breaking news overnight. israel promising a prolonged assault onuoha mas. 70 targets hit overnight as the violence intensifies this morning. the white house tries to ensure the world it stands with israel. we are live in gaza with the latest developments. >> investigators trying, yet again, to reach the crash site of malaysia flight 17. is fighting between pro-russian rebels and ukraine making it too dangerous, again? this, as world leaders are ready

to punish russia with tougher sanctions. welcome to "early start," i'm poppy harlow in for christine romans. >> i'm john berman. itis tuesday u july 29th. a first deadly violence rocking gaza. an explosion killing ten palestinians, eight of them children and a devastating blast at the biggest hospital complex. hamas blames israel for the attacks. they insist their carried out no strikes in the area and blame hamas for the carnage. a cease-fire fading fast, if not gone altogether. israeli prime minister, beng anyone netanyahu says more difficult days are ahead. karl penhaul is live. what can you tell snus. >> reporter: well, john, it was

an intense night throughout the night in central gaza city. we saw israeli illumination flares lighting up the night sky. it was a moonless night and israelis need to get their drones up in the air to see what was going on down ton ground. now the illumination flares went off for two hours. gaza city and all points north, south and east. we saw explosions going into buildings 500 yards away from where we are now forcing us to take cover because of the size of the bombs. the shrapnel could have easily flown into the office where we were. a number of explosions were close by. hamas was at least one of the targets. the israeli minister says they believe it was a firing point

for rockets. hamas leaders were targeted. the building behind me, that is the hamas radio station. it appeared to be 500 pound bombs. you mentioned yesterday, also in the afternoon, that terrible explosion that killed ten people on a residential street, including eight children. once again, they are in the he said/she said, who don it, who is to blame. we went down and looked at what had gone on. now is the time. we have heard the excuses of the warring sides again and again. when we went down there, i wanted to hear about the young kids that have been dying and down one of the back alley's close to where the explosion happened, i saw the body of a young boy brought for his mother to give him a final farewell

kiss before he was buried. i said to the 12-year-old girl. i said did you know him? yes. he was like my brother. he was top of his class and loved football. he was a real barcelona soccer club fan and loved mesi, that star striker. he loves him and now, you are not going get to meet him because he was buried yesterday. john? >> an important note, real people are caught in the middle of the conflict. we appreciate your reporting. thanks very much. secretary of state john kerry under pressure from israelis who believe he is favoring hamas in gaza. the white house along with the house speaker sending a clear message that the u.s. is behind israel. >> israel is our friend and

israel's enemies are our enemies. >> here is one thing you never have to worry about, america's support for the state of israel. >> the obama administration is striking back. we'll get more from our white house correspondent, michelle kaczynski. >> good morning, they are defending john kerry's efforts to bring about a cease-fire despice criticism from israel. israeli officials were upset, saying behind the scenes kerry is too accommodating with hamas. they need to put down their arms. this all raised questions over whether the relationship between the u.s. and israel is damaged. there's tension there. the white house is denying it. the white house is saying the cease-fire proposal that

supposedly upset the israelis wasn't a u.s. proposal, but an egyptian one. for now, the administration continues to stress that israel has the right to defend itself, takes precautions not to hurt civilians. hamas, wraps itself around civilians, targets them. the white house added the reconstruction of gaza is critical to forging peace, saying the u.s. remains deeply engaged in this process. poppy and john? >> thanks for that. fierce fighting near the wreckage of flight 17 forcing a team of investigators to abandon their efforts to reach the crash site. a spoxman says we are sick and tired of being delayed. a missile did indeed take the

jet liner down. dutch officials will release their official findings on friday. i want to bring in nick paton walsh live on the phone. nick, these investigators what is their plan for today? will they keep trying to get back to that crash site? >> caller: they will keep trying. there are intense preparations to arrange another visit. they made a move about an hour ago toward the site in coordination with the separatists and turned back. they have not made a move as of yet. that situation is complex. we know there are talks going out obtaining access to that area. this whole area is a scene of intensive -- mostly seen by ukraine but to the north they have been moving south very fast. we heard last night, artillery, loud explosions and small --

that suggests a fluid situation, at the least. we also understand, in the key town around the crash site, ukraines are moving in. they say they are moving in as much as they can. they may be taking some ground. things are moving fast here in a way we haven't seen during the last two or three months of the conflict. i think many people are wondering what that means for access. does it mean the crash site changes hands and makes it easier or does the violence simply mean it's too unsafe to drive down the road. >> a portion of the investigation is impeded. this is a key front. maybe the most contested front in this conflict between the ukrainian government. thanks to nick paton walsh this morning. the white house counting on the european union to slap russia with new sanctions. that could happen today.

right now, members are meeting in bus brussels. they believe it's critical to reigning in vladimir putin. >> reporter: what we have seen from putin is when the pressure increases, he tries to say the right thing in public, but unfortunately, he's playing a double game. there's urgency in getting the russians to turn the corner and de-escalate. we need to proceed with additional steps that will be significant. >> the sanctions, thus far have not really had an impact. unfolding this morning, the obama administration accusing russia of a ground launched missile. the center for disease control taking no chances fighting the spread of ebola to the united states. the cdc issued a level two

health alert advising doctors to check patients travel history and learn the symptoms. the risk of the virus reaching our shores is low, very low. an outbreak spread across africa affecting two american aid workers. the nsa surveillance threatened the freedom of the press. that's what they say in the joint report after interviewing 90 journalists and lawyers. the report says government officials have more concerns about dealing with the media because any interaction risks leaving a digital trace that could be used against them. the justice department fighting back saying they rely much too much on opinion rather than fact. the white house considering granting work permits to allow some undocumented immigrants to stay in the u.s. illegally.

he will take action if it continues to stall in congress. later today, the house will hear from the director of citizenship. time for an "early start" on your money. european shares are up. asian is higher as well. in the usz, futures are pointing slightly lower. we saw barely any movement yesterday. we have a lot of big economic news coming up later this week. we'll get the latest gdp reports. today is the first of a two-day federal reserve meeting. investors will be looking to the central bankers about the clues about the time line in terms of when they are going to raise interest rates. the big story, maybe the sanctions in russia would be big and new and could change the situation. >> absolutely. coming up, a wanted child molester profiled on cnn's "the hunt." a viewer's tip making it possible.

the story does not end there. a wild gun battle. we'll have the story, next.

quite a story here. a suspected sex offender killed

after a shootout with police in new york city. charles mozdir had been on the run when police got a tip on his where abouts. he had a job in a smoke shop downtown. john walsh spoke out about the capture with don lemon. >> there are many times sociopaths have no remorse. when they get cornered, like a rat, sometimes they are very violent. i think they knew he was on "the hunt" and they were closing in on him. i think he thought he would not do well in prison. >> hmm. he was accused of molesting a friend's 7-year-old son in california. after an episode of "the hunt" aired, a contact gave them his cell phone number. he was tracked down at his job monday. two detectives were wounded in

the shootout. donald sterling's bid to remain owner of the l.a. clippers suffered a blow. a california judge ruling in favor of his wife, shelling sterling, giving her the green light to proceed with the record $2 billion sale of the nba franchise to former microsoft ceo steam balmer. here is more from stephanie. john and poppy, shelly came to this courthouse to get their blessing on her right to sell the clippers. the judge agreed with her. she is the sole trustee of the family trust. she worked out a $2 billion deal to the microsoft ceo. the judge ruled no further litigation by sterling could hinder the deal. donald's lawyer says the fight isn't over. >> his reaction is very calm. he didn't see this as the final

battleground. this is, you know, one stage of a long war. this is one battle. >>reporter: shelly sterling openly wept as it sank in. outside the courtroom she said she won the honest way and so did los angeles. >> we have the best new owner that anybody could ever find and i think it will be even better than it was before. >> reporter: balmers lawyer expects more reforms in appeals but he's optimistic. >> he's really excited about the team, about the city and bringing dignity back to the clippers. >> the nba looked forward to the transaction closing as soon as possible. the deal is expected to close around august 15th. john and poppy, back to you. >> thanks for that. my bet is this is not over just yet. >> more witnesses of the prosecution of the front porch

shooting trial in detroit. the shooting death of an unarmed teenager on his front porch. he believed she was breaking into his home and his actions were justified. prosecutors say there was no reason to use deadly force rather than call police. a federal appeals court knocking down the ban on gay marriage. it followed similar rulings by other appellate courts in utah and oklahoma. north carolina's attorney general announced the state will no longer defend the gay marriage ban against challengers. it is time to stop making arguments, we will lose. coming up on "early start," severe storms continuing across the country. amazing video. look at that from colorado late yesterday. tornadoes touching down. the airport was closed down. this morning, people trying to pick up the pieces as millions brace for a change in the

forecast. we'll have all that, straight ahead.

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to make the most of what life has to offer. your time is valuable. so you reach for something better. fewer calories. fewer carbs. more to experience. michelob ultra. the superior light beer. look at this. >> wow. >> wow. this is a tornado touching down north of denver. one of two twisters to hit that area. another one came within eight miles of denver international airport causing 30-minute

shutdown. businesses were damaged with no injuries. >> berman was watching this. another tornado tearing rooftops off in the suburbs of boston. 65 homes and businesses damaged or destroyed because of a tornado with close to 3,000 power outages there. the twister packed 120-mile-an-hour winds and carved a path of destruction two miles long. >> scary. this is the kind of stuff i see on tv that happens in other parts of the country. >> the backyard, the fences are down, trees are everywhere. it's crazy. >> certainly not what they were expecting. there were two injuries reported, including a baby in a car hit by flying glass. >> i had never seen anything like that in massachusetts. just north of boston, the beaches there. no tornadoes. catastrophic flooding in nevada. officials shut down highway 157 north of las vegas. debris flows five feet deep,

damaging homes and leaving more than 100 residents without water. >> heavy flooding hitting southern arizona taking out this 60 foot steel wall. it's next to the u.s./mexico border. border agents were alerted. it was built in 2011 and taken out by the flooding. >> thankfully, the forecast looks better for today. let's get an "early start" on that with chad myers. >> good morning, poppy and john. cool weather today. partly cloudy, a couple showers. nothing organized like we had yesterday across massachusetts. showers will be in the rockies. a lot of lightning out here, too. the lightning could spark wildfires. when there's not enough rain in the thunderstorm to put the fire out, that the lightning created. 81 denver. 87 in albuquerque and 78 in san

francisco, warm with an east wind there. the front for tomorrow pushing almost down to cuba. the cool air sinks to the ohio valley, to the deep south. you may not notice it is cooler, but you will notice, it is drier. it's not the stifling muggy mess that we always have here down in the south. high pressure does that out of the north, it brings in cooler and slightly drier air. 77 for chicago tomorrow. 82 minneapolis. 80 in l.a. and 93 in albuquerque. enjoy your day. >> the perfect running day for per man. >> it is. at some point, i will bathe as well. 25 minutes after the hour. bombs flying over gaza. israel warns it will not back down from the fight against hamas. live team coverage after the break. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare? that's a good thing, but it doesn't cover everything. only about 80% of your part b

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death and destruction in gaza, violence intensifying overnight as hopes for a cease-fire is crushed. israel vowing for a long battle against hamas as the white house tries to assure the world it stands behind israel. live team coverage, the latest this morning. happening now, a dangerous journey for investigators of

malaysian airlines flight 17 traveling back to the plane's crash site. fighting with pro-russian and ukraine's military is around this as world leaders get ready to punish russia for their role in the conflict. stronger punishments than they have seen yet. we are live with the latest. welcome back to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm poppy harlow in for christine romans. we welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. there is no end in site to the deadly violence raging between israel and gaza. the fighting between israel and hamas intensifying. an explosion at a refugee camp killing ten palestinians, eight of them children. another blast. hamas blaming israel for both attacks. the israelis insisting they did not fire in that area. conflicts for a cease-fire are fading fast. the prime