hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the united states, around the world i'm rosemary church. into gaza, where many palestinians are taking shelter. scientists sound the alarm at cop28 after the president of the summit made controversial comments about fossil fuels. counting down to the iowa caucuses. the important first in the nation u.s. presidential contest. we'll see the latest push by donald trump and ron desantis. thanks for joining us. israel's war in gaza is expanding and leaving devastation in the enclave, as israeli forces pursue those who carried out attacks on october 7th. >> translator: the idf continues to extend its ground operations against hamas centers in all of the gaza strip. all of the gaza strip, where there's hamas center. the forces are fighting face-to-face with terrorists and killing them. >> israel defense forces say the ground operations are expanding to include all of gaza, including southern areas, where many have taken shelter. the idf says it's hit 200 targets inside gaza today. it's warning civilians to evacuate large areas within the enclave. it's unclear how many are receiving those warning, given there is limited electricity and internet services. the idf says it has destroyed 500 tunnel shafts inside gaza since october 7th. out of 800 shafts it has located in the enclave. the head of the israel security agency, vowed sunday to eliminate hamas all around the world, even if it takes years. elliott joins us live from london. what are you learning about israel's expanded or expanding ground operation across all of gaza? >> reporter: rosemary, israel has yet to finish the job of the gaza strip. it's expanding its operations to the southern part of the strip. and all of the gaza strip. according to a spokesman for the idf, the fighting won't be over anytime soon. >> until we get all of the hamas battalion strongholds and until we work on them and take them off the battlefield, there will be active fighting. we said to israeli civilians and anyone listening in the world, this will take time. it won't be a quick and easy operation. it's a difficult operation in difficult combat terrain, where we are fighting a very committed enemy that has no issue with sacrificing civilians for the military cause. we are trying to limit our forces without exposing the civilians to that danger. >> reporter: to that end, israel says it's giving out warnings to palestinians in the southern part of the gaza strip, asking them to evacuate areas that have marked out to be targeted. either the message isn't always getting through or isn't being fully understood. we're seeing rising civilian casualties there. the idf said it struck some 200 targets in the gaza strip, including a school from the roof of which it was it came under attack. that's one of the strikes that israel says it carried out. targeting infrastructure and weapon storage facilities. before israel expanded its operations, we heard from antony blinken, warning israel against large-scale civilian casualties. saying the massive loss of civilian life and displacement of the scale we saw in northern gaza, cannot be repeated in the south. at the same time, we heard the chief of the general staff of the idf saying that operations in the southern part of gaza will be, in his words, no less powerful than the operation in the north. the same time as the fighting is ratcheting up, so is the diplomatic effort to get a resumption of the truce that lasted a week and that saw hamas releasing some of the hostages it abducted on october 7th, during its rampage in israel and the release of palestinians being held in israeli prisons. u.s. is putting pressure on. and the french president heading to qatar to make the parties back on track, to resume the release of the hostages. 136 held by hamas, in exchange for those held in israeli prisons. it's hard to see that truce coming back into effect anytime soon, rosemary. >> all right. elliott, with that live report from london. many thanks. more than 15,000 palestinians have been killed since october 7th. that's according to the hamas controlled ministry of health in gaza. that death toll is expected to rise in the coming days, especially with renewed air strikes by israel. the idf is continuing to target hamas. ben wedeman has more on how the hospitals are struggling to help those in need and how residents are responding to the attacks. a warning, his report contains disturbing images. >> reporter: look around. this is gaza city's hospital. where the wounded are treated in the open on wooden pallets. the emergency ward is already jammed. the courtyard is full of body bags. dozens were killed in a series of israeli strikes saturday. many more still under the rubble. israel claims one of the strikes killed a senior hamas commander who helped plan the october 7th attacks. he was, perhaps, one dead, manage many, many others. this woman lost her daughter and grandchildren and names them all. may god judge those watching us die, she cries. it's a similar scene in central gaza. more wounded. many of them children. more dead. many of them children. they bombed an entire street, says sad. they pulled him from the rubble. his brother was dead. he said, let me say good-bye to him. my father has been killed, cries this boy after the strike on the refugee camp sunday. the seven-day truce seems like the distant past. ben wedeman, cnn, jerusalem. meantime, u.s. officials say they are still working to get truce negotiations between israel and hamas back on track, after talks broke down over the weekend. the u.s. national security council's john kirby told nbc that hamas was unwilling to provide the names of additional women and children to release. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said hamas did not hold up its part of the agreement, which was to return all women and children hostages. earlier, i spoke with yarden gonen. she is the sister of romi gonen, one of multiple women being held hostage by hamas. and i asked her to describe her sister and what happened to her. she came back from a trip of an eight-month in south america. she planned to be a flight attendant on the ground in thailand. she's working as a waitress for the past year and a half. and she she was planning to come back after and start studying. she wanted to study education. i have no idea where they are claiming that. it's absolutely not true. she or another women still with her held as hostage, at hamas hands. we saw them lying about so many things. they told us that she's dead. and then, she was released at the first time. i think it's big manipulation. >> it's so difficult. how much do you know about what happened to romi on october 7th, and injuries that you are told they are getting worse. she got shot, didn't she? >> yeah. on october 7th, we knew everything that is going on with romi because she was at the festival with her best friend. she immediately called my mother and afterwards me. and for 4 1/2 hours, we were on and off with her on the phone. we knew everything that is going on over there. the terrorists after them, on our head said they were rescued inside the car. during that rescue, they attacked them on the road. and she was shot on her hand. and she told us that her hand is not functioning well. she didn't know what to do. fortunately, he wasn't murdered on the first second of the terror attack on their car. and she tried to bandage him with, we assume her functioning hand. and she told us she is bleeding and wounded badly. on friday, unfortunately, after a funeral, we got a phone call from one of the families that told us that the families of the return hostages. they saw romi this week. she's alive. and we didn't know anything about her since october 7th. they told her injury is very neglected and infected. and she needs proper care in a hospital. a proper hospital, as soon as possible. >> absolutely. she does. i mean, clearly, this is so distressing and unbearable. how is your family coping with this challenging time? wondering when romi may be released? >> i can't tell you how it feels like to wake up every morning at the week of the cease-fire and the releases and hope i'll get the phone call saying romi is the next on the list. we waited and waited for a week. we know we have remained 10 or 11 women that are fit through the first deal that we had about women and children. it was the worst morning, friday morning, was the worst morning i had. in the past 60 days. not only i woke up to not getting a list. i woke up to resume of the war because hamas broke the cease-fire. i feel like we got back to week number two. that's frightened us so much. we have to do anything in our power to stop what's going on to get another negotiation to get our people back. we know that also the men are wounded. we know that hamas is hitting them with the cables. from testimonies that came back about another women that were injured from the beginning. and are not treated properly. no one should live like that. no one. we must stop it. >> a nightmare for that family and so many others. the suspect of the paris attack swore allege jens to the state. police arrested the 26-year-old after one person was killed and two others injured, in the attack. officials say the two people injured have left hospital following treatment. a french anti-terrorism prosecutor says an investigation is under way for murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist organization. still to dcome, the presidet of the cop28 climate summit claims there's no science behind phasing out fossil fuels. and climate advocates are not happy. climate scientists and advocates are alarmed after the president of the cop28 climate summit says there's no science to phasing out fossil fuels to limit global warming. he's the uae's climate envoy and heads the abu dhabi national oil company. he made the comments november 21st at a climate panel event. he said phasing out fossil fuels was inevitable but the worlds needs to be pragmatic about it, suggesting the shift could negatively impact global economies. some countries at cop 28 are calling for a fossil fuel phaseout. others want a phase down. the head of one group says the statements raise concerns over his ability to lead the u.n. climate talks. david mckenzie joins me from dubai. is there a trust deficit going on at cop28 right now? >> reporter: certainly, on some level. people will see it saying the quiet but out loud, the comments from the cop president prior to the start of the meetings. there's been questions of trust from many nations who feel it's problematic to have a leader of a petrol state and the leading oil country, running a conference committed to try to solve the climate crisis, that's caused in large part over the years by the extraction of fossil fuels. for their part, they say they are qualified to lead the conversation. this it's important for all parties to be at the table to negotiate solutions. today, much of the focus is on financing the climate transition. we found in reporting, south africa, doesn't take money to make a difference. this man and his cart are on the move. his job goes by many names. reclaimer, hustler. even urban surfer. dangerous work in a dangerous city. there's thousands like him, fanning out well before dawn. after an hour on the road, he's in a neighborhood south of the city. >> i'm looking for the plastics. >> reporter: i'm looking for plastics, cardboard boxes, metals and cans. >> reporter: it's a dirty job. do you mind? >> i don't mind. >> reporter: what they discard, he recycles. earning about $150 a month. it's steadier than his old construction job. and he likes being his own boss. there