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tv   The Situation Room  CNN  July 29, 2014 2:00pm-3:31pm PDT

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>> some children caught in this conflict are apparently in danger before they're even born. an al jazerra reporter tweet this had picture of a baby pulled from the womb after her mother had been reportedly killed in an israeli air strike. miraculously it, appears the baby will be okay. that's it for "the lead." i'm jake tapper. i now turn you over to wolf blitzer live from jerusalem in "the situation room." wolf? >> happening now, a situation room special report, breaking news. cease-fire rejected. hamas says no to a truce with israel. even as the gaza offensive is clearly escalating. tunnel warfare. israel says taking them out is a top priority. we'll have more of my report inside one of hamas's underground passageways. putin under pressure. the u.s. and europe step up sanctions against russia. will it be enough to reign in moscow from the fighting in ukraine? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world.
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i'm wolf blitzer in jerusalem. you're in "the situation room." we're following the breaking news, commander of hamas's military wing rejecting the latest proposed cease-fire with israel which had said it was ready for a truce with fighting escalating to deadly new levels, muhammad release aid defiant message saying there is no middle ground regarding a possible cease-fire until israel ends what he calls its aggression and siege of gaza. israeli forces have dramatically stepped up their offensive in gaza pushing the death toll there to almost 1200 people. 53 israeli soldiers have been killed along with three civilians. we have cnn's global resources on the story. with our correspondents and guests standing by. sarah sider begins our coverage near the israel gaza border.
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israel has been hitting a wider set of targets in gaza. what's behind this apparently new israeli strategy? >> well, i think what you're seeing is israel looking to try and really keep those rockets from coming over. we know that they've been going after the tunnels even in 2012, they went after, for example, a hamas police station trying to knock that out. and scaring hamas trying to send a message that if you send rockets over into israel, you're going to pay the price. trying to stop that. we do also know that there is some controversy over the only power plant that is in gaza that was hit. israel looking into investigating that particular incident and as you know, there was huge plumes of smoke from that. it was building all day. we could see it from ashkelon looking over the border, you could see it billowing for hours and hours today. israel investigating how that
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happened. it may have been an unintended target but that investigation will continue. and certainly, we want to show you also some new video na has been released. israel releasing several videos. the military showing in this particular video that you're going to see a bit now what has happened inside of northern gaza with the nehal brigade in there. you can see it's kind of in green. it's at night. the idf says its soldiers started taking fire from the militants inside of gaza and were forced to fire back. some very dramatic video there. and i do want to mention, too, because i am on this side of the border, the israeli side of the boarder we've been listening to sirens going off. there was one at 10:00 local time. we were here about to go live and a siren went off and people started trying to get out of the way. there have been sirens all over israel. we know there have been in tel aviv two interceptions by the iron dome.
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so the iron dome in full effect and the rockets have been coming over the border and strikes have been happening inside of gaza. wolf? >> sara sidner in southern israel near the gaza border for us. thanks very much. let's go to gaza right now. it's struggling for electricity after a strike on its only power plant. cnn's karl penhaul is in gaza for us. what are you seeing there now, karl? >> well, certainly part of the gaza strip as you can see behind me is very, very dark and a tribute that to the damage to the gaza power company's power plant, particularly the diesel storage thanks. they have been burning for much of the day. of course, the chief of the power plant is blaming an israeli tank round but we have had word from the israeli military saying that certainly that power plant was not on its target list. although it is checking to see if any of its munitions slammed into there, but we're going to
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have to wait and see what word they have. last night, of course, around had time, things got very dramatic as we saw illumination flairs light up the sky, drones whirring overhead to spot target and then a series of artillery and aerial bomb strikes. among those hit yesterday were the homes of senior hamas officials and mocks the israeli military were being used as weapons storage dumps. that is certainly were why with they were on israel's target list and tonight, pretty important developments. just pause a moment there, wolf, because behind as a strike going in, there's a at all building there. that obscured where that strike was going in. in the course of this evening we have heard israeli f-16 fighter bombers overhead. we can spot them because as they go, they're pumping out decoy flares that a sign possibly the
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pilots fear hamas and other militant factions may have some kind of surface-to-air missiles. as you mentioned that televised speech by the supreme commander of hamas's al ca sam brigades. he again stated that there would be no middle ground. he said that as a condition for cease-fire, then israel ol would have to lift what he termed the blockade of the gaza strip. that certainly falls into line with what the political wings of the groups here in gaza have been saying that in this fight with israel, they will defer to the military wings of the militant factions and let them decide whether they make peace or continue to make war with israel and certainly tonight, the ca sam brigades are saying the war will go on, wolf. >> i suspect it's going to get very, very lively, shall we say, in the next hour or two where you are. we will constantly check back
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with you, karl. thanks very much. let's get to reaction to what's going on. joining us here in jerusalem, israel's minister of intelligence, u val stein its. thanks very much for joining in. what would it take? you're a member of the cabinet and know what's going on. what would it take for israel to accept a cease-fire with hamas right now. >> look, wolf, we accepted already four cease-fire. one was egyptian proposal. we adopted it, implemented it. it was violated by hamas. three cease-fire all violated by hamas. next time we will be very cautious and careful before we consider another proposal. meanwhile, we have to defend our people. they leave us with no alternative. they're launching hundreds of rockets every day to our cities and towns. and like nel country like any democratic government, we have to protect our people and to fight and to strike back. >> because you know israel's
