>> there was a lot of talk after this crash and the missing plane flight 370 whether or not malaysia airlines was going to rebrand. we have learned from the telegraph, a british newspaper that they are talking about rebranding and even changing the name of the airline. >> that's it for the lead". i'm jake tapper. wolf blitzer is live from jerusalem in the situation room. wolf? >> happening now, a situation room special report, breaking news. escalating war, fighting between israel and hamas intensifies bringing new blood shed to both sides, including at least eight children killed in gaza. ha of hamas tunnels revealed. an exclusive look inside one of the tunnels israel has vowed to destroy used by militants to try to infiltrate israeli territory. crash site block. heavy fighting in ukraine keeps investigators from reaching the debris field as government forces and rebels battle for control. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around

the world. i'm wolf blitzer in jerusalem. you're in "the situation room." >> and we're following the breaking news. intense fighting going on between israel and hamas on this day, reaching deadly new levels. ten people including eight children were killed in a strike in gaza for which israel and hamas trade blame. . and a deadly day for israeli, as well reporting four more israeli soldiers killed near the gaza border and another israeli soldier killed inside gaza. we'll get more from our reportersen ots ground in southern israel as well as in gaza in just a moment. but first, earlier today, cnn was the only u.s. television network to get a look inside one of the tunnels used by hamas to infiltrate israel. this is an exclusive report. no other american television network can bring it to you. this is priority number one for the israeli defense forces.

finding and destroying dozens of hamas tunnels. underground escape hatchs from gaza used to infiltrate israel and launch attacks. i went to the frontline to see one of those tunnels with lieutenant colonel. israeli force have uncovered more than 30 tunnels in this area. let's go in. >> this tunnel is just under two miles long and about 45 feet below ground. it begins in the southern gazan city and ends here near an israel kibbutz along the boarder with gaza. >> let's go further in. in this tunnel, i guess the tunnel was built for relatively short people because if you stand up, you're going to hit your hard. i'm not that tall. but you see, it's pretty secure this concrete. they spent a lot of effort building this tunnel. >> hamas boasts about its network of tunnels posting this video allegedly showing mass

militants entering israel. before being targeted by an israeli air strike, this video was released by the idf. hamas never got to use the tunnel i visited. >> the israelis found it. they destroyed a big chunk of it back there. they've kept this part. >> the lieutenant colonel believes it took hamas about two years to build this tunnel with concrete and other supplies he says came from israel. >> you say this concrete came from israel. how do you know it came from israel? >> we found the bags. >> so basically the concrete was the provided by israel to palestinians in gaza to build schools, hospitals, stores, apartments, but they used it would you say to build this tunnel? >> yes >> hamas has other tunnels that lead into egyptian territory used to smuggle weapons and supplies into gaza. but the idf says the underground passages into israel have only one purpose. >> from what you know, what was the purpose of this tunnel? >> i think soldiers.

they won't attack regular people, children, women, men. >> they wanted to go and attack, kill israelis but also kidnap israelis. >> yes. >> that was one of the rationales that israelis have suggested was one of the purposes of these tunnels? >> yes. >> so the tunnels are still there. the israelis say that's priority number one doing away with these tunnels. let's get more. mark regev is the spokesman for benjamin netanyahu. thanks for joining us. an immediate cease fire for humanitarian purposes, where does that stand right now? >> we've accepted humanitarian keys cease-fire. all in all, we've accepted three or four. and every time hamas either rejects it or violates the terms. even today, we started the day giving the idf orders to act against those tunnels for obvious reasons. and to be only defend themselves. we thought this would maybe

contribute to a deesca calculation. what happened in the end? we had one of our most difficult days. we had rockets overshooting tel aviv, hitting the haifa bait area in the northern part of our country. we had terrorists trying to kill people through the tunnels. we had mortar ar shells on our border killing israeli soldiers. >> are those hamas infiltrators who good in today, are they still at large? >> i understand they've all been rounded up or killed or gone back to the other side. you were there today, that just shows you the danger that those tunnels pose. it's fair to say, wolf, they are a strategic danger. the people in southern israel live in fear there's a knock at the door and who will be on the other side? a group you have terrorists with automatic weapons and explosives and grenades. the idea they just pop out of the ground on our side of the frontier no murder and kidnap, that's unacceptable. that's why we're working so hard

to destroy all these tunnels. >> there seems to be a real rift or strain between the obama administration, the president of the united states and the prime minister of israel right now over the terms for a cease-fire. you read the israeli media. the israeli press you see some of the stuff written about the secretary of state john kerry which is pretty awful right now. what's going on? >> unlike most of our neighbors, the degree government does not control our press. you have to ask journalists why they write there. >> they're getting this from israeli officials. >> they're not getting it from us. we and the united states have a common goal here. we want to come out of this in a way we don't have the to revisit the conflict in another six months. we want to come out of this with a sustained period of peace and quiet. to get that, we have to start dealing with an issue that hasn't been on the front burner and that's demiller rising. once this is over and most of hamas's rockets have been destroyed and the tunnels have been destroyed, how do we prevent hamas from building its

terrorist military machine? is that can only be done through international cooperation. we have to bring about a demilitarized gaza strip. >> how far apart is israel right now from the u.s., prime minister netanyahu and obama administration when it comes to the terms for a cease-fire? >> we heard both from president obama and today from secretary kerry. they support the principle of demilitarization. that's crucial. once again, we don't want to go through this sort of crisis all again six months from now. we have to make sure the iranians and qatarrys and the others don't send rockets to hamas. we have to make sure that money that is donated to support the people of gaza goes to the people of gaza and isn't siphoned off to support this hamas military machine. that's going to be difficult. it's not going to be easy. hamas is not going to voluntarily give up its terrorist military machine. we through concerted international action must make

