against these double war crimes of using civilian, hiding behind civilians. test is for the civilized world itself, how is it able to defend itself. israel accepted and hamas rejected the egyptian cease-fire proposal of july 15th. i want you to know that at that time the conflict that claimed some 185 lives. only on monday night did hamas finally agree to that very same proposal. which went into effect yesterday morning. that means that 90%, a full 90% of the fatalities in this conflict could have been avoided had hamas not rejected then the cease-fire that it accepted now. hamas must be held accountable for the tragic loss of life. it must be owe stroe sized.

and hamas must be prevented from rearming as part of gaza's general demilitarization. that is the sure way to guarantee that this conflict will not repeat itself. and i'm very glad that secretary kerry and others have put forward the need to demilitarize gaza. this is a long-standing palestinian obligation yet to be fulfilled. setting a new this long-term goal is important for israel. it's important for the people of gaza. and for all of us who want to see an end to the violence and an end to the suffering. every civilian casualty is a tragedy. a tragedy of hamas' own making. i think the noble laureate said it best when he said, hamas is engaging in child sacrifice. this is something for which it must be held accountable. for the sake of all our children, it must not be allowed to get away with this.

>> thank you, prime minister. we'll now do questions. first question, "new york times" -- [ inaudible ] >> -- cease-fire this time around -- [ inaudible ] -- people are asking, was this

your goal, was it the goal of this operation, was israel kind of improvising, was there a strategic plan here -- and the second question, if i may, we've seen -- [ inaudible ] >> thank you. we had started dealing with the tunnels. first of all, we were going to deal with the threats posed from gaza. either by military means or by diplomatic means. we began dealing with the first tunnel before the egyptian initiative. i don't know if you're aware of

it, but we had information about a terror attack. we took action before we had the air attacks -- before we had the air attacks on gaza in response to their rocketing attacks. we actually dealt with one tunnel. if we could have dealt with the rest of the tunnels through the egyptian proposal which had an immediate cease-fire, as we have now, and both sides can raise the topics and specifically the issue of security would be raised. it was mentioned there. when we said security, we meant obviously that we would bring up the question of the tunnels. could we deal with it through nonmilitary means? and the other threat against israel. that's preferable. hamas rejected this. we addressed the other tunnels. in addition to the one we already addressed with the military means. by doing the by actually going in.

we didn't know we would achieve that result. you either achieve it by agreement or you achieve it by going in to the other side, finding the points of origin of the tunnel. identifying the trajectory of the tunnel. and then dismantling it. that's basically what we did. if we could have done it diplomatically, fine. if not, we did it militarily. the army just told us they completed this activity. then we went out. we went in to deal with the tunnels. we went out after we finished dealing with the tunnels. >> jerusalem question, prime minister. >> obviously, we're concerned. we hope that everyone, everyone, will work now to calm the situation. that has been our goal from the very beginning, in jerusalem, everywhere, in the plain areas. we don't need to see any loss of life there anymore than we want to see it on the gaza front.

i want to make sure everyone understands we respect and will continue to respect the status quo on the temple mount. we know there are arrangements there including the role of jordan and we will not change it. >> cnn in the front row. >> prime minister, for cnn. first of all, the idea of who suffered the largest casualties yet of any palestinian/israeli conflict, we understand 61 soldiers killed, 3 civilians. we've seen more than 1,800 people killed in gaza. 900 or almost 1,000 of which are civilians, estimated. do you really feel that your actions, israel's actions, were proportionate, and were you using the appropriate precision weapons? even if hamas is using them as human shields. and the second question -- >> no, no, please, can i ask one

question -- no one will be able to ask if you do two. >> why don't you let me answer that, then you can ask the second question. first of all, the answer to both your questions is yes. i think it was justified. i think it was proportional. and that doesn't in any way take away from the deep regret we have for the loss of a single civilian. we've gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid civilian casualties. hamas has gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure they have civilian casualties. as you've just seen. now, let's imagine your country. could be any country. could be the u.s., britain, germany, france, india, you name it. let's imagine your country attacked by 3,500 rockets. your territories infiltrated by death squads.

