who worked in these ebola camps at great risk to themselves that could not even tell their families where they were working. so it was -- because they didn't want to be stigmatized. you can imagine how difficult it is for these health care workers to do their jobs then. >> thank you, dr. gupta. be sure to watch my show at 4:00 p.m. eastern, 1:00 p.m. pacific. we'll ask questions to both the israeli government and hamas. if you have questions, tweet me, @jaketapper. "wolf" live from jerusalem starts right now. hello, i'm wolf blitzer reporting live from jerusalem. i'd like to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. a new call for a cease-fire is rejected. the fighting is clearly intensifying. israel's prime minister is warning of a protracted campaign against hamas. here are some of the latest developments. the palestinian authority led by

mahmoud abbas today called for a 24-hour truce that could be extended for up to 24 hours. but quickly said hamas has rejected the proposal. another spokesman says hamas is open to sending a palestinian delegation to egypt. a senior israeli official tells cnn israel is prepared for a cease-fire, but nothing firm has been agreed upon. a strike today hit gaza's only power plant. hamas television says the house of a senior political leader was also hit. and a radio station run by hamas was also bombed. medical officials in gaza now say more than 1,100 palestinians have been killed. 53 israeli soldiers and three israeli civilians have died. in a news conference, the secretary of state of the united states, john kerry, talked about preventing civilian deaths and he brushed aside criticism of his diplomatic efforts. >> this is not about me. this is business really and israel's right to defend itself and our strong support for

israel's right to defend itself. but about whether or not there is a way forward that could avoid the loss of soldiers for israel and the loss of civilians in -- everywhere. >> israel has clearly stepped up its military offensive in gaza. a palestinian official says at least 40% of gaza's fuel was burned in an israeli strike on the only power plant. help says it will take at least a year to get the plant operating. israeli officials including a spokesman for the prime minister of israel netanyahu just told me he's denying that israel hit that power plant, suggesting it may have been an errant hamas missile. let's go to karl penhaul right now, he's joining us from gaza city. karl, how damaging is the stepped-up israeli military offensive we've seen right now? what does it mean for palestinians living there in gaza city where you are and elsewhere? >> well, it's absolutely dem

stating on a number of levels, wolf. on the one level, you have thousands -- tens of thousands, in fact, now displaced by the fighting in united nations shelters alone, more than 180,000 people, and then, you know, we've seen these calls by the israeli military by palmlet or text message for people would clear out of northern gaza, that head to gaza city, where it should be safer. and then of course the uptick in violence here last night. so that means in a lot of these ordinary apartment buildings, multiple families are crammed into one single building. and then you add to that the strike on the fuel storage tank at the gaza power plant and the head of the power plant there told us he believes it was an israeli tank shell that set those fuel tanks on fire. so you've got power outages to most of the gaza strip. it's largely in darkness, apart from a few windows that appear to be lit by personal generators. added to that as well, also the

water situation. because the international red cross says part of that infrastructure has been hit and that is consistent with what we've seen in the streets. some time, you see groups of neighbors digging down in the sidewalk to try to repair the water mains themselves. certainly the civilian population bearing a huge brunt of this offensive, wolf. >> totally painful situation indeed. explain the confusion. because a top aide to the palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas says all palestinian factions have agreed to a 24-hour cease-fire that could be extended to 72 hours, but within minutes, hamas, a spokesman in gaza, says not true, they haven't agreed to any cease-fire. they're willing to send a delegation to cairo. ways the latest on the palestinian front? how divided to you see the palestinian authority might be from hamas? >> well, as you and i have seen over the last few days, wolf, getting these cease-fires in place, even a brief humanitarian pause in place, is a delicate

balance, because there are a number of terms and conditions that each side wants to be fulfilled. they each have a group they wish to oversee such a cease-fire. and also they don't want the other side to try and get any military advantage during that truce. but in the latest round, it seems that perhaps the palestinian authority and the west bank that doesn't see eye to eye with hamas here in gaza put forward the proposal. maybe they were grandstanding hamas here on the gaza strip, weren't on board, then we heard from some of hamas's national representatives that maybe they were on board and ready to explore it. to be honest, right now, i think this is all still in the balance. it could come off. it may not come off. even if it does come off, a big question, will it hold. wolf. >> just after 8:00 p.m. here in the middle east. we'll see what happens now that it's getting dark. yesterday, we saw what happened where you are, carl. the skies were totally