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going to come under increasing international pressure not only from the u.n., the europeans but even from the united states from the obama administration to accept some sort of cease-fire. how much longer do you think israel can go on without a cease-fire? >> well, you know, if they're shooting at you, if they're attacking you, if they're cume lating thousands and thousands of rockets in an area that was supposed to be totally demirtrized, let's not forget, people tend to forget, israel withdraw from gaza. and under clear palestinian commitments that gaza will remain demillerrized forever come what may. instead, thousands and thousands of rockets will smuggled into gaza maybe from iran, also from other sources. now they're launching hundreds of rockets each day to our sfepz we will fight back. we strike back. we have no other alternative. but to try to destroy the hamas military infrastructure and to try to minimize political damage
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to civilians in gaza. >> you want to demilitary rise rise gaza. can that be achieved diplomatically, politically or only militarily? >> look, i hope it will be achieved diplomatically. it will be achieved either militarily if we have to capture gaza, if it will be necessary in order to. >> you mean reoccupy gaza. >> for some time. >> is it possible you would go that far? >> this is one option we asked that we have to examine if there is no other alternative. i still hope there will be a diplomatic solution. let's not forget, this is the core of the problem in gaza. people should ask themselves why ral ma la? people can go to work even in israel? why we have to put those restrictions around gaza? only for one reason because terrorist organization fanatic barbaric, terrorist
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organizations like hamas and islamic jihad has accumulated thousands of rockets. if gaza would remain demilitarized like nablus, there would be no war now around gaza. israelis would not suffer from terrorist attacks. palestinianss in gaza would not suffer from this unnecessary violence. >> let's go through specs. you're the minister of intelligence. you know what israel's intelligence community believes right now. how close is israel to destroying, eliminating the tunnels that go from gaza into israel? >> we already discover 31 terror tunnels leading from gaza underground into israel. some of them have been used even yesterday, we had some casualties. there were some incursions. we destroyed approximately half of them now, 15 out of 31 and we have to destroy the rest of them. >> how many more are there besides the 31 that you discovered? >> probably there are some more. we are looking, you know,
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searching to see if there are some more. we do our utmost to destroy those incursion tunnels. no country will tolerate with except tunnels, underground tunnels leading to its territory. believe me, they didn't build the tunnels to grow mushrooms. we know very well what is the purpose of those tunnels. >> how many rockets and missiles does hamas still have? >> it's difficult to say but we estimate they had 10,000 at the beginning of this round of violence when they start launching rockets in israel. now we destroyed many of them. several thousand. they have used already they have launched already 2,600 rockets into israel. we assume there have been now they have a stockpile of 3,000. this is too much still. because there was supposed to be no rocket whatsoever in gaza, but this is a reality. this is the situation. >> we know that israeli strikes blew up the finance ministry in
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gaza city last night. what was the point of of that? >> look, this institution has delivered a lot of money to finance their organization, to finance illegal weaponry, to finance the building of those underground tunnels. by the way, you know, a few years ago, there was a debate. the world pressure asked to enable cement into the gaza in order to build schools and so on. they were using this cement in order to build those underground tunnels, terror tunnels leading into israel. so it's vet grave situation. and unfortunately, again, let me remind us, the core of the problem be that gaza is not demilitarized as was signed on the white house lawn and therefore, the solution, if we want something more than just an end to this round of violence, if we want to put an end once and for all to the suffering of
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both israelis and palestinians in gaza on other side of the fence, the core of the problem is also the core of the solution. the core of the solution is that gaza will be demilitarized again. >> one final question. would you support the palestinian authority of president mahmoud abbas taking charge of gaza? would that alleviate your concerns? because they're in charge confident west bank, a very different situation there. >> yeah, of course, this is better than to have hamas. this is a terrorist organization. and the palestinian authority seem to be more responsible but let's not forget it, wolf. gaza was delivered by israeli to mahmoud abbas, to the palestinian authority. nine years ago, we uprooted all the jewish settlements in gaza and abu mazen said publicly, i quote now, he said once the israeli occupation inside gaza is over, once there are no jewish settlements in gaza,
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there will be no hostilities and no terror attacks no, rockets whatsoever. since he gave us this commitment and we pull out from gaza and we uprooted all the jewish settlements from gaza, 14,900 rockets were launched so far in the last nine years from gaza into israel. 2,600 only in the last two weeks. so it's a big question. if we can really trust abu mazen still of course, it's better not to have a terrorist organization, a terrorist regime in gaza like hamas or islamic jihad. >> hamas was elected by the palestinians over the fatah and the plo leadership. >> this is bad enough that the palestinian elected a terrorist organization to lead them. i think many of them regret this terrible mistake. by the way, it was totally inconsistent with oslo accord
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that said clearly that no terror organization or any organization that doesn't accept israel's existence can participate in the palestinian parliament or government. >> that's history now. >> that's history but it's very relevant to the realities on the ground. >> at that time, as you well remember, both the israeli government and the bush administration said hamas could run in that election even though hamas did not accept israel's right. we'll discuss the history. >> this was a grave mistake and look to the realities in gaza in contrast to the much better reality in the west bank. >> yuval stein in its, thanks for joining us. >> welcome. >> more breaking news. we're going to get a very different perspective from the palestinians, the chief palestinian negotiator standing by live. we'll discuss with him what's going on. much more coverage when we come back. ot my bill, and i see that it includes my fico® credit score. yup, you get it free each month to help you avoid surprises with your credit.