it happen. >> it looks like the fighting at least for the time being is going on. >> we tried to de-escalate today. in the end it blew up in our face with hamas launching attack after attack. israel is ready to de-escalate. >> mark lerner marks regev, the spokesman for the prime minister of israel, thanks very much for joining us. peter lerner will join us in our next hour. thanks very much for joining us. i'll also speak up next with a member of the palestinian parliament, dr. mustafa barghouti. we'll get his take on what's going on. a very different i'm sure. this is the situation room special report. (vo) friday night has always been all fun and games, here at the harrison household. but one dark, stormy evening... she needed a good meal and a good family. so we gave her purina cat chow complete.

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live pictures coming fra gaza right now. we're following the fighting between israel and hamas. it's reaching deadly new levels today. ten people including eight children were killed in a strike in gaza for which israel and hamas are blaming each other. karl penhaul is on the scene for news gaza city. these live pictures we're seeing, what is going on? >> now, wolf, now, wolf, i want to show you this picture first and a pol skriz for not standing in front of the camera, but this picture right now is about the 500 yards from our vantage point in the bureau. this is the closest we have seen action going on for many days now. what you are seeing there are illumination flares going into part of the residential area around us.

this could mean several things. often, they'll use those illumination rounds in advance of troop movements and other occasions the israelis will drop these flares before they start to the target an objective here. my guess is that al area down there about 500 yards from the bureau has already been targeted in the past few days. and we may be seeing just preparations to try and target something down there now. i'll let you know if that happens. but to bring you up to date what has been going on in gaza during the course of the afternoon especially, another strike on a residential area in north central gaza. this time it was a street, a street packed with adults and with children. they were getting ready to celebrate the end of ramadan eid holiday, according to the palestinian health ministry, ten

people killed. two of them adults. eight of them children. and as we were standing there in that street, i was checking out the shrapnel field from the explosion. a car was pockmarked with shrapnel. i was able to put my fist right into the hole made by the shrapnel. just imagine the kind of effect that would have had on a human body, much less a child's body. and as we were waiting there, as well, one of the bodies of one of the children was brought home for the last time so that his mother could say her final farewell. and for the first time, i thought, you know, enough is enough. we've got to put a human face on this. so i turned to a little girl 12 years old she was, and said was he a friend? and sorry about that. there's sounds of explosions going on behind. i'll bring you the only thing morning that's going on there. i turned to this little girl and i said to her, was he your friend? he said yeah, his name was

muhammad. i said tell me the good things about muhammad. she says you know, he was top of his class at math. he said he loved soccer. and he was a fan, a huge fan of the barcelona soccer team. >> let me interrupt for a second, karl. we've got a delay between you and me via satellite because i'm hearing the sounds of -- it sounds like those shots in the background. i don't know if that's artillery or if that's gunfire. what's going on behind you? i want you to be careful if it's getting too close. >> yeah, let us step out of the way again. i'll get our shooter joe scheffer to focus on what is going on here. explaining a short while earlier. this is an area approximately 500 yards from our vantage point from the gaza office. wa we're seeing now coming down are illumination rounds once more. the israeli military used those for several things.

it could be to light the way for advanced troop movements. it could also mean that they're trying to illuminate a target and then artillery will be able to zoom in on this area. i believe that if we're going to see anything here, then it could be artillery strikes. we have heard the pounding of artillery strikes through much of the evening during the darkness hours. let me just keep quiet. i just want to show you this picture quite dramatic, wolf. i'm hoping you can hear some of that, wolf, because not only do we see these illumination flares drifting down, but we're hearing the sound of ar ril tillry.

i also believe in the mix there, we're also hearing the sound of gunfire. it is unclear to me where that gunfire i would say small arms fire, it's not artillery. it's some kind of machine gun, perhaps an assault rifle. we had no knowledge prior that either the israeli military would have boots on the ground in this area or that any of the militant factions would have boots on the ground. but certainly not toot far off, we're hearing the sound of gunfire. we're hearing the pound and echo of artillery there, as well and all the while, seeing these illumination flares come down. just a few moments ago, even some of the smoke from those illumination rounds was drifting into our bureau. that is how close these rounds are. it's unclear right now what is going on here in terms of what the target may be. in an area where some of those

rounds have dropped about 500 yards away is a building that was targeted in the early days of this confrontation between hamas and israel. we haven't seen it hit since then. nor have we seen any rocket fire going up from there. we don't believe that that area is a launching point. but again, something we've got to keep our eyes on off there in the distance, as well. more illumination rounds going down and all the while, hearing the sound of artillery and gunfire. let me just let you listen in. i'm going to keep quiet. >> karl, i want you to stand by over there. i want to keep that shot up for our viewers in the united states and around the world.

