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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Israeli Military Begins Ground Invasion Of Gaza City; Charlie Kirk Shooting Suspect Expected In Court; U.S. Military Kills 3 In Strike Against Narcoterrorists; Belarus, Russia Conduct Joint Military Drills Amid NATO Tensions. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired September 16, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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

[04:00:00]

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Hochul has now endorsed Zoran Mamdani for New York City mayor more than two months after his decisive primary win. And his other top New York Democrats, like the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer and the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, have remained silent, explaining the move.

In a New York Times op-ed, Governor Hochul said, quote, in the past few months, I've had frank conversations with him. We've had our disagreements, but in our conversations I heard a leader who is focused on making New York City affordable, a goal I enthusiastically support.

Thanks so much for joining us. The news continues here on CNN.

ANNOUNCER: This is is CNN Breaking News.

BRIAN ABEL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the United States and all around the world. I'm Brian Abel. And we begin with breaking news out of Gaza.

Israeli officials telling CNN that Israel has launched its ground incursion into Gaza City. The Israel Defense Forces calling on residents to evacuate, quote, the combat zone, saying it is destroying Hamas infrastructure.

The sources say the operation is going to be phased and gradual. At the beginning, a ground incursion was supposed to proceed only after the Israeli military forced the complete evacuation of the densely populated urban area, but so far, only a fraction of the population has actually left the city.

Meanwhile, the Israeli defense minister posting this on social media today, saying in part, Gaza is burning. The U.S. Secretary of State meeting in Doha now after meeting with Israeli prime minister in Israel on Monday. Sources tell CNN Marco Rubio told Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel has the full support of the U.S. for the assault on Gaza City, but stressed the operation should move quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think we have a very short window of time in which a deal could happen. We don't have months anymore and we probably have days and maybe a few. So it's a key moment, an important moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: All this as an independent United Nations commission concludes that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has denounced that report. Let's go now to CNN's Paula Hancocks joining us live from Abu Dhabi with all of this. And it seems we are entering another chapter, Paula.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brian. We have a statement as well that's just come in from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu saying, quote, we began an intense operation yesterday in Gaza. The state of Israel is at a critical stage in this struggle and there are consequences.

So this confirmation from the Israeli prime minister that the ground offensive to try and take over Gaza City has begun. Now, we did hear from one of those officials that it would be phased and gradual at the beginning.

The one question that many have, though, is exactly how many civilians may be still in Gaza City at this time. Over recent days, we have been seeing an exodus of people, many of them on foot trying to carry their belongings, walking away from Gaza City.

The Israeli military evacuation order said they have to go to the south to Al Mawasi, which they call a humanitarian zone. NGOs though, and the United nations have pointed out that it is not a humanitarian zone and there is very little humanitarian aid there and it is severely overcrowded.

We did hear from an Israeli military source on Monday saying that they believe 320,000 civilians have left Gaza City since that evacuation order. Just a week ago, there was believed to be up to 1 million civilians in the city. So it is really unclear how many people are still there.

Now we do have distressing images coming through to us, which I must warn our viewers are of graphic nature. But it shows the casualties that are being brought into hospitals overnight. We know 38 have been killed according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

And we have also seen footage of the bodies of bloodied children that are being brought into hospitals. Also, some injuries are being brought in as well.

So this is a moment that many countries around the world had called on Israel to prevent, to stop this attempt to take over Gaza City. We heard also from the United Nations that there were concerns that this would make a humanitarian situation even worse.

We've heard internally in Israel as well Israeli sources saying that there was disagreement within a security cabinet meeting where the IDF chief of staff said it shouldn't go ahead because there were concerns for the hostages still being held by Gaza and others in, excuse me, by Hamas and others in Gaza.

[04:05:08]

There was concern for the risk to soldiers during this operation and also of the humanitarian situation. The Israeli prime minister, though Benjamin Netanyahu has been adamant that it does have to go ahead. He believes this is the way to defeat Hamas. He believes that this is the fastest way to defeat Hamas.

Up until this point the United States has given the green light. It is standing by Israel when it comes to this decision. It is very difficult, though, to find another country in the world that does agree this is the way to go.

And we have been hearing from NGOs, from the United Nations severe concerns for those civilians now on the ground in Gaza City that have not managed to evacuate until this point. We've just seen on social media from UNICEF saying, quote, it will multiply children suffering exponentially, ripping away the last vestiges of protection. They need protection. The world must act now. Back to you, Brian.

ABEL: That is quite the warning from UNICEF. Paula Hancocks, thank you. And we know you'll be back with us again to talk about that new U.N. Commission report that says Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and how Israel is reacting to a report. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi for us. Thank you.

I do want to bring in now Alon Pinkas, who is the former Israeli consul general for New York. And Alon, thank you for being with us and on such short notice. Appreciate it. You heard Paula Hancocks talked about what this looks like for Gaza City, especially when we talk about the civilian casualties and the images that we are already seen.