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where we're following breaking news the commander of the hamas military wing rejecting a cease-fire with israel saying it's impossible while the israeli offensive in gaza continues. let's get the palestinian perspective. joining us now the chief palestinian negotiate saeb erakat joining us from ramallah. thanks for joining us. so what happened? we understand the palestinian authority issued a statement saying all the palestinian factions were on board for a 24-hour cease-fire that could be followed by a 72-hour cease-fire. all of a sudden, we mary from the military commander of hamas saying no deal, no cease-fire. what happened? >> what happened last night is that we -- all palestinian on a
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cease-fire for 24 hours and actually, hamas and other factions accepted that which formed a delegation to go to cairo. at 3:00 a.m. this morning, the israelis informed the parties involved that they refused. that is the truth. now, look, wolf, i don't want to go and respond to the gentleman from stein in its or others but the point is today now as you talk to you, 1210 palestinians have been killed murdered mostly women and children. 7,000 wounded. no electricity in gaza. no water in gaza. hundreds of thousands of people are homeless. and you know, the point is the person that is really working hard is secretary kerry, secretary john kerry is in touch with mr. bab abbas, in touch with the egyptians, the europeans, the saudis, qataris
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and turks and two days ago he offered a seven-day humanitarian cease-fire. we accepted, and then israel rejected. as mr. steinitz told you a minute ago, their intention is to reoccupy gaza. was done without even consulting with us. when i went personally to speak to them, i was told that we're not a partner and now they accuse us of so many things. actually, this political. >> saeb, let me interrupt for a moment. i want to get to all of that. on this notion that there could be a huge split between the political arm of hamas versus the military arm of hamas, it looks to many analysts that is what has developed. do you think there is a split between the political arm versus the military arm? >> no, no wolf. the point is, president abbas
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spoke to jihad and others and they told him we are on board. okay, the minute you know, he was trying to form a adelegation and get in touch with the egyptians with secretary kerry, the israelis reject and actually last night and today was the worst day in the last days of fighting. in the last 30 hours, 154 palestinians were killed. i'm talking about 30 hours. they escalated, the israeli army escalated by the way and now they moved to destroy the infrastructure, electricity, water, imagine 1.8 million people without water, without electricity, without soage. there is no place to run or hide. so now, i asked secretary kerry whose inaware offing commitment and effort and who is capability and ability to be in touch with all concerned parties from
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president abbas to mr. netanyahu to the egyptians to the arabs to everyone, we need to stop this madness. we need to stop this massacre committed against the palestinian people in gaza. that's what we need. >> because we were hopeful, saeb, we were hopeful today, hold on a second. saeb -- we were hopeful for a cease-fire earlier in the day when one of the top aides to president mahmoud abbas said that all the palestinian factions were on board for a 24-hour cease-fire. israel was not commenting on that time but all of a sudden, the military commander of hamas seems to pull the rug out from under the political wing from under the statement that the palestinian authority released and said no cease-fire. >> why can't the israelis, wolf, why can't the israelis say we accept secretary kerry's offer for a 11-day cease-fire? why can't they test us? i mean it's not about scoring points. this madness is going to lead to
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israel totally occupation of gaza. that's political blindness. this would lead to an interruption of the west bank and jerusalem. this would lead to destruction of the palestinian authority. so as a told you last time, can mr. netanyahu or mr. lieberman or any people in his government walk me through the day after? what are they going to do with palestinians? millions of palestinians in the west bank and gaza if the whole thing goes down the train, if we very recollapse in the core of the problem is not that -- the core of the problem is these people, the liebermans, netanyahus continue with their occupation with the settlement activities with their siege for seven years, they've been using you know, siege against gaza to fuel supplies, water supplies. seven years. seven years. and what we need to do is to sit down in order to achieve a two-state solution. that's how the violence will
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end. that's how security will be required. security is not going to be done by more gun and more orphans on the palestinian side. security for israelis will be achieve fundamental they finish their occupation. they will be fair if they will agree to a two-state solution and that's my truth and the whole honest truth, wolf. >> all right. saeb erakat joining us from ramallah with the palestinian perspective. i know he must be disappointed there's no cease-fire. he and president abbas have been working hard to achieve one. joining us now is one of the top military analysts in israel. what is the israeli military strategy unfolding at this minute in gaza is it? is it simply to take out the tunnels or go after the rocket launchers or is a bigger strategy to effectively destroy hamas? >> no, it's more of the same
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which means more of the same with the dale of the last, say, three days, it's doing now. on a lower pace. so to say less intensive than it was yesterday. >> last night it was very intensive. it was pounding. tonight it seems relatively calm. is that a new phase or what? no, it is a phase of wait and see. which means let's see if the palestinians, if they hamas aniand islamic ji hard -- i'm sure that mr. aerekat and his boss are yearning for a cease-fire. >> the military commander of hamas, there is officially the military commander is not such a figure. the real man in charge is muhammad. he rejected it. he rejected it.