i want to bring in for some analysis dr. mustafa barghouti, a member of the palestinian parliament. he's joining us from ramallah. dr. barghouti, you can certainly hear the shots, these flares that are overgaza city right now. it just sort of underscores the need for a cease-fire, a realistic cease-fire. is that doable, do you believe, right now or is that out of the question? >> absolutely it is doable. but it all depends on mr. netanyahu, the prime minister of israel who announced today that he insists to proceed with his military operation. he's even expanding it. and he is dragging the whole area, the whole region into a disaster. he's dragging his soldiers to be killed. and he's drag the palestinians into a massacre. so far, 1,085 palestinians have

been killed, as you know 90% of them are civilians, children, women. today, eight children were playing on the beach thinking there is some kind of an cease fire. and then they were bombarded by israel and killed instantly. we're talking about 6,470 people injured. again, mostly they are civilians. more than 20,000 homes have been destroyed. and whole neighborhoods are now threatened to be completely eliminated. i mean imagine a situation where the people of manhattan would be told you have to evacuate your houses within an hour. if they don't, they will be killed. if they do, all their houses will be instantly destroyed by the israeli artillery. this is unacceptable. what's happening is way beyond a massacre. it's almost like an act of genocide. this has to stop. >> let me just interrupt for a moment, dr. barghouti because

you know the israelis did accept some cease fires. hamas rejected the cease-fires. kept launching hundreds and now a couple thousand rockets and miffs into israel. the israelis and most of the rest of the world, a lot of the world say the israelis have the right to protect themselves from the launching of these rockets and missiles. do you believe the israelis have a point when they say no country would allow rockets and miffs to be fired in without responding? >> well, there are two problems with this narrative. first problem is that everybody talking about israel's right to defend itself. but nobody speaks about the palestinian right to defend themselves although most of the victims are falling on the palestinian side and although israel is up anning us and oppressing us since decades. that's one point. the second point this claim that israel accepted a cease-fire is

not true. israel preenvenned passing a resolution by the united nations through the united states that would have imposed a cease-fire by the security council. and then they claimed they accepted an egyptian proposal but this was never tested and now that there is a serious proposal on the table to have a cease-fire, netanyahu is saying no, i want to proceed with this operation. i want to expand if it. he's talking about demillerizing gaza knowing very well this is an impossible mission unless there is a peaceful solution that solves the whole problem and ends the occupation and the system of apartheid that israel has created. so in my opinion, the people have to be very careful about adopting the israeli narrative which is misleading them. >> what about the tunnels? the israelis make the point, i was in one of those tunnels earlier today. why would hamas be spending all this time and effort and money building these underground tunnels from gaza to israel?

why did hamas do this? do you have a good understanding wa their rationale was? >>. >> the of course. because gaza was invaded by israel three times. onces in 2006, and once in 2008 and once again in 2012. and in each invasion, hundreds of people were killed and the first invasion 1,400 people were killed and hamas developed this tactic of an act of defense so that if the israeli army invades gaza they will find ways to defend themselves. you could ask the question why israel is building such a big army. why israel has the most powerful air force in the region and the largest army fourth largest army in the world. why israel has 400 nuclear heads? because they say they want to denied themselves. all hamas is doing is just primitive things. these tunnels are nothing but a primitive way of trying to

defend themselves against israeli invasion. at the end of the day there all will not be necessary if there is peace. this all will not be necessary if israel finally tries -- they've tried so many wars. one risk they have not tried yet which is the risk of peace and accepting to end the occupation and allowing palestinians to have an independent state and get out of gaza forever rather than be besieging gaza and the people here making the life so horrible they have to fight to get their food. >> dr. mustafa barghouti, we've got to leave it there because we see intense activity in gaza right now. i want to go back to karl penhaul in gaza city right now. kashlgs update our viewers. we hear the sounds. we hear the booms and the fire. did we see the skies overgaza city? we see those flares there. what's going on? >> yeah, i just want to bring

you up-to-date with this, wolf. we're hearing several things going on. the first explosions that we're hearing is the sound of the illumination flares as they're fired into the sky. they have an explosive charge in them that then pumps out this bright flare on a small parachute so that is one of the explosive sounds you're going to be hearing, that is those illumination flares that are also pumping out white smoke into the sky as they come down. and then you'll hear the thud of heavier explosions. those are artillery rounds being fired out. we don't know where they are landing right now. we can't see the that the from our vantage point. it's not clear either whether those artillery rounds are being fired from israeli navy gun boats or if they're being fired from the self-propelled guns closer to gaza's eastern border with israel.

but certainly the sound of heavy activity. quite often those illumination rounds will be fired up possibly to guide troop and armored movements in nighttime hours if there's a need to get more prevision about where the target is. sometimes those flares may be dropped on to a targeting to mark the target so that then artillery can pound it. it must be said, however, there's a lot of illumination flares dropping on then part of gaza, many more than we've seen at any time in the past three weeks. we are hearing the sound of artillery rounds. in this area in front of us, still not seeing any real results of that artillery action. that is something that could follow in the next few moments. but let me keach quiet. you've just seen that perhaps on your screens. you've seen a portion of this area of gaza city go dark. one or two lights on still in the background. that's some indication that the

power has gone out. the power has been cut. as i look towards the ocean, as well, you can see a whole swathe of gaza city where the power has been cut. and overled, the smoke, the illumination rounds going in over different parts of the strip, wolf. it could be a long night. >> certainly looks like that. i'm going to stay with these pictures, karl. i'm going to stay with you. stand by. remember, be very, very careful as far as what's going on. i want to bring in jen psaki. she's the spokeswoman for the state department, would with secretary of state john kerry. jen, thanks very much for joining us. i know you're back in washington. you were with the secretary. he was trying to achieve a cease-fire. it didn't work out. what was the problem. what went wrong? >> first, wolf, let meet say that there is a long history of mistrust between the parties on the ground. and when the secretary went to the region just a week ago, there was no discussion of a

