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officials fight the worst ebola outbreak ever. find out what action the international community is starting to take. hello and welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. glad to still have you with us. i'm amara walker. why and i'm george howell. you're watching continuing coverage here on cnn. the united states has unleashed more rounds of laser-guided bombs in northern iraq. >> want to show you this video now said to show one such attack. among those targets so far, a convoy of isis fighters and their mortar positions near the city of erbil. the u.s. is hoping to stop the momentum of the islamic militants. isis reportedly has fought its way to within 30 kilometers of erbil. local leaders say 150 kurdish troops have been killed in the militant offensive so far. >> we also have video showing one of the u.s. military's

humanitarian aid drops in iraq. aid drops have reached at least some of the civilians trapped on a mountain trying to escape isis fighters who have vowed to kill them. >> religious minorities in iraq are being persecuted because they are not fundamentalist muslims. while some are trapped by isis, others are simply on the run. ivan watson explains how the refugees there fear for their families and are concerned that they can't return home. >> reporter: hundreds of iraqi christians taking shelter in a place of worship. sleeping in the pews of st. joseph's church. these frightened people have come here because there's simply no place else to go. they're part of a wave of hundreds of thousands of iraqis who fled their homes to escape islamist militants. people are running for their lives. and according to the patriarch

of the chaldean christian community of iraq, among the exodus are more than 100,000 christians who tell us that they've been given a choice by the militants from the islamic state of iraq and syria, either convert to their brand of violent, harsh islam or face the sword. the kurdish leadership is struggling to deal with this wave of humanity. the governor of erbil, a muslim, working with a christian priest to provide aid to these homeless families. the archbishop says iraq's ancient christian community is basically being cleansed from its homeland. >> this is another kind of massacre because they are losing any kind of connection with the land. they've killed their history. and they've killed their future also. >> reporter: the exodus includes the other minorities from the religious and ethnic mosaic of

northern iraq including yazidis, shiites, kurds, turkamen, shabaq. but kurdish officials fear isis militants may try to attack erbil, a city that has become a fragile kurdish safe haven. >> is erbil in danger? >> of course. if there's no protection, there's danger. so it's important to be quick and to start and to attack them. >> reporter: the kurdish leadership says it's grateful for u.s. air strikes now helping protect erbil. but these desperate iraqi civilians just don't know what to do. >> what do we do? what we do now? we want solution to this problem. all these people. >> we want to be like -- like other people in other countries. the usa government said in 2003

we came to the iraqi people to be free. that's the freedom? impossible that's the freedom. >> reporter: all these people suddenly homeless. looking to a higher power for some kind of help. ivan watson, cnn, anqawa in iraqi kurdistan. >> the regional government of kurdistan says in addition to the 150 kurdish peshmerga forces killed in the fighting there last week another 500 have been wounded. isis has seized many areas in northern iraq. the peshmerga military was protecting, shaking confidence in what had been considered a superior fighting force. this week the sunni-backed militants took over the mosul dam, which is iraq's largest hydroelectric dam.

elsewhere in the middle east, gaza is a war zone once again as new rounds of israeli air strikes killed at least five people on friday. that according to palestinian officials. israel confirmed it targeted at least 70 locations. >> the military also says at least 67 rockets have been fired into israel since the three-day cease-fire expired friday morning. an israeli soldier and a civilian were wounded, according to authorities. now, a member of the palestinian delegation participating in negotiations in egypt indicated that the two sides remain far apart on a lasting solution. >> let's go now live to gaza, which is once again in the crosshairs. that is where our john vause is monitoring the developments there. john, if you could first, just talk to us about the mood there in gaza. >> reporter: yeah. well, george, right now many people here are preparing. they're digging in because they've been told by hamas that this could in fact be a long

