going on. But certainly today, South African government will be celebrating that it had, what they feel, is a moral

victory and hope that it will improve the situation of the Palestinian people. Eleni?

GIOKOS: All right, David McKenzie in Johannesburg for us, Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv, thank you very much for joining us.

A grandmother is gunned down in the street in Gaza as she holds her grandson's hand. He was waving a white flag. Other civilians carrying white

flags also appear to have been shot in the besieged territory now. There are many questions. CNN's Clarissa Ward brings us the details. And I want

to warn you her report is very graphic right from the start, but it's important to show you the images to get the full picture of events as they

unfold.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the last moments of Hala Khreis' life. You can see her here leading a group of 30-odd

people, they wave white flags, a plea for safe passage out of their neighborhood, now surrounded by Israeli forces. She holds the hand of her

five-year-old grandson Taim tightly, and then suddenly. Little Taim quickly runs away.

Her son, Mohammed, rushes towards her. If you slow the video down, you can see Hala start to turn just before she is shot. If she had caught sight of

something from the angle of her fall and the movement of the fleeing group, it is clear that the bullet came from the west or the south.

CNN has geo-located the intersection. Mohammed told us, when he reached his mother, he looked up and saw two Israeli tanks ahead of him to the south,

and just 200 meters to the West, we know Israeli troops were stationed at the new Gaza prep school for boys. As captured here in satellite images and

a photograph published on November 12th, the day Hala was killed.

SARAH KHREIS, DAUGHTER (Interpreted): It's really hard for me to look at the pictures, but I try to remember the beautiful gatherings that we used

to share together.

WARD (voice-over): Hala's 18-year-old daughter, Sarah, was further back in the group. Now safely in Istanbul, she tells us the family had agonized

over whether to leave their home, but after two nights of the most intense bombardment yet, decided to move.

SARAH KHREIS, DAUGHTER (Interpreted): I remember that my mom, after we all sat down and discussed, she got up and went to the kitchen to make

breakfast for everyone in the house. When she was making breakfast, she also went to pray a Duha prayer. It's really hard, really hard.

WARD (voice-over): Take your time.

SARAH KHREIS, DAUGHTER (Interpreted): My mother was my whole life. She was my friend and my everything.

WARD (voice-over): She wants Halas to be remembered as she was in life. A devoted grandmother who still made Sarah sandwiches to take to university

for lunch, a retired Arabic literature teacher, beloved by her students and family. The month before October 7 had been the happiest of times for the

family, celebrating Sarah's engagement and Mohammed's graduation from university.

SARAH KHREIS, DAUGHTER (Interpreted): My mother was going to be 58 years old on December 30, and had her grandson with her, so why would you shoot

her? What's between you and her? You made us feel like it's safe to leave. We had white flags on our hands. So, what happened? Nobody knows. Nobody

knows.

WARD (voice-over): It is a question many are asking as more videos have emerged of unarmed civilians displaying white flags apparently shot dead.

The Geneva based Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor tells CNN they are investigating nine such incidents. We analyzed four. The most widely

reported is the shooting of the three Israeli hostages with the IDF admitted killing under the mistaken impression that their surrender was a

trap.

[09:25:00]

The most recent incident just this week in Mawasi, in southern Gaza, 51- year-old (inaudible) says he is trying to get back to the house where his brother is being held by Israeli forces to plead for his release. The

camera zooms in on two Israeli tanks beyond a berm. A drone can be heard overhead.

Ramsey and four other family members move tentatively forward, hands in the air, white flag held high, then suddenly a burst of gunfire, Ramsey falls

to the ground. If you slow down the video, you can see the impact the first round against the wall, clearly fired from the direction of the tanks. The

men hastily drag Ramsey's body away, the white flag now soaked in blood. His wife runs after him, but he is already dead.

Another video obtained by CNN was recorded by Journalist, Rami Abu Jamous, on November 10th. He says the IDF ordered his family to evacuate their home

and to carry white flags. As they walk, gunshots can be heard. On the other side of the street, a man is wailing over the body of his dead son.