cease-fire. there weren't actual negotiations going on and the international community had not gathered support for the idea of a cease-fire. so there are some changes and some progress that has been made in that regard. but this is difficult. we always knew it would be. what we're working on now is short term cease fires, building on them so we can give time for the parties to negotiate about the larger issues. >> you know there's a lot of criticism of the secretary of state and for that matter the president of the united states but especially john kerry in israel right now. let me read an article. he writes over the second, u.s. secretary of state john kerry ruined everything. very senior officials in jerusalem described the proposal that kerry put on the table as a strategic terrorist attack. those are incredibly powerful words everywhere somebody like aere shah veet. they say you went too far, the

secretary went too far in accepting what hamas wanted moving away from the original egyptian proposal. you say what? >> i think it's important for everyone to understand what the facts are here. the facts are that the discussion, the informal draft of ideas that the secretary discussed with prime minister netanyahu was based on the egyptian proposal. the differences were so small, i don't even think you could fill a note card with them. that was a proposal not only did the israelis support two weeks ago, but the cabinet endorsed. so i think there's a confusion and frankly a misinformation campaign going on out there about what the discussion is about, what our focus is on and i think it's important for everybody in israel to know and the united states that our primary goal is ending the rocket attacks from hamas into israel. that's the secretary's goal. that's why he's working so hard on this and that's why we've start stod outline the details of what happened last week. >> is it your understanding,

jen, that if there were a cease-fire and right now there isn't one, but let's say there is a cease-fire, israel would still keep its troops in gaza and still be able to destroy those tunnels that go from gaza into israel during doo the cease-fire? >> the purpose of a humanitarian cease fire which is what we're calling for now is one to de-escalate the situation, to end rocket attacks back and forth and to allow for humanitarian assistance, food into gaza. you've been reporting there for a long time. you see what's happening on the ground. there are we understand that the tunnels do pose a legitimate threat to the israel. i can't imagine waking up every day and worrying about the threat of terrorists coming through tunnels and they're dealing with those. there isn't a technical fix to that. we think they can do that without resuming combat operations. it essentially freezes some aspects where they are and allows for an opportunity to discuss the bigger issues that are of concern to both sides.

>> is it possible based on what you know and you obviously know a lot, is it possible that the tunnels could be taken out, can be destroyed without combat but through diplomatic means. >> sort of the way the u.s. and others destroyed syria's chemical weapons stockpiles not through combat, not through air strikes but through diplomacy, if you will, can international pressure? >> wolf, i think there's an effort that the israel israelis has been under way on the tunnels. obviously, the sbirlt discussion right now the is about a diplomatic process and certainly any aspect of israel's presence in gaza would be a part of that. but i think this is a process that's on going. we do think they can continue that effort without resorting to combat operations. >> the -- and we're showing our viewers live pictures from gaza right now. you saw the flares just a little while ago. you heard the booms. it's a lot dark anner now and it looks like some of the

electricity must have been taken out in the course of some of the pounding going on. you see these pictures. you say as a top u.s. official what? >> well, i think we say that that's why a cease-fire is needed. that's why we need to have a pause in what's happening on the ground. we have great concern about the violence we're seeing, the civilian casualties. we will have concern. we don't want to see parents mourning the loss of their child whether it's a child in gaza or an israeli soldier. it's important to remember here that hamas is using people as human shields in gaza. they're putting their own people at risk. but we need to see moral from both sides in terms of making efforts toward a cease-fire. >> is israel going too far? >> well, israel i think we've long believed and still continue to believe that they will have the right to defend themselves. and when you have indiscriminate rocket stakes threatening your people, when you have terrorists coming into tunnels they have

every right to do that. but at the same time, we've been calling for a cease-fire as has the u.n. this is what the secretary is focused on because the violence has reaped a point where it needs to pause and stop and we need to find a way to find a diplomatic solution. >> can we expect the secretary of state, jen, to make it out here to the middle east anytime soon again? >> well, wolf, he's always willing to travel, keeps that option open. and he's been closely engaged throughout the weekend. dozens of calls with officials working on these issues on the ground. we're leaving for india tomorrow. even while he's there, he'll remain engaged on these issues. >> and maybe on the way backing to washington from india, you'll stop off here and do what you need to do. jen psaki, are you traveling with the secretary to india? >> i wouldn't miss it, wolf. >> all right. it be safe over there.

>> thank you. >> good luck. we'll see what happens. jen psaki from the state department. we're showing you live pictures. it's been very dramatic what's been going on the last several minutes. you au karl penhaul report the flares that were going off. those presumably were israeli flares. you still hear the pounding and gunfire, the artillery shots going on. if you compare what the picture looked liking a few minutes ago to right now, it's a lot darker in certain parts of gaza right now. let's go back to karl penhaul. correct me if i'm wrong, it looks like power has been destroyed for a nice big chunk of gaza city right now. am i right? >> reporter: well, you are absolutely right. a certain swathe of gaza city is without power. we saw that power go out. the lights right now are being provided courtesy of the israeli military because they're dropping illumination rounds down here onto gaza city.

unclear what targets they may be marking or what troop movement they may be planning. just to give you an idea a little bit of the black humor that the gazan people are living with during this confrontation. we've just had the end of ramadan. during ramadan, it's traditional to hang a lantern in the home, a lantern with a candle or with a small bulb inside. and the people of gaza have taken to calling these israeli illumination rounds their ramadan lanterns. of course, it is black humor because behind those illumination rounds as we've heard tonight, the sound of artillery thudding being fired possibly from navy gunboats, certainly from some of the artillery pieces ranged there on the eastern boarder and that, of course, with it brings destruction. it is a fight now more than three weeks old. let me keep quiet. let me let you listen in and take a look at the scene over

gaza city. quite dramatic, the contrast there, wolf, between dark and light. the light provided by those illumination rounds and when they fadeaway then a lot of the rest of gaza city in the dark, pitch black because power is out. unclear whether that power may have been taken down by an air strike or some kind of sabotage. unclear whether this is just the normal situation in gaza when the generators run out of diesel because they can't get enough fuel into run these generators. let me keep quiet again. there's a lot going on, wolf.

