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The Situation Room

Next Steps in Gaza?; Future of Freed Israeli Hostages?; Man Pleads Guilty in Arson Attack on Pennsylvania Governor's Mansion. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired October 14, 2025 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:03]

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: That's the problem.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: It's really -- it's obscene when you think about it. And I can't believe this is happening over at the Pentagon right now.

Brian, thank you very, very much. We will see what happens next. Appreciate it.

And the next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM starts right now.

Happening now: lingering uncertainty. Key points in the Gaza cease- fire plan are unresolved. And Hamas has returned only four of the 28 deceased Israeli hostages. Just ahead, I will speak to Ruby Chen. His son Itay's body is still in Gaza. You're going to hear Ruby's message to the people of Israel and the U.S., indeed around the world, as he continues fighting.

And later: President Trump's ultimatum to Russia. He's now telling of Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine or he will provide Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, with Tomahawk cruise missiles. We have a SITUATION ROOM special report on those very powerful weapons. Stand by for that.

We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv. Jessica Dean is in for Pamela Brown today, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BLITZER: There are multiple developments here in Israel and indeed across the Middle East region, but we're also following breaking news in Pennsylvania right now.

Jessica, go ahead and update our viewers.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: That's right.

The man accused of firebombing the Pennsylvania governor's mansion earlier this year just pleaded guilty to a slew of charges that include attempted murder and terrorism. And this is chilling new video. You see him right there, the DA's office just releasing this showing 38-year-old Cody Balmer walking around the governor's mansion in Harrisburg on the night of April 13, throwing makeshift Molotov cocktails in the home while Governor Shapiro and his family, including his children, were sleeping inside.

CNN's Danny Freeman is in Philadelphia.

And, Danny, we know in just a few moments we're going to hear from Governor Shapiro after we got this news. We're going to take that when he begins speaking.

But, again, set the scene for us. Tell us the very latest here.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Jessica.

Well, as you noted, the very latest is that Cody Balmer, the man accused then of setting fire to Governor Shapiro's home back in April on the first night of the Jewish holiday of Passover, he's officially pleaded guilty to all of these charges, including the attempted murder of Governor Shapiro, aggravated arson, and then 22 counts of arson as well for the 22 people who were actually inside of the residence that evening, including several children, Governor Shapiro's children, in fact.

But, again, Jessica, while that is the headline, remember, Balmer turned himself in, so it's not necessarily surprising that he pleaded guilty.

(SIRENS BLARING)

FREEMAN: Excuse the sirens behind me.

But perhaps the most stunning thing is this video that you were describing at the top, because it's the first time that we're seeing exactly how this man, Cody Balmer, really methodically went on to the property of the governor's residence, then took out makeshift Molotov cocktails and set fire to the governors residence.

You see on some of this video, him actually throwing it down into the dining room where, just hours earlier, Governor Shapiro and his family were holding a Passover seder on that evening in April.

The other thing, Jessica, that is so terrifying is, you see Balmer try to kick open another door in the residence, which would have opened into the area of the governor's residence where Shapiro and his guests and family were staying. The door was locked, so he was unable to get through that particular door.

But, again, that footage and the moment of him trying to gain entry into deeper parts of the mansion, again, truly stunning. The other thing, Jessica, that I will point out is there's a picture that was also released by the Dauphin County district attorney of the sledgehammer that Balmer used to break a window to gain entrance to the mansion.

The DA noted that when Balmer turned himself in, he said that if he had gotten to Governor Shapiro himself, he would have tried to hit him with that hammer, so, again, just terrifying images, stunning video about all of this.

I will remind you also that the DA in his press release that he just released a little while ago cited the -- quote -- "military actions of the state of Israel in Gaza" as Balmer's motivation for carrying out this attack, at least in part.

A lot of moving parts right here, but, again, like you noted, Jessica, we're expecting to hear from Governor Shapiro in about 10 minutes or so. He had said back that night, or, I should say, the evening after this happened, because it happened overnight, that he would not let this attack intimidate him from either governing the people of Pennsylvania or from practicing his Jewish faith.

So we're going to see if he says something along those lines when we hear his remarks in just a little bit. And the last thing I will note, Jessica, Balmer accepted this plea deal. He's expected to serve a sentence of 25 to 50 years in a state correctional facility -- Jessica.