I told you, let's stay home my son, he says over and over, still clutching his white flag. If only we had stayed home. Around the corner, two more

people shot, also carrying white flags. CNN cannot say who fired the shots. We sent the coordinates of all the incidents to the IDF and repeatedly

asked for comments.

WARD (on camera): We flew to Israel to sit down with the IDF and we offered to go through the findings of our investigation with them on or off camera.

Ultimately, they declined to meet with us and they have yet to provide a statement.

WARD (voice-over): Hala Khreis was buried in a shallow grave in a small alleyway next to the family home. Her gravestone written in chalk. Her

family hopes there will be justice for her killing and a proper burial when this war is finally over.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GIOKOS: Clarissa Ward is with us now live from Jerusalem; important reporting there. Clarissa, very difficult to watch. And we know that these

cases as well as the video is currently being investigated as well. But it comes at an important time we've just had this ICJ interim ruling as well,

which is, you know, requesting, that Israel needs to embark and abide by various measures and the way that it conducts this wall. But the images

that we just saw exactly point to the raising of these questions in terms of how Israel is doing what it needs to do in Gaza, it says fighting Hamas.

WARD: That's right, Eleni. And while the IDF hasn't yet provided us with any comment, in the past, they have said again and again strenuously that

they do everything they can to protect civilians, but from the evidence that we've looked at with these incidents, and I should underscore, these

are just several incidents that happen to take place on camera that have been recorded that we can all see with our own eyes, you have to ask

yourself, how often this is taking place when there isn't a cell phone or a camera rolling, and they call into question the sincerity of the IDF's

contention that it has taken great efforts to protect civilian life.

I want to be clear as well, Eleni, that while the incident in Mawasi happened just earlier this week on Monday, and so the IDF has only had

several days to look into what happened there. We first presented the IDF with the evidence of the video of Rami Abu Jamous from outside his home in

Gaza in mid-November, and also of Hala Khreis, who while she was killed on November 12th, the video only emerged several weeks ago, and we gave it

again right away to the IDF.

So, they have had many, many weeks to prepare some kind of a formal statement, or at least, to announce some semblance of an investigation that

would allow people like the Khreis family to feel that potentially there could be some justice in the case, of course, of the Israeli hostages who

were killed, the IDF was much more forthcoming.

[09:30:00]

They issued an apology right away and they explain the situation. But there are still so many question marks around these other incidents and many more

at a time, as you mentioned, with this ICJ ruling where there is a heightened and enhanced scrutiny on Israel's conduct in its military

campaign in Gaza, Eleni.

GIOKOS: Clarissa, thank you very much for that important report. Clarissa Ward for us in Jerusalem. Well, closing arguments are set for today in E.

Jean Carroll's defamation case against Donald Trump. The judge could give jury instructions this afternoon. Details on that story just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: Welcome back. I'm Eleni Giokos in Abu Dhabi, and you're watching Connect the World. Well, our top story this hour, the International Court

of Justice has ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent the commission of genocidal acts in Gaza and to punish any public incitement of

genocide. Although the court stopped short of calling for an immediate ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas, it's ordered Israel to submit a

report within one month on what it is doing to comply with the court's order.

I want to bring in Nic Robertson, who is in Tel Aviv for us with some reaction to what the ICJ has ruled in this interim order that we've seen.

Benjamin Netanyahu has come out calling this, it's a rejection of discrimination against Israel, sort of putting a positive spin to what

we've seen from the ICJ. But Israel is being held to account. It needs to report back in --within 30 days, and it needs to conduct itself in a

certain way to prove that it is not engaging in anything that breaks international law.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: And the Prime Minister, in the first line of his statement, committed himself in the country to

following international law, which is what they have said all along they're doing, pursuing Hamas inside of Gaza and the court challenges in essence of

how it's being pursued.

