headed to hawaii if you can. a very serious situation. short break now. just ahead, the fighting between israel and gaza may have stopped for now. >> but if you can believe it, not everyone is happy about the current cease-fire. coming up, extremists on both sides saying finish the job.

e. and a and a warm welcome back. i'm rosemary church. >> here's what's making news around the world. a court in cambodia has handed down guilty verdicts for two former leaders now this their 80s. they are to serve life in prison for crimes against humanity. at least 1.7 million people were killed during the khmer rouge

regime between 1975 and 1979. liberia's president has declared a 90-day state of emergency in her country because of the deadly ebola outbreak there. the deaths of at least 282 people are attributed to ebola in liberia. the world health organization says the overall confirmed probable and suspected death toll in western africa is now 932. u.s. president barack obama says western sanctions are putting enormous pressure on russia's economy. now vladimir putin's delivered his strongest response yet to the economic penalties over ukraine. for one year, moscow is banning food and agricultural imports from countries imposing sanctions on russia. negotiators in egypt say they're working to extend the 72-hour cease-fire between israel and hamas. israel says it is on board, but hamas says such talk is

premature. israel is demanding that hamas be disarmed. hamas wants an end to israel's blockade of gaza. now, secretary-general ban ki-moon says the u.n. is ready to help rebuild gaza, but as many u.n. employees, their lives are put at risk, we saw one u.n. rep break down in tears during this last campaign. they're saying this must be the last time. >> yeah, ban ki-moon made an emotional plea during a special meeting of the u.n. general assembly wednesday. >> the nightmare over the last four weeks has been a terrible reminder that only a negotiated political settlement can bring security and peace to israelis and palestinians alike. this cease-fire has come at a price that is almost too much to bear. the massive death and destruction in gaza have shocked and shamed the world.

perhaps nothing symbolized more the horror unleashed on the people of gaza than the repeated shelling of u.n. facilities harboring civilians who had been expressly told to seek a safe haven there. these attacks were outrageous, unacceptable and unjustifiable. the senseless cycle of suffering in gaza and the west bank as well as in israel must end. do we have to continue like this, build, destroy and build and destroy. we will build again, but this must be the last time to rebuild. this must stop now. they must go back to negotiating table. we must not repeat this way. >> sounds absolutely reasonable there, but not everyone agrees with the u.n. secretary-general.

some in israel and in gaza don't want this war to end. some are using words as weapons. others using actual violence. >> yeah, it's a shock for some people, but either way, any peace process will be hampered by factions on both sides who would rather play out this deadly game until its bitter end. jake tapper reports. >> reporter: today in gaza, mourning and a show of defiance by members of the palestinian islamic jihad, a group the u.s. and israeli governments categorize as terrorists. while islamic jihad is part of the group participating in the talks of the cease-fire in cairo, these individuals captured by karl penhaul and his crew, they seem to represent a faction that will fight any attempts to quell violence in the region. and these israelis also may be part of that effort on the other side. a small right-wing faction reported by "the telegraph," chanting enthusiastically about palestinian children killed by israeli airstrikes. during a counterdemonstration to

a rally in tel aviv against those airstrikes in gaza. ole, ole, there is no school tomorrow. there are no children threat there, they chant. the actions of the two groups may be quite different, but as a political force, these are the people who do not want to give peace a chance. the western world is more than aware of the terrorist acts of hamas and islamic jihad and their enablers throughout the arab world, but to many liberal israelis, the fervor growing inside their own country is also hurting long-term prospects for peace. >> i think the extremism is here to stay, and that's my main concern because the war is almost over, but they will stay here. all this will be much harder if not complicated and dangerous. it's horrifying to see the level of indifference in israel, the

sacrifice and the suffering on the other side. it's almost not legitimate to even express some kind of empathy. >> reporter: but netanyahu spokesman denies this is a widespread problem. >> those extremists, those making the noise, those who talk about violence and instigating sort of hatred against the other sides, they are a small minority. that doesn't mean we tolerate them. >> reporter: whatever their numbers, the israeli right is flexing its muscles. as the israeli army attacked gaza, the strongest pressure netanyahu may have felt was from those who thought he was holding back. netanyahu's own deputy minister of defense criticized him for saying he would agree to a cease-fire. netanyahu fired him, but when we met up with him today, he was unrepentant. do you think that netanyahu should have agreed to the cease-fire? >> i think it was a premature cease-fire. >> reporter: premature. >> to complete the operation.