what would you do? what would you demand your government do to protect you and your family? you'd demand that and you'd be right. because security, protecting the people, is the first obligation of any government. what if the rockets are fired from civilian areas? and the tunnels come from schools, from mosques, from private houses, where civilians live? should you then not take action? do the terrorists have immunity because of the fear that some civilians will unfortunately get hurt? let me tell you what i think disproportionality is. it's not acting to defend your people and giving the terrorists the license to kill. i think that's disproportionate and that's wrong. >> can i ask you to give up your second question so more people get to ask, please, i apologize. john reid from "the financial

times." >> thank you very much. mr. prime minister, are you prepared to give abu mazen and the palestinians, palestinian authority, a leading role in the post war order in gaza, and if so, can you talk about that, specifics including policing the borders? >> we have cooperated with the palestinian authority on matters that you raised. there are other matters as well. and the answer is we're cooperating with them and are prepared to see a role for them. >> all right, so there you hear the prime minister of israel, benjamin netanyahu, saying he's willing to cooperate with the palestinian authority, president abbas, a strong israeli coordination on the west bank. we'll see if that can be replicated in gaza. you did hear a very, very powerful strong statement from the prime minister of israel, condemning hamas, going after hamas, and is basically accusing hamas of being responsible for all those civilian deaths that have occurred in gaza over these

past four weeks. bottom line point, if hamas had accepted the egyptian sponsored cease-fire three weeks a israel then accepted, 90% of those casualties would not have occurred. i want to bring in jake tapper who's joining us now from jerusalem. he's our anchor of "the lead." jake, you're on the scene there. so far, this three-day cease-fire, day two right now, seemed to be working. what's the latest there? >> it does seem to be working. we're still waiting to hear about the israeli delegation officially arriving in cairo. we have reports they have arrived but the israeli government has yet to confirm. of course the u.s. state department, as we reported, has also sent a small contingent. there in advisory and observatory role. they're not getting involved in the nitty-gritty negotiations. these are not direct talks between israel and the palestinians because two of the five factions of palestinians

are organizations that israel and the united states, might add, considers to be terrorists, both hamas and palestinian islamic jihad. this will be done through intermediaries, through the egyptian government. an observation about netanyahu's press conference. obviously, he is bilingual and that is an enormous strength for any world leader when he's trying to convey a message to the world community. most of his press conferences of course here in israel are done in hebrew. he clearly feels as though he needs to make the case for israel. that israel has taken a public relations hit is not new. obviously, more than 1,800 palestinians were killed in the latest military operation by israel. the israeli defense forces estimates that 900 of the 1800 were militants, were individuals they were targeting. that still means 900 were civilians. you see prime minister netanyahu there using a multimedia

presentation to make the case that there were reports, a few of them, because obviously it's difficult to report from in gaza, but reports from other journalists showing how rockets were fired from adjacent hospital, and of course of course idf video trying to show they did fire warning shots. making the case that this hugelehuge loss of life is not the fault of defense forces who in most cases were physically responsible for the dropping of ordnance, blaming it all on the hamas terrorists who control the gaza strip. did earlier offer cease-fires, offered both by the egyptian, laying all the blame on the feet of hamas. of course that's a blame that the palestinian leadership, both in the west bank and gaza, rejects wholeheartedly. prime minister netanyahu, there making his case aggressively, wolf. >> you saw him show video at the

beginning, by journalists who are now out of gaza, he made the case that journalists in gaza, they're restrained, hamas won't let them show rocket launchers in the midst of heavily populated areas. now this video all of a sudden surfacing on the internet. he showed some of that as well. over the past 24, 48 hours, that kind of video has emerged. i assume there's more of that on the way. >> i assume so as well. martin savidge, our reporter on the ground in gaza, on monday, showed some video. it was not as clear as the video from the indian reporters with ndtv. really obviously hamas and militants in gaza don't exactly send out inva i thats to the media before they fire these rocket. it's often done very sur tipsly, as we saw from that extraordinary report by ndtv where these individuals, perhaps with hamas, perhaps with another group, constructed a tent in a

nearby -- right next to a population center, constructed a rocket and then fired the rocket. according to that extraordinary report. martin savidge, i should note, did have a report. it showed the flash. it was taken at night. not -- he didn't have the good fortune, i suppose, is an odd term to issue he didn't have the good reporting fortune to have been given a hotel room right next to one of these sites. the instances of palestinians, of hamas, firing rockets from population centers, have been reported on in the last few weeks, at great length, but it's true right now we're seeing some of the more extraordinary video come out. mainly i think because a lot of these reporters have gotten out of gaza and feel more free to report what they saw, wolf. >> and finally, what's the latest on the arrest, the israelis have now told you, mark regev, the spokesman for the prime minister, they have in custody an individual who is accused killing those three