aren't jobs here. we made our own work. making their own work with the scale and impact that's hard to overstate. look at the sorting zone near joburg where thousands live. everything is carefully separated. everything has value. towards the top of the pecking record are cans. a bag of these will get reclaimers almost $40 u.s. as they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure. i'm surprised how rich people throw away so much rubbish. but i'm happy they do. this collection took them weeks. i don't know much about climate change. i am glad we can help. but what matters is to survive. today is payday. every bag is carefully weighed. there's trust amongst us, says the middleman. he seems a little skeptical. i have to check they didn't put water in the bottles to make them heavier. must be the plastic bottles. what reclaimers don't find, end up in nearby landfill. even here, the desperate salvage what they can. back in the neighborhoods, he is in a race against the dump trucks. you're done just in time. today, they arrived a bit late. >> i have more stuff. >> reporter: more stuff? >> more stuff than other days. he is proud of his work. proud of his effort. >> i feel so happy. >> reporter: i feel so happy, i feel so happy, he says, because i'm going to put bread on the table. as you can see, we barely kept up during his daily work. he is there every day or several days a week, trying to make ends meet, as he put it. it shows you it doesn't take sophisticated solutions. frick south africa is the top recycling countries in the world. here at cop, they try to find solutions right in front of us. and try to avoid the excesses of the modern world. there's a sense there's now intense negotiations going on to try to have concrete decisions by the end of this cop. i spoke to one of the delegates here. it's like this. going up and down and don't know where it will end. they hope the pressure will mount to create concrete action. >> david mckenzie in dubai. while leaders debate how best to tackle climate change at cop28, we have more on how rising sea levels could impact cities like dubai over the next 30 years. >> reporter: cop continues this week in dubai, as global leaders try to put climate goals into climate action. this is a climate central stimulation at what a three degrees of city. that host city dubai gets inundated. the sea levels have risen three centimeters per decade. going forward, we could add that same 30 centimeters in the next three decades. rising as much in 30 years as we did in the previous 100. that rise can amount to a foot or the 30 centimeter mark. more issues from storm surge could be an issue. moderate flooding could occur twice as often. many cities are vulnerable to sea level rise, like boston, new york, new orleans. it doesn't even take the storm to get the water to go inland. just a regular high tide that's higher now than it was before. here's a look at another simulation. three degrees of sea. water coming into the national mall at d.c. lady liberty, standing around more water if the warming continues to rise. cap is about action, right? we look at a place like new york city. if the carbon pollution continues, future generations could see six to seven degrees of warming, as we keep the business as usual. look how significantly the warming could be cut, too. that's closer to the paris agreement goal. coming up, palestinians in gaza fled south to avoid israeli air strikes. now, the south is a target, too. the latest on the israel/hamas conflict, next. ukraine has launched an investigation after the wife of a top military official apparently is poisoned. why russian agents are suspecteted. that's's next on c cnn. 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. israel defense forces are carrying out military operations throughout gaza right now. on monday, israeli air strikes hit some 200 targets inside the enclave, including what they say was terror infrastructure located inside a school. the idf is urging palestinian civilians to evacuate more areas in southern gaza. it's unclear where they would go. the united nations estimates that 1.8 million residents of gaza, that's nearly 80% of its population, are now internally displaced by the war. the palestinian military of health in ramallah, using data from the ministry of health in gaza, says 316 people have been killed in the last day of the war alope. israel defense forces say three toll jers were slightly injured by mortar fire across the border from lebanon monday night. it follows an incident on sunday, where several soldiers were attacked near the border. ivan watson has details. >> reporter: the hills in this border region of lebanon were echoing with the thud of artillery from israel this afternoon. this is a continuation of more on a month of fighting. a cross-border artillery duel, if you will, between the israeli military in northern israel and hezbollah militant on n the south of lebanon. israeli military say they used warplanes on sunday to strike suspended tar gets. an anti-tank missile hit on sunday, likely wounding some of the soldiers and damaging that vehicle. this conflict is not as intense as the fighting as the extreme civilian death toll in that palestinian enclave of gaza. it has been deadly here. more than 100 people killed thus far. most of them hezbollah fighters. and a dozen civilians as journalists. when hezbollah targets it's in the support of the valiant and ron rabble resistance. neither the israeli military or hezbollah are using the most powerful weapons yet. the fear is this could escalate and become a much more dangerous conflict. ivan watson, cnn, on the southern lebanese border with israel. turning to the war in ukraine. russia's continuous bombardment of the kherson region in southern ukraine, killed another three people on sunday. authorities say a 