otherwise hamas will decide when the next conflict will take place. >> reporter: leaders of the israeli military cautioned the cabinet that trying to do more in gaza would take months, cost billions of dollars and thousands of palestinian and hundreds of israeli lives. they recommended against it. they didn't think it was a good idea. you were the deputy defense minister. you must have respect for the military commanders. >> i don't buy it. i have other views of the military. you can conquer gaza within a week. >> reporter: he also does not i boo the argument that his obstinence hurts israel. >> in 2 1/2 years, secretary kerry will not be in the state department. president obama will not be in the white house. i will stay here with my family. >> reporter: he's a man of words, a politician. but liberals like levy say the rising strain of extremism here is being expressed in more aggressive ways. recently levy described the

elite air force pilots of, quote, perpetrating the worst, cruelest, most despicable deeds, unquote. he was defending his views on live television when a passerby accosted him. you're a traitor, the man shouts. an israeli lawmaker agreed and called for levy to be tried for treason. >> i was very surprised by the intensity, the level of aggression, lack of tolerance and lack of understanding, what does it mean to live in a democratic society. >> reporter: the question now is whether these voices, loud, angry, sometimes violent will derail the hopes for a long-term peace. jake tapper, cnn, jerusalem. to another troubled part of the world in iraq, violence has claimed dozens of lives. wednesday iraqi police say five car bombs exploded in baghdad, killing 16 people and wounding dozens. in the northern city of mosul, an iraqi official says at least 76 people were killed by an

iraqi air force strike. and in the town of sinjar, tens of thousands of one of iraq's oldest ethnic minority groups have fled their homes. isis fighters stormed the area over the weekend. cnn's michael holmes has more. >> reporter: islamic state militants have wreaked havoc across iraq, leaving many iraqis dead, others displaced, and religious minorities begging for help.

they are the desendant of kurds but consider themselves distinct. they follow an ancient religion, making them an especially vulnerable target of islamic state militants, forcing islam or death throughout the areas it overtakes. >> translator: we heard sounds of mortars and in the morning the islamic militants entered. we fled to the mountains and those who stayed there are now suffering from thirst. they have no water. they also took the girls and raped them. she said the yazidis have to be converted to islam. >> reporter: their plight doesn't stop there. the thousands who fled to the neighboring mountains are now stranded without food or water in the summer heat. >> translator: they have blocked the road to the mountains and the road down the mountains. there is no water, and people are now dying from thirst. children are dying and are being buried under the rocks. >> reporter: with no relief in

sight, the yazidi hope their plea for help does not fall on deaf ears. michael holmes, cnn, atlanta. well, closing arguments are due to begin in just a few hours in the murder trial of south african athlete oscar pistorius. the prosecution is to begin followed by the defense. now, each side is expected to take a day to make its case. pistorius has admitted killing his girlfriend, reeva steenkamp, on valentine's day last year but says he mistook her for an intruder. another short break, but next on cnn, more coverage of the growing ebola outbreak. >> yeah, dr. sanjay gupta tours one of the top u.s. facilities tracking ebola which is now on its highest level of alert. plus, a milestone is reached millions of kilometers away from earth. we will tell you the big news for the rosetta space probe. very exciting stuff. stay with us. financial tomorrows a reality

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welcome back. well, the spread of the ebola virus has prompted the u.s. centers for disease control and prevention to issue its highest possible alert. >> yeah, the cdc director calls the current ebola outbreak the biggest and most complex in history. dr. tom frieden says it will take months and it won't be easy. >> a patient with suspected ebola symptoms tested negative for the virus. so that is good news in itself. but those two u.s. medical workers now undergoing treatment for ebola in atlanta, there are their pictures, each received an experimental serum. >> but it's just not clear right now if the drug is effective, and there is a very limited supply. in fact, u.s. president barack obama is downplaying hopes that it could be used to contain the outbreak. >> i think we've got to let the