conflict with the israelis. and in the last hour or so palestinian officials have told us that right now they are trying to dig bodies outs fr fr under the rubble of a mosque in the southern part of gaza after it was hit by an israeli strike. just one of more than 30 targets which the israelis say they have hit here today. now, as for the militants, according to the idf just four rockets fired from gaza into israel today. that is one of the lowest counts of this month-long war. now, the israeli military strikes began after that 72-hour cease-fire came to an end. the palestinian militant groups refused to extend the period of quiet even though the israelis had agreed to an unconditional extension of the cease-fire. the rocket fire came first, and then the israeli military offensive began. and one of -- actually the first to die, rather, was a young 10-year-old boy. his name was ibrahim dewesha. he was playing with friends at a

half-built mosque, and palestinian officials say he was killed by shrapnel from a nearby drone strike. he is just one of the five people who according to palestinian officials have died since that cease-fire came to an end, george. >> so many terribly tragic stories that we're seeing there from gaza. but we know that five people died yesterday. but compared to the death toll each day before the cease-fire that actually seems fairly low. can you explain why that is? >> reporter: well, before the cease-fire we had ground operations by israeli troops, so spread out across gaza. they were searching out that tunnel network which had been built by hamas. they were basically finding it and destroying it. and as part of those operations israeli ground troops were here and they were being fired upon by hamas militants, and so the israelis were firing back and quite often you would see the israeli artillery and the israeli tank fire would be used as cover for those troops on the

ground. the israelis say they were firing at hamas militants. but those hamas militants were often surrounded by civilians. and so many civilians were also being killed by the israeli cover fire, if you like. and so yeah, before this cease-fire came to an end the death toll here every day was well over 100. but now the israeli troops have pulled back onto the israeli side of the border, went back into the situation where it is mostly air power being used by the israelis. the death toll, at least on friday, relatively low. having said that, there is still the occasional sound of israeli artillery and tank fire which we can hear from where we are, mostly to the east of here, george. >> cnn's john vause live in gaza, where people continue to deal with these air strikes. john, we appreciate your reporting. all right. so as you just heard there from john, indirect talks in cairo have concluded and so has a cease-fire that the israelis and palestinians had been observing. so with what happens next is not yet certain. joining us now from tel aviv is

paul hirschen, deputy spokesman for the israeli foreign ministry. it's great to have you on. thank you for your time. >> thank you. lovely to be here. >> so let me first ask you, are you hopeful at all for an extension or a revival of a cease-fire? >> hopeful is quite an optimistic word right now. i don't think anybody is placing very much weight in the veracity of statements coming out of hamas and the other terror organizations. i don't think we're looking for an extension. i think at this point what it is is we're looking for a renewal. we informed the egyptians in advance of the end of the 72-hour cease-fire that we were happy and willing to extend it by another three days as we pursue a diplomatic solution to this issue. that was rejected out of hand by hamas. they fired some 65 rockets into

israel. or to be correct, 80% of those 65 because 20% of them landed in gaza. they have no care or concern whatsoever about their own. >> let me ask you this. if you can give us some insight into how the negotiations had been going before this cease-fire had ended. we heard from a member of the palestinian delegation participating in the negotiations that both sides are very far apart. both sides have their own demands. i know hamas is demanding a lifting of the blockade. they want economic opportunities. israel wants to demilitarize hamas. is israel open to lifting this blockade? >> well, you know, when it comes to the negotiations per se, i think it would probably be prudent to allow them to continue discreetly behind closed doors. i can only refer you to what the egyptian foreign ministry announced yesterday, which is that most of the gaps had been

closed. in terms of economic opportunity, this is precisely what we've been saying for years now. and the only way that we're going to get economic opportunity and prosperity hopefully in gaza facilitating a better relationship with ourselves is if we prevent the diversion of all of these resource that's go into gaza from civilian to terror use. hamas took some $1.2 billion of construction material and diverted it from above the ground to below the ground. this is precisely the obstacle to economic opportunity in the gaza strip. a demilitariatization of the ga strip is the flip side of economic opportunity. those two go together. >> so are you saying that demilitarization must happen first before the blockade can even be considered to be lifted? >> well, this is what i'm saying. okay? i live in the tel aviv area. my kids at the moment have to be