78-year-old man lost his life when a village was attacked by russian forces occupying the opposite bank of the river. military officials say kherson city was under fire when a multistory building was hit. two people died there. seven others were injured. >> translator: the daughter was standing here. such a terrible expression. she started streaming. i never heard anything like that. i didn't understand what was happening. i came here and i understood. meanwhile, ukrainian authorities have banned large events and gatherings in the capital on christmas and new year's eve. any private party should be in a closed location and follow all safety precautions. military officials warn people to pay attention the air raid alerts during holidays. as the fighting continues, ukraine says the wife of a top military intelligence official has been poisoned. the ukrainian foreign minister told cnn it's high ly likely tht russia is behind it. >> reporter: ukraine's military intelligence wages war in the shadows. but it is hitting the russians hard. orchestrating cruise missile attacks on vladimir putin's black sesea pleat. ousting the forces from oil and gas drilling platforms off of crimea in an amphibious assault. and attacking the russian capital with long-distance combat drones. while maintaining deniability. the men leading the intelligence service gur, is one of russia's most feared enemies. i appeal to russian soldiers. those that got lucky enough and destroyed trenches. he said, you have a choice, die or save your life. now, ukraine believes the russians may have struck back. kyiv saying, his wife was poisoned by a heavy metal. a ukrainian source telling cnn she tested positive for arsenic and other poisoning. officials believe the kremlin can be behind it. >> our intelligence chief is the enemy of russia. all of us are. all those of us that are fighting against russia. it's highly likely that russia is behind it. >> reporter: kremlin-controlled media in a feeding frenzy, rejoicing in the news. seemingly brushing off the allegation. >> translator: maybe she broke a thermometer during one of the parties with her husband's colleagues. not sensational. but ukrainians and the western owners scream from such news and began to blame putin. >> reporter: in a different episode, they brought in a russian parliamentarian accused of poisoning and killing a russian agent in 2006, to explain how it would be done. >> translator: something slipped in her tea and she drank it. >> translator: there's no other way to poison food and drink than to pour it in and slip it in somehow. >> reporter: in the past, the u.s. and others have accused putin of ordering attacks on opponents. and few groups have been the former head of ukraine's foreign intelligence says. >> i believe this was a personal revenge from putin. personal shame from the intelligence that inflicted on him. shame that supersedes what per goshen has done to him. >> reporter: the kremlin has not issued a denial of the allegations. they seem to be trying to brush them off. the russian spokesman says ukraine blames russia for everything. all this as his wife battles the effects of the poisoning. donald trump facing criminal charges, and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, insists president biden is the real threat to democracy. toxic talk on the campaign trail just ahead on cnn. weeks ahead of the all-important iowa caucuses, donald trump was back in the state over the weekend. he spent much of his time there trying to turn the tables on opponents, who say his re-election would threaten democracy. at one event, trump said his campaign is, quote, a righteous crusade to liberate our republic from biden and the criminals. the former president who is facing criminal charges for attempting to overturn the 2020 election, accused president joe biden of being the biggest threat to u.s. democracy. >> we've been waging war on democracy. they are becoming more extreme and repressive. they have waged all-out war. you should go into detroit and philadelphia and some of these pla places. you should go to some of these places and we have to watch the votes when they come in. joe biden is not the defender of american democracy. joe bide season the destroyer of american democracy. republican presidential candidate ron desantis is accusing trump of not acting decisively enough, saying he failed to keep campaign promises, including the 2016 promise to repeal the affordable care act. desantis is trying to shore up support in iowa ahead of next month's caucuses. the florida graffer says if he is elected president he will replace the affordable care act with a better plan. he has no specifics. saying his campaign will roll out a proposal in the spring. in an interview with nbc's "meet the press" desantis said he would keep his promises. >> i think it's important to point out he is running on a lot of things he campaigned on in 2016 and didn't deliver on. whether it's repeal and replace obamacare, building the border wall, draining the swamp. he said he would do a special counsel against hillary clinton. then, two weeks after the election, said no. then, he said he's going to do one against biden. eriaaron murphy is the bure chief. thanks for being with us. >> glad to be with us. >> we're seeing an accelerated campaign ahead of the saw caucu. the two top polling gop candidates attacking one another. both longing for last-minute support in iowa before this critical caucus. donald trump is way out in front of governor ron desantis and nickki haley and all the other candidates. why is trump rallying his supporters? what is going on? and what do the numbers look like right now? >> there's two main reasons for that. one is that polls are great. support at crowds and rallies is great. ultimately, those people have to show up on january 15th, at a specific