What do you make of this, especially when you hear Netanyahu say there are consequences? Are these the kind of consequences that we're talking about here?

ALON PINKAS, FORMER ISRAELI CONSUL GENERAL FOR NEW YORK: No. I think, Brian, that the one thing that we can discern from Mr. Netanyahu's behavior or pattern of behavior or policymaking in the last two years is that it is completely detached from cost effective calculations, completely oblivious to the consequences, and completely and willingly blind to what the implications are.

Now, what do we know about this operation? Well, we know that it does not, I emphasize, does not have clear military goals, not because I say so, but because the IDF chief of staff says so. We know that it's going to cost lives because that's the nature of war. And we know that it's probably going to sacrifice the lives of most, if not all of the remaining live hostages, which we assume are 20.

We also know that if this, as Paula correctly described, it, is going to be phased and gradual. If this goes on, then by the end, when it ends, rather within a week, within a month, or within four months, it's going to be guerrilla warfare in a densely populated or densely urban warfare state setting, which means that Israel effectively will occupy 75 percent of the Gaza Strip and 75 percent of Gaza's population without an end in sight, without any vision of how this is going to play out, with the world looking, condemning, criticizing and opposing this and that U.N. recommendations on Israeli genocidal intentions that you just quoted and said you'll come back to with Paula.

So what we do know is that all international pressure and all domestic reservations and pressure that Netanyahu faced, he proved to be impervious to. He just has one thing and one overriding principle in mind, and that is to perpetuate the war indefinitely right now.

ABEL: That's what I want to ask you next, is you talk about the world looking on, you talk about the pressure that other nations were placing Netanyahu and on Israel. Yet here we are in this moment. Was it going to end up here regardless of what happened, regardless of the casualties?

Because we also heard that it was going to be slow and steady, yet Marco Rubio wants it to be quick. That's what the U.S. is approving of. That doesn't square with one another strategy wise.

So what do you make of this moving forward? Was this the ultimate goal, just to have this incursion at this point?

PINKAS: Yes, yes, that's exactly my point, Brian. I mean, you look, you listen to the IDF Chief of staff and then you listen to the U.S. Secretary of State, and you think these two gentlemen are talking about two different wars in two different scenarios and two different outcomes, while the Chief of staff is saying, the Israeli Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, is saying this is going to be time consuming, it's going to cost casualties.

[04:10:06]

And I'm not sure that we can achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve. He's saying to the government, which you still haven't made clear to me. And there comes Marco Rubio in a display of cluelessness, I'm sorry to say, and basically says, oh, this has to be quick and fast. What do you mean quick and fast? You don't do this quick and fast.

You tried to do quick and fast in Iraq, you did quick and fast in Vietnam, you did quick and fast in Afghanistan. It doesn't work that way. And so what you see, going back to your question or remark, Brian, what you see right now is just a perpetuation of the war.

We're going to end up in a week, in a month, in four months or five months, basically effectively occupying Gaza. We're going to own Gaza. And Gaza is not something you want to own. Look at the footage that you're just showing on a split screen.

There's no way to govern that place without a clear, without a ceasefire first and then a clear and coherent plan for post war Gaza, something that Israel, well, Mr. Netanyahu rather, has refused to do until now.

ABEL: Alon, we've been talking about the cause. Let's talk about the effect now. What does this mean for the families of the hostages? What does this mean for the Gazans who did not evacuate and for the children that we saw there in the videos?

PINKAS: Well, you know, I can't even begin to imagine what the families of the Israeli hostages are feeling, aside from, you know, fear, anxieties and horror, thinking about the worst scenarios. And it's very easy to think about the worst scenarios, I'm sorry to say.

They also feel betrayed and feel that they have been lied to repeatedly by Mr. Netanyahu, by his defense minister, by Israeli negotiators. For the better part of the last six months, they've been promised a deal. And then there was a deal in January that Israel reneged and violated in March. And there has been a series of Witkoff papers, Witkoff 1 and Witkoff 5 and Witkoff 7. OK, none of that matured into any agreement. Then Mr. Netanyahu changed his mind entirely. And rather than partial or piecemeal agreements, he said, OK, we want a big agreement, but he's not even negotiating that now.

So I feel for them and I think the Israeli public is livid about this, but we're going to have to wait and see, as for the Palestinians, you know, not enough the death, devastation and desolation that the non- combatants that the civilians of Gaza have endured in the last almost two years. They're going to see more of that in the next few days and weeks, I'm tragically sorry to say.

ABEL: Elon Pinkas, appreciate your expertise as always, sir. Thank you.

PINKAS: I'm sorry to be so optimistic this morning.

ABEL: Yes. All right. Take care of yourself. Stay with CNN for the very latest on the Israeli ground incursion into Gaza City. We'll keep you updated throughout the hour.

Plus, Charlie Kirk's alleged killer is set to appear for an initial court hearing while but we are learning about the investigation and the suspect just ahead.

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ABEL: The man accused of killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk is set to make his first court appearance today in Utah. One official says a lot more information on the investigation is expected to be released once the state files charges against suspect Tyler Robinson.

The U.S. Deputy Attorney General says the Justice Department is still deciding whether to bring any federal charges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, U.S DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, it depends on if There's a federal charge. So look, the federal charge, there's not that many murder charges that are federal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very few.

BLANCHE: Very few. And so look, there's stalking, there's certain -- there's certain deprivation of rights charges that we possibly could bring. But that goes after going through all the evidence and trying to understand what would this man's motivation was in doing what he did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: President Donald Trump says he plans to speak at Kirk's funeral, which will be held Sunday in Arizona. Mr. Trump also repeated his frequent refrain that political violence comes from the left.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: It looks like he became radicalized over the internet and it seems like he has wonderful parents, brought in a wonderful neighborhood, smart guy, great boards, great marks, great student. And then he something happened to him over a fairly short period of time.

Looks like he was radicalized over the Internet and it's radicalized on the left. He's a left. By the way, when I say that's my opinion. I think he was radicalized online based on what they're saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: The CNN's Danny Freeman reports on the shooting investigation and what more we're learning about this suspect.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Chilling new messages revealed by the Washington Post about the suspect in the Charlie Kirk assassination. 22-year-old Tyler Robinson reportedly writing, quote, hey guys, I have bad news for you all. Going on to say, quote, it was me at UVU yesterday. I'm sorry for all of this.

The Washington Post reporting the message appeared to be a confession to friends in the social and gaming app called Discord and sent Thursday night just hours before Robinson's arrest.

The news coming as the New York Times reports that Robinson joked in Discord messages that a, quote, doppelganger was trying to get him in trouble when investigators released photos of the suspect.

[04:20:09]

Also today, FBI Director Cash Patel announced DNA evidence connects Robinson directly to the crime scene.

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: I can report today that the DNA hits from the towel that was wrapped around the firearm and the DNA on the screwdriver are positively processed for the suspect in custody. FREEMAN (voice-over): But law enforcement officials are still working

to understand what may have driven this young man to allegedly open fire on Charlie Kirk.

PATEL: My job as FBI director is not to speak to motive, is to speak to the facts, and that's what I'm going to do.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Investigators are focusing in on a potential note that Robinson may have written prior to the shooting. Director Patel says it was destroyed.

PATEL: We have evidence to show what was in that note, which is, and I'm going to summarize, basically saying the suspect wrote it out, saying, I have the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk, and I'm going to take it.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Another area of interest and help to authorities so far has been Robinson's roommate.

GOV. SPENCER COX (R) UTAH: The roommate was a romantic partner, a male transitioning to female. This partner has been incredibly cooperative, had no idea that this was happening, and is working with investigators right now.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Officials are still investigating whether the roommate relationship may factor into a potential motive. Robinson lived and grew up here in southwest Utah in a conservative family, acquaintances told CNN. According to the governor, Robinson moved very far left in recent years.

COX: These are the facts that are being presented to us. Family, discussions, parents. This is what they're saying.

FREEMAN (voice-over): In Robinson's hometown Sunday night, his community mourned Kirk while processing that the suspected assassin was a neighbor.

UNDIENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really hard. You just don't can't imagine someone from around here would do something like that.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Sherrie Staheli Tate's family has lived here for five generations and told us Robinson went to school with her daughter.

SHERRIE STAHELI TATE, SOUTHERN UTAH RESIDENT: I said, well, how would you describe him? And she said, I would describe him as, you know, those kids that are -- they're kind of too smart, that they're not common sense smart.

FREEMAN (voice-over): Here, Sherrie and the community praying both for Kirk and the Robinson family.

TATE: I just felt it in my heart because that's just not what happens here. It's naive of me, but it's not what happens here.

FREEMAN: Now all eyes are going to be on this part of Utah on Tuesday. That's because we're finally going to hear some more details from prosecutors. And also we're going to see Robinson make his first court appearance. And Utah officials are promising that we're going to also hear a lot more information regarding this case that's going to come when Utah officials formally announced those charges. Danny Freeman, CNN, Orem, Utah.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: Our thanks to Danny for that report. President Trump says the U.S. military killed three people international waters near South America. He shared a video of it of the strike on Truth Social and claimed that those on board were, quote, confirmed narcoterrorists transporting illegal drugs from Venezuela.

Less than two weeks ago, the U.S. said it killed 11 people when it struck another boat that it claimed was tied to a Venezuelan gang. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is warning a, quote, great war could break out if the U.S. fills the Caribbean with missiles and gunpowder.

