hello, everyone. to our viewers in the u.s. and around the world, welcome back. i'm amara walker. >> and i'm george howell. here are your headlines here at the half hour. u.s. military aircraft are dropping food and water to civilians in northern iraq. thousands of them. who are trying to escape the militant group isis. this as the u.s. military continues with fighter jets and unmanned drones to try and stop the momentum of those advancing isis forces. in eastern ukraine several rockets reportedly hit residential buildings in rebel hoo controlled donetsk on friday. it's not clear who fired the missiles but they were reportedly shot from rebel-controlled areas. cnn cannot independently verify

the authenticity of the video. the world health organization has declared an international health emergency over the ebola outbreak in west africa. the virus has killed more than 960 people so far. health officials are calling for a coordinated international response to stop the spread of the virus. palestinian authorities say at least five people were killed by israeli air strikes in gaza friday. they came after israeli and palestinian delegations failed to reach an agreement on extending a three-day cease-fire. israel says two people were wounded by dozens of rockets fired into its territory. the israeli military says at least 67 rockets have been fired from gaza since the end of that three-day cease-fire. senior international correspondent sara sidner is live in jerusalem and now joins us with exactly how fierce the fighting was there today. sara. >> reporter: well, you know, looking at these numbers, and now the rocket count according to the idf has gone up to 70 rockets fired since the

cease-fire ended. there have been 33 strikes according to israel inside of gaza from the israeli military. we know at least five people have been killed, and we're hearing now from the palestinian health authority in gaza that they are digging people out of the rubble of a mosque at this time. one person has been brought out of that mosque at this time. the fighting less fierce than we have seen over a four-week period before the cease-fire began. but certainly the fight is on and israel says the fight is on because as they were trying to extend the 72-hour cease-fire that was broken by two rockets that first were fired just before the cease-fire ended and then many more rockets after, that irlsrael says they will no negotiate while they are under fire. on the other side certainly there are feelings of fear there in gaza. also feelings of fear here in israel as the iron dome does work most of the time when those

rockets are pointed toward populated areas and come close to populated areas but there have been two people injured since the cease-fire here in israel. george? >> sara, you really laid it out there, basically explaining how israel says that demilitarization of gaza must first happen. hamas, though, saying that the blockade must be lifted. so when you look at all sides of this how close would you say these two sides are to coming to some sort of deal? >> reporter: as long as the firing continues to go, israel says they're not going to negotiate. so the negotiations are basically dead. they do not want to go forward with the cease-fire when the firing is still continuing. from the other side, listening to hamas, for example, they said look, the israelis aren't listening to us, they're not meeting any of our demands, and we cannot keep going forward with these talks if they're not even going to consider some of our demands. which are basically opening -- their big ones own, the sea port and airport there in gaza.

the sea port being of the utmost importance economically because much of gaza relies on fisheries to help the economy. the fishermen that go out, they're only allowed to go out three nautical miles from the shore. they say that's certainly not enough, they need to be able to use all of the territory, which they say is 20 nautical miles. so that's a real sticking point. but israel saying as long as these rockets are being fired there's no reason for us to be able to sit down and negotiate through our oejs mediators. the egyptian, interestingly enough, have said they thought cease-fire talks, for extending the cease-fire were quite close and that there were just small details that they could at least extend the cease-fire, but that did not happen. and so now we're back in the situation where israel is saying we will do quiet for quiet, the negotiations can resume but they're not going to let them resume as long as there are still firing toward israel. and that's where it stands right now. that's why you're seeing some of the violence reoccur on this

saturday here. >> a lot of details to this delicate negotiation certainly. and a devastating situation for so many people. sara sidner joining us now. thank you so much for your live reporting. >> all right. so let's turn now to mustafa barghouti in gaza city. he is the founder of the palestinian national initiative and a member of the palestinian assembly. it's great to have you on. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> now, as we heard from sara's report, clearly the fighting is continuing. but we have to say the fighting started up again after rockets were fired from gaza into israel around the time the 72-hour cease-fire was coming to an end on friday. so i have to ask you, what is the point of these rocket attacks? i mean, five people reportedly killed in gaza. so clearly this is only adding to the suffering of the civilians. >> you are repeating exactly the

israeli narrative. and it's time for you to see the reality as it is. don't accept whatever the israeli says as it is. first of all, israel broke the cease-fire and not palestinians. and there was an end of the cease-fire because israel is refusing to negotiate. one very interesting thing is that they are refusing to send the negotiating team to cairo because it's saturday but saturday is not preventing the israeli airplanes from bombarding palestinians and killing five in the gaza strip. and by the way, three in the west bank. yesterday the israeli army shot at peaceful non-violent demonstrators and killed three of them in the west bank. not in gaza. but in general, what we see here is an israeli effort to impose a unilateral cease-fire where palestinians should not -- should ab tain from any form of resistance while the israeli army can continue to shoot and kill. on the other hand, they refuse to lift any form of blockade. although they have caused a