time. a caucus is not like a primary. you can't just vote anytime that day or early if you want to. it's a different beast. nothing is locked in until january 15th. that's why the former president has to keep coming back here. his campaign has to work at the rallies. make contact and make sure they are coming out and caucusing for him on january 15th. and it's also important because for governor desantis and ambassador haley, they have ground to make up. if they come out of iowa and make this a competitive race moving forward, in new hampshire and south carolina, et cetera, et cetera, they have to make, you know, a little bit of a climb here. that can be done. iowans are notoriously late deciders in these things. there is time still for one of the candidates to make a move. they have to do the work now and make the connections and hopefully coalesce some support. so they can mount a challenge to the former president. >> how is it possible that his support increases as the legal problems get worse. does that guarantee he will be the gop nominee for president? >> i don't know if it guarantees. it certainly doesn't hurt. w when you go to his events and hear the supporters, they say those things don't bother him because they don't believe there's validity to them. the former president claims it's a witch hunt and politically motivated, his supporters believe that. there's a lot of evidence that proves there's more than these things. >> what might the big shift of donor money to nikki haley signal? and could it impact desantis' future? after he tore around the state to visit all 99 counties to rally support. did that help him at all? >> that's the key question. we won't have the answer to yet. iowans value that. they like seeing candidates face-to-face. they like to look them in the eye. they're used to that. they expect that now. historically that has worked. the resources, the financial backing, that helps candidates run that kind of campaign. they can book the state. they can build up the campaign staff and make sure those people come out on caucus day. but the candidates has to have a message that resonates with the people. right now, governor desantis and heard haley had little moments in polling. but stuck a good 20 points behind the former president. >> and iowa's governor kim reynolds endorsed desantis and not trump, prompting a feud with the state's governor. what outcome does that have? >> that could help governor desantis. and not necessarily the endorsement itself. it's that governor remds is now going out and actively campaigning with governor desantis. she has been on the campaign trail with him consistently. i expect that to continue. that could help it. not necessarily the endorsement itself. the governor going to all of the communities. i see that helping desantis a little bit. >> >> erin murphy, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. as the republican-led house of representatives returns to work, they will do so with a three-vote margin, after new york congressman, george santos, was expelled from the house on friday. still, speaker mike johnson says he believes the party has the votes it needs to launch an impeachment inquiry against joe biden. and johnson said unlike the two impeachments of donald trump, the inquiry against joe biden will not be used as a partrtisa polilitical toolol. wewe'll be rigight back. pope francis says he is getting better but was unable to read his sunday reflection this weekend. the pontiff that turns 87 this month has been suffering from what he describes as severe bronchitis and is avoiding being exposed to the cold weather. christopher lam has more now from rome. >> reporter: pope francis said he was feeling better but unable to give his traditional sunday reflection and prayer, which he does every sunday from the vatican at noon. the reflection was read by an aide and took place in the pope's home rather than from the window of the palace, which the pope normally gives the reflection from. f francis has been suffering from bronchitis something he was hospitalized with earlier in the year. we notice that the pope is gradually improving. the item that was administering the antibiotics has been taken out. francis did not travel to cop28 summit that he wanted to do on doctors address. he did give a message to the cop, who emphasized the pope's call to end fossil fuels and get agreements from countries to tackle climate change. francis will be 87 later this month. he keeps a punishing schedule. he is continuing to implement reforms in the church and diplomatic efforts in bringing peace to the israel/hamas war. at least 11 climbers have died in indonesia after the eruption of the volcano on sunday. 12 are missing and dozens more were evacuated. the eruptions sent ash as high as three kilometers into the air, covering nearby towns. experts say the eruption is ongoing and they are warning people to avoid the area. >> translator: the wind is blowing to the north. and the safe radius is three kilometers. we hope people can stay outside of the radius. if you have to do activities around the volcano, you're advised to wear a hat, protective mask and eyeglasses. >> it is the most active volcano on sumatra, living up to its name, meaning mountain of fire. on a much lighter note, santa claus has come to town in liverpool, england.jolly fellow know. thousands of look alikes. the participants jagged for five kilometers dressed in red and blue outfits to raise funds for a children's hospital. in 2005, the run earned the guinness world record for the largest santa gathering. runners say it's a lot of fun and a healthier way to get around town rather than riding in a slaeigh. have yourself a wonderful day. cnn newsroom continues next. ♪ hello and a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the united states and all around