>> welcome to tonight's "live from paris." just to remind you, with all the news that has been coming into us in the last 15 minutes -- the israeli prime minister saying he has instructed his military to begin a ground offensive in gaza, that coming in an official statement following a few hours of relative normality in gaza. streets filled with honking cars, queues outside banks and shops, and children playing openly in the street, but after a few hours of the humanitarian cease-fire which was agreed for earlier today, fighting resuming once again. palestinian saying an israeli airstrike killed three children from the same family. israelis say rockets from gaza

once again began to fall in israel. let's go live to israel. we speak to our correspondent who joins us from there. do you have any more news you can give us on what the latest situation is? >> i can say that it is becoming apparent during the day after the end of the humanitarian cease-fire there was such a barrage of rockets from gaza into israel and that the withgth of that combined the attack earlier that came through the tunnels into southern israel -- the combination of those two things for mother military analysts i have spoken to thomas slowly the realization dawned on the israeli leadership that if they , they willn and deal have hamas militants popping up at various points in southern

israel, and they cannot take that risk, so i think that actually was the crucial factor. that in the fact that the cease-fire talks failed this afternoon and the barrage of rockets convinced israel's prime minister that hamas was not really interested in a cease-fire. that is what is being out -- reported out of jerusalem this evening. were some apparent explosions across gaza. what is the aim of the mission. you mentioned the tunnels there. that is obviously one name. >> i think that is the main aim at the moment. they have a limited war aim, but the northern gaza strip, the area that borders on to israel is catacombs with tunnels. some of them have been there for 2, 3, or or years, so that they will come up in seven israel, which will allow a terror attack of some kind or perhaps even a kidnapping of an israeli citizen , to copy theldier

one that hamas did and managed to do that prisoner swap for him. that is what israel says their war aim is. dealing with those tunnels, i have to say, is not an overnight activity. there have been assessments, but it could be one week, two, or three just to deal with the honeycomb of titles that border the north of gaza and south of israel. >> it's going to be my next question. it's impossible to say how long this operation could take, not only just dealing with the tunnels, but dealing with all those rocket launches that israel wants to try to get rid of as well. >> that's right. the israeli military was given -- the israeli military gave the israeli government two assessments. they said, "if you want us to go in and clear everything out --

all the rockets, all the rocket launchers housed in gaza -- that could take months. if you want us to do something much more limited, which is basically the tunnels that border israel and the rocket launchers in that area, that could take weeks, but not months. we are looking at two to three weeks with limited war aims. that's what i would say at the moment. perhaps only a week, but it will not be just a day or two. >> do you think it will make any difference, though? obviously, we have been here before. we have heard this before and had similar operations. >> you know, you could say this whole thing is groundhog day in a way. 2009, 2012, and now here we are in 2014. there has to be a way that the state of israel and the islamic group hamas learned to deal with each other better. since 2007.en there it was not what israel thought it was going to get when it left

the gaza strip in 2005, but it is the reality. i do not know that he did the state of israel or the islamic group hamas actually now have to deal with each other without these interruptions of violence every two years. >> thanks very much. we will be back with you soon as we hear any more news from israel itself. talk all week to a certain extent has been of peace. egypt has been trying throughout the week to bring the sides together. there was supposed to be another effort on friday. as all that debt in the water now? >> absolutely. one wonders to what extent the armed wing of hamas really forced this confrontation on everyone in the sense that they seem to have been, you know, putting pressure on everyone outmaneuvering them by continuing rocket strikes while the political wing was negotiating in cairo.

remember that it was that brigade that almost immediately ,ejected the first proposal which was coming from egypt. admittedly, that was not a very detailed proposal, and the political people were saying it was not really thought through. it was not really credible, but nonetheless, only yesterday -- i remember you and i were saying that there seemed to be some glimmer of hope that there could be a better egyptian proposal on the table. attempted diplomacy yesterday in cairo. mahmood of us with tony blair with the egyptian foreign minister with hamas and so forth , and the opposite of all of this is now a ground war. thethis suggests to me that brigades were working pretty hard to basically undo any prospect of a political deal because they are the ones who the military escalation.

i would say that the more nottical side of hamas does necessarily need that because hamas has been under so much pressure over the last few years as a result of the blockade, as a result of regional developments where it has lost allies or allies like syria and iran have become much more focused on other things, as you know. i would say the political wing of hamas needed a way out of this somehow, and there seemed to be a little bit of hope -- i'm sure, not a lot, but that something was going to be cooked that cairo, and now we see the military situation has already overtaken everything else. we're just hearing that from an israeli military spokesman, who said the aim of the offensive is not to topple hamas rule. that sounds quite surprising, in a way, though, doesn't it? before.been here we have had several different incursions into gaza and

airstrikes and has not made a difference. >> i think it is sort of a no-brainer that an israeli spokesperson would say that. two scenariosally -- israel has to take responsibility for 1.7 million impoverished palestinians. israel does not want to do that quite obviously. scenario, other militant groups emerging. it was interesting -- i was reading an interview with the head of the israeli secret service a few days ago when he was saying that israel should negotiate with hamas and should make some kind of deal. because the alternative is going to be things like the islamic .tate in gaza now obviously, i do not know whether he has any evidence the islamic state is actually in gaza, but the idea is that more extreme and less predictable -- maybe not more extreme but less predictable groups would emerge hamas'place.ake