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as you say, as part of the overall hamas approach that they will have -- they must come out of this situation with some achievement. otherwise, why did they open all these things? and this is the main problem for them. that is why they cannot afford a cease-fire when the idf is still on gaza inside gaza strip and they have achieved no lifting of the siege. by the way, the lifting of the siege is not israeli siege. israel is the only one that you have seen it with your own eyes. israel is the only one that is bringing supplies into gaza strip. tonight, there are turkish planes lending with a lot of supplies for gaza strip going through israeli passages. >> not through egyptian
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passages. >> ron ben zashai, we're waiting to see what happens in the skies over gaza city. much more coming up. we're also going to go inside gaza, the death toll clearly climbing. conditions deteriorating. we'll also take you inside those hamas tunnels that israel is targeting for destruction. you saw my report yesterday inside one those tunnels. part two, more inside those tunnels coming up. this is the situation room special report. ♪
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looking at a live picture of the gaza city skyline right now. so far tonight at least so far, a cnn crew has heard some israeli f-16 fighter jets, heard some explosions in the distance but clearly a very different picture picture tonight than last night. we're here in jerusalem following breaking news. a cease-fire rejected by the military commander of hamas. despite a major escalation of israel's gaza military offensive. john vauss meanwhile takes us inside gaza where conditions are dearly deteriorating >> crossing the border from israel and the destruction is everywhere. the buildings still standing seem deserted. the area around here seems to be completely abandoned. the only vehicles on the road it seems are ambulances. they've been prepositioned in case there's an israeli air strike nearby and they need to get to the wounded. right now amid all this destruction, there doesn't seem to be any signs of life. >> so dangerous here,
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firefighters can't get close enough to put out a blaze at gaza's only power station. palestinians say it was hit by the israelis but israeli's military says it wasn't a target. >> i've gone through our air force, our navy, ground forces on the ground, haven't been able to confirm it was idf activity. >> palestinians say it could take a year to repair the plant. without electricity many water pumps in gaza city are no longer working. sewage systems too have been damaged. raw affluent is flowing into the sea. despite the offensive, this man still opens his small shop every day but now he sits there in the dark. this is not fair. we have children. hospitals need power, tells me. the israelis are not human. everywhere it seems, there are long lines. especially for bread. and tempers are beginning to fray after waiting here for
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hours, someone tried to cut in line. this man told me we want the situation to end. because of our families and children. along with hamas rockets and tunnels, israel is also targeting hamas leaders. this is all that's left of the home of ismael hanir, the most senior hamas political leader in gaza. it was once a four-story building. now it's just been reduced to rubble. no one was home at the time of the air strike. but the message from israel is clear. and just across the road from the gaza home of the president of the palestinian authority mahmoud abbas, a mosque was hit by israeli fire. three weeks on as the death toll continues to climb many here face life without electricity or running water. the israeli prime minister has warned the military campaign might still be far from over. john vauss, cnn, gaza city.
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>> the israeli military says it killed five hamas militants who opened fire as they left the tunnel in gaza today. finding and destroying the secret tunnels like the one i visited in southern israel on the gaza border on monday has become a top priority for the israeli military. here's part two of my report. >> right near israel's border with gaza a bat is under way. tunnels have been discovered. used by hamas militants 0 launch attacks inside israel. the israeli military is determined to destroy them all. these tunnels are barely large enough to maneuver. >> the purpose of this tunnel was to go from gaza into israel. there's an israeli kibbutz eight the exit. the entrance is in gaza. >> the tunnel threat has israel on edge. the idf says the sole purpose of these underground passages is to attack and kidnap israelis.
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>> it's very easy to kill and go and nobody know. there are people in the tunnel. >> the israeli mirt discovered this tunnel before it was finished. lieutenant colonel azulai believes it took hamas about two years to build. >> one meter for a day, a few meters for a day. and they need a lot of time to do it. >> the process of locating and destroying the tunnels also takes a long time. israeli officials say they've destroyed at least 15 tunnels so far. other tunnels are still being used. israel said today its troops killed five palestinian militants as they left the tunnel in gaza. >> lieutenant colonel, how long have you been working this tunnel? >> in this tunnel, we are working for like few weeks. >> few weeks already. >> yeah. >> israeli intelligence officers is use radar to track the development of these tunnels but the idf says it's an open question when this network will
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be fully dismantled. >> how long will it take to destroy all the tunnels? >> i don't know. >> nobody knows? >> nobody knows. >> yeah. >> the israelis say they've located 31, once again 31 of those tunnels going from gaza into israel. they think they've destroyed 15 of them so far but they also say they think they have a lot more work to do as far as the tunnels are concerned. just ahead, i'll ask the israeli military analyst ron ben ashai how many tunnels he believes may be going from gaza into israel. whether their mirt offensive has been effective. also, is a new cold war already under way?
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built for business. live here into jerusalem where we're following the breaking news, the commander of the hamas military wing rejecting a cease-fire proposal with israel amid major escalation of the israeli offense anybody gaza. our cnn correspondent ian legal is here just out of gaza, now in jerusalem along with the israeli military analyst ron ben-yishai. what is the israeli strategy in short right now? what are they trying to do? >> they're trying to exert pressure on hamas to agree to a cease-fire to the egyptian proposal, which means cease-fire first, negotiations afterwards in order to get some kind of arrangement, new arrangement for gaza. this is the israeli strategy. the other part of the strategy
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is destroying all these tunnels that go from gaza into israel, towards israeli settlements in the -- that's the israeli strategy, exerting pressure and destroying the tunnels. by the way, israel is not trying to destroy the launchers, the rocket launchers. there is no way in the world to hunt every launcher. >> how many more tunnels are there? they found 31 so far going from gaza into israel. how many more are there? >> i don't know. there are more. there are more. and the old ones that we knew about 31 have deviation sort of a new route or by passing routes with separate piewrs. that's what happened yesterday. the tunnel itself is well-known to israel.