illuminated by israeli flairs. we'll see what happens in the coming hours. karl penhaul, be careful. let's go to southern israel. sara sidner on the ground for us right near the gaza border. you're standing not very far in front of an israeli iron dome anti-missile battery system. what is going on where you are right now? >> well, we do know that sirens have gone off about 4 to 5 kilometers from where we are in southern ashkelon. so we are listening to the sounds of helicopters above as well. we have not heard this particular anti-missile system going off here, the iron dome has been silent for the last few hours, since we've been here. we do not, since midnight, that 30 rockets have come over the border. those two sirens may be signaling more. when it starts to become dusk, when night starts to fall, it seems the action, both coming

into israel and going into gaza, starts to really heat up. i also want to mention, wolf, though you're seeing sort of an empty field there and we have been seeing soldiers practicing going through, holding their guns and walking through the field, we're also just behind our photographer. there is a whole neighborhood here. we've been seeing people come out, talking to them. they have told us they are absolutely sick of feeling terrified from the sounds, first of the sirens and sometimes the whistling of missiles. it's been going on for, now, 22 days. and they want it to be over. but they want it to be over for good. that is the sentiment of israelis, especially those here on the border. they do not like to hear about civilians being killed in gaza. they think that is terrible. but they are also very sick of feeling like they are targetings. and they are just trying to go about their daily lives here on the border. wolf. >> all right, sara, we're going to get back to you. stand by, sara sidner in

ashkelon, right near the gaza border. we'll take a quick break. more of the special coverage coming up on cnn. i'll speak with the israeli army's top military spokesman. we'll get a palestinian perspective. lots of news happening. stay with us. thank ythank you for defendiyour sacrifice. and thank you for your bravery. thank you colonel. thank you daddy. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance can be one of them. if you're a current or former military member or their family, get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life. ♪ hooking up the country whelping business run ♪ ♪ build! we're investing big to keep our country in the lead. ♪ load! we keep moving to deliver what you need. and that means growth, lots of cargo going all around the globe. cars and parts, fuel and steel, peas and rice, hey that's nice!

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when you can't wind downd. it helps you fall asleep quickly and wake refreshed. new unisom liquid. a stressful day deserves a restful night. in the absence of an cease-fire between israel and hamas, israel is is now rn whatting of what the prime minister is calling a protracted campaign in gaza, which means the death toll on both sides almost certainly will go up. the spokesman for the idf, the israel defense forces, joining us once between. colonel, thank you for coming in. a lot of concern. this power plant, the major power plant in gaza, hit by a

shell. something -- was it the idf responsible for blowing up that power plant? >> we've spoken a couple of times during the course of the day. i've gone through our air force, our navy, our ground forces on the ground. haven't been able to determine it was idf activity. the power station definitely was not a target from the idf point of view. we're still looking into it. >> so it's possible it could have been a mistake or it could have been what? >> it could have been an errant mortar on what happened with the palestinians. their rockets they launched actually struck shifa hospital and shati refugee camp so that's a possibility. we haven't got a report either way. >> there was a report a senior hamas official was killed. is that true? >> our current activities are taking place on the entire scope of striking hamas, striking the terrorist capabilities from the tunnel that is the easy infiltration into israel, via the leadership, via the

infrastructure, of the organization itself. so indeed we are pursuing the organization. we are paralyzing its capabilities and the individual terrorists are feeling threatened. >> is there a name of a top hamas official that was killed today? >> i -- >> did you have a name, somebody you're familiar with? because these reports out there that a top hamas official may have been killed in one of these strikes. >> not that i'm aware of. >> the finance ministry was attacked as well. was that israel that went after the finance ministry in his gga city? >> when they are channeling millions into these tunnels, specifically doing that, you've seen these tunnels, they are -- that is a imagine project. that needs major money. where is that coming from? it is hamas government building that infrastructure. >> so the finance ministry would be a legitimate target from the idf perspective? >> absolutely.