if you really did weaken hamas, you can get very unpredictable alternatives. the least you could say is that at least since 2012 -- at least it has been viewing the israeli intelligence community that it has been relatively predictable and keeping its word. yes, it got drawn into this -- spiral after the israeli teenagers were murdered, but after all, it is a known quantity for the israelis. sort of a case of better the devil you know. israel does not have an interest in toppling hamas. the question is -- can they contain event even within the context of a grand offensive, or will that somehow spiral into unintended consequences for israel, egypt, and maybe for other players in the region? >> finally, briefly, what about the international community? how are they likely to respond to this? there has been a lot of talk about barack obama almost

giving up, if you like, with benjamin netanyahu. like a pretty obvious failure of international diplomacy, partly because there was quite a lackluster response. people were saying the egyptians were quite slow to get off the ground this time. ee you does not really have that much weight in these crises for ister or worse, and the u.s. really the key thing. it has lost so much influence, over the netanyahu government. relations are pretty much at rock-bottom between barack obama and benjamin netanyahu. one can only wonder what this grand offensive will do to further strain the relationship, strainsention other between israel and its other partners in other parts of the world. >> thanks so much. we talk now to a former united nations spokesman, professor of

political science at the center for middle eastern studies at jersey.ersity of he joins us now from ramallah. can i first of all get your reaction to what has happened in the last 15, 20 minutes? the first cease-fire proposal was not acceptable to all political parties. it has been a quiet gaza for a quite israel, and that is not accessible to all parties now. egypt is moving forward to talk about the end of the blockade and the end of the siege. strictns have been under siege for the last seven years. hamas and the other groups cannot continue like that.

, whentwo or three years they had some differences, they folded at the expense of the palestinians, and they're in competition now among the israeli political elite to go to gaza and to shed more blood on the palestinian side. >> with israel beginning a ground offensive, does it mean that the negotiations involving egypt is completely dead in the water? >> if there is a ground offensive, i think there are some groups in the middle east here in the region who are -- interested in seeing hamas approved altogether. i do not think egypt will be drawn into any kind of conflict. they might continue with the political initiative. to find a way out of this quagmire they found themselves tobecause they were so slow

talk to the parties, and i hope they will continue because egypt is a very crucial factor in gaza . >> with benjamin netanyahu saying in the last few minutes or so that there will be a ground offensive now, what will that mean for the people of gaza, would you say? so muchnk there will be suffering on the part of the palestinian people in gaza. they have no choice. they were put in this corner for the last several years. many analysts give them credit for trying to develop some kind of defense mechanism, but i'm sure there will be -- i expect it to be a surgical operation,

not an all-over offensive. it entails so much consequences, even for israel itself to take over the gaza strip with 1.7 million people who are already frustrated, already depressed, fight with noup a way out. they have to fight to the end. i hope it will not last long. >> thanks so much for being with us on the program this evening. let's go live now to gaza city. we speak to our correspondent who joins us from there. can you just bring us up-to-date with what the situation is their first of all? ago, thehalf an hour international media received rather a very pushy invitation, i should say, by authorities to immediately evacuate their hotels.

remember that most of the media are staying in different hotels along the coast of gaza, which until now had been considered to be relatively safe, but for the past couple of hours, we have seen very heavy exchanges of ira long as coast with the israeli marines. they were within eyesight the first time we saw this. we received a call from an israeli officer telling us that we had 30 minutes to leave our hotel. he did not indicate where we were supposed to go to or where we were supposed to evacuate, be he sounded, it has to said, somewhat panicked, basically telling us he did not know what was going on, but that we needed to leave our hotel urgently, and now we are basically -- we have found refuge at the french cultural institute in gaza, which basically is the annex of

france's consulates in jerusalem. it opened its doors to the international media. i am here with another public television station. french media has taken refuge at this place. in terms of what is going on, you can imagine the situation is extremely tense, and we have these very intense scenes where rockets and israeli missiles are crisscrossing through the sides of gaza. obviously, the population is following this very closely. i have to say that for the moment, despite the fact that the israeli prime minister gave the greenlight for a ground invasion to go forward, i cannot as of now confirm that israel's armored vehicles have indeed crossed into gaza and territory. that remains to be checked independently and verified. however, i can tell you that there is a sense of panic and that something very, very big may be imminent. >> what was it like during the day their? earlier on, there was this

humanitarian cease-fire, lots of stories about people trying to go about their daily business, stock up on supplies, that kind of thing. >> you basically have teamed up for types of emotions, and quite contradictory. you had people who were truly relieved to be able to leave their homes. some of them had been literally hold up in their houses, not having left their homes for a single minute out of here of being hit by an israeli strike. remember that after these children were killed yesterday on an empty beach in gaza by two different shells, most palestinians, gaza and -- gazans were saying that was proof that nobody is safe anywhere. people were quite happy to be able to go outside and basically stock up on food and reserves, but on the other hand, they were very, very anxious of what was going to happen once this relatively short truce -- five