israeli teenagers, an event that really sparked this current cycle of violence. what exactly do we know about the individual who has been arrested? >> well, we know very little in terms of concrete facts. we know what the israeli government has told us, which is this person was arrested a month ago, and it's been kept under wraps. it is an individual who is related to one of the two suspects who are directly accused of carrying out the kidnappings and murders of those three israeli teenagers, one of whom of course had dual citizenship with the united states. the individual they have in custody, the israeli government says, is a senior official with hamas. a senior member, i should say, rather, of hamas. and somebody who has said, according to press accounts, that he was given orders to put this plan into motion. but, again, these are statements by a government. we have not seen any evidence or proof of this. the two specific suspects, wolf,

we're told by the israeli police, the two specific suspects are still wanted and are at large, wolf. >> jake tapper, thanks very much. jake will have a lot more on this on "the lead," 4:00 p.m. eastern. i want to go to cairo. cnn's ressa sayah is on the scene for us. i take it the palestinian delegation has been there for a couple days. the israeli delegation is there. what's the latest as far as these follow-on talks? this is day two. we're hoping it lasts into day three and it extends even further, this cease-fire. what do you know? >> yes, wolf, it's been extremely challenging to report on the facts when it comes to these talks and report how they've been progressing. obviously one of the reasons is because they're not direct talks. these are separate talks taking place in different places in cairo. the palestinians on one side. the israelis on another location. things are complicated.

there are growing indications even though these two sides agreed on a cease-fire, that they agreed to stop fighting, they seem to be on a different page when it comes to how to move forward. we've spoken to palestinian delegate who's part of the negotiating team here in cairo. and he tells us that he's not quite convinced that the israeli delegation here in cairo is authorized to talk about the core demands of hamas. those include the lifting of the blockade, the opening of the border crossing, the release of the prisoners. remember, that was the condition for hamas to come here to cairo. that those four demands would be addressed according to the palestinian delegate. he's not sure that the israeli team here is authorized to do that. and then a short time ago, we received a statement from a senior egyptian government official and he described these talks like this. he said they're an experimental discussion at this point in order to consolidate the

cease-fire. so based on that statement, it looked like they're still talking about the parameters and the frameworks of this particular 72-hour cease-fire. and how they move forward. no indication these two sides are talking about the core demands. so, again, signs of complications moving forward. wolf. >> and we know that the united states, the obama administration, reza, is sending a delegation to cairo as well. what do we know about the role that the u.s. will play? because it seems to be relatively secondary as opposed to a main role. give us your analysis. >> yeah, i don't think that's unusual, considering how these particular talks are taking shape. there's all kinds of indications, as we mentioned, that these talks are focusing on the immediate cease-fire that's in place right now, the 72-hour cease-fire. there's no indication that these two sides are talking about the

nitty-gritty, the so-called permanent peace, lasting truce. if that was the case, if these talks would reach that status, you can be sure that washington would send a higher level team at this point they've decided to send a lower level delegation in an advisory monitoring capacity, wolf. >> critical talks under way where you are in cairo. we will of course stay in very close touch with you. we'll have much more coverage of the crisis in the middle east. that's coming up. we're following other important news. the reaction over at the pentagon. we have new details on that a ta attack in afghanistan that killed an american general. and later what could be the biggest internet theft in history. you're going to hear what was targeted and the russian gang now suspected of committing the crime. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 50,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account.