science guide us. you know, i don't think all the information's in on whether this drug is helpful. what we do know is that the ebola virus, both currently and in the past, is controllable if you have a strong public health infrastructure in place. >> we'll explain this to you. the cdc's highest alert level effectively means all hands on deck to deal with ebola. >> yeah, our chief medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta visited the cdc facility charged with responding to the outbreak. take a look. >> reporter: this is the cdc's emergency operations center. think of it as the nerve center of its response to the ebola outbreak. just a few minutes after i walked in, phones and blackberrys started buzzing everywhere. while we were here, the activation level just went up to level 1. just in the last couple minutes. what does that mean? >> what that means is just more people and more resources

dedicated to the response. >> reporter: in that room, you could feel a quiet determination and a sense of urgency. let me give you a little bit of an idea of how this all works. what you're looking at is what the cdc looks at, a map of the world, trying to figure out what infectious diseases are happening and where they're happening. as you might imagine, a lot of focus on ebola right now. they're tracking that as well realtime. they've been doing it since march. take a look in here. this really jumped out at me. mid-may, they thought things were basically under control. but then look what happens at the beginning of june. everything takes off. this is on its way to becoming the worst ebola outbreak in history. >> this is our emergency operations center, or eoc, as we call it. >> reporter: dr. stephan monroe is helping lead the cdc's ebola response. not an easy task at all. was there mistakes made? is there a reason why this outbreak is worse than any other outbreak in history? >> the initial event, the lightning strike was right in this corner between three countries in a very remote part

of each of those countries. and so it quickly spread across the borders. >> reporter: many more resources are needed. and some of it is on the way. the cdc is sending 50 more people to the region in the next month. dr. meredith dixon just returned from two tours in the remote part of guinea. >> one day we were removed from that area because there were rumors that a group of young men would be coming to destroy the treatment center because they wanted to destroy ebola. >> reporter: she says that situation never escalated. but it shows the kind of hurdles and confusion the health workers face there. here in the united states, a different sort of confusion. different questions. for example, if ebola is not airborne, then why were there such extraordinary precautions taken for dr. kent brantley and miss wrightbol? turns out it was an abundance of caution rather than a necessity. >> we're pretty confident that any large hospital could handle an ebola case if one were to show up at their doorstep, using

traditional isolation rooms with negative pressure room and with traditional droplet and respiratory precautions. >> reporter: and while i suited up in multiple layers when i was in guinea just earlier this year -- >> worn by health care workers when they come into contact with patients. >> reporter: the cdc says a mask, goggles, face shield, protective gown and gloves can provide all the protection you need for most situations. dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. >> of course, we will stay right on this story with all the details. there is a great deal of concern right across the globe. all right. well, a short break again. but still to come, a space exploration probe has accomplished its first mission. >> yeah, take a look at some of these images. we're going to tell you why scientists are saying that rosetta has made history. details next.

this is a great story. a milestone has been reached

more than 400 million kilometers from earth. >> european space agency announced wednesday that its rosetta probe has made a rendezvous with a comet. take a look at these images from deep space. rosetta had traveled for more than ten years in pursuit of that one special comet. >> but despite the milestone, the work is far from over for rosetta. in november, it's to send a lander to touch down on the comet's surface. >> now, scientists believe understanding more about comets could help us here on earth. know more about some pretty significant mysteries. for more on that, let's bring in former nasa astronaut leroy chile joining us from houston, texas. you are formerly with nasa. this is a european effort. what was your reaction when you saw that the rosetta spacecraft made its ten-year journey? yesterday i described it as a romance story. it's been this probe pursuing this partner for moeshre than a

decade, and now they're dancing together. i wonder if your reaction was romantic. >> oh, absolutely. this is fantastic. this is a huge deal, something that's never been done before, and it's a big step. >> now, this is a single comet. i guess it's nicknamed tory. what can we learn? what can this single thing flying out there in space teach us about our own origins? >> the sensors and probes aboard the spacecraft will be able to tell us more about what the composition is especially in november after the lander is deployed, and we anticipate it will successfully land and shoot a harpoon into the surface so it can anchor itself there and then make more measurements. we'll learn a lot more about what it's like or what the composition of comets like this are like. so it's going to be huge from a scientific standpoint as well as from an operational standpoint. as you know, nasa is working on an asteroid retrieval mission, and this essential has relevance to that as well as follow-on missions as soon as we get that