[09:35:00]

So, the Prime Minister is saying what he's been saying all along that he is under pressure to -- from international partners already, to reduce

civilian casualties, to bring about a better humanitarian situation for the people of Gaza who are suffering an utterly horrendous conditions at the

moment.

It does not sound, hear from the Prime Minister in that statement that he is committing Israel to any more or any less than it was already committing

itself to. Obviously, the fact that he says he will abide by international law, then he is committing himself to abide by what the ICJ has said.

The report a month away, Israel has said that it expects this war with Hamas to go on for potentially months before they defeat Hamas, which they

are not doing. And for the people of Gaza, clearly, not the ceasefire that they were hoping for, and that they need, and not the -- not big

commitments coming from the Prime Minister about how the request for this additional humanitarian aid will come Israel has said all along, but it's

keeping the pathways open for aid that it's providing access for the aid and checking the aid and it can put into Gaza as much aid as the UN can

handle.

The reality has been far different from that. The reality has been, for example, over the past couple of days at the aid that was going in through

Kerem Shalom crossing out of Israel into Gaza has been held up because of protests by families who want their loved ones who are hostages inside Gaza

released the UN that said in a report earlier this month that -- so far in January, more convoys into Gaza, more of their convoys into Gaza,

humanitarian convoys have been denied by Israel that anytime look through the more than 112 days of the conflict so far.

So, again, the Prime Minister and Israel will come under that international pressure to measure up to what they say they're doing with facts on the

ground, the facts the government presents, and not aligning with what the UN officials are finding on the ground in Gaza. There isn't the food.

GIOKOS: Right.

ROBERTSON: There isn't the aid, there isn't the shelter, there aren't the medical supplies around the medical facilities, there aren't the medical

staff, you name it. There isn't enough of it inside of Gaza.

GIOKOS: Nic Robertson, thank you. Good to see you. Closing arguments are expected today in E. Jean Carroll's civil defamation case against Donald

Trump. The former President unexpectedly testified on Thursday, Trump spent just three minutes telling the court he only wanted to defend himself, his

family and the presidency. Jurors could get the case by this afternoon and Carroll is seeking $10 million in defamation charge damages. A huge shake-

up in the meantime, in the Premier League, Liverpool Manager Jurgen Klopp is stepping down, more on what was behind that stunning decision just

ahead. We've got Amanda Davies of World Sport standing by for us. Stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GIOKOS: Well, if you're planning on going to Mars, you should take a listen to this. After 72 flights, three emergency landings, dust storms and the

chilly Martian weather, NASA's Ingenuity helicopter mission on the red planet is no more. At least one of its carbon fiber rotor blades was

damaged while landing last week.

Ingenuity will go down in history as the first aircraft from earth to operate on another world. It was launched as an experiment in 2021. But it

was so successful that it was adopted as an aerial scout for NASA's Mars rover gathering images that helped to choose future targets for study.

Liverpool fans are in shock tonight on what the word that Manager Jurgen Klopp is stepping down. Thought by many to be the best football manager in

the world, he led Liverpool to one of the club's most successful eras in its history, club that suggests that he wants to get out while he's still

at the top of his game. For more on this unexpected piece of news, we've got Amanda Davies standing by to break it all down for us.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yeah. Eleni, it isn't very often in this day and age that you get a piece of breaking news in sport that absolutely

comes from left field and stuns everybody, and that is exactly what has happened with this news today. Not just Liverpool fans, not just Premier

League fans, but football fans around the world that Jurgen Klopp, one of the best and most popular managers in the world game, has announced he will

be leaving his post after what will be nine years come the end of the season. The timing has surprised a lot of people.

Liverpool in the quest still for four major trophies this year. He says he made the call in November. He told people at Liverpool. But so many

questions left to answer. We're heading live to Liverpool in just a couple of minutes in WORLD SPORT ahead of a news conference that we expect Klopp

to be giving in about 15, 20 minutes time.

GIOKOS: Right, Amanda. We'll see you right after the short break. I'll be back at the top of the hour, stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT)

END