our fred pleitgen joining us live from israel. fred, you've had to take coverage several times. we've seen it live on our end, on cnn international. how is israel trying to protect itself citizens? >> reporter: one of the main ways to try to protect is actually behind me. it's a missile interception system, victor, called the iron dome. i can tell you a couple minutes ago, the iron dome, not this particular one but another, there was a barrage of missiles fired out of gaza literally about three minutes before we went on air, and i would say at least 12 to 15 of them were picked off by the iron dome intercepter system. so clear let's something that works very efficiently. of course, however, it's not efficient enough because there have been hits throughout the territory in ashkelon where we were. we were actually on the scene of where one of those rockets impact. it was in a rez denl chal area. one woman was in her house as the rocket impacted into her carport. luckily she was in the shelter, but certainly it is something that's taking a heavy toll on the lives of ordinary citize

scene there. >> let's continue this conversation as we stay on these live pictures and bring in fred pleitgeno ask you about what we're seeing here in tel aviv. what more are you learning as far as this bus explosion goes? >> yeah, christine, we're monitoring israeli media. we're obviously also talking to the spokes people of the israeli police and israeli defense forces and they're telling us that, indeed, this bus explosion happened in downtown tel aviv. right now the big thing that everyone is trying to establish is what actually happened there. how did this bus explode? where was this explosive charge? there's some talk by several eyewitnesses that we're hearing on israeli military radio who said that they saw a man running towards the bus, throwing a bag or something into the bus, and then running away. and that's where the explosion or when the explosion happened. that certainly appears to be a real possibility, and as you said, at this point in time it's still very early in the game so there are police on the scene who are scanning the surrounding areas to search for, as you said, poss

fred pleitgen isn't far from this part of the world. after the break hopefully we'll get him up live for you. stick around. >>> the violence continues between israel and gaza city. these are pictures right along the israel/gaza border. i want to put up a map. you can cover me. put up that map. i want to show exactly where this is. in this small area that we're talking about, there's some sort of fire fight along the border on the israel side of the israeli/gaza border. fred pleitgen is on the phone right now. he is near that area. what's going on, fred? >> reporter: hi, carol. i can't really see that area from my vantage point. it's really unclear what's going on there. we do see there is a lot of activity going on over gaza at this point in time. there's, of course, the drones that are in the air. there was an air strike quite recently on some position in gaza. but there's also some outgoing fire from gaza into israel. in fact, the position i was at just a couple of minutes ago, we had some mortars land near there. we had to take cover

we're going to stay down actually is that that was our fred pleitgen. tell us how things have changed there. there's a new normal. >> reporter: oh, you're absolutely right. the new normal is that basically people have to live with the threat of rocket attacks the entire day. what they do is stay inside most of the day. it's interesting to see. every time people go outside they have to plan their route very carefully so they're near the vicinity of a hard shelter in skas there's another rocket attack. i can tell you this morning there's been a lot of them. i'm standing in front of those iron dome rocket intercepter batteries right now and literally about four minutes before our show it wechblt off and fired about three intercepter missiles that hit about four hamas rockets i would say about 200 yards above our head. we ourselves have been in the hardened shelter at least four time as day. so certainly it's taking a heavy toll on life. people can't get on with business. people are living in constant fear and a lot of people tell us they hope this ends soo

we're going to shortly talk with fred pleitgen on the israeli si side of the border where many of the have hit. they don't have the long range that some of these more sophisticated rockets that are here, most rockets are shorter range, fall in the areas along ashkelon and other places along the israeli border where they have become sadly and unfortunately very used to running from rockets and seeking shelter. they have a good early warning system and we'll talk about that. we have seen a number of the rockets being intercepted by the israeli defenses. we'll show you some of that video. but our reza sayah spent time on the egyptian side of the egyptian gaza border. supplies are often smuggled in on the egyptian side from tunnels, not only regular supplies for people here and weaponry as well. that's how some of the longer range, more sophisticated rockets have been smuggled in. reza was there earlier today. >> reporter: we're at the rafah border acrossing where egypt's border meets gaza. gaza is a very small piece of land, about twice the size of washington, d.c. it has four gateways,

with me is cnn's fred pleitgen in israel, just a few miles from gaza. fred, what's the latest there? >> reporter: what we're seeing overhead is basically israeli war planes flying towards the border with gaza. almost constantly. it's been going on the entire night and we've seen a lot of air strikes going down from the israeli war planes on targets in gaza. what the israeli defense forces are saying is they've taken out at least 100 rocket positions there in gaza but nevertheless, there are still missiles also coming down from gaza here on israel. in fact, this town here has seen 20 rockets come down here and senator mccain was talking about the iron dome system before when he was talking to you. that's a missile defense system that's actually in place just a couple hundred yards from where i'm standing. the israelis are saying that that iron dome missile defense system has already intercepted about 130 rockets coming out of gaza but he's absolutely right, it's not enough. just a couple of miles from where i'm standing as well, a building was hit and thr