asteroid into space. >> i know this comet is described to have a neck, a connection between two other major parts of the comet. just by observing it, some scientists believe that could be water. but what would it mean if we do discover water on this comet or anything else? what does that teach us? >> well, as you know, water is the base -- the fundamental requirement for the existence of the possibility of life. and so not necessarily that there would be life on board the comet but the fact that we're finding more and more water in the universe is significant. and it indicates that there is more possibility of life elsewhere in the universe than maybe we previously thought. >> now, we're looking at some of the animations of what the comet's doing now. it's in this dance with the comet. and it will send a probe down, try and land on it, i guess, in november. but these things are important, some people say, because it inspires young people to want to participate in science and math and maybe even one day become an astronaut. is it possible that a young person watching right now could

dream to be an astronaut and make a trip to a comet? >> oh, there's no question. i mean, you know, i was inspired by the "apollo" program, and this is just as cool. the fact that we've ronendezvoud with a comet and we're going to deploy a lander and actually land on this thing, that is huge. and so i can see it inspiring a lot of young people and hopefully a few of them will be encouraged to, you know, try a little harder and reach a little higher. >> meantime, though, not everyone thinks this is worth the money. what do you say to those in the u.s. and in europe who say it's not worth their taxpaying dollars? >> well, you know, i think that's a bit shortsighted. the fact is that human beings, we're explorers. we want to know what's on the other side of the mountain, what's over the hill, what's out there in space. and this -- you know, the money that's being spent on rosetta and programs like it, even human space flight is so small. even in the united states which spends the most, the largest percent of its gdp and gnp on

space exploration, the nasa's budget is less than one half of 1% of the federal budget. so for that, we get all this benefit. not to mention inspiring the next generation. so there's no question in my mind that it's well worth it. if you say it's not worth it, i think you're being shortsighted. >> former astronaut leroy chiao. staying up late for us. we appreciate it. >> my pleasure. >> from the mysteries of space to the mystery of weather. hawaii is bracing for an unwelcome one, two punch from nature. >> yeah, alexandra steele, our meteorologist, is back with us to talk about this. and we just know that this is going to be a serious weather condition for hawaii this next week. >> absolutely. errol, i didn't realize you were such a romantic. >> i've got many layers here. come on. >> you do. you're not just gorgeous. let's talk about hawaii. many of you out there may be potentially headed toward hawaii.

what's happening is actually so interesting and really quite rare. here's the base and you can see how many storms, typhoons, hurricanes, super typhoons we have. these are the two of note. it's hurricane iselle. that's in line one. and then julio right behind it. here it is pretty fairly organized, no question about that. and you can see here are the hawaiian islands with a beeline right for it. right now its winds 150 kilometers per hour. gusts stronger than that. now, i put hurricane julio right behind it. can you see this? one, two punch. this one a little bit weaker but just in the last advisory, it has come up in strength. so we're looking at two hurricanes coming in from the east. and pretty potent. now, actually, it's very rare to have these storms come in from the east and hit hawaii. and i'll explain why in a second. here's what we do have. a hurricane warning for the big island which is rare in itself. it's the first hurricane warning there since 1993. so what we're going to see, here's the track of iselle.

iselle looks on track, thursday night to get into the big island. and you can see with about 130 kilometer per hour winds. there's what's most interesting about this. here's julio. it does give a glancing blow. this one not quite as direct ll impacted. just to the north. hurricane wind field around this certainly could encompass these islands. and any small tweak in this movement slowly could put it in a direct blow as well. but the first looks like it will be more potent. now, what's interesting is when storms come in from the east, kind of the water temperatures here about 26 degrees celsius, just marginal to hold a hurricane. so since 1959, only two storms have made it. only two. because of a lot of factors including the water and the dry air. the dangerous ones come up from the south. so you guys, this really could be quite rare if they both make it and really the odds are they usually don't. so we're certainly watching these quite carefully and dangerous for hawaii. >> yeah, we'll hope it will veer away. thanks very much.

>> thanks, alex. i'm rosemary church. >> i'm errol barnett. we've got the world's biggest stories after this. in the nation, the safest feature in your car is you.

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we put members first, join the nation. nationwide is on your side. hello and thanks for joining us here on cnn. i'm rosemary church. >> i'm errol barnett. our stop stories this hour, middle eastern leaders frantically trying to reach more lasting peace as israel and hamas enter their final day of the 72-hour cease-fire. meanwhile, gazans still struggle with the devastation from weeks. plus, liberia declares a state of emergency as the deadly ebola outbreak