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welcome back. we just heard the prime minister netanyahu make his case that hamas is responsible for the civilian casualties in gaza. now nabil shaath, the key adviser to the palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas. so, nabil, i guess one of the main points we just heard the prime minister make is if hamas would have accepted the cease-fire that israel accepted, the one egypt put forward three weeks ago that the palestinian

authority accepted, if hamas would have accepted it then, he said 90% of the casualties in gaza would not have occurred. what's your reaction to that? >> well, thanks, god, we are now in a cease-fire. the spilling of blood is over. the killing of civilians, women and children, is over. and i hope this will really last. but hamas' rejection at the beginning and its present acceptance really has no justification for netanyahu to have done the massacre he has done in gaza. entering into gaza and destroying 25,000 buildings and killing 2,000 civilians and injuring about 30,000 is really far more than what is reasonably expected from an invading army like that of mr. netanyahu, to do in a highly densely populated

area like gaza, when the result is catastrophic. the people who have done the killing are his officers and soldiers. not anybody else. >> the other point he made is israel had no choice. 3,000 rockets coming in. and he said there's now video evidence, and we've seen some of it from journalists who have left gaza, showing that hamas deliberately put those rocket launchers in heavily populated areas, outside of u.n. shelters or schools, and as a result, israel had to take action. what do you say to that point he just made? >> well, that is the excuse he has made to start this whole bloody war from the very beginning. he should have said this 3,000 rockets have injured six civilians and killed two military people. so that people would really put this in perspective. these 3,000 rockets were almost like stones thrown in a

demonstration. and, in fact, not making any more injury than what stones would do in a demonstration. not that i approve of them. but the reasonableness of his argument totally vanishes when you compare the rockets and their effect with the bombing and its effect. i think this is what should be looked at when you assess the attack of the israelis on gaza. >> the other point he made is that he had finished destroying hamas tunnels going from gaza into israel. he said no country would allow infiltration along those lines. he said that mission has basically been accomplished. let's move ahead now and see where we go from here. what do you believe, nabil shaath, are the prospect, that, a, the three-day cease-fire, now in day two, can be expanded, and the substantive issues around the negotiating table can really achieve some progress? >> well, we have one united

palestinian delegation appointed by president abbas. it's led by one of the plo leaders. but it has all the factions, fatah, hamas, jihad, everybody. they are united, their determination, to have an extended cease-fire which will last for a very long time, and they are all in agreement that at the end of this cease-fire, the israelis should stop the siege of gaza, allow palestinian fishermen to fish in their own seawater and peasants and farmers to grow their fields that are close to the israeli borders and that the people of gaza will have a decent life that is safe and allows them access and travel and real freedom. there's also an agreement that those prisoners which were released by the israelis in the

shalit exchange and then were re-arrested by israel should be released, together with the prisoners that should have been released with abuse mazen's agreement with mr. kerry. now, if these are done, we hope that this will lead to a quick reconstruction of gaza and a step forward to hopefully go back to the political settlement. that will produce an end of occupation and a real two-state solution. what we are talking about now are all measures that are really security oriented, in order to bring back gaza to life again. but what needs to be done and not really to delay is to look into the reasons that have led to this situation in gaza. >> all right, nabil. nabil shaath is the former palestinian foreign minister, key adviser to the palestinian authority, president mahmoud abbas, and there's a palestinian negotiation led by the

palestinian authority in cairo right now, including representatives from hamas, islamic jihad and all of the factions. an israeli delegation is now in cairo as well. a u.s. delegation on the way. we'll see what, if anything, cab be achieved. meanwhile, the cease-fire is holding. nabil, thank you very much for your reaction from what we heard from the prime minister of israel. there's other news we're following, including this, russia, may be ready to pounce with tens of thousands of troops poised by the ukrainian border. russia now saying it wants clearance to advance for what it calls humanitarian reasons. we're going live to ukraine when we come back. from 2000 to 2011, on average 17 manufacturers a day shut down in america. there's no reason we can't manufacture in the united states. here at timbuk2, we make more than 70,000 custom bags a year,

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the situation in ukraine is deteriorating and russian troops may be able to move in. the united nations security council held an emergency meeting yesterday at russia's request. the u.n. says 137,000 people have fled to russia in the past four months. according to reuters, russia says it wants to send a humanitarian convoy into eastern ukraine but poland's foreign minister says that may be the guise russia wants to use to start an actual invasion. our nick paton walsh is joining us from donetsk in eastern ukraine, one of the areas held by the pro-russian rebels. what's the talk there about the build-up of russian troops right on the other side of the boarder? what's the latest? >> we had a rare appearance from one of the self-declared leaders