severe devastation of the infrastructure for electricity network, water pipe supply, and sewage systems, and i don't understand why it's wrong to allow palestinians to repair and fix these damages that are worth almost $9 billion -- >> well, let me jump in there. i know there's a delay. so excuse me for jumping in. but you say it was israel that broke the cease-fire by refusing to negotiate? because by all accounts the rockets came in from gaza and that's what essentially ended this truce. >> ma'am, even when we have cease-fire the israeli planes continue to fly over gaza. they can shoot missiles anytime they want. israel is saying they will not abstain from assassinating anybody when they want even during the cease-fire. this is what you are not reporting. you are also not reporting the

fact that they stopped even using f-16 rockets because they are expensive and now they are throwing on neighborhoods barrels full of explosives like is done in syria because this is not costly and because they don't want to be precise. because they are destroying neighborhoods one after the other. >> so let me ask you this. do you have -- >> destroying a neighborhood, not only -- >> do you have any hope of reviving talks and ending the violence? are you hopeful or optimistic at all? >> all my life i've been calling for non-violence. and i think we could have convinced hamas to stick to complete non-violence if israel did not start this war. >> but why were the rockets being fired into -- but my question is -- my question is why were the rockets being fired -- >> why don't you talk about f-16 -- ma'am, why do you keep talking about palestinian rockets and not about israeli rockets? you are just adopting the israeli narrative constantly. why don't you mention f-16 jet

fighters? why don't you mention the israeli ships that kept shooting at us during the night? why don't you mention the israeli tanks and artillery that are surrounding gaza from every direction? why don't you mention that the half population of gaza are forced to leave their homes under israeli bombardment? your narrative should be balanced. and i hope you will be. and i think yes, there is hope if the world community holds israel accountable. if israel understands that they cannot continue to kill people, 1,900 plalestinians have been killed so far. 550 of them are innocent children. >> let me ask you this before we wrap up -- right. >> and the world community is responsible. this can stop. >> let me ask you this, sir, before we wrap up our conversation because i know both sides have their demands. israel wants to demilitarize hamas. and the palestinians want this blockade lifted. do you believe that hamas will be willing to be demilitarized

in order for this violence to come to an end if israel agrees to a blockade? >> yes, they will be. exactly. they will be ready for demilitarization if israel is ready to demilitarize. and you tell me if this is fair or not. why should one side demilitarize and the other not? when one side is occupying the other. one side is occupying us for 47 years. this is not a war on hamas. this is a war on all palestinians. and the problem, the cause is the continuation of an israeli military occupation which has been there for 47 years becoming a system of segregation, apartheid and oppression. if they remove that, nobody needs weapons. >> got it. >> they've caused a lot of pain to israelis and palestinians through a worthless war. >> mustafa barghouti, member of the palestinian assembly, appreciate you joining us. thank you for that perspective. still to come on cnn, forced into the mountains under the threat of death. we take a closer look at iraq's

persecuted yazidis sect.

u.s. air strikes in iraq make barack obama the fourth u.s. president in a row to engage in military action in iraq. >> mr. obama has been reluctant to involve the u.s. in conflict. syria and ukraine are just two examples. jim acosta reports. >> reporter: after multiple

rounds of u.s. air strikes on isis targets in iraq, this was all we could see of the president. the commander in chief on the phone with king abdullah of jordan discussing what's next. the mission in iraq will be limited, protect u.s. military advisers and diplomats in erbil and end the siege on iraqi minorities driven into the mountains by isis fighters. but the white house concedes there's no firm timeline. >> president has not laid out a specific end date. >> reporter: that prospect of an open-ended engagement is a far cry from the president's initial reluctance to deal with isis two months ago. as well as his preference for diplomatic solutions in ukraine and syria. after ending the war in iraq nearly three years ago. >> america's war in iraq will be over. >> reporter: mr. obama is now the fourth u.s. president in a row to launch military action in iraq. >> was he reluctant to make this decision? >> i think the president was determined to use military action to protect american personnel who are in harm's way

in iraq. he was determined to use american military assets to try to address an urgent humanitarian situation. >> reporter: isis is just as determined. as one of its fighters told vice news, "we will raise the flag of allah at the white house." >> those people are not people. they are monsters. >> reporter: monsters the president apparently brushed off back in january when he said to the "new yorker," if a jv team puts on lakers uniforms, that doesn't make them kobe bryant. they're not the jv anymore. >> we do remain concerned about the military proficiency that's been demonstrated by isil. >> reporter: for now members of congress are showing support for the air strikes. house speaker john boehner stayed in a said in a statement "i am dismayed by the ongoing absence of a strategy for countering the grave threat isis poses to the region. vital national interests are at stake, yet the white house has remained disengaged." mr. o''s main hopes for his