within 60 seconds of a bomb shelter. that's simply not sustainable. we're simply not going to happen that we're going to carry on living under the threat of missile attack from hamas. >> i want to bring this up because we just got this from human rights watch. and this is regarding gaza's only electrical power plant that was knocked out, i believe on july 29th. and i want to quote human rights watch here. it says that "damaging a power plant, even if it also served a military purpose, would be an unlawful disproportionate attack under laws of war causing far greater civilian harm than military gain." i want to get your response to this statement. >> well, two things. if i remember correctly, the power station was not hit by israeli fire. and secondly, you know, with all due respect to human rights watch, an organization which is known to have gone down to saudi arabia to raise money in order

to monitor israel, it's simply the lazy choice of action. we have serious questions about the credibility of their comments. >> okay. pail hirschson, i appreciate your perspective. thank you for joining us. and of course we will bring you palestinian reaction to these latest developments as well. that's coming up in just over 20 minutes from now. we'll speak with mustafa barghouti, a member of the palestinian parliament. violence is flaring up in eastern ukraine. as government forces and pro-russia separatists battle for control of that territory. this video reportedly shows rockets hitting residential buildings in the rebel stronghold of donetsk. it's not clear who fired the missiles. but they were purportedly shot from the direction of separatist-held areas. cnn cannot independently verify the authenticity of the video that you see there.

still to come here on cnn, the world health organization declares an international health emergency. what led to the deadliest outbreak of ebola in history and how officials are trying to work to get control of it. ♪ honey, we need to talk. we do? i took the trash out. i know. and thank you so much for that. i think we should get a medicare supplement insurance plan. right now? [ male announcer ] whether you're new to medicare or not, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. it's up to you to pay the difference. so think about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay. i did a little research. with a medicare supplement plan, you'll be able to stay with your doctor. oh, you know, i love that guy. mm-hmm. [ male announcer ] these types of plans let you visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients.

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so out of ceal as has been described now by doctors without borders, the world health organization. also what about those two american missionaries and that experimental vaccine, that experimental medication they received? how did that all come snoth very important questions. and congress decided to ask some of those questions to the people who could answer them. >> the international response to the disease has been a failure. >> reporter: blunt words. and they were just getting warmed up. >> many people are not cooperating with efforts to

contain the disease. >> reporter: the house foreign affairs subcommittee calling an emergency recess hearing on the ebola outbreak. >> there was little action taken to get out in front of this problem, and now we are seeing the consequences. >> reporter: the largest ebola outbreak in history. more and more countries involved. when i traveled to these remote villages, i knew the numbers were going to be almost impossible to determine. but officially, nearly 1,000 people dead and twice that number infected. including two americans who were brought back to the united states. not an easy decision for the chief ineffect shouz disease doctor for the country. >> what's so concerning about ebola is that the stakes are so high. that a single lapse in standard infection control could be fatal. >> reporter: i want to show you just how quickly an infection can spread. so here's a real world example from an ebola outbreak in the early 2000s. a woman in uganda didn't know she was sick with ebola. she was in close contact with

six people. her baby and father-in-law, they both got sick. the baby then got his grandmother sick. and she had contact with two more people as well. the father-in-law had close contact with 12 people. out of that his brother and cousin both got sick. the brother then had close contact with four more people. and the cousin had close contact with five more people. including another brother who used his blanket and also got sick. >> if you leave behind even a single burning ember, it's like a forest fire. it flares back up. >> reporter: and that's why breaking the chain is essential to stopping the epidemic. >> we do know how to stop ebola. meticulous case finding, isolation, and contact tracing and management. >> reporter: but what about treatment for those who do get sick? congressional leaders grilled dr. frieden specifically about the experimental drug zmapp. it had never been used on a human before. just animals.