of the separatists movement this afternoon. sorry, some disturbance in the center of the city. when asked repeatedly whether or not he wanted a russian military invasion, he didn't answer that specifically, and answered how complex for russia to convene and the sanctions they potentially face. playing up the issue of the humanitarian catastrophe. we today, ourselves, trying to report on what we heard last night, have been around the city and seen the greatest cause by what we think must have been the jet we heard in the sky and seeing where two people were killed by shelling. no one knows quite who fired those rounds. it is extraordinarily tense here. the ukrainian military is moving fast. the window in which russia could launch an operation, it would have to be small because they don't have enough troops on that side of the border to really

come in and occupy territory. just as one nato official said, to seriously interfere. the window for them intervening is closing. ukraine is moving fast here. >> talking about the crisis in donet donetsk. very little water, power. the mass exodus of folks, including a lot of health care workers. give us a sense of what it's like there. >> well, a lot of the shops are boarded up. it's fair to say a lot of people have closed down their normal daily operations. but there is a period of time between 10:00 and 2:00 in the day in which the government and the ukrainian military has promised people will be able to go about their daily lives. when that 2:00 window passes, you quickly see black smoke from what may well be military advances. people scurry around and try to have a normal life. we're not seeing particularly substantial shortages of basics. even people queueing for their pensions. the real fear is the shelling.

people are scared to leave. some can't afford to leave. some don't trust the military of kiev after the military advances of the past month or so. i think the real feeling amongst most people in donetsk, they don't really care, they just want the violence to stop because it's gone on too long and it's disrupting the ability to simply live normally. >> nick, as i always tell you, be careful. we'll stay in touch. up next, we're going live to gaza, thousands of people getting a chance to return to their neighborhoods that had turned into battle zones. you do a lot of things great.

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liberty mutual insurance. let's get back to the crisis in the middle east. we're getting footage from france 24 television. appears to show a hamas rocket being fired from a densely populated civilian area in gaza. israel accuses hamas of firing rockets from schools, monk mosques, other public sites, using palestinian civilians as human shields. here's the exclusive footage from france 24, shot last week in gaza. >> 80% of gaza -- >> okay, you are right -- >> yes, can you hear me? >> yes, what happened? >> -- the camera -- this was a

rocket, rocket just shot right next to where we're standing -- this is just some 50 meters away from the hotel where most of the international media is stationed. this right here is a launching pad for rockets used by palestinian militants. now, this type of setup is at the heart of the debate within the international community, but also between israel and the palestinian militants. the israeli army has repeatedly accused palestinian militants of shooting from within densely populated civilian areas, and that is precisely the type of setup we have right here. rockets set up right next to buildings, with a lot of residents in them. now, the other very noticeable element. it's about 100 meters behind me. a blue u.n. flag floating above this building. this is another accusation which has been made by the israeli government and israeli forces.

this rocket launching site is right next to u.n. facility. >> that's from france 24 tv. as you can see right there. let's go to karl penhaul. he's in gaza city for us. karl, let's talk about this video. some indian television video that surfaced yesterday as well. making the point that these journalists while they were there they say they couldn't show this because they were afraid of retaliation from hamas. now that they're out of gaza, they're showing hamas deliberately places these rocket launchers in heavily populated civilian areas. you've been there, karl, from the beginning. i'm anxious to hear what your reporting on this has been. >> my understanding, wolf, is that those two rocket launch sites could be the same site, in fact, next to one of the gaza hotels that that correspondent said was being used by the international media. there appears to be a

unconstructed lot next to the hotel. also, a number of yards fairly close by to a u.n. installation there. i'm not sure when the indian tv station decided to publish their report. i am aware their reporter left and passed through the areas, crossing back into israel. i'm not sure when he left, but was aware that that was published on site. we have seen rocket launch sites that have clearly come from urban areas, even from our vantage point here. difficult to say precisely whether they came from inside buildings or courtyards of buildings or vacant lots alongside those buildings. we've seen those, in general terms, reported having seen rocket launch sites. something that specific, we have not seen or got close to in the past. but that was by virtue of the fact these rocket launching sites were next to the hotel where they were staying, wolf.