As NATO members ramp up defenses against Russian drone incursions, Russia and Belarus are holding major military exercises right along the alliance's eastern border. Today is the last day of the Zapad 2025 drills with Russian and Belarusian forces showing off their latest military hardware to a global audience. CNN's Fred Pleitgen brings us the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): A massive show of force right on NATO's doorstep. Russia and its ally Belarus in live fire drills.

PLEITGEN: They come as tensions between NATO and Russia are extremely high. In fact, the Russians have placed nuclear weapons here in Belarus over the past couple of months. And as part of these drills, they've shook showcase some of their most modern nuclear capable weapons, missiles that are fired from boats, from submarines, but also, of course, from aircraft and from land as well.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Extremely concerning for the US's allies with Belarus bordering several Eastern European NATO member states and coming just days after Russian combat drones breached NATO member Poland's airspace, even though the Russians claim they didn't fly them there intentionally.

The U.S. allies are on edge. Poland sending additional troops to the border with Belarus as President Donald Trump's efforts to broker a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine have stalled.

[04:25:02]

The US's NATO allies are waiting for a more forceful response from the White House. President Trump saying he's still considering tougher sanctions against Moscow. The Kremlin blaming the US's allies for holding up the process. The Europeans are obstructing progress, the Kremlin spokesman says.

They refuse to acknowledge the fundamental origins of this crisis, thereby blocking any path to addressing the very causes. Nonetheless, Russia remains open and prepared for dialogue.

Prepared for dialogue, but showing off their military muscle. The Russians showcasing their modern nuclear capable weapons like the Tsirkon hypersonic missile and Kinzhal air launched ballistic missiles which can carry nuclear warheads.

We managed to systematically plan the issues of using weapons of more powerful destruction in this exercise, Belarus defense minister says. Despite the firepower on display here, a senior Belarusian general accuses NATO of panicking when I asked him about Western concerns.

It's a big mistake from NATO, he says. Look at the numbers. 6,800 people compared to 40,000 on the territory of Poland. Where do you think there are more personnel? Probably there. Several U.S. military observers were on hand to witness the drills Russia and Belarus put on seeing a military force that says it's ready for a major combat against any foe at any time. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Borisov, Belarus.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: President Trump appears to be pushing ahead with plans to send federal troops into more major U.S. cities. On Monday, he signed an executive memorandum to create a task force to reduce crime in Memphis, Tennessee. He says it would mirror the stepped up law enforcement effort deployed in Washington, D.C. last month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's very important because of the crime that's going on, not only in Memphis, in many cities. And we're going to take care of all of them step by step, just like we did in DC. We have virtually no crime in DC right now and we're going to keep it that way. It's our nation's capital. We're going to keep it that way or we're going to federalize it if we had to. But we don't have to anymore because it's in such great shape.

We have to save Chicago. I know all about Chicago. I have a great, beautiful building. I'm so proud of it. But you know, you get less proud when you see all the crap. We think Chicago is going to be next and we'll get to St. Louis.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: But leaders in Chicago and the state of Illinois have repeatedly warned the U.S. President against sending in federal forces.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JB PRITZKER (D) ILLINOIS: People are frightened about the potential of military troops coming to our neighborhoods. People are fearful of masked men in unmarked vans who could grab them on a street corner because of how they look or how they sound. (END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: The Trump administration had initially targeted Chicago after Washington, but advisers warned him that sending in troops without the support of the state's governor would create legal headaches.

And President Trump leaves today for a visit to the UK. He is expected to meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer later in the week. But first, a day of pop and circumstance on Wednesday with the British royals. CNN's Kevin Liptak reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: The carriages are being prepared, the military bands are tuning up, the tierras are being polished, all in preparation for President Trump's big state visit to the United Kingdom that begins on Tuesday.

The Brits and the Prime Minister Keir Starmer really pulling all the stops out of their soft power to try and influence what they call the special relationship at quite a sensitive diplomatic moment. And of course, no one does pomp and circumstance quite like the Brits. The president, when he arrives at Windsor Castle on Wednesday morning, will be greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales, Will and Kate. From there, he'll meet King Charles III and Queen Camilla. He'll proceed in a carriage through the town of Windsor to the castle where he'll meet with the king and queen. They'll view items from the royal collection.

It all culminates on Wednesday evening with this grand state banquet. I know this is all a sort of a piece of trying to sort of bolster the U.S.-Britain relationship. It's President Trump's second state visit and in fact, his visit back in 2019 was a highlight of his first term in office. He's long been fascinated by the British royals. His mother was born in Scotland.

One of his earliest memories, he said, is his mother sitting wrapped in front of the television watching the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

[04:30:00]

Of course, it's not all ceremony. President Trump will meet with Keir Starmer at his country residence Checkers on Thursday.