the sound of the closest explosions you're hearing, that is the sound of those illumination flares. they pop up into it the sky and then you hear a small explosive burst. that is what is tossing out the bright light attached to a parachute. and then in the distance, the deep thudding sound that you're hearing is the sound of artillery. we don't know what they are targeting right now. also in the last few moments down at street level for the first time in three weeks of conflict, we have heard somebody with a loud speaker shouting to the people, go inside. your homes. please go inside your homes for your own safety. that is the scene right now over gaza city, wolf. >> yeah, it looks like major operation under way. karl, when the israelis say that hamas is to blame because they

put their rockets, their missiles in these heavily populated areas and that the israelis then say they have no choice to destroy these rocket launchers and missiles even though they are in these populated areas, have you seen evidence of that? >> several things, wolf. first of all, the nature of the gaza strip. it's an area of land about the size of metropolitan las vegas. the borders are closed. little else to get out. it's densely populated. densely built up. there really is not a lot of open ground. and so the nature of the war here is urban combat. this is an urban guerrilla war. urban guerrilla war as we've seen in other parts of the world. that is what is going on here in gaza. inevitably military hardware is close to residential areas. nowhere in gaza strip is far from a residential area.

we have seen israeli military gun camp footage showing what the israeli military indicates are militant firing positions close to residential buildings. we have observed from our vantage points rockets being fired from areas where inevitably there is residential building. but that is the nature of this land cape. that is the nature of urban warfare. and that is why this is an asymmetrical war. we can't expect gaza's militants to line up in a big field and fight the israeli military. the israeli military as you well know, one of the most sophisticated in the world. a very large powerful conventional army and what we have here is a deeply asymmetrical war,' lopsided war where one side is on paper much more powerful and the other side in this case the gaza militants trying to balance things out by

fighting a very different style. and that inevitably is drawing the israeli military into the densely populated areas of the gaza strip and they're trying to get the israeli military bogged down, fight them on their own turf and also quite surprisingly still using those tunnels that you yourself visited today and we heard again today of an enfiltration attempt onto israeli turf. and these are precisely the tunnels that the israeli military is trying to destroy and it shows the difficulty of trying to destroy them, wolf. >> yep. i was there. we're going to show more pictures later in the situation room. carl, i want you to stand by. be careful over there. we're going to continue to watch what's happening over gaza city and have much more breaking news right after this. ♪

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want to go right back to gaza city because it's been intense for the past 40 minutes or so. 30 to 40 minutes. israeli flares over the city. we hear loud booms going off. sounds like artillery whether coming from land or from the sea. unclear. but it looks very intense. we earlier saw a lot more light in gaza city. it's a major city. and now whole chunks of gaza city look like they've lost power. unclear if they lost power

because of israeli air or naval strikes or artillery strikes or because the generators just went down this time of night, approaching 1:00 a.m. local time. karl penhaul is monitoring gaza city for us. tell us what you're hearing and seeing is right now. >> right now, we're hearing israeli drones overhead. that's a very distinctive sound. a little bit like a large lawn wer. weak hear those overhead. we're also seeing illumination flares dropping down through the night sky in gaza. that lighting up much of the area around us. the area of most activity tonight, the closest we've seen in the last three weeks really only about 500 yards from our bureau from the vantage point where we are at. what we first hear is the sound of an artillery shell firing

out. and then an explosion o motion up in the air. that is a smaller explosion sending out this illumination flare. and then if you listen carefully, there's the distinctive clank of metal falling onto the street below, and that's the canister of this illumination round as it falls out of the sky and hits the ground. now, i saw one of those in northeastern gaza just the other day during that 12-hour cease fire on saturday and if anybody is out on the streets right now, if that canister faus on them or goes through a tin roof, then that could almost certainly do a lot of damage. and possibly for that reason, can we've heard a loud speaker possibly from somebody with a loud hailer on the ground or somebody perhaps from one of the mocks calling on citizens to stay inside, stay out of harm's way. it's not clear why the israeli military is sending these flares into this part of gaza city

right now. in previous days, i can tell you when they've used those illumination rounds, sometimes it is to light the way so that both troops and their armored units can move into areas and get a good visual on where they're leaded and sometimes they drop these illumination rounds to be able to target something, but unclear right now, wolf. >> karl, i want you to stand by. we're going to get back to you and watch what's going on in gaza city and get an update from the israeli defense forces. the spokesman, lieutenant colonel peter lerner is going to be joining me shortly. we'll get the idf version of what's happening in gaza city. much more coming up right after this. hey. i'm ted and this is rudy. say "hi" rudy. [ barks ] [ chuckles ] i'd do anything to keep this guy happy and healthy. that's why i'm so excited about these new milk-bone brushing chews. whoa, i'm not the only one. it's a brilliant new way to take care of his teeth.