>> that's why this indian television reporter, now this french television reporter, you're saying that -- your understanding is they may be the same location near where the hotel where these reporters were staying, and apparently they're now out of gaza. what's it like today? this is day two of the cease-fire. i understand people are trying to get back to their homes. trying to get back to some sort of a semblance of a life there. >> they certainly are trying to get back to the areas where their homes once stood. it's a very sad situation to watch them. i saw a ph.d. student yesterday. and he looked at the place where his home used to stand and shook his head and said, i don't really understand what i'm seeing. i feel like i'm in a dream. it will be a long time before people comprehend what's happened to their homes before they absorb that and decide how to rebuild a future. in a little vignette today that kind of suggested to me that the

militant factions here believe their cease-fire is holding, we saw a funeral of an islamic jihad commander, a number of gunman had turned, were firing off salvos during that funeral procession, and then during the second half of the procession, a squad of seven camouflaged masked and armed islamic jihad fighters turned out, again, firing salvos at the burial of their commander. so they clearly were confident enough to come out and believed they wouldn't be targeted as they came out in public. another thing that struck me, we had the chance to talk to one of the religious leaders of islamic jihad at the grave site. we put it to hip, this whole issue of human shields or were the militants operating within the civilian population. and he certainly didn't deny that the militants were operating within the civilian area. he said, where else do they have to operate? and secondly, which seems interesting to me, he suggested that the civilians were so

supportive of the militants that this is really what gave the militants some kind of legitimacy to operate within the civilian community. that's certainly his take on the other side of this very necessary debate, wolf. >> cakarl penhaul on the scene r us in gaza. he's been there from the beginning of this war. let's see if the cease-fire can last. it's now day two. tomorrow will be day three. we'll see if it can be extended. carl, thanks very much. for the moment, as i said, the fighting in gaza has stopped. there is negotiations in cairo right now. what about the u.s. role in all of this? we're about to take a closer look. female announcer: through sunday at sleep train,

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on this day in history, august 6th, 1945, the american

bomber dropped the first deployed atom bomb over the japanese city of hiroshima. it killed some 80,000 people, at least 60,000 more die from the effects of the nuclear fallout. an egyptian brokered cease-fire between israel and hamas seems to be holding. officials from both sides are in cairo for talks about how to make the truce last. this has left the u.s. on the sidelines, at least as far as the peace process is concerned. our senior political analyst david gergen. we know, david, a u.s. delegation is on the way to cairo. they're sure to be on the margins, advising. serious diplomats involved. what is the role right now in cairo to try to make sure, a, the cease-fire lasts, and, b, some of the longer-term issues can be dealt with, so this kind

>> well, wolf, david horowitz, a well-respected publication there has been arguing the u.s. role should be low-key during this early stage of the cease-fire. and i think that's right. we can play a very important behind the scenes role in beginning to line up the forces that would make a peace possible over the longer-term. but for the moment, i think to have the egyptians out front, talking to the palestinians, bringing in the israelis, delegation arriving later, i think is the best way to go. we've -- you know, there's been so much in the press about the tensions between netanyahu and president obama, between the israelis and secretary kerry. given all that, i think this lower-key role is better, that people and the palestinians, obviously, are angry at the u.s. israelis are angry. we have a lot of important things to do over the long-term.

and the reconstruction of gaza and helping with some sort of international coalition. but i think our best role right now is quiet and behind the scenes. >> how would you assess the overall u.s.-israeli relationship right now? i just came back. i was there for almost four weeks when i spoke to the former president of israel, he praised the u.s./israeli relationship, the military to military connection, the intelligence community to intelligence community relationship. even though everyone knows there's occasionally a little tension there, personal tension between the prime minister of israel and the president of the united states. >> well, i think that -- paris is right, as he so often is. the iron dome -- listen, you were the iron man at the iron dome during the last four weeks. and that iron dome was spectacularly successful in protecting the israelis from a lot of these rockets that the iron dome technology, as you

know, very much a u.s.-base and just a couple days ago, president obama signed a bill from the congress, passed unanimously by the senate, $225 million more for the iron dome. so at a military to military level, i think it's been very significant and successful. and intelligence -- i don't judge that, but clearly it's helped. but at the political level, there are real serious strains. and we need a little time for some healing here for people to sort of get their bearings again. we don't need, you know, u.s. rattling the israeli cage in public, nor the israelis rattling our cage. we need a time to get back together. the relationship fundamentally at its fundamentals, i think is still strong. but if you look at the person-to-person relationship, it's not what it should be. and wolf, it's going to be important for the leaders of israel and the u.s. to trust each other in die ro and the peace talks, but very importantly, as you know so well, we've got the iranian issue that's coming to a head