legacy, to get out and stay out of iraq. >> i want to make sure when i turn the keys over to the next president that they have the ability, that he or she has the capacity to make some decisions with a relatively clean slate. >> reporter: white house officials insist the president will stay not top of this crisis during his family vacation in martha's vineyard. key members of the president's national security team will also be making the trip. jim acosta, cnn, the white house. >> for a little background there on the region, religious minorities in iraq are being persecuted. authorities say thousands of yazidis are trapped on a mountain by militants who threaten to kill them. paula hancocks reports. >> reporter: labeled devil worshippers by their enemies, the yazidis have been targeted for centuries. 2007 hundreds were killed in massive truck bombs in northwest iraq. al qaeda was blamed. today tens of thousands fear

starvation as they hide in the mountains near their base of mosul, this time running from isis. the yazidis are ethnic kurds. they are considered a sect that draws from christianity, islam, and an ancient persian faith. >> we are not a muslim religion. we are yazidi. we believe in one god as everybody believe and in seven angels and the head of the angels we call dasumelek. >> reporter: translated as the peacock angel. yazidis believe they were derived from adam but not eve. this is their most sacred site in lalish, north of mosul. they're expected to make at least one pilgrimage here during their lifetime. iraq has an overwhelming muslim majority. 99% at least count. .8% are christian. only a tiny fraction are yazidi, with at least 500,000, they're considered one of the smallest minorities in the country. >> they are very peaceful and they are very friendly. and also, as you saw, they like the coalition forces.

>> reporter: several hundred yaz udis live in lincoln, nebraska. this amateur footage shows them protesting this week outside government offices, calling for action in iraq. >> the people need help! >> reporter: the same call outside the white house. >> yazidi are being raped. they're being kidnapped. they're being imprisoned. it's terrible what's happening to our people. >> reporter: a yazidi member of the iraqi parliament pleads for help. warning of genocide. of people scattered and on the run. they are fast running out of places to hide. paula hancocks, cnn, atlanta. still ahead on cnn, damage in hawaii after tropical storm iselle whips the island chain. ivan cabrera is here with the details. next.

the oscar pistorius murder trial chosing arguments in the case concluded friday. the state accuses the olympic sprinter in premeditated murder in last year's shooting death of his girlfriend reeva steenkamp. the defense maintains pistorius mistook steenkamp for an intruder as he fired through a locked bathroom door of his home. if pistorius is convicted of premeditated murder he faces a possible life sentence.

all right. so hawaii recovers from iselle and a second hurricane was threatening the islands. >> let's get more on both. meteorologist ivan cabrera is at the cnn weather center. hi there, ivan. >> good to see you again. iselle. getting out of the way here. and then julio. we'll talk about that in a second. look at iselle. the last several images here on our infrared satellite has basically disappeared. that is because all the clouds are close wrer to the surface of the earth. and so temperaturewise they're not cold and we can't see them with the infrared. so we have this, the visible, which we can see. and there you see the circulation completely exposed. thunderstorm activity certainly not around the center here. so iselle is pretty much done at this point here. but it did drop significant rainfall. and that was always the worry here with iselle. as a result of the topography there in the big island with those very high peaks. 369 millimeters of rainfall, over a foot.

take a look at what's happened here as far as the damage. flooding obviously and then the trees weakened by all that rain, and then you've got the tropical stormforce wind gusts that came along because this was indeed a tropical storm, and then we had that damage. it did not make landfall as a hurricane. had that happened, it would have been the first time because we've never actually had a hurricane make landfall on the big island. we've had a couple further north and west. but not through hilo. so that record remains. no activity there. here's julio behind me. you'll be able to see him spinning here with 160-kilometer per-hour winds still holding its own. but at this point not worried about julio making direct impact with the islands. it's going to go north of the chain. that is maybe enhancing the rainfall down to the south but that would be about it. then we have halong the typhoon in the western pacific. this is japan. you barely see it because it's covered by most of the rainfall here and the cloud canopy. probably just a couple hours

away from technical landfall. it doesn't matter at this point because this thing is really just a big rainmaker. this is the radar coming out of the japan meteorological agency. you can see those bands wrapping around. some areas have already picked up over a foot of rainfall just from this storm. and then before that we had just incredible rains from previous typhoons. so you get the story here. ground is saturated and a little bit more rainfall is going to flood. and we're not getting a little bit more. we're getting a heck of a lot more, 130 millimeters in just 48 hours. so halong will be with us until then. >> ivan, just a quick question. where does the line start between a typhoon and a hurricane? >> that's the international dateline. 180. so when they cross from the east to the west, they essentially turn from hurricanes to typhoons. that just happened with genevieve. we had hurricane genevieve cross the dateline, became typhoon genevieve. >> things you learn on cnn. >> there you go. >> thank you so much, ivan. that does it for this hour. thanks for watching.

i'm george howell. >> and i'm amara walker. we'll be right back after this.

the united states unleashes its fire power against isis militants in northern iraq. jets targets fighters and convoys in an effort to stop the isis advance. meantime, humanitarian relief reaches the mountains where thousands of iraqi, trapped after going to militants. and we're following more violence in the mideast after the cease-fire between hamas crumbles. several rockets were fired overnight