representative bass wanted to know why did just two americans with ebola receive the serum with so many africans so sick? >> i would like for you to talk a little bit about that because there's a lot of concern that maybe we have access to this and are not providing that access. >> reporter: dr. freeden took a pass on that one. >> i really would need to refer you to the national institutes of health, which would be the lead on developing new treatments and vaccines against ebola. >> reporter: ken isaacs testified on behalf of samaritan's purse, where both dr. kent brantly and nancy writebol were working when they got infected. he disclosed that the national institutes of health knew about the experimental treatment from the start and testified that it had worked for both brantly and writebol. >> that medicine was administered after it was brought to us by the nih people. and there was improvement. they seem to have gotten better. >> reporter: one point of agreement, aside from brantly and writebol, ebola can make its

way to the united states through others. >> inevitably, there will be travelers. american citizens and others. who go from these three countries, or from lagos if it doesn't get it under control, and are here with symptoms. >> reporter: thursday's hearing was to make sure we are ready. and we should also add the world health organization is now officially declaring this a public health emergency of international concern. this doesn't happen often. and it's one of those things that could signal to countries all over the world how to behave in situations like this. it may have an impact on airlines, restricting airlines, on screenings in airports. they're asking countries where ebola is currently to declare a state of emergency, to go to burials and instead of public burials that could be a source of spread, for example, of ebola, to actually make sure there's cremation or some sort of burial that is overseen by public health officials to try and curb this epidemic. so we're seeing about the possibility of people being isolated for 30 days, contacts

of people who have ebola being isolated for three weeks. so all of this is sort of coming to a head now. everybody seemingly engaged. back to you. >> all right. thank you for, that sanjay gupta. and still to come here on cnn, shia muslims as far away as india say they want to fight in iraq. why so many volunteers want to take on isis.

welcome back. pope francis has urged an urgent appeal for iraqi christians. he called for world powers to offer humanitarian aid for those who have been driven from their homes. now, many christians are fleeing the advance of isis militants. >> it is the vatican's second appeal in as many weeks. pope francis has also appointed a cardinal as his personal envoy to iraq. there is an estimated 500,000 christians in iraq. >> now, in new delhi a shia group says it is outraged by isis attacks on shia shrines in iraq. >> many say they want to organize, go to iraq and fight. sunima udas reports. >> reporter: on this holy day shiite muslims in india pray for their community in iraq, scrambling to fight the extremist sunni group islamic state in iraq and syria, or isis. hundreds have died. several cities occupied.

images of extreme brutality beamed across the world. >> images, the videos are simply heartbreaking. >> reporter: isis leaders have vowed to destroy all shiite shrines, including the most revered karbala. fearing the worst, india's largest shiite community is now recruiting volunteers to help shias in iraq protect their holy shrines. >> those shrines are of the imams which we follow. they are for us next to god. >> are you not scared? >> no. i'm not scared. "if we lose our lives protecting our shrines, then i would consider ourselves very lucky," she says. badar abbas nakvi is facilitating the mission. he claims more than 100,000 indian shias have signed up. the objective, he says, is not to fight with arms and ammunition but to create a hewn

chain around the shrines and help the injured. >> these are what we are receiving along with their passports. >> reporter: the indian government has advised all indians not to travel to iraq. how are you going to do this? >> see, this is the advice. all citizens of india have freedom of movement. if they will say you can't or your flight can't land in iraq, then you go through iran. >> but what if something happens to them when they're there? >> everybody is ready for that. >> reporter: it's unclear if these volunteers will get visas to go to iraq. but the passion for their faith and determination to protect it is palpable. "for us religion and our shrines are the most important thing. everything else, our house, family, money, children, that's all secondary," she says. their 6-year-old daughter has also signed up. india has the second largest muslim population in the world after indonesia. the majority are sunni. there are reports sunni

extremists may also be recruiting in india. while sectarian violence rages on in iraq, thousands of miles away here in india the faithful prepare to fight. suchlt nima udas, cnn, new delhi. much more to come on cnn. hostilities are renewed between israel and hamas. both sides blaming each other. we are live with an interview with one of palestine's leading political figures.