here in the next few months. and on that one, there is -- a level of distrust that could on the part of the israelis that could be very, very disruptive and, you know, upset the apple cart in trying to get to a deal with the iranians. >> when i interviewed prime minister netanyahu, when i was there a couple weeks ago, he made it clear, as concerned as he is about hamas, he is a lot more concerned potentially down the road about iran, especially if iran were to get -- develop some sort of nuclear weapon. and the extension of these negotiations to deal with that over the next four months, that's going to be critical. and right now, what you're suggesting is the u.s. and israel might not necessarily be exactly the same page, is that what you're saying? >> oh, absolutely. i think there have been many signals out of israel that what they -- what they believe is the right solution with iran is the dismantlement of the nuclear capability of iran and what they see emerging is a deal which leaves some capability, more limited, to be sure. but a capability.

and from the israel point of view, that's still too dangerous. and you're going to find that with apac and the united states. the main israeli lobby, they're very strongly for dismantlement. it will cause a real split. but within -- within washington, this would actually be a deal that's going to serve america's national interests. there are going to be many, many conservatives, if it's not dismantlement, and frankly, some democrats who are not going to be happy with that. >> yeah, it's going to be a huge issue. we'll watch that closely, as well. david, thanks very much. david gergen. >> thank you. >> senior political analyst. plez obama, by the way, is going -- is hosting now a summit of african leaders here in washington. he's due to hold a news conference at 5:00 p.m. eastern. we'll have live coverage of that "the situation room." he'll be asked about the middle east, ukraine, 5:00 p.m.

eastern, the president of the united states meets reporters over at the state department. we'll have live coverage in "the situation room." up next, hundreds of thousands of websites hacked by a cyber gang. more than a billion internet users stolen. how the theft was uncovered. possible victims. that's next. ups is a global company, but most of our employees live in the same communities that we serve. 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. ♪

now to a massive internet

security breach affecting people around the world. a respected security firm sas a russian gang has stolen the usernames and passwords of more than 1 billion people. brian todd is looking into this. what are you learning? >> it's being called the biggest hack ever, this firm called hold security based in milwaukee has discovered that russian -- basically, a russian gang of 20-something hackers has stolen 1.2 billion username and password combinations around the world. most of them, these hackers stole, some of them they bought on the black market. the hackers have breached more than 420,000 websites to do this, wolf, from fortune 500 companies to just individuals with small websites of their own. according to hold securities. but the problem is, we don't know exactly who the victims are. hold securities is not revealing the names of the victims. i asked the chairman of hold securities, alex holden, why that is. take a listen. >> we prefer not to name any victims, because we would be

singlingi out the companies who are perhaps still vulnerable. and on that list, there are no victims that we want to rate higher or lower. everybody is -- had been victimized by this group. so we prefer not to name any of these individuals or companies. >> now alex holden says so far the hackers have just used this as spam to make a little bit of money off that. his main concern, though, wolf, they're going to venture into hacking people's bank accounts and possible identity theft. 1.2 billion accounts, that's a lot of identity theft. >> what if people just change their passwords. >> that's the thing you have to do. you have to change your password, do it often. make it a complicated password. a lot of people don't like to do that. but you've got to do that. and if you want to find out, he's not revealing the names of those victims. but if you want to find out if you're a victim, you can go to hold securities website, fill out a form and they'll e-mail you back to tell you if you've been a victim or not. >> key words, change your password. >> change your password. >> and don't just make it 1234. change it and make it a good

password. thanks very much. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern, a special two-hour edition of "the situation room." president obama will hold a news conference at 5:00 p.m. we'll have live coverage of that, as well. until then, thanks for watching. "newsroom" with brooke baldwin starts right now. and here we go. top of the hour. thank you very much for being with me. i'm brooke baldwin. the mid east cease-fire is holding still today. this is two days for the cease-fire. but moments ago, israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, addressed reporters in jerusalem, and said the cease-fire plan is the same one hamas rejected back on july 15th. he said that makes hamas responsible for nearly all the deaths in gaza. >> 90%, a full 90% of the fatalities in this conflict could have been avoided had hamas not rejected then the cease-fireha