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and as a matter of fact, israel started to destroy it. it's going from. >> but they got different routes they're taking to get into this. you were just there for the past almost three weeks. give us a thought. does hamas really think it's winning on the ground military little? because it looks pretty lopsided. >> when you look at what hamas is trying to achieve, they're a guerrilla unite fighting a war. they're not going to try to gain ground and hold ground. they want to inflict krashlts on israel. they're far superior than they were before. they have a greater comabd of the battlefield. when you look at the two wars, the war in 2008-2009 and compare it to now when you had a similar ground invasion, they've inflicted far more casualties, about five times that on israel. so when you look at them as their tactics as a military unit, they do seem to be doing a lot better no you. >> i've heard that from a bunch of israeli military analysts. they seem to be much better
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prepared. have better equipment than they did a couple years ago. we're live here in jerusalem. in our next hour, by the way, angry words from iran's supreme leader we're taking a closer look what could happen if. iran and hamas were to team up again. up next, president obama turns up the pressure on russia. is this the start of a new cold war in the president's answer to that question is coming up. >> netherlands, malaysia, australia and countries -- people here know that our operations have an impact locally. we're using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. the trucks are reliable, that's good for business. but they also reduce emissions, and that's good for everyone. it makes me feel very good about the future of our company. ♪ but they have to use special care in keeping the denture clean.
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we're live in jerusalem but this breaking news in the crisis with russia over the fighting in ukraine and shooting down of malaysia airlines flight 17. let's go to the white house.
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our correspondent, michelle kozinski has the very latest. michelle, tell our viewers what happened. >> reporter: the u.s. and europe acted together on this. the white house calling these powerful seccer toal sanctions. although, it is not like when we first started hearing about this concept. these don't affect entire sections of the economy, they are targeted. several more bangs, certain exports. administration trying to keep pressure on while admitting that sanctions have not worked in changing russia's actions. the u.s. with europe ratchets up the pressure on russia mp. >> the united states is imposing new sanctions in key sectors of the russian economy. energy, arms, and finance. we're blocking the exports of specific goods and technologies to the russian energy sector. we're expanding our sanctions to more russian banks and defense companies. and we're formally suspending credit that encourages exports to russia and financing for
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economic development projects in russia. >> the administration today clear in its condemnation of russia's actions. >> they displayed an appalling disregard for human decency. >> as russia continues, even now, to move heavy weaponry over the border into ukraine and fire on ukraine from russia. so short of getting physically involved in the military conflict, which the u.s. has said is absolutely not on the table, economic pressure is the west's only weapon. europe today banning all arm's trading with russia so that applies to new deals and russia an europe don't generally trade all that much in military equipment. like the u.s., europe has now frozen out certain banks, putin cronies and russian access to technology benefiting its oil companies. >> rush why's actions in ukraine and sanctions that we've already imposed have made a weak russian economy even weaker. >> the white house is also adding pressure by accusing
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russia of violating a reagan gorbachev era that bans missiles. the white house says the timing has nothing to do with ukraine but admits there are worries about those weapons being used or falling into the wrong hands. despite all of this, just 12 days after the downing of passenger plane by pro russian separatists, there is still talk of diplomacy. >> what it is is a very specific issue related to russia's unwillingness to recognize that ukraine can chart its own path. >> the administration laid out this long list of affects that it feels sanctions has had on russia's economy. all of that investment money leaving russia. the desired effect is to change putin's strategy and so far that has not changed at all, wolf. >> it certainly hasn't. thanks very much, michelle kozinski, at the white house. in the next hour, i will ask
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president obama's deputy national security adviser ben rhodes about this relationship with russia. what's going on. will vladimir putin pay attention to the new sanctions or to the president's new letter. that's coming up in our next hour. also after today's angry words from iran's leader, we are taking a closer look at what could happen if iran and hamas were to team up. ♪ [ male announcer ] over time, you've come to realize... [ starter ] ready! [ starting gun goes off ] [ male announcer ] it's less of a race... yeah! [ male announcer ] and more of a journey. and that keeps you going strong. at unitedhealthcare insurance company, we get that. with over 30 years of experience, we'll be there -- ready to go as far as you.
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room's special report. >> breaking news, gaza under fire. palestinians brace for another night of israeli airstrikes after a new and defiant rejection of cease-fire by hamas. hamas fighter suffering new losses on the ground in gaza and new fears that they may be reteaming up with a dangerous partner. and troubling escalation in fighting in ukraine. u.s. tensions with russia are soaring as president obama announces new sanctions. chief deputy advertiser standing by at this hour. i'm wolf blitzer in jerusalem. you're in "the situation room." >> you're looking at live picture of the gaza skyline. it's 1:00 a.m. here in middle east prime time. airstrikes against hamas ta
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targets. we have heard jet fighters. tonight, hamas military commanders rejecting any cease-fire unless israel ends its assault and lifts its blockade of gaza. israel says it is up to hamas to lift attacking israel. we have more on the israel-hamas and ukraine war. let's gun with the fighting on gaza. >> intense attacks over the past 24 hours, powerful explosions. piercing the night in gaza. hamas saying its radio station bombed by israel. gaza's only power plant also was hit, nearly half of the fuel supply or more up in flames. it palestinians blame israeli airstrikes and warn of crippling
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blackouts. that could make the humanitarian crisis in gaza even worse. >> the power station was definitely not a target from the point of view weerp still looking into it. >> faced with more destruction and casualties, a call from the palestinian leadership for a cease-fire. >> the palestinian people are for a cease-fire. it at least guarantees a chance of surviving and living after cease-fire is achieved. we want no more israeli siege and destruction of gaza. >> but an appeal of truce was immediately rejected by hamas's top military commander. israel says hamas keeps destroying any chance after political solution. >> we are willing to accept cease-fire but hamas has always been the spoiler. hamas always refuses to hold their firing. >> israel says its iron dome defenses were forced into action again as what has fires several more rockets from gaza into
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israeli territory. idf saying it targeted 110 of it calls terror sites overnight. releasing more video of its campaign to find and destroy hamas tunneles from gaza into israel. israel says its troops killed five palestinian militants as it left gaza today. i got the firsthand look at a hamas tunnel with an israeli lieutenant colonel. we went in through a narrow opening on the israeli side. this is priority number one for the israelis to destroy the hamas tunnels. they say they found more than 30 tunnels. arguing they must stop using the tunnels to sneak into israel, kill or kidnap soldiers or even civilians. >> it is very easy to kill and go and nobody know that we -- that there are people in the tunnel.
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>> that tunnel was a long tunnel nearly three kilometers long. about two miles or so. half or so, inside under gaza. the other half under israel. let's go to gaza right now. cnn's carl penhall standing by. sound eerily quiet right now, carl. set the scene for us. what's the late nst gaza? >> reporter: well, it depends, you know, it's not like last night when we saw sustained activity, first the illumination flares, then that followed by artillery fire and bomb boardments by the f-16 fighter jets but across in eastern gaza both rather cost of the afternoon and a few moments before we came on air. f-16 fighter jets have been concentrating on a target in eastern gaza on a neighborhood. there are a series of bunker buster bombs going in. these 2,000-pound bombs that in the daytime you can see them sending up a huge plume of smoke
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and dust and by night, what it looks like from here, is sending up a huge fire ball into the sky. now that would be really interesting from your perspective, wolf, it find out maybe what the targets are there because we don't know from this side with any precision what they are. but i would guess by the amount of ordinance, by the amount of bombs they are dumping on that site, that has to be some kind of tunnel complex across there, wolf. what we are also hearing in the air around central gaza city are the drones once again in the air. that sound of giant lawn mowers and one or two strikes here and about. but nothing like last night. we'll have to see how that develops in the course of the next few hours, wolf. >> yeah, these next few hours could be indeed very, very critical. karl, it looks very dark behind you. has much of gaza city lost power because of the destruction of that power plant israel blames hamas, hamas blames israel. i don't know who was really
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responsible. but it looks very dark in gaza city right now. >> yeah, in fact, let me just step out of the way a fraction. that is a black hole, isn't it? you can see one or two lights on there. but that is because gaza, even in fonormal time, got used to unusual power supplies and have their own generators. but we understand gaza is not putting out any electricity. but what was hit, fuel storage tanks, diesel tanks. now on the one hand, head of gaza power company says that diesel tank was hit by an israeli shell. of course we've heard from the israeli military say that that facility was not on their target list but doesn't rule out that something could have happened by mistake. but they will check it out. so we have to wait and see. this he says she says that often
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goes on in any conflict but quite honestly, the civilian population is sick of anybody and everybody's excuses. the civilian population doesn't want to go through these kind of conditions where they are now critically short of power and where that will also impact on the water supplies as well, wolf. >> yeah. 1.8 million palestinians live in gaza. tiny strip of land. karl, stand by. if something happens, we will come right back to you. but for now, i want to bring in a member of the opposition, of the israeli apartment. a former idf spokesman, as well. thanks very much for joining us. do you agree he with the -- you're in the opposition. >> yes. >> you're in the labor party. deputy speaker. do you agree with the strategy that current israeli government has put forward in gaza? >> from the very beginning, we support the government. we believe that netanyahu and chief of government is taking
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the right steps. i think they defend israel through their decisions and we support them and hope very much that it will end. and according to the very, measured and proportional decisions made by them. >> you know some members of the current government, he is not ruling out the possibility that israel might reoccupy gaza. that's something the labor party would strongly oppose. >> absolutely oppose it. and by the way, i wish the prime minister would define them. and the major supporter no the prime minister is from the opposition line. >> what would you do differently if labor were in power? >> i think that we would do -- we were doing more or less the same. we have to defend this country. you have to understand, it is unacceptable when you said 1.8 million people have no power.
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but 8 million power are under fire in israel. and i don't know if your viewers are fully understand what is going on here. this is the first time in our history that the entire country is under attack. and every few hours, there is another barrage of rockets landing all over the country. in the area, adjusting near the border, most of the settlements were left -- settlers left without population. and we have to have soldiers to defend them because we don't have answers to those -- >> but labor would take a different position than the current government on the peace process. >> absolutely. >> would you be much more willing to make those kinds of territorial concessions that the current government is not. >> yes. >> and if you speak to abbas, they want two-state solution. israel and palestine. >> absolutely. >> are you convinced that the current government of netanyahu
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is in favor of what is called that two-state solution? >> we are calling the government the day after this battle of this military operation is over. we will turn the page and move towards the palestinians, those who live in somaria and gaza and offer them a peace proposal, a peace plan to build two nation state for two people. this is the only solution that i can see accepted by both parties. we and palestinians and the entire world. >> are you at all worried about the u.s.-israeli relationship? the last couple of days there's been serious criticism of president obama, secretary of state john kerry, here in israel. some members of the israeli cabinet not necessarily on the record, but they are saying some pretty nasty things about the poll sift obama administration. >> some irresponsible voices from jerusalem, some even senior officials tend to forget the iron dome anti-missile defense
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system is paid by and financed by the united states. this is one of the miracles happening to us through this crisis. over 90% of rockets were intercepted by iron dome which was paid by the american taxpayer. so we have to remember that united states was, is and always will be our great friend in any economic military and political crisis. and i'm absolutely upset about those criticism and those voices that came out of israel. >> what would you do if the labor party, your party were in power right now to achieve a cease-fire? how far would you be willing to do? >> we would like it start after we accomplish the original targets by the military -- >> what is z that mean. >> the tunnels and causing as much as damage to the military infrastructure of hamas. that should be the end. we can always withdraw back to the border. which is not too far. you been there yesterday. and wait. if they continue, we continue.
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if they stop, we stop. we don't have to make any deals with them right now. but they should understand that israel is not going to tolerate any attack on -- it is not home front any longer, wolf. it is the entire country. not everyone understands that. >> some of the rockets and missiles were reaching -- >> over 100 kilometers from the border. we always try to ask, the question, what will you do? what will president obama do if a rocket like be fired from canada or mexico into america? >> you believe that israel does have a partner for peace of the palestinian side? >> yes, very much so. and i think that even within the government, that refusing so far to talk to the abbas, now abbas looks as part of this solution. no longer part of the problem, but part of the future solution of the israeli-palestinian relationship. >> is the labor party, your labor chance of becoming the minority party any time soon? >> i hope so. i hope so. you know, history tells us that
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after wars there is a political crisis and new elections and maybe new chance open to us in the next election. but before the time being, bear in mind, we support the government and we -- it is not only about us. it is the entire israeli public now is united in the first, in the same line, to hold the government -- to help idf to accomplish goals of this battle. >> opposition leader in the israeli, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. >> palestinian ambassador to the united states joining us now live from new york. let me get your quick reaction to what you just heard, ambassador. he says that he believes the two state solution, israel and palestine, can live together. that there is a palestinian partner for peace. what do you say? >> this is our position all along. we are saying that this cycle of violence and killing large number of palestinians civilians, especially children, is not going to accomplish this
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objective. this will increase the hatred between the two sides and deepen the resentment. and that is not an atmosphere conducive for peace, an atmosphere an conducive for accomplishing the two-state solution. the israeli government sabotaged the effort of secretary of state kerry and stopped negotiation at the end and they refused to to to row lease the fourth batch of prisoners and the effort of secretary of state which was an effort to try to accomplish the two-state solution. let me also say that one more thing. it was this israeli government that negotiated cease-fire in 2012 with hamas when hamas was in control of the gaza strip. for a period of time, that
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extended two years, there was calm in the southern front of israel and also with the gaza strip. but you know, as a result of what happened in the west bank, and the kidnapping and killing of the israelis three settlers, the current israeli government unleashed its anger against the palestinian people in the west bank for two weeks and then it moved to the gaza strip. and it was not our side that initiated, you know, this situation that we see in southern iz ralt aisrael and in- >> mr. ambassador -- >> the israeli government tried to destroy the national consensus government and the national con snsus government of abbas is trying to stop the fighting and move back it negotiation to accomplish the two-state solution. >> i want to get to some news that's just coming in. i want it point out those three israeli settlers, were teenage
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boys killed, that whole issue sparked this current round. we don't have to get back into that right now because those were teenagers, 15-year-old, 16-year-old boys. o of course, that was awful. awful the way israelis took revenge and killed a teenage palestinian boy. then there were elements of the israeli police who beat up a young palestinian-american boy as well. we will have to get through all of that again. those weren't just settlers, those were teenage boys brutally killed, as all of us know. but the united nations just said, and you're the palestinian representative to the united nations, mr. ambassador. they say they uncovered another cache of rockets at a u.n. school, an shelter, but this is the third time the united nations say they found hamas weapons in a united nations facility. how troubling is that to you? >> well, it is troubling to us,
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you know, to attack u.n. facilities that are housing palestinians displaced and 82 schools. and let's not forget the israeli side bombarded more than five schools this time, in which in one site, large number of palestinians who were there were killed and more than 200 injured. and in a previously, the israeli side bombarded a u.n. school in which 42 palestinians were killed and the warehouses of the united nations were destroyed by israel and they were held accountable for that and if i'm not mistaken, they paid 11 or $12 million compensated for united nations facilities at that time. so in this kind of situation, we always say and we side with the united nations and with the
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secretary-gener jekt general tha /* /- secretary-general that no harm should come and they are holding large number of people and they should not be harmed. >> you're not condoning hamas putting weapons in united nation facility, are you? >> absolutely not. we don't want anyone putting anything in the schools and we know the united nations is investigating the situations and we are cooperating fully with united nationes. at the same time we want those bomb boarding the schools from the israeli side to be held accountable for these crimes and also to face justice as well. prs. >> i'm sure, like you, i was encouraged when i heard the spokesman, everyone on board for 24-hour cease-fire that could lead to 72-hour cease-fire.
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i checked with the israelis. they had no comment. but within a very little while we heard from the commander of hamas saying no cease-fire. how disappointing was that to you when you heard that? >> well, my understanding that official position of the palestinian leadership mr. president abbas is standing by that unanimous decision among all palestinian factions, including hamas. but as you heard from the israeli side, you know, you will hear the differents of opinions even inside the israeli cabinet. so we have some issues of that nature. but nevertheless, i believe that palestinian leadership and president abbas is holding firm to that position. and we sincerely hope that we can begin the discussion with the egyptian government and through with the israeli side to have a cease-fire in place, maybe beginning with a
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humanitarian cease-fire to be followed by a permanent cease-fire and to address the causes of this conflict. we cannot just only listen to the israeli side saying, well, we can stop then withdraw to the borders and wait if nothing happens, nothing happened in their side. while that is fine, maybe for israel, but for the 1.8 million palestinians, you cannot keep them in prison. so when we stop -- when the fighting stops, and when cease-fire is holding, we need to free those people from this huge prison. we need to open the crossings. we need to lift the blockade, the blockade stifling those people and making life miserable for them. there is no excuse for bombing the power station, the only one. killing 1,120 palestinian, most of them civilian, a large number
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children. and injury 6,500 palestinians, most of them are civilians. in fact, close to 80% of them by u.n. statistics are civilians. these are not justifiable whatsoever. and this is not a proportionality in terms of reacting to the action from the palestinian side. this is illegal from the point of view international law. >> all right. it is important to get your perspective, mr. ambassador. riyad mansour at united nations in new york. we will check back with you in coming days. >> thank you very much for having me. >> thank you very much. and let's hope out of this horrible, horrible situation, maybe, maybe we can all pray peace process could get off the ground and both sides could work to the two-state solution. israel and palestine living side by side in peace. that would be excellent news. that could emerge from the current crisis. but we'll see.
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thank very much. still ahead, new reason to believe hamas fighters may be getting reinforcementses from iran. reopening a pipeline. in the ukraine war, new information about a deadly weapon now in the mix. hey, razor. check this out. listen up, thunder dragons, it's time to get a hotel. we can save big with priceline express deals. you know what man, these guys aint no dragons. they're cool. these deals are legit. yeah, we're cool. she's cool. we're cool.
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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. a top hamas commander rejecting a call from a cease-fire with israel. hamas may turn back to a familiar source to replenish its supply of weapons. taking a closer look at this part of the story there's a new message coming in from iran towards hamas. what is going on, brian?
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repo>> reporter: report a new ominous message coming in. despite a falling out between iran and hamas in recent years, iranians seem eager to rekindle that partnership and lethal weapons pipeline. iran's top leader shows disdain for hamas. saying this rabid dog attacked people. raising the stakes, calling for reinforcement of hamas. tran >> translator: the whole world and especially islamic world have the duty to do what they can to arm palestine. >> reporter: that could mean a bigger push to send rockets and training to hamas. a a pipeline that existed for years. >> he could be motivated and members of the revolutionary
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guard corps could be motivated to up their effort. >> reporter: rockets and other weapons often shipped from iran to sudan then driven through the peninsula, then tunnels into gaza. a military arsenal with thousands of rockets but the arab spring changed the game. first, hamas threwity support behind sunni rebels behind al-assad in civil ward. >> iran, being the patriot of syria, didn't like that. but especially since the uprising in syria began, the connection of iran with hamas has decreased. >> but the missile pipeline may not have decreased. from one cache on a cargo ship intercepted during the start of the arab spring. >> originating from iran. >> reporter: israel says iran's pushed through whatever it could. but now it is much more difficult to get those weapons to hamas. that's not iran's doing but egypts. >> very much sealed the
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smuggling tunnels between egypt and gaza. so the resupply of weapons into gaza will be an issue. >> reporter: but even if he can't help hamas the way he once could, analyst say the gaza conflict is an opportunity for homani. >> the desire to help hamas and stick it to the americans and israelis blend and marry rather well. i don't think you ever want toenedere toened underestimate his loathing of israel and loathing of united states. >> reporter: even if rockets are kpoeked off from entering gaza, the damage it iran is done. analyst say hamas can build its own sophisticated launch and rockets and training for that came from iran. wolf? >> brian todd in washington. thanks very much. let's dig deeper. joining us, israeli military and
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analyst and covering gaza for weeks, but he is back. excellent reporting from ian, from gaza. you're hearing that the talk of the cease-fire may not necessarily be over that there is behind the scenes movement right now. tell us what you're hearing? >> movement in cairo, in europe and in israel. and ramallah. in order to devise a new cease-fire, that will hold and that is why, for instance, the israeli cabinet didn't convene last night. but they postponed their meeting -- >> they were supposed to meet a few hours ago but they cancelled the meeting. >> yes. >> because something is going on. who is leading the initiative in the united states, secretary kerry or some other partner? >> i don't know, but i suspect -- yes, the americans are behind it. >> let me ask elise. she has been following this closely. what are you hearing a a