>> so you hit it? that would be you're confirming you did hit? >> we're striking the infra structure of the organization, whether it's the finance ministry, the treasury. they're all part of this. it's a guise of a government, but its only governing terror. >> now it's dark. last night when it got dark, the skies over gaza became illuminated with these israeli flairs. should we brace for more tonight? >> indeed. the idf is in the midst of a campaign. we'll continue with our campaign until we meet our goals. we have to stop the rocket fire. we've had more rockets out today. we have to sever the tunnels so they cannot pose a threat. we have to send a clear message to hamas that terror does not pay. you cannot fight israel. you cannot make a decision to attack the israeli state. 75% of our country is under this threat today. without consequences. so they are paying for their bad, bad decisions.

>> how close are you to achieving those goals? let's go through them one at a time. the tunnels. how close are you to eradicating tunnels going from gaza to israel? >> we've advanced quite well over the few weeks with the ground force activities. we have exposed over 30. we are demolishing one by one, day by day. so it is increasing every day. so that we can take that threat off of the table. >> how many more are there? >> we assess there are still some more that need to be dealt with. i tonigdon't want to go into spc figures because there are still chances there are tunnels we have no knowledge about, but are already inside israel and this a concern. we're operating in order to locate them. >> what about missiles and rockets? >> the rocket capabilities we've found, we've struck over 3,000 of these rockets to our knowledge. they've launched about 2,200 at israel in the past three weeks. so our assessment is they're

depleted around 60% of their capabilities. >> so they still have how many? >> 3,000, 4,000. >> still in various depot storage facilities, underground? >> absolutely, they have these capabilities. that's what they're doing. they're trying to maintain that capability to launch. 2:00 this morning here in israel, tel aviv was again under fire from these long-range rockets. >> ways that's the status of thn dome anti-missile system you have, which has worked effectively. do you have enough? i know you're seeking another $225 million or so in u.s. assistance to pay for more of these anti-missile systems coming in. what's the status of the iron dome? is it still in good shape as far as you're concerned? >> the iron dome is operational. it's saving israeli lives every day. >> do you have enough material to deal with incoming rocketings? >> it is saving lives every day. we're confident we can continue to operate with that. >> peter learner, the spokesman for the idf, thank you.

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hamas quickly batted down a proposed 24-hour cease-fire almost as soon as it was floated by the palestinian authority in the west bank. ghalid al guinea a former adviser to the palestinian leadership in the west bank. he's joining us now live.

thanks very many for joining us. thanks very much for joining us. why did hamas so quickly reject what the palestinian authority said was a deal for a 24-hour cease-fire deal that could have been extended to 72 hours? it didn't take long for hamas in gaza to reject it. what's going on here? >> a quick point of clarification. the proposal put forward by palestinian president abbas was actually on behalf of all plo factions, as well as those factions that are outside the plo, including hamas and islamic jihad. it was a pan-palestinian initiative that was put forward. what that suggests, think, is there is internal division within hamas, both between the political leadership outside of gaza and those inside, as well as between the political wing and the military wing.

>> so explain, because a lot of us are a little confusioned. khaled meshaal, the political leader of hamas, where does he stand as far as the cease-fire, working with mahmoud abbas, president of the palestinian authority? >> khaled meshaal has been one of the more moderate voices in hamas' leadership for a long time. he has been side lined somewhat, particularly since the egyptian coup last year, which has tended to embolden the hard-liners inside gaza, including the military wing of hamas in gaza, as well as more hard-line political leaders. so he's still officially the head of the political bureau of hamas, but he, being on the outside, he has less control over actual decision making operationally on the ground. >> because he's in doha, qatar. he's not in hamas.