. >> let's go live now to fred pleitgen. he's in israel. fred, good morning to you.going on where you are? >> reporter: hi, alina. this morning, as you said, it's fairly quiet compared to the past couple of days. there have been, apparently, some smaller cease-fire violations, according to the israeli military. they said that overnight, some three rockets were fired out of gaza on to israeli territory. all of those rockets hit either in open fields, but one was intercepted by the iron dome missile defense system. the israelis say they don't consider this a real violation of the cease-fire, so, therefore, it is, indeed, holding. here, however, people are actually quite skeptical. they say they have had things like this in the past, where there have been big israeli military operations, there have been bombings in gaza, and in the end, however, hamas was still there. hamas managed to regroup, hamas managed to get new weapons, and hamas managed to bomb cities like this one again. nevertheless, of course, after eight days of almost nonstop rocket attacks on this town and

when we come back, our own fred pleitgen is on the ground, in israel near the gaza border.ll check in with him when we come back. is isn't just a headache. trust me, this is new bayer migraine. [ male announcer ] it's the power of aspirin plus more in a triple action formula to relieve your tough migraines. new bayer migraine formula. pretty sweet, huh? cute. but don't you have any apps on your phone that can make your life easier? who do you think i am, quicken loans? at quicken loans, we'll provide you with myql mobile. this amazingly useful app allows you to take pictures of your mortgage documents using an iphone or android smart phone... so you can easily send them to us. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. ooh, la-la! at e-trade, our free online tools and retirement specialists can help you build a personalized plan and execute it with a wide range of low cost investments. get a great plan and low cost investments at e-trade. >>> even as the diplomats are trying to achieve a cease-fire, the israelis and hamas in gaza, they are still continuing their bat

fred pleitgen in israel, thank you very much. wolf blitzer is in jerusalem covering this crisis, anderson cooper in egypt. they both join me at 5:00 eastern. president obama is monitoring the crisis in the middle east as he travels through asia. today he met with china's king and china's prime minister. today the president did address the fighting between israel and hamas and delivered a warning about the consequences of continued violence. >> those who champion the cause of the palestinians should recognize that if we see a further escalation of the situation in gaza, then the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future. >> thailand is just the first stop of the president's three-nation tour of asia. later today he visits myanmar, something no president of the united states has ever done. mr. obama wraps up his tour in cambodia where he'll attend the east asia summit. we are getting some new details about what may have happened in the m

our fred pleitgen, live for us in ashkelon, israel. fred, thank you. >>> five minutes here past the hour. susan rice now publicly defending the comments she made in the aftermath of the september 11th terrorist attack in benghazi on the u.s. consulate there. rice initially suggested the attack was sparked by protests over that anti-muslim film. well, now the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. is insisting that she was relying solely on information provided by u.s. intelligence agencies and says she made it clear at the time the information was preliminary. and she had this to say to one of her harshest critics. >> i have great respect for senator mccain and his service to our country. i always have and i always will. i do think that some of the statements he's made about me have been unfounded, but i look forward to having the opportunity at the appropriate time to discuss all of this with him. >> rice says she believes everyone, especially intelligence officials, were working in good faith to provide the best assessment of the events in bengh

frederick pleitgen. fred time we spoke, you were dash away from the cameras, there were sirens going off after a mortar attack this time yesterday. today quieter, not so much. >> reporter: i would say not so much. the city was a little more quiet. however, earlier this morning, there was a barrage of rockets that were fired at this place as well. i would say it was four or five rockets, some of them actually impacted. we don't have any figures yet on whether or not anybody was injured in that attack. however, further down south, i was there yesterday, and there were alarms there as well. they had a barrage of 16 rockets fired at that town. now, 13 of those were intercepted by the iron dome missile defense system. of course, the one that we've been talking about so much over the past couple of days that picks off those rockets in midair. however, three of those rockets did impact. we also know in one attack at least, an israeli soldier was fairly severely wounded. he was a reservist. he was then flown to a hos