[11:05:11]

DEAN: That video is just so scary and that picture of the sledgehammer, Danny. And you mentioned that the governor had said this would not intimidate him from governing or from his Jewish faith, which, of course, this was the night of Passover. They'd had a seder. There were so many questions around motivation here.

Balmer apparently told the Associated Press in May in a letter from jail that this had not been a factor in his decision. He said: "He could be Jewish, Muslim, or a purple people eater, for all I care, as long as he leaves me and mine alone."

But, Danny, the fact remains this was on night of Passover, and it is something Josh Shapiro has talked a lot about. I would expect he'd talk more about that today.

FREEMAN: That's right, Jessica.

And, remember, I mean, again, you and I were on the air when this was initially breaking news. In those first hours, there was really not a lot of information out there, so it really was hard for many people to divorce, the fact that it was the first night of Passover, that it was just a few hours after a seder, that it was while the governor and so many family members and guests were there.

Remember, he had posted a picture of his seder dinner or of the place settings that evening prior to the attack. Listen, I think that, as you note from the AP reporting there and as we had reported in the days after Balmer was caught, we learned of his identity, that there were perhaps other things going on.

There was reports of him potentially having chewed batteries in the past. So, listen, I think that from the DA's perspective, the most important thing is that, in this first court appearance that Balmer made in Dauphin County in Harrisburg just this morning, they were able to secure that guilty plea, again, for all of these series of intense charges, including, most notably, the attempted murder of Governor Josh Shapiro -- Jessica.

DEAN: Certainly.

And, again, reminding everyone we are expecting to hear from the governor. We will bring that to you when he speaks.

Danny Freeman with the very latest from Pennsylvania, thank you so much for that.

I want to hand it back over to Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, all right, Jessica, thank you very much.

Also happening now: The cease-fire is holding in Gaza, but the path forward is still shrouded in uncertainty and doubts. There are new drone images just coming in to THE SITUATION ROOM from Gaza City decimated by two years of war. President Trump says his immediate focus is on rebuilding Gaza and not necessarily on the larger issue of a future Palestinian state.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm talking about something very much different. We're talking about rebuilding Gaza. I'm not talking about single state or double state or two state. We're talking about the rebuilding of Gaza.

A lot of people like the one-state solution, and some people like the two-state solutions. We will have to see. I haven't -- I haven't commented on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Hamas has freed all 20 living Israeli hostages, and Israel has released nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

But one huge challenge certainly remains. Hamas has returned the remains of just four of the 28 dead Israeli hostages, and this is the Israeli police convoy with those caskets. The agreement calls for the return of all deceased hostages within 72 hours.

The International Red Cross says the process could take weeks, and some remains may never be found.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is here with me in Tel Aviv. He's watching all of this unfold.

Jeremy, two of those returned remains have been publicly identified, as you know. Tell us about that.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's exactly right, Wolf.

We were awaiting the DNA confirmation from Israel's forensic institute, which had received these four bodies presumably of hostages from Hamas yesterday. They have now confirmed that they have completed DNA analysis on all four bodies, but they are only publicly identifying two of them so far, and that is based on the permissions from the families.

Guy Illouz, who was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival, his death had been confirmed back in December 2023. And then there is Bipin Joshi, a Nepali student who was working on a farm in Southern Israel, also studying agriculture. His identity has also been confirmed.

Hamas had also said yesterday that they returned the bodies of Daniel Peretz, as well as Yossi Sharabi, but the families have yet to publicly confirm that those are indeed the bodies that were returned. But this does raise the broader issue of the bodies of all of these other hostages that still remain in Gaza.

Remember, yesterday, we were talking about 28 bodies of hostages that were still there. That is now down to 24, but there are questions about why so few bodies have been returned so far. And the Hostage Forum has put out a statement and sent a letter, in fact, to Steve Witkoff, the special envoy who negotiated this deal, urging him to not let up in his efforts until all of those bodies are brought back and to ensure that Hamas sticks to its end of this agreement.

[11:10:04]

BLITZER: What are the next steps, Jeremy, in the cease-fire, which thank God is still holding right now? Where do things stand?

DIAMOND: Well, one of the next steps is supposed to be this enormous surge of aid into the Gaza Strip.

We have already seen the number of aid trucks starting to tick up, in the first few days of this cease-fire, but, still, we only have two out of seven of those border crossings into Gaza that could bring food, medicine, and all these other essential supplies in that have been opened so far.

And, in fact, we're now told that the security establishment in Israel is recommending that the Rafah Crossing, which was supposed to open tomorrow -- that's from Egypt into Gaza -- that it not open tomorrow as a result of Hamas returning so few bodies of these hostages as a way to pressure Hamas to return additional bodies.

Beyond that, we also saw an incident of Israeli troops opening fire in Gaza today, the Israeli military claiming that this is because several individuals crossed the yellow line, which is that line where Israeli troops withdrew to following this cease-fire.

The Israeli military claiming that they told these individuals not to cross, that they did and that they then opened fire. We don't have the other side of that story right now, but this is the first instance of Israeli troops opening fire in Gaza that we know so far since the cease-fire has been put into place.

BLITZER: All right, excellent update. Thank you very much. Jeremy Diamond reporting for us. We're always grateful to Jeremy for his excellent, excellent reporting.

Still ahead, the father of deceased Israeli hostage Itay Chen joins me as his son's body is still being held in Gaza, his message to leaders as the cease-fire holds right now.

Plus: President Trump says he's considering, considering giving Ukraine missiles that potentially could strike deep into Russia. We're live in Moscow with a SITUATION ROOM special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:16:26]

BLITZER: Here in Israel, there is a sense of closure for so many who are understandably celebrating yesterday's successful return of all 20 living hostages from Gaza.

We saw so many emotional reunions, like Matan Angrest, who was serving as an Israeli soldier when he was kidnapped. He turned 22 in captivity. And after more than two years of hoping and praying, his family watched as he was released. Matan was held captive with Keith Siegel in Gaza for more than two months before Keith was released back in February.

Yesterday, Keith called Matan, telling him -- and I'm quoting now -- "I love you so much. You're such a hero, Matan, a hero, how you survived" -- end quote.

Matan says he did it -- he did -- he did it for the state and for the people and the flag. And Keith adds: "You should be so proud of yourself" -- end quote.

His family says he dreams of going to the United States one day to actually watch an NBA basketball game, and now that dream may become a reality. Let's hope it does.

The freed Israelis now face a very, very long road to recovery after 738 days in captivity. And as part of a SITUATION ROOM special report, I spoke with a chief psychiatrist at one of the main hospitals here who will be helping to treat them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And we're here at Ichilov Hospital with the head of psychiatry here at Ichilov Hospital, Dr. Inbal Reuveni.

Dr. Reuveni, thank you very much for joining us.

So you're going to be examining and checking all the hostages who will arrive here. And what are you going to be looking for?

DR. INBAL REUVENI, PSYCHIATRIST: So, we will -- I will be one of the staffers checking the hostages, and we will be looking for, first of all, the medical issues, the very urgent medical issues.

These are hostages who've been returned after two years in the tunnels, after a long war, some of them probably starved for a lot of the months. So this is the first -- our first priority.

Our second priority is, of course, the mental health conditions of the hostages, the returnees, seeing how they adjust, first of all, to the swift change from the tunnels of the -- of Gaza to being in the Ichilov Medical Center. It's a very, very swift and big change to adapt to.

And then we're going to look for other symptoms like the PTSD symptoms, post-traumatic stress, if there -- trouble sleeping, trouble eating, or other things we have seen before in the returnees that have been here priorly.

BLITZER: And other hostages who have been freed and who have come here before, you have you have worked with them too, right?

REUVENI: Yes, I have worked...

BLITZER: And how are they doing?

REUVENI: Well, it's very different, I must say.

You know, every hostage is a different person, personality, family situation, and so, so on and so on. And the age differs vastly. So we have children who've been treated and very elderly people, 80 years old. So this is really nothing -- I can't comment on a specific future, but I think all of them are struggling.

It's not something that is behind them in any way. The end of this war is going to give them some closure. Some of them are waiting for family members, for deceased family members who are -- waiting to bury them.

[11:20:06]

But this will bring them some closure, and maybe they will begin to start treating themselves and heal.

BLITZER: And you work with them even after they leave Ichilov Hospital. They will continue to be examined, right?

REUVENI: Yes. It's very interesting disconnection here in the hospital. In the first few days is a very powerful experience for -- first of all, for us, of course, but for the hostage and his family.

So, many of them choose to continue their care here. Of course, we give them any option they would like, but many of them continue the rehabilitation process, the mental health treatment here. So we keep -- we are here available for whatever they need.

BLITZER: And one of the most powerful things that I have seen since I have been here at Ichilov is the fact that a lot of these hostages, men who are fathers, will be reunited with their young children for the first time in two years.

And, sometimes, these kids won't even recognize their fathers, right? REUVENI: Yes. It's something we're thinking about and preparing for.

We want to give them a safe space to reunite with their children and give them time and quiet.

So this is something we are really working on, preparing, meeting the families, talking to them. At least they will know us before the hostage comes, and then we will make a safe and quiet space for them to reunite.

BLITZER: And do you work -- and you're a psychiatrist. Do you work with the children too?

REUVENI: Well, I have worked with the children that came back after 50 days.

BLITZER: The children who were hostages?

REUVENI: Yes, who were hostages. We're -- I'm still working with them until today. So that's a very powerful experience as well. And the children who are coming here to meet their father are mostly already being taken care of. They're waiting for two years. This is something that's been going on for a long time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Very important interview, indeed.

And still to come, we're standing by for the Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, to hold a news conference following the suspect pleading guilty to the April arson attack on his home. We're going to bring that to you live.

Stay with us. Lots going on right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:27:06]

BLITZER: As we follow the joyful reunions that have taken place here in Israel over the past 24 hours or so, there is still pain.

Joining us now is Ruby Chen. Ruby is the father of American Israeli hostage Itay Chen. Itay's remains and the bodies of 23 others are still held in Gaza.

Ruby, how are you and your family doing right now after some of the other hostages, both alive and dead, the remains of some of the dead have been returned?

RUBY CHEN, FATHER OF ITAY CHEN: A lot of disappointment.

You know, we understood with the agreement that it has a lot of holes in it, specifically about the deceased, that there were no sanctions that were put in place, that if Hamas do decide not to give the remaining hostages, there would be some leverage against them. I flagged that to Mr. Witkoff, flagged that to the Israeli teams, but

we moved forward with this framework, and now we see what's happening. And we, of course -- it's so difficult to say, Wolf. Yesterday, I had expectation of getting the worst possible phone call that any parent could get.

And when the day ended, I was disappointed that I did not get that call. How odd is that?

BLITZER: Because you thought you would get a call saying the remains of the body of your son Itay are being returned.

CHEN: And that's not a happy phone call.

BLITZER: No.

CHEN: And I was -- nevertheless, I was disappointed that I did not get that call.

BLITZER: What are they saying to you, the authorities, about this?

CHEN: That they will do what they can to say that Hamas has gone off what was understood and agreed upon.

But, Wolf, after two years, as a U.S. citizen, Itay was the youngest U.S. citizen taken on October 7. You know, in the previous administration, we didn't have that much hope that they will call after the U.S. citizens. But President Trump and his team have talked so much about putting Americans first.

And I don't understand how, when this category of deceased coming out, that the United States was not able to put its foot down and say to the mediators, to Qatar, we want our citizens back. We want those U.S. citizens. And, for some reason, I don't know why that's not happening.

BLITZER: Itay is an Israeli, but also a U.S. citizen.

CHEN: He's no less of a U.S. citizen than you, myself, anybody else. And the U.S. administration has an obligation to bring him back, especially its citizens. And I wonder why that has not happened until now.

BLITZER: In this new article that you wrote for the newspaper "USA Today," you write this. And I'm quoting. You say Hamas -- quote -- "still holds my son's remains hostage, and implore the world -- implore the world, please don't call this over yet."

Tell us more about what you mean.

CHEN: Well, yesterday, we were at the Israeli Parliament with President Trump. And it was like -- it was like the game is over. Like, now let's celebrate. The party's done. Let's move on to the next thing.

And we were, like, saying, no, that's not the case. The Israeli House speaker, Mr. Ohana, he even said, I will take off my hostage pin because it's done.

And, like, how could you say that it's done? There are still 24 hostages, and my son is no less of a hostage than those that came out yesterday.