khaled meshaal, other political leaders in hamas they might be willing to go along with a cease-fire, presumably supported by egypt, but the military wing that's actually doing the fighting, launching the missiles, doing the infiltration through the tunnels and islamic jihad, they're not yet ready to accept a cease-fire, is that right? >> we, i don't know about islamic jihad. there's at leetch tast the possy there's an internal division and the lack of ability for a single message i think is a sign of that. i think the situation is also very fluid. it may be a question of timing. it may be a question of posturing. i think we'll know more as far as the status of this cease-fire proposal and in the, you know, hours that -- ahead. but it's very hard to say now. i'm just putting forward a theory that it's -- it likely points to this internal rift

within hamas. >> so there's a serious rift within hamas. by the way, we're hear in jerusalem, hearing in jerusalem sirens go off, i think i heard an iron dome go off as well. the fact that hamas keeps launching rockets and missiles into israel, what do you think their point is? >> they have a fair amount of support from the palestinian public, both inside gaza and the west bank. i think what they are desperate to avoid is a return to the status quo ante. the way things were before everything, you know, before this current crisis in which everybody stops fighting, but we return to the blockade that existed before. and there's no changing that. i think hamas feels their leverage, as far as getting the blockade lifted, which palestinians support universal, the only leverage they have is while there's fighting, unfortunately. so i think they're trying to

improve the position in terms of ending this seven-year blockade on the palestinian people in gaza, which has really had a devastating impact on normal life. i think it's important to point out that this is not a blockade purely on smuggling weapons. this is a blockade that is essentially punitive. that keeps palestinians from exporting, from even going abroad to study or pursue a basic normal life inside gaza. so that is their primary objective. >> and the objective of these tunnels that have been built going from gaza into israel, i understand the tunnels going from gaza into egypt, that was used for smuggling all sorts of supplies. smuggling weapons. ways t what's the point of building these i guess at least 30 or 40 or 50, we don't even know how many, of these tunnels going into israel.

what would be the objective of hamas to do that? i went down into one of them yesterday. >> yes, i think it's part of -- you know, the context of all this is there is the blockade, but there's also a 66-year conflict between israelis and palestinians that is still unresolved. and as long as these immediate grievances like the blockade, like the continued occupation and so on, go unresolved, then hamas will continue to find ways to rearm, as well as pose a threat to israel. so simply removing materially or physically, you know, elements of that threat without addressing the actual sources of the conflict i think misses the point. and so clearly -- to answer your question, the goal is -- or the objective of these tunnels is to continue to pose a threat to israel. and, you know, i think it sort of points to the futility of

kind of the military option that israel has always favored. you know, a lot of this is kind of deja vu. in 2008, early 2009, we went through this same procedure. we heard a lot of the same talking points about ending the threat posed by hamas rockets and so on and so forth. and what happened since then. since then, hamas has rearmed the sophistication of its rocket capabilities. has increased. and now there are new threats. and that is because it was only that cease-fire arrangement was only a matter of silencing the guns, not addressing the underlining issues. i think that's a mistake that should not be repeated. >> khalid al ghindy joining us from washington. thank you for that analysis. secretary of state kerry is responding to a lot of the criticism he's getting for his failure to achieve a cease-fire. stand by for that.

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call liberty mutual for a free quote today at see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. [ jackhammer pounding, horns honking ] [ siren wailing ] visit tripadvisor miami. [ bird chirping ] with millions of reviews, tripadvisor makes any destination better. welcome back. i'm wolf blitzer reporting live from jerusalem. there is friction growing between the netanyahu government here in israel and the obama administration. israeli officials, some of them at least, have been openly criticizing the peace efforts led by secretary of state john

kerry. they aren't necessarily criticizing kerry's failure to get a cease-fire between israel and hamas, but rather that he was supposedly pushing a deal that these israeli officials insist favored hamas. for example, the columnist ari shivit wrote in the newspaper el haaretz, 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. strong words. the state department fired back, saying this isn't how friends treat friends. a little while ago, the secretary of state defended himself in the deal he was proposing. >> i'm not going to worry about personal attacks. i think that president obama has it right. the international community has it right. when we say that it is more appropriate to try to resolve the underlying issues at a negotiating table than to continue a tit-for-tat of