fred pleitgen is covering the conflict on that side of the border. carol. one of the interesting things that actually happened here is that, you know, anderson was just telling you about those two rockets he saw fired out of the gaza strip. well, i'm sort of, if you will, on the receiving end of those rockets. i'm on the israeli side of the gaza border, and we actually saw those rockets take off, and they were intercepted by the iron dome missile defense system. if you recall we were talking yesterday and there was actually an iron dome interception live on one of our shows. well, that's the same thing we saw. there were actually not just those two rockets fired out of gaza, it was more like four or five, probably some fired out of other locations, but it seemed to us as though all of those rockets had been intercepted by the iron dome. i would say the past couple hours has been a lot more quiet than the past couple of days really. we saw some artillery sheming of the gaza strip by the israeli military. it was not really clear to us whether they were

fred pleitgen has been following the developments from the west bank. morning, fred. >> reporter: good morning, carol. the process only lasted a few hours. early in the morning hours, the grave, the tomb of yasser arafat was opened, all of this closed off to the public. awe all we saw was a big blue tarpaulin. russia, switzerland and france, experts opened the grave. they didn't actually have to remove the body but removed samples from the body and closed the grave again. all we saw out here was a ceremony, very solemn one, where palestinian leaders laid flowers to commemorate the late palestinian leader yasser arafat. what they're looking for, as you said quite rightly, is a poison. pl plunonium 2010. the palestinians, of course, have long accused israel of poisoning yasser arafat. israelis not willing to comment on that. palestinians say they hope this investigation will get them some clarity. carol? >> fred pleitgen, reporting live from the west bank this morning. >>> chris christie says he's finally able to look beyond the devastation unleashed on hi

. >> fred pleitgen earlier today.l and hamas each say they don't want a ground war but neither is backing down yet. what will it take to get a cease-fire? mark perez is author of "talking to terrorists." alan dershowitz is a harvard law professor. welcome to youall. cease-fire, alan dershowitz, is it likely? >> no. there may be a temporary cease-fire but as long as it's in hamas' interest which it is to continue this strategy of firing from their civilian areas, trying to hit israeli civilians, inducing israel to fire back into the crowded area, thereby inevitably killing palestinian civilians, thereby enraging the international community and the media against israel, it's a terrific tactic. as long as the media and the international community plays into it, it's a win-win for hamas. >> what is the difference between hamas murdering innocent women and children in israel, and israeli missiles murdering innocent palestinian women and children? >> it's the essential difference between what constitutes a just war and what

let's go live to cnn's fred pleitgen in ramallah with the latest. very big day for the palestinians. what are you seeing now? >> reporter: hi, wolf. well, the celebrations certainly have quieted down somewhat but it was really just in the past ten minutes that they did quiet down. before that, what happened was that these massive celebrations that you saw here on arafat square with people shooting fireworks, ak-47s and pistols into the air, then went into the side streets where people drove around in their cars, honking horns and certainly were very happy with the way that vote in the united nations general assembly went. to them, they say they believe it's actually very significant to the palestinians. they say they believe it could be a first step to full statehood down the line. a lot of people here obviously not very happy with the american position on all this. the palestinian leadership just yesterday saying they believe that america is on the wrong side of history in all of this, but certainly, tonight after that vote came in just massive cel

. >> that was cnn's fred pleitgen. he and his crew were forced to take cover a number of times.e american diplomat who understand the difficulty what it took to negotiate the cease-fire and what it's going to take to maintain it, former senator george mitchell. he was president obama's special envoy to the middle east from 2009 to 2011. mitchell held the post of senate majority leader, schooled in the art of negotiating. and in 1990s, he served as chair of peace negotiations in northern ireland that led to the successful good friday peace agreement. i spoke to him earlier about today's developments in the middle east and the difficulties that definitely lie ahead. senator mitchell, how optimistic are you that this cease-fire can hold and what would the next steps be, assuming it does hold? >> well, it's a big step forward because the violence has ended. that's critically important. the longer it goes on with more fighting and dying, the harder it is to solve any problem. on the other hand, past experience tells us it will be difficult to have a really enforceable truce that take

i want to bring in fred pleitgen in southern israel. also there, a senior correspondent for global post. fred, i know you're hearing jets right now. what's the latest where you are? >> absolutely right, anderson, there are jets from the israeli military just passing overