good morning. welcome to "cnn this morning." sunday, december 3rd. i'm victor blackwell. i'm isabel rosales in for amara walker. the israel defense sources say they struck multiple targets in gaza including tunnel shafts, command centers and weapons storage facilities. hamas also launched a barrage of rockets towards tel aviv. those rockets were intercepted by the iron dome. >> israel recalled its team of negotiators from qatar after negotiations broke down saturday. israel insists that the group of women and hostages that hamas refaces to release must be returned. hamas blames israel and the u.s. for the resumption of hostilities and said there will be no hostage negotiations with israel until there is ceasefire in gaza. ben wedeman is in jerusalem and camilla is in at the white house. ben, let's start with you. what's the latest on the fighting this morning? >> reporter: well, what we've seen is another series of strikes. northern gaza as well as s southern gaza. in the north they seem to be focused east of gaza city and jabalia refugee camp to the north where there was a very large strike there on a six story building, totally pancaking it. palestinian medical sources say that more than 100 people were in that building and they are reporting dozens dead in that strike as well as a similar strike in the other district. now, we heard from the government press office in gaza today that the death toll in the last 24 hours tops 700. we can't confirm that sort of number. i have seen other figures as low as 300, but that's still a fairly significant amount of people to be ki. from the video out of gaza from our cameramen there, it seems a lot of the dead are women and children. now, the israelis say that they did in one of those strikes kill one of the senior hamas commanders who was behind the attacks of october 7th. the israelis are also reporting that two of their soldiers in gaza have been killed. they also say that since their ground offensive began they have located 800 tunnels in gaza and destroyed 500 of them. now, as far as the humanitarian situation in gaza goes, the palestine red crescent society says get around 100 trucks entered gaza from egypt through the rafah crossing. they contained food, medical supplies, medicine, and also body bags. a spokesman for the u.n. agency that oversees the welfare of palestinian refugees in gaza said that what is coming in, in terms of aid to gaza, is a drop, in his words, in the ocean. he said that increasingly the health, sanitary situation in gaza, it particularly in the south, is getting worse. he said that the number of in -- in case of intestinal diseases has gone up by four times, skin diseases by three times, and in general the sanitary situation threatens to cause a situation where diseases could spread. >> yeah, and, ben, netanyahu has said that the ground operations will continue in the south as you have been talking about. what's the latest on any talks of a new truce? >> reporter: the talks at this point seem to be stalled. the israelis, as you mentioned before, pulled their team from mossad, the israeli intelligence agency, out of qatar where they were involved in indirect talks through the qataris with hamas. hamas is also hardening its position. it's saying that essentially they want to release in exchange for release of all of the hostages, they want israeli to release all palestinian prisoners and detainees. we are talking about perhaps 7,000 people. so it affairs that both sides have hardened their position and the likelihood of a truce in the near future seems to be dimming. isabel, victor. >> ben wedeman there in jerusalem. ben, thank you. let's go to camilla at the white house whchlt it comes to releasing more hostages, the coordinators for israel and for the united states, they have been meeting. what can you tell us about those meet snings. >> reporter: that's right. we are told that they met on saturday in an effort to just reestablish what they are trying to do, and release more hostages. we are told that the israeli official thanked the u.s. enjoy and just the u.s. in general for their on going support of israel since the conflict began on october 7th. now, this meeting is just another effort from the white house to try to resume the negotiation process to initiate another humanitarian pause because the reality of the situation is without a humanitarian pause in place, then that means virtually no humanitarian aid gets into the region of gaza for those in need and that also means the possibility of freeing more hostages is going to be virtually non-existent if a truce is not in place. the white house knows that's important in their efforts to be deeply engaged into these conversations to resume a humanitarian pause to really get that going, but as our colleague just mentioned that the possibility of a truce now being in place just because of the breakdown and the talks between israel and hamas just took place yesterday, then that means the chances could be very slim at this point in time, victor. >> all right. camilla, thank you. and ben, thank you as well. joining me now is unicef's spokesperson james elder. james, what is the status the aid that entered into gaza during the seven-day truce that, obviously, has now collapsed, and what happens next here? we heard ben wedeman, i don't know if you heard that, but he mentioned sick united states and diseases going up. you have been inside many hospitals. >> yeah, hi, isabel. there is no way that conditions currently allow for aid feet to these people. there are bombs going off and they have been going off every five minutes since this morning. it's absolute chaos out there. aid keeps coming in. we seek to distribute it, no doubt. because of the blockades and the restrictions for so long, because of the intensity of the attacks, there is no way people here are getting sufficient water, food, medicines, and then as you rightly say, they are forced to move from a to b without anything. they go to places where there is no water, theres no food. so as the doctor said to me, during a ceasefire when we prayed we wouldn't get the horror show from the sky again, he said we will start to see the same number of children being killed from bombardments as from disease. we now have war on two fronts for children. >> and speaking about that, you recorded a video and posted it on social media. it's gotten some traction describing what you're seeing in gaza and in particular with the children. let's watch that real quick. is. >> more children with the wounds of war. with the burns, with the shrapnel littering their body, with the broken bones. in action by those with influence is allowing the killing of children. this is a war on children. >> limited food, water, medicine. this is what you are describing. chaos. how do you live like that? what is the neighborhood from these people you are speaking with? >> utter panic. i have just within in a hospital with bombardments going on all around. as i was there, ten children came in with wounds, ten in a couple of hours with horrendous wounds, shrapnel to the brain, eye injuries, third-degree burns. it is a war zone, that hospital. panic among the people. it changes every hour here. people don't know where to go. they are in a trans almost. children in the hospital grabbing me. mothers are grabbing me saying take me somewhere safe. a little girl held me. i tried to take a moment always. she had two empty water bottles. she is in a hospital. please, can you put water in them? the water in the taps is salty, she can't drink it. utter panic. people are told to move from a to b. it's like a chess game except it ends in the death of children. it's not game for them -- the safe zones are so important. it's a false narrative and a dangerous narrative. people don't have the transport. they don't know where they are meant to go. there are places in the desert. they have no water. they have no food. they have no protection. when they get there, disease stalks. when they get to these places they are bombed. it's a dangerous narrative. they are not safe zones. they are zones of death. >> let me give more context on that. you are speaking about the flyers that the idf dropped with the numbered zones telling people to go to safe areas. sounds like there is no safe area for them to go. and also they were qr codes. in gaza where internet connection is spotty. even getting that map is questionable. >> spot on, isabel. there is no internet access. you might get wifi in a home. tlos no 4g, 3g, 5g. people get these things and five minutes later there is a bomb or on the way they are going and there is a bomb and remember these people already their homes bombed in the north and saw a family member, a mother, a sister die, and then they move to a shelter which probably got bombed. they have come down south. there is a panic among people here. they simply now do not know where they are meant to go to. >> yeah. and netanyahu has said that the war will continue until, quote, we achieve all of our goals. what do you make of that and what does that mean for palestinian civilians? >> devastation. the world has to now be aware of the scale of this. 6,000 children killed. more now. no doubt some of the children i saw this morning, the severity of their wounds, they will not make it through day. many, many children there. the idea that it continues. war on children. it continues as the world watches. we have to accept now in a civilized society those democracies that have a say here that silence is complicity and they need to look at the eyes of mothers who lost the ability to protect their children, young students and the brilliant, brilliant brains that i encounter all the time who are utterly fearful. they have to accept that they are allowing the death of these people. as you and i have spoken there has been two large bombardments, isabel. it's probably the most intense day we have seen, certainly the most intense day the south has seen, which is another narrative we have heard, we will not possibly, we are told, allow what happened in the south happen in the north. well, it's happening in the south. i bear witness to that. >> james elder, a crucial perspective on the ground. thank you. for more information on how you can help with humanitarian relief efforts for gaza and israel, please go to cnn.com/impact. an update now on one of the three palestinian students who was shot while taking a walk in vermont last weekend. the survivor's mother, elizabeth price, says her son, hisham awartani, is paralyzed from the chest down after a bullet became lodged in his spine. price says her son will meet the challenge the same determination with that determination she witnessed all week. he is expected to be released from the hospital next week. he and his friends were shot while visiting a relative over the thanksgiving holiday. the suspect, 40-year-old jason eaton, was arrested and has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted murder. next on "cnn this morning," the 2024 political race and how a defiant donald trump is trying to convince iowans they should fear a second biden term. >> vice president harris steps on to the world stage at the big climate conference cop28. the u.s. offering billions of dollars to help the world fight global warming. plus, you may be look took buy a new home. mortgage rates are slowly going down. the question is, though, is that enough to get you to buy? fo back on the campaign trail and he just offered his most forceful rebuttal yet to president biden's argument that a second trump term would be a threat to democracy. watch this. >> for joe biden is not the defender of american democracy. joe biden is the destroyer of american democracy. so if joe biden wants to make this race a question of which candidate will defend our democracy and protect our freedoms and i say to cooked joe and he is crook, the most corrupt president we have had, we will win that fight and we're gonna win it very big. very big. >> also the new house speaker mike johnson told fox news he thinks he's got the votes to open a biden impeachment inquiry. cnn's political analyst julian zelizer to break this down. good morning to you. first, what we are hearing from the former president. he has done this before. secretary clinton said he was a putin puppet. he said, no, you're the puppet. people called him a racist. he calls the black prosecutors in his cases racist. this now biden attacks democracy, he had signs, i think we can show, at this rally. does this work as really for the former president as these previo previous lines, this approach has in the past? >> it could. he is god at muddying the waters. whataboutism is what it is called. he is charged with something and he said other people do it as well. obviously, this is more dramatic. this the person who tried to overturn an election and talks very explicitly about using government as a weapon. but it is a tactic he has been effective at using. he can muddy the water like no one else i can see. >> let me stay with the primary race. governor ron desantis has now hit all 99 counties in iowa. but we have seen other candidates do this. we know that ted cruz did it in 2016 and santorum in 2012 and huckabee in '08. they won iowa. not one won the nomination. what is this worth known as the full grass for hitting all of them? >> it's the only tactic left. meaning if one candidate, the former president can saturate the media and get the kind of coverage, none of them can really receive, retail politics is still the best bet. i think desantis, haley, they are hoping for an iowa and new hampshire kind of double punch to try to gain momentum and show that they are viable. but i am not sure that he is going to gain much traction by going throughout the state. i think trump is overwhelming in terms of his notoriety and his presence. >> trying to get a strong second, suggesting there would be a win in iowa, viability. let's talk about this vote that could happen as soon as this week on opening a formal impeachment inquiry. here is speaker johnson on the chances that could happen. >> so a formal impeachment inquiry vote on the floor will allow us to take it to the next necessary step. i think it's something we have to do. >> i believe we will. i suspect no democrats will assist in this effort, but they should. the facts are so clear for everyone to see. just the constitution requires the house to follow the truth where it leads. we have a duty to do this. we can't stop the process. >> he says he thinks they have the votes for this. just a couple of days ago he was against the expulsion of george santos and 105 members of his conference voted for it. before we get to the actual content of the impeachment inquiry, what's on the line for him if they don't get to that point of opening it? >> well, i think many republicans want this to happen. it's connected to the first story that we discuss, meaning the former president depends on congressional republicans. he always has. and i think this impeachment inquiry is being demanded, being sought, in part to muddy the waters, to make the accusations through congress, through impeachment about president biden. and so i think there is a lot of pressure on speaker johnson. frankly, i think speaker johnson is happy to go along. he is part of the cohort that has been very eager to get this going. >> yeah, still not the evidence. there are plenty of questions that republicans have put forward, but no evidence. and really not even clarity on what the charge they would be focused on here. we have some experience recently, obviously, with three impeachment inquiries in the last 30 years or so. is there a neat, clean narrative of what this means for the party that pursues the impeachment in the subsequent election? >> there is not. but, look, this still is very much more like the 1990s, i think, than the last impeachment we went through. that was when republicans went to impeach a former president, clinton, in the monica lewinsky story. here, though, we don't even know what the accusations are. there is no evidence of anything at this point. and this is quite a contrast with speaker pelosi. in 2019, really didn't want to move forward with impeachment. here they are moving forward fast without anything there. so that tells you the politics of the impeachment is much more important now than the actual substance behind what they are pursuing. >> we will see if that vote happens this week. julian, thank you. next on "cnn this morning," we will go live to dubai where the u.s. pledged billions to help countries battle global warming. how will this money really be first time i connected with kim, she told me that her husband had passed. and that he took care of all of the internet connected devices in the home. i told her, “i'm here to take care of you.” connecting with kim... made me reconnect with my mom. it's very important to keep loved ones close. we know that creating memories with loved ones brings so much joy to your life. a family trip to the team usa training facility. i don't know how to thank you. i'm here to thank you. the u.s. says its pledging $3 billion to combat global climate change. vice president kamala harris made the announce the saturday at the cop28 summit. >> that money is earmarked for the green climate fund which helps developing nations adapt to the climate crisis and to cut fossil fuel pollution. david mckenzie is monitoring all of these developments at cop28. he joins us live from dubai. and david, vp hearris touted american leadership on the climate crisis. what is she saying? >> reporter: yes, the vice president did say that the u.s. is leading the charge in terms of financing poorer nations to try to transition away from fossil fuels. the u.s. also this weekend announcing deep cuts and regulations on the emitting of methane gas. that's very important by the white house and the environmental protection agencies. today is all about health and the health impact of the climate crisis. of course, more than 7 million people die a year because of air pollution. but there is also the direct impact of the warming planet. you think of those awful heatwaves we experienced earlier this summer in the northern hemisphere. scientists and doctors say that there needs to be a health focus on the climate crisis. john kerry, the special envoy of the u.s., expresses frustration, i think, about the lack of impetus to end the use of coal as a fossil fuel and its impact on health. >> i find myself getting more and more militant because i do not understand how adults in position of responsibility can be avoiding responsibility for taking away those things that are killing people on a daily basis. and the reality is that the climate crisis and the health crisis are one and the same. totally connected, totally converging at this moment in time. >> reporter: of course, the white house is pushing for an energy transition at the same time this year has been a record year in the u.s. for oil exploration and the production of billions of barrels of oil. isabel, victor. >> an important conversation. david mckenzie in dubai, thank you. allison now with what the climate change damage is doing to global sea levels. >> that's right. we take a look. this is behind me sydney, the iconic image of the opera house. this is present day. you can see the opera house as well as all of this space around. those are the walking areas that people use to get to it. if we increase the global temperatures by 3 degrees, this is what you're looking at the. the correlation with the sea level rise, most of that platform is now entirely underwater. now, one of the things to note we talk about that 3 degree rise. we have been averaging at least 1 degree for the last eight years. so we are already starting to see that increase from preindustrial levels in terms of temperatures. the other question is, okay, that's sydney. what about home in the united states? one of the concerns is all of these red areas you see here, these are the cities most at risk. these are heavily populated areas here along the water. basically, you are talking miami, new orleans, all the way up even including something like new york city. also an iconic image here, the statue of liberty present day compared to what that would look like if we see that similar rise of 3 degree temperatures compared to preindustrial levels. >> wow. impactful seeing the sydney opera house underwater, the statue of liberty. we can't get to that point. allison chinchar, thank you. the past year has posed challenges for aspiring homeowners. a combination of high interest rates and limited housing inventory making for a rather tough choice. >> but mortgage rates have continued to decrease for the fifth week in a row, potentially attracting buyers back to the market. rahel solomon has more. >> good morning. mortgage rates continue to fall. for now the fifth consecutive week. 30-year u.s. mortgage rates are coming in at 7.22%. that's according to data from freddie mac. it's a bit of relief. some slight relief for homebuyers. the federal reserve began the historic rate setting campaign more than two years ago remaining laser focused on cooling the red hot housing market. investors and analysts turn their tension to the upcoming fed meeting later this month and that decision, that meeting could shape future mortgage rate movements going forward. jerome powell saying it's still too early to tell whether it's time to slam the brakes and start talking about cutting rates. take a listen. >> and in many other countries around the world, high inflation imposes a significant hardship on all households and is especially painful for those least able to meet the higher costs of essentials like food, housing, and transportation. it would be premature to conclude with confidence that we have achieved a sufficiently restrictive stance or to speculate on when policy might ease. >> now, we have seen a slight increase in mortgage applications in recent months. despite this, pending home sales are at their lowest levels in two decades. and mortgage rates even with the slight declines remain stubborn your ly high. a 20% down payment on a $500,000 home would cost you more than $1,000 more per month today versus november 2020. and as homebuyers slowly come off the sidelines as mortgage rates come down, still too early to know what direction prices will go as we inch closer to the new year. victor, isabel. >> still to come, relief in southern california after a suspected serial killer is arrested. and as turns out, he was already in police custody for a different crime. earlier this year, the writers and actors of hollywood went on strike for months. that is in part over their fears of artificial intelligence and what that would mean for their industry. tonight on the whoel storiry on cnn, nick watt takes a deep dive into the fears and hopes that a.i. has triggered in so many of us. one of those he spoke to is a dutch gallery owner leading in, far in, to this new world-changing technology. watch. >> twe saw this -- >> who doesn't lead to this? >> no. maximilian, okay. he is if from the netherlands. and his mother is from the u.s. >> we have created 11 artists and we create those as follows. to a large language model we ask please come up with the name of an artist and then there comes a name of an artist. >> hi, i'm irisa nova. >> how old are you? >> 29 years old. can you tell me about your family, your love life? this whole character comes alive. >> he has worked for thousands of euros. nova is popular and agreed that the gallery can keep all the cash. >> you talk about her as if she is kind of real. >> yes. >> does she seem real to you? >> yes, absolutely. >> do you ever wonder that you're in danger of sort of losing touch with what's real and what's not? >> i did that a couple of months ago. >> well, an all-new episode of "the whole story with anderson cooper" airs tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern and pacific right here only on cnn. we a killing spree and a suspected serial killer arrested in the fatal shootings of three homeless men in los angeles. the police chief says the suspect was already in custody for another crime. >> and that crime, a fourth fatal shooting that took place during a robbery in san dimas. that is just east of l.a. cnn's camilla bernal takes a closer look at this developing case. >> reporter: authorities here in los angeles say they have identified and arrested a 33-year-old los angeles man that they believe is responsible for four different killings in four days. three of them being unhoused individuals. according to authorities, this started last sunday and they say he killed unhoused individuals both sunday and monday in the early morning hours. then on tuesday they say he is responsible for a follow home robbery. then killing a father of two young children. then on wednesday they say he killed another unhoused individual. but authorities were looking initially for the person responsible of the follow-home robbery and killing, and they were able to stop this individual thanks to a traffic stop and they say they were able to arrest him there, but it was days later that they connected the dots and also believe that he was also responsible for the killing of the unhoused individuals. here is what the l.a. chief of police had to say. >> our investigation has documented mr. powell's vehicle as being at the murder scene of all three homicides. and mr. powell's physical appearance is consistent with the imagery recovered to this point. >> reporter: after he was pulled over, authorities were able to recover the murder weapon and they say they are still trying to gather evidence that will help in an eventual prosecution. they say that this now the focus. as of now, they also say they do not have motive but they will continue to work on this case for that eventual prosecution. camilla bernal, cnn, los angeles. all right. time to talk more about the 2023 top ten cnn heroes. we are just about a week away from announcing the hero of the year. lots of native americans face significant health care challenges and they have the lowest life expectancy and highest preventible illness death rates in the u.s. so inspired by her own battle with breast cancer and access in crucial treatment, teixeira schahallie supports fellow cancer patients and families on her reservation. >> our reservation was 130 miles from the canadian border in north central montana. probably a good three hours to major hospitals. >> okay. we're on our way. >> we know the need is huge for transportation. the majority of our people are living in poverty. if i didn't physically transport them and would help with food, hotel or gas. if we can eat healthy, it will reduce our risk of cancer. we have done distributions of fresh fruits and vegetables. fresh eggs. and we join in collaboration with our tribe to help harvest our buffalo. prior to my diagnosis of cancer, i thought my life was based on my professional career, and my education. but now i know that this is my calling. >> tescha and her non-profit provided critical assistance to houses of people. go to cnnheroes.com for her to be cnn hero of the year or any of your favorite top ten heroes. . this morning another coast guard cover-up. cnn exclusive reporting found that top ranking military leaders concealed a damning report nearly a decade that exposed racism, hazing, discrimination and sexual assault. >> cnn's chief investigative correspondent pamela brown got a copy of this report. >> reporter: this culture of respect report obtained by cnn was based on interviews with hundreds of coast guard employees in 2015. among the alarming conclusions, coast guard personnel accept poor behavior as status quo. the coast guard does not provide sufficient measures to prevent sexual assault and coast guard personnel have been discriminated against and sexually harassed. it's been kept from the public. dubbed for official use only. the front page saying it should be disseminated on a need to know basis and kept in a locked container. the report describes the failures of coast guard leadership, claiming leaders are not fully aware of perpetrator predator characteristics and have allowed coast guard members to escape accountability. in one example cited, a military member was reduced this in rank and asked to leave the service after being involved in a sexual harassment complaint only to be hired later by the coast guard as a supervisor. and was even accepted as a victim advocate into the coast guard's program for sexual assault victims. >> i have experienced racism and as a black queer woman i have experienced harassment. >> reporter: retired coast guard commander and whistleblower kimberly mcclaire is one of the people who knew the report existed and pushed for the release for years. >> i and many of us were very angry and upset that this was a document that spelled out exactly what the culture was, provided a roadmap of how we can improve the culture and the coast guard sat on it and then buried it. >> reporter: in 2019, young mcclaire even testified in front of congress about the toxic culture in the coast guard. >> if they had implemented the vast majority of the recommendations that it absolutely could have prevented what happened to me and not just me. what continues to happen across the entire u.s. sowcoast guard. >> reporter: yet the coast guard and the department of homeland security have for years refused to release the report publicly. and keep in mind this newly uncovered report was written four years before another internal coast guard report that was kept secret until a cnn investigation last summer dubbed operation fouled anchor, it substantiated dozens of rapes at the coast guard academy. >> i apologize to each victim, survivor, their loved ones. we failed to provide the safe environment that everybody member of the coast guard deserves. >> reporter: the problems outlined in both reports still persist according to dozens of recent and current coast guard employees who have spoken with cnn. they worry that change will not happen in the future until the koig confronts its past. >> in order to improve the culture, they have to acknowledge what the culture actually is. >> reporter: and that was cnn's chief investigative correspondent pam brown reporting. we will have much more on "cnn this morning" after a quick break. 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[ cheers ] yeah! woho! running up and down that field looks tough. it's a pitch. get way more into what you're into when you stream on the xfinity 10g network. . welcome back. it took to the last day of the college football season but all of a sudden the playoff picture just got a whole lot more complicated. >> fans have alabama to thank for that. let's bring in carolyn manno from new york now. okay, so we are in georgia. just, you know, set that as a foundation of what we're talking about. two-time defending national champs lost yesterday for the first time in two years. the neighborhood around the state is a little sullen. >> yeah, i know. i could imagine. i watched it on the couch last night thinking everybody that chose chaos, this is it. when the playoff field expands to 12 teams next year, we won't be having this debate. right now, four teams can legitimately argue they should be in the playoff. georgia entering yesterday's s.e.c. conservatorship against alabama riding a 29-game win streak. the bulldogs last loss the 2021 s.e.c. title game against the crimson tide. the quarterback was magnificent, two touchdown passes in the first half. they took a ten point lead in the fourth quarter when georgia clawed back. milton scoring to cut it to three. they would never get the ball back and diving for the first down. the 27-24 win. he was benched earlier in the season. he was in tears after the game. alabama lays claim to the best win of any team in the country this year. in the nba, the mavericks set an nba record on saturday scoring 30 straight points against the thunder and they still somehow ended up losing this game. dallas getting blown out early in the fourth quarter when a.j. lawson hits a three. then steph curry. luka doncic. you get the picture. luka doncic gives dallas the lead. in six minutes, the mavs go from down 24 up to up by six. but after all of that effort, they ran out of also. the thunder storming back, outscoring dallas by 15 the rest of the way for the win. mls playoffs. cincinnati and columbus. a final on the line. 86th minute crew down. the season nearly sunk. rossi finding a life raft. tying the game at two. columbus not just surviving. they are absolutely thriving. 115th minute. hernandez finds ramirez. burying the winner there. dlum bus heading to the cup final hosting the defending champs lafc next saturday. and a wild finish in college hoops between vermont and yale. vermont down five, less than four seconds to go, hitting an uncontested layup with 0.6 second left. on the inbound play, look at this, yale an offensive foul. vermont gets the ball back. t.j. long absolutely making it, draining the three-pointer to tie it and gets the foul and he makes the free throw and somehow vermont pulls off this insan