violence that will invite more violence and perhaps a greater downward spiral which will be much more difficult to recover from. >> aaron david miller is joining us from washington, he's with the woodrow wilson international center. he served six secretaries of state on arab/israeli issues. so iaaron, were you surprised t hear criticism from israeli officials, so much of the criticism reflected in the israeli media? >> no. i mean, having watched this movie for over 20 years, i know emotional times, you get a lot of criticism. it was really bad with shamir and baker and before that with carter and begen. no, i'm not surprised. i don't like it. as an american, i frankly am somewhat offended by the criticism against kerry. let me make a couple points, as you foe, you've been around this issue as long as i have, it's

impossible to get anything done, the smallest thing, without an extraordinary amount of effort. and usually without imaking bot sides unhappy for a time. number two, the reality is i admire john kerry, i respect him. 80% of life is not just showing up, it's showing up at the right time. and the reality is, kerry's mediation, there's no way it was going to work, because neither israel, nor hamas, feels sufficient urgency right now to stand down or deescalate. and i don't care how balanced or brilliant a mediator is, without the raw material to actually craft a cease-fire, you're not going to get one. so kerry never had -- frankly never had a chance. where i think he may have driven off the highway is the notion somehow that he conveyed that israeli and hamas requirements are essentially symmetrical. that israel and hamas are the

major combatants. so if, in fact, you want to end the conflict, you've got to find a way to meet in a reasonable way the needs and requirements of both sides. now, the reality is that may be true in a negotiation. it's not true in the way the israelis perceive the world. and, frankly, giving ethe different relationships we have with hamas, an organization by statute that is considered to be a terrorist organization on one hand and relations with a close ally, however problematic and imperfect the israelis may be at types, i think there was great sensitivity, particularly among members of the israeli cabinet that don't support netanyahu's effort to find a way out of this but who want a lot more in gaza. so i think kerry opened himself up in a way that wasn't intentional to a lot of criticism. but the reality is, he's no more responsible for the perpetuation of this conflict.

the parties would are responsibility, frankly, for its perpetuation, are the ones who are waging it. >> that would be the israelis and the palestinians. they've been waging it for a long time. i don't know if you read david ignatious' column today, but he was critical of the secretary as well. he said it wasn't a mistake involving any bias against israel but rather,ness words, a bias in favor of an executable short-term deal, which kerry was wrong to deal with, specifically the short term? >> it seems logical on paper that you get a standdown for 12 hours, for 24, and you string enough of these short expedient cease-fires together and somehow you can create the basis for a long-term standdown. it's just not logical. you're in the middle of a

kinetic conflict. from the perspective of each side, they both want to continue to drive it until they believe that their needs are met. so the notion that you're going to coordinate cease-fires on a 12 to 24-hour basis, even with the alarming humanitarian situation that exists, primarily on the palestinian side, and expect to extricate yourself from this conflict, it won't end this way. the realality, this is going to end, i would argue, in the following manner. quiet for quiet is no longer possible. the israelis have too much invested in this right now. they said too much about what they need in order to see it end. hamas needs an explanation to justify the death and destruction that they have courted on the palestinian population of gaza. that's one extreme. that's not going to happen. the other extreme is transformation. that somehow hamas is going to be fundamentally demilitarized and these israelis are going to

open up. not going to happen either. somewhat in between, greater economic openness, movement for gaza, some demilitarization, closing the tunnels, getting the egyptians to staunch weapons flow, i suspect that's where this is going to end up. >> aaron miller, thanks very much for joining us. aaron david miller of the woodrow wilson international center in washington, d.c. we'll continue our breaking news coverage of the situation in the middle east. that's coming up. also, the fighting rages on in ukraine. so the eu and the u.s., they are now taking new steps. we have details. that's coming up next.

now to the situation in ukraine. fighting between pro-russian rebels and ukrainian military forces prevented international investigators from reaching the crash site of flight 17. just a little while ago,

secretary of state john kerry criticized russia for its actions. >> while the russians have said they want to deescalate the conflict, their actions have not shown a shred of evidence they have a legitimate desire to end the violence. >> now there may be a major escalation in the fighting. cnn has confirmed ukraine's military has fired ballistic missiles at separatists. our pentagon correspondent barbara starr is joining us now with more on this late-breaking development. what can you tell us, barbara? >> wolf, the u.s. government had not planned to reveal this information, but cnn confirmed with three u.s. officials that, in fact, u.s. spy satellites other the last 48 hours picked up the heat signature of ukrainian forces firing short-range ballistic missiles into rebel-held territory. those pro-russian separatists along the southeastern border of

ukraine with russia. these are short-range ballistic missiles, ground to ground weapons. they go about 50 miles but they have a 1,000-pound warhead. that makes them the deadliest, heaviest weapons fired on the ground in this conflict to date. why might ukraine be doing this? ukraine has had a number of its aircraft shot down. surface to air missiles, the same thing that brought down mh-17. in order to stay out the kill zone of those surface to air missiles, ukraine now turning to very heavy weapons on the ground. no official response from moscow yet. the ukrainian foreign minister says it didn't happen, but i have to tell you, several u.s. officials telling us they have the intelligence information to back it up. but it is so politically sensitive because of course the u.s. supports the ukrainian government, that they may decide not to release any further information about it all. that's what we're being told, wolf. >> so barbara, there's a sense

this could supposedly level the playing field, is that right? >> well, i think that's maybe what the ukrainian forces are hoping. actually, what's been happening over the last several days is ukraine has been pushing back against the pro-russian separatist's territory and that's one of the reasons the fighting has escalated. by all accounts, ukrainian forces are having some success. pushing those rebels back towards the russian border. russia shipping more heavy weapons across the border to the separatist-held areas. we're likely to see, i would think, some significant additional escalation before it's all over. apparently the russians are getting nervous about the gains that the ukrainians are making. and that's why they're shipping weapons into the area. the ukrainians making gains. that's why they're stepping it up. wolf. >> all right, barbara, thanks very much. barbara starr, breaking news, here on cnn.

she often does, thanks very much. the white house says the united states could unveil new economic sanctions against russia. the eu is ready to level penalties on so-called putin cronies. their identities will be released tomorrow. it will also sanction the energy arms and financial sectors. has gained momentum since malaysian airlines flight 17 was shot down. the cold relationship between moscow and the u.s. is getting worse. the u.s. now says russia has violated a 1987 nuclear treaty by launching cruise missile tests. the allowed, the alleged infractions date back to 2008. president obama has written to his russian counterpart, the russian president, vladimir putin, about the matter. tense relations emerging between the u.s. and russia. for the last three weeks, the violence and the destruction in gaza, southern israel that violence has been relentless. cnn's ian lee has been right in the middle of all of it.

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. . welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer reporting from jerusalem. it's been three weeks since this latest conflict erupted. palestinian health officials say more than 1100 people have been killed in gaza, thousands more

injured. on the israeli side, 53 really soldiers have been killed, three civilians are dead as well. my colleague ian lee is in jerusalem with us. you just came back from gaza. you were there almost three weeks. now you're here. getting ready to go back to cairo. give us a sense how awful the situation is in gaza. >> no one has a chance to relax or have a moment to themselves. there's a constant -- you hear the explosions from bombs, from artillery that's constantly present. there's also drones. when you talk to people that's the thing, no one has a sense of ease there and even when you go into the u.n. schools where there's shelters even there you feel people tense. that's the one thing about this area, it's very tense especially when they hear news about what happened back home, where their houses are, they don't know if their houses are still standing. a lot of people are worried about that as well. >> is there constant noise?

i'm sure you're trying to sleep in gaza city. could you? my sense is that there's always some activity going on that's going to startle people. >> there's always the buzzing of drones. that's one thing you notice. >> the drones you can get used to it. >> you get used to it. also you've have explosions. especially at night. we would notice a lot of fighting would pick up at night and really when you're trying to sleep, getting those few hours, you would hear these loud explosions, they would shake your rooms, and for a lot of people, that would be one of the things is that be hard to kind of relax like i said, because those bombings at night is when we really hear that intense fire. >> hear in israel there was some rocket that came from gaza on the outskirts of jerusalem. you heard the sirens go off, that iron dome went off and intercepted that rocket. i don't know if there was any damage. we don't have a full report yet. in gaza there are no sirens.

no advance warning other than when the israelis themselves knock on the roof or whatever or send you a text message get out of that building. >> that's right. we would witness a lot of the in connection on the roofs. what we're told are little explosions that kind of give a jolt to the building to say that an air strike is inbound. sometimes they do kill people, as we witnessed three children were killed by a knock on the roof. these are not harmless. there's a warning for people. they would get a message saying their house is under threat. they would try to leave. they were told to go to central gaza. even at central gaza you still get air strikes. really there isn't a sense of security are a a sense of warning. >> when you spoke to average palestinians living in gaza, did some of them actually blame hamas for what was going on by putting their rockets and missiles in heavily populated areas or schools, u.n. shelters

or whatever. did any of them blame hamas or simply it was the israelis who were responsible for their misery. >> this is a guerilla warfare. in guerilla warfare the army is part of the population. they get a lot of their support from the population. when we talk to people there's support for hamas. this support comes from -- they don't want to return to the status quo. they want a lifting of the siege of gaza. they want goods and services flow freely. they say they will support hamas really are in it for the long haul. >> they don't necessarily support the palestinian authority the more moderate leadership of abbas? >> people want a change of their living situation. whoever can bring that about is the person that they are going to support and a lot of people right now see hamas as the way to change that. if the palestinian authority is able to improve their condition as well and bring concrete

change then you could possibly see that shift to them as well. >> you spent some time in cairo. this new government in egypt they don't like hamas at all. so there's a whole shift going on right now. >> yeah. that's right. that's an interesting part because the government in cairo calls hamas a terrorist organization. far different from mohamed morsi who hamas was part of the muslim brotherhood. interesting thing in this conflict is how hamas, for the future, if this is a stalemate in future conflicts how will they rearm themselves especially since right now we're seeing those tunnels they use destroyed by the egyptian military and far larger egyptian military presence on the border. be interesting to see how they can rebound after this conflict. >> a dangerous assignment for you. glad you're out safe and sound. ian lee reporting for us giving us a sense of what's going open

situation here in the midwest isn't the only crisis the white house is dealing with. there are tons of hot spots around the world. we're going zone by zone when we come back. ♪

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and select the people's hotlist to see this summer's top 100 shows and movies. i voted! obama white house is juggling six major crises around the world, probably more. here's tom foreman. >> reporter: if you look at the

map it's easy to see the government is dealing with a tremendous number of hot spots in the world. let's start with israel and gaza. more than 1,000 people have tied. mostly civilians. mostly palestinians. in syria next door more than 150,000 have died in three years of civil war. chemical weapons have been used by the government and president bashir al assad despite the calls for him to step down, still in power. in iraq the story is the terrorist group isis. 5,500 have died as it's tried to carve out an islamic state. 1.2 million driven from their homes. in libya the worst fighting since 2011. u.s. embassy has been evacuated. militias are battling the government. 97 people dead in two weeks. in ukraine where the jetliner was shot down in the eastern part of the country the fighting rages on, 1100 or more dead, 100,000 driven from their homes.

on top of this iran remains a constant worry and north korea just recently threatened to nuclear the white house over its disagreements. so if you want to say the world is a challenge, the world is a mess right now, absolutely it is. >> tom foreman thanks. that's it for me. the news continues next on cnn. wolf blitzer thank you so much. i'm brooke baldwin. possible new amendment towards a mid east cease-fire. a top israeli official tells cnn vael prepared for a cease-fire but, again, nothing has been agreed upon as of yet. a strong dose of caution is in order. we've seen a lot of proposals come and go. earlier today in fact hamas rejected a israel proposed truce and all this maneuvering follows the most intense