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let's get back to the breaking news. intense activity over gaza city right now. looks like israeli flares illuminating the skies over gaza city. we hear pounding going on. karl penhaul is on the scene. is it easing a bit or is it as intense as it was half an hour ago? >> it is difficult to make out what a going on from your vantage point, wolf. you'll appreciate that we've got a certain vision from where we are. we can't see the hole of the battlefield if you like. certainly from your point of view what we're hearing is the sound of ar tilly being fired and then we can hear a shell

whizzing overhead. right now the action appears to be going on just 500 yards from our vantage point. and then when we hear that shell whizzing, we then hear a small explosion and then an illumination flare coming out and drifting down on a parachute. these things are so klous that we can clearly see the parachute allowing the illumination flare to slowly drift to the ground and cast the light over the zba gaza city. in many ways it's the only way they're going to get the light tonight in gaza city because the power is down. i can't tell you why that happens. but because of the normal conditions in gaza, they often can't get enough pow tore fuel their generators here. so that could be the other issue. it is now clear to me, though,

right now, from where we are when we hear other thuds of artillery going out, whether that is more illumination flares being fired or whether that is live artillery exploding somewhere else. there have been no bombardments in eastern gaza, in southern gaza today. and we of course went out in mid afternoon to see the aftermath of an explosion in gaza when an explosive devase fell on a street. no clarity right now on what caused that because both of the warring sides are blaming one another for an explosion that occurred in a residential street that killed ten people, eight of them children, wolf. >> karl, i want you stand by. we're going to get a spokesman for the idf lieutenant colonel

peter learner is going to join me. much more anger, a lot more anwish as children and other civilians fall victim to if fiethding that's going on right now between hamas and israel. we're going to go inside one of the hamas tunnels. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ hooking up the country helping business run ♪ ♪ trains! they haul everything, safely and on time. ♪ tracks! they connect the factories built along the lines. and that means jobs, lots of people, making lots and lots of things. let's get your business rolling now, everybody sing. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪ ♪ helping this big country move ahead as one ♪ ♪ norfolk southern how's that function? ♪ [ male announcer ] that's why there's ocuvite to help replenish key eye nutrients. ocuvite has a unique formula

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is raging. ramping up the death toll and the outrage. plus within exclusive look inside a hamas tunnel. i'm going to show you why destroying those tunnels has now become israel's top military priority. and the u.s. offers new satellite evidence against russia. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer in jerusalem. you're in "the situation room." tonight the skies over gaza have been lighting up, the sounds of explosions are echoing across the area. and the prime minister benjamin netanyahu is warning residents to brace themselves for what he describes as a lengthy military campaign.

iz rally forces are on the attack again, so are hamas ill fants after a temporary cease-fire. the body count is soaring. israel's death toll at 46 including five soldiers killed in coomb bat today. the palestinian death toll above 1,000. first, an exclusive look inside hamas tunnels in gaza along with more on the latest fighting today. >> new bloodshed in gaza and israel. children and other civilians among the victims. families in anguish. israel and hamas, trading blames for strikes on a hospital and a refugee camp in gaza.

>> how many palestinians needs to lose their lives for them to understand that killing more palestinians is not going to lead -- >> we did not target the hospital. >> new deaths on the iz rally side as well. soldiers killed in a mortar attack near the gaza border. with the death toll climbing, the united states held an emergency meeting to appeal for a cease-fire. >> in the name of humanity, the violence must stop. >> hamas launching new rocket attacks on israel, and israel resuming air and ground strikes on hamas targets in gaza. this is priority number one for the israel defense forces, finding and destroying dozens of hamas tunnels, underground escape hatches in gaza. i went to the front line near

the gaza border to see one of those tunnels with an idf colonel. iz rally forces have uncovered more than 30 tunnels in this area. >> all right. let's go in. >> this tunnel is two miles long and 45 feet below ground. it ends here along the border with gaza. >> let's go a little further in. >> this tunnel, i guess the tunnel was built for relatively short people. because if you stand up you're going to hit your head. i'm not that tall. but you see, it's pretty secure, this concrete. they spent a lot of effort building this tunnel. hamas boasts about its network of tunnels posting this video. this video was released by the idf.

hamas never got to use the tunnel i visited. the israelis found it and destroyed a big chunk of it back there. hamas has other tunnels used to smuggle items into gaza. from what you know, what was the purpose of this tunnel in. >> i think soldiers, they want to take regular people, children, woman, men. >> so there you see the tunnel that i visiteds earlier in the day on the border between israel and gaza. let's go to karl penhaul right now in gaza city. is it still intense there, the flares going off over the skies? we saw it half an hour or so. what's going on, karl, right now? >> we've seen a lot of illumination flares drifting

down into gaza city. you can hear the sound of artillery. that is artillery that field guns sending out just a barrage of rounds. but these are illumination flares. they get about where we are now, close to our vantage point and then you hear an explosion. that is the artillery shell popping out the illumination round. that will drift down on a parachute and in the distance you'll hear the clank of metal. that's the ammunition round with the canister falling down on to the tarmac at street level. now normally those flares may be used to light the way if there's troop maneuvers or armored unit maneuvers or they could be used to be marking some kind of

target. it is not clear in this area of gaza city what the target may be. we haven't heard live ammunition rounds exploding in this immediate area. so difficult to see what the strategy is going on here. what we have heard from the loud speaker is somebody, possibly from a mosque, calling on the citizens of gaza city to stay inside. he was say stay inside for you own safety. after he said that we saw for approximately an hour these illumination rounds drifting down and drifting down, the thud of e the explosion as the illumination round pops down. but not clear right now what the target may be. >> let's find out right now. karl, stand by. aye got the spokesman for the israel defense forces, lieutenant colonel peter learn. do you see the pictures, what's going on in gaza city.

i assume you know. >> to understand the footage we have to think about what we've seen throughout the course of the day. what we've seen is long range rockets launched all the way up to -- >> from gaza city? >> from gaza. >> from where we're seeing the pictures. >> they're in the areas of -- >> are those your targets that you're going into in gaza city? >> we're not going into specifics. we're continuing our activity. we have to look at what happened today. we've had long range rockets. three quarters of our country threatened by the rockets. we had rockets close by killing four soldiers in the immediate vicinity of gaza and we've had infiltration of a tunnel into iz rally territory and shots fired at our forces.

we've seen the capabilities of hamas, their intentions of what they mean by saes-fire. we're determined to continue striking against hamas as a terrorist organization. this is an organization that is running a campaign of terror against the state of israel. they're our neighbors in our back door and we don't want them there. we want them to stop this aggression against us. we want to deal with these attacks, contain it and take the battle to them. >> i assume the flares that we saw over gaza city, those are iz rally flares, you're illuminating the skies. what's the point of that? >> we have extensive operations. part of this is the flares that are coming over. we have other activities taking place in the peripheral areas to deal with the tunnels like you visited today. so indied we have extensive operations and they are part of what we see as the development of this plan of action which is a gradual plan, increasing the

pressure on this terrorist organization. that will be pursued and threatened. >> so the artillery that we're hearing, is that naval artillery? is that ground artillery? where is that artillery coming from and what is the target? >> you can't see any targets specifically. it's safe to say those are illumination. they do that, illuminate the sky. we're carrying out our activities in order to strike hamas and to paralyze the organization who cannot feel free to operate against the state of israel and expect to live beneath ground in these holes that they've dug, if it's beneath hospitals or in other places along the gaza strip. >> as you know, there was a refugee camp that was hit today, a hospital that was hit today. a lot of casualties, including children. hamas says us israel is spnsable. >> there's nothing true about

that. we relosed shortly ago our analysis of the launch trajectory of the rockets that came out of hamas' controlled area in gaza. they were launched towards israel. two of them fell in the area of gaza city. one in a refugee camp and one of them on the hospital. and the fourth one which actually landed in the sea. so that's a ridiculous claim. it's outrageous. there's no limit to the lies that these people will tell. this is the organization that is putting the figures on the deaths in gaza. >> karl penhaul, i understand there's been more what, illumination, more artillery. what are you hearing and seeing right now? >> absolutely, wolf. it is so good that you have colonel peter learner there just to advise him that one of the

israeli illumination rounds, two of them have fall sboon a united nations school being used as a shelter for displaced people, that approximately 300 yards from our building. we understand, as mr. learner has explained, to those rounds are being used to light up the sky. there is no moon tonight. so i would less perhaps, and it is just a guess on my part, that those rounds could be being used to light up the sky for drones to then perhaps look for targets. i saw people in that united nations school about 300 yards from us looking at this illumination round dropped down towards the courtyard. these illumination rounds of course are being fired from artillery shells. i believe they're coming out from the .155 millimeter self propelled field guns up on the border.

that is a big canister falling to grouped. as i say, we just saw the illumination flares dropping into the school courtyards. so perhaps you could just advise there so that we see no accidents, no unintended accidents with any of these canisters falling into that school or any of these illumination rounds starting any unwanted fires. >> karl, stand by. i want to follow up a little bit on that and some other questions. lieutenant colonel peter learner still with us. the canister comes down, illuminates the skies and falls to the ground. can it start a fire? >> they are explosive ammunitions. they are indeed to illuminate the sky and used for different types of activities, whether it's ground or aerial surveillance. there are plenty activities

taking place on the ground with hamas terrorists that are utilizing the civilian environment in order to conceal their actions. >> is today the most intensive day of military activity on the part of idf israel defense forces since this ground campaign began? >> i think we've had more extensive activities over the course of the last two weeks. indeed, you have to understand this is a ground activity. the actions taking place on the ground are extensive. we're combatting meeting these terrorists in their back yard and we're not letting them spill over into israel. >> the hamas militants who got into a tunnel not far from the tunnel i was in, they got into israel, had an exchange of gun fire with iz rally troops. what hamd after that? earlier today there were reports that some of the hamas militants were in israel and remained at

large? >> to the best of my knowledge, and i was checking it just before i came on, at the location indeed engaged the terrorists and i'm aware of one terrorist that was killed or injured on that side. we pursued the rest. i can't confirm anything else other than that. indeed, you know, this is the exact type of concerns we have with these tunnels, the way they built them. this is a whole strategy. >> how close are you to destroying all of the tunnels? >> we know what we know. we saw this tunnel that was today where we actually had an idea that there was a tunnel there but we didn't know where it was going to come out. this is the dconcern that we have. it takes them about -- they can go five meters per day to build these tunnels. so in a three kilometer tunnel, that's an extensive project.