hours from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. -- came to an end. they were fearing this would be followed by an intensification and an expansion of israeli operations, and that is probably what we are witnessing right now , or at least the incipient moments of that phase of israeli operation. >> finally, the ground offensive, assuming it does come now -- it will be very difficult, wanted? we talked a few minutes ago about the need to destroy these tunnels, but they also need to destroy the rocket launchers as well. do you think that is as far as it will go, or do you think they will try to go even further? >> it's very difficult to know precisely what the israeli military plans are. what i can tell you is that hamas has demonstrated improved military strategic and tactical probablyies, so they are -- and this is according to hamas spokespeople -- a few surprises in store for those

israelis who will be stepping in or rolling into gaza. tunnels thatthese truly honeycomb the eastern and northern edges of gaza, these tunnels that militants use in order to try to infiltrate israeli -- the other goal, of course, is the complete demilitarization of the factions in gaza, but if you consider the fact that this probably tens of thousands of rockets and other weapons stock in secret facilities underground and in different locations throughout the strip, 360 square kilometers -- that is an extremely difficult goal. the israeli authorities know it, and it will probably be very bloody. he further into gaza they go, the bloodier it will be simply because this is one of the most densely populated places on earth, and because what you will witness will witness would be typical, asymmetrical warfare.

insurgents, militants isolated, hiding, and fighting a regular army on the other side. this, we know from experience with other countries -- wars elsewhere in the middle east -- is usually a very difficult situation to deal with and a very dangerous one. .> thank you so much if there is any update, we'll be back to let you know the very latest. just to update you if you are just joining us, the israeli prime minister saying around about half an hour ago that he has instructed the israeli military to begin a ground offensive in gaza. that's according to an official statement from the israeli government. we will continue to follow that story. another major story tonight -- plumes of black smoke reaching into the sky. large sections spread across several fields in the bodies and belongings of the 295 people killed scattered across the area. the crash scene of a malaysian airlines jet, which has come down in the east of ukraine.

the pro-russian separatists and the ukrainian army both not only denying responsibility for downing that plane but also accusing each other of being guilty. the ukrainian president calling .t an act of terrorism he said an international investigation is needed. pro-russians now think they have found the black box flight recorder. officials reporting the plane had reported no problems prior to the crash. this amateur footage captures the moment malaysia airlines 17 turned into a fireball, sending billowing clouds of smoke into the air. at the crash site, firefighters as wreckageblaze lay scattered across farmlands along with the remaining possessions of the flight including these passports. french, dutch, and american

nationals are believed to have been on board. all passengers and crew are feared dead. the plane took off from amsterdam shortly after midday, bound for kuala lumpur. malaysia airlines said it had lost contact with the flight and that its last known position was over ukrainian airspace. because the plane seems to a broken up before impact, it's believed it was shot down as it flew into cruising altitude at 83,000 feet. crashing some 40 kilometers from the russian border. the area is the known battleground of pro-russian separatists. this is the third time a plane has been shot down in the region with recent days, which has led the ukrainian president to suggest the same might have happened here. >> i would like to bring to your attention the fact that we are not calling it an accident or disaster but an act of terrorism. >> the separatist leader denied

the claim, saying that ukrainian government troops were responsible. the malaysian prime minister has expressed his shock of the tragedy, saying that an immediate investigation has been launched. now to our live correspondent who is joining us from the ukraine. still no proof, of course, of what has caused this crash, but both sides well and truly blaming each other, aren't they? >> absolutely. it has to be said the ukrainian side has presented a rare a mountain of evidence. the intelligence services in the two short audio recordings they say are intercepted telephone conversations, one between one and a separatist leaders russian military intelligence officer in which the separatist leader says, "our guys just brought down a plane."

this another conversation between two separatists identified only by their nicknames in which major, who has gone quite near to the scene , actually sounds audibly distressed as he is saying to thever he is talking to on phone that it's clear that this was a 100% passenger plane and that there is debris everywhere and that it's clear that these civilians. that's one piece of evidence. another thing worth bearing in mind is that the pro-russian separatists in eastern ukraine have been saying that they have got surface air missiles, which are capable of bringing down a plane of that size flying at that altitude. associated press reported earlier today seeing those scene, andar that

this is territory controlled by the pro-russian separatist. recalling thath the military commander of the separatists in the self-declared rep published's on a social network that his guys had shut down yet another ukrainian military transport plane. they already shot down one a few days ago, and that already made russian news and various peoples russian twitter feeds. so you very quickly deleted that post and posted something quite different, but people had already made screen grabs of it, so there is evidence of his claiming to have shot down a just before this plane had come down in that very area, so this quite a lot of evidence backing up ukrainian claim that the pro-russian separatists were

behind it, but of course, nothing has been proven yet, and this is going to be a difficult case to investigate, given that all the debris is in territory controlled by russian

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