>> i was in one of those tunnels earlier today, 2.8 kilometers, and this lieutenant colonel was escorting me. said it took them about two years he believes -- >> that strategy is vision, that is something that they thought that in a situation like this would give them the upper hand. i'm happy to say that every time they've tried to infiltrate israel they've made the idea of forces, they've failed. it was a bad project anded a bad investment on behalf of hamas, about $30 million investment of pouring cement in the ground. >> thanks very much for joining us. let's get a different perspective. joining us on the phone is the palestinian delegate to the united states. you understand, ambassador, why hamas was building these tunnels? >> weolf, you asked me this question earlier and i told you when people are located and

besieged they can't move freely. they are are besieged in the gaza strip. these tunnels have uses not only for military purposes. some of them are for military purposes. let's focus on what the spokesperson has said. these spokes people have the audacity to say we're continuing our activities, we're continuing to strike at hamas. just now as we speak, wolf, a report of the house, eight civilians killed in one house from one family, eight children earlier, two at the hospital. who are they targeting? the question should be directed to the iz rally government government. who are they targeting? they want to convince us and the rest of the world that that they're really targeting militants? this crazy war, the crazy

campaign must come to an end. israel's appetite for killing palestinians must come to an end. this is the only way we can put an end to the conflict, engage the two parties in meaningful political dialogue to resolve the issue. >> you're looking at the live pictures out of gaza city right now. karl penhaul was telling us what's going on. these israeli flares illuminating the city. although it looks like a large part of gaza city has lost power. how close would you say -- and you're very well aware of what's going on -- the parties are to a humanitarian pause, a cease-fire? >> i am looking at these pictures. imagine the children and the

civilians who are being te terrorized by these flaers. they're inside their home home. they don't know when the next missile is going to hit their homes or their building. they don't know who the israelis are targeting. this is one part of the psychological ware fair that they're using to scare the people. i understand that palestinian president has been in touch with vary palestinian factions. these are still working on putting together a delegation that would be going to cairo, egypt very soon given guarantees will be provided for their safe passage. i think the israelis must understand that the more they conflict on the palestinian side, the more they will be united. they are not going to be able to

convince any single palestinian that this war is not directed at them. directed at their safety and their own security. and the palestinians today stand united. this war that israel is waging against innocent civilians must stop immediately. and they should heed the calls of the united states, the international community and they should put aside their domestic agenda and not play with the palestinian innocent life as the domestic agenda to outstage each other in israel. >> so ambassador, what i hear you saying is that this war that's been going on for three weeks or so has brought hamas and the palestinian authority closer together rather than separating them. is that your conclusion? >> it's brought the palestinian people together, of course. these are innocent palestinians who are being killed. and it brought us together

because we understand now that this current iz rally government has no plans whatsoever to resolve the conflict with us peacefully. we have seen this happen to us from 1982 in lebanon, to 2008 to 2009, to 2012, to 2014. this current israeli government has this agenda. they don't want to engage the palestinians in any political negotiations. that's why they under mined the effort of secretary kerry in april. that's why they're embarking on this crazy campaign because they want to destroy once and forall any political prospects for a solution between the palestinians and the israelis. they're telling the world clearly, we are not interested in peace. we want to continue to occupy them by force. we don't want to see the palestinians independent. and they know before we do that this is something that the

palestinian people will never accept. >> we're going to get the palestinian perspective, the israeli perspective, the u.s. perspective. we're trying to get all perspectives here in "the situation room" on cnn. thanks very much for joining us. still ahad as israel pounds hamas targets. a new warning about what could happen if the militant group is wiped out. could it lead to a more dangerous situation for israel and the region? stand by.

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from jerusalem while israel battles tunnels from hamas, there's a new warning from a top u.s. mail tear official against illuminating the group. cnn's brian todd has more. he's joining us from washington. tell us viewer what is eeng going on. >> the warnings being sounded tonight, say there are elements inside gaza which are worse than hamas, more radical and silent. one of them is a group that's wreaked havoc. some viewers might find some images in this story disturbing. israel pushes on destroying hamas tunnels, degrading the group's fire power amid calls to go further. michael or ren says israel must be permitted to crush hamas. if hamas was wiped out, who

would fill the void? the threat could grow greater. >> there are other things there that, you know, behind hamas, if hamas gets out of the way that perhaps could be worse. >> we would probably end up with something much worse, something like isis. >> radical islam mists fighters who are taken over much of iraq. so brutal they've been disowned by al qaeda. video of the aftermath of the battle purports to show the severed heads of the victims. cnn cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video. could this play out in gaza? there are elements of this. >> if hamas was somehow

destroyed and nothing left in its place, you could have a situation where the most ill tant elements from the smaller groups could somehow band together into something more radical. >> but analysts say it's not likely the so-call islamic state would actually take over gaza. they're too small in number, not well coordinated. so how far will israel go with hamas. >> it's important to deal hamas a decisive blow and then demi demilitarize them. >> could they be overrun by isis ore other militant groups that might gather steam in gaza? matthew levitt says hamas would still have a lot of political and social pow near gaza having run schools and hospitals and other civil services. but it's an open question

tonight. some of these groups could gain some steam eventually. >> brian todd, thanks very much. joining us now, the chairman of the house intelligence committee, mike rogers. mr. chairman, thanks very much for joining us. do you agree when they say as bad as hamas is out could be worse? >> candidly, i don't understand the context of that. think about what they're doing. they're been militarizing the gaza strip for more than a decade, gaining advanced missile systems internally and external and they're firing these at civilian populations. it's hard to argue that you can get worse than that. thankfully the iron dome has been effective and i think the counter defense with that with the israelis have been

effective. you can't go into this saying we're going to allow one to freely operate because there might be another one that's worse. that's a loser from the start. what they need to do is demilitarize the gaza strip. part of that means that you have to deal a decisive blow to hamas and its military wing. pure and simple. palestinian authority can fill in. other organizations could fill in. but when you don't go too far in destroying a terrorist organization, boy, that really concerns me that maybe they don't fully understand the sophistication of hamas and who its allies are in iran and other places. >> was the israeli government says their ultimate goal so to demilitarize the gaza strip. can that be achieved through diplomatic means or only through military means? >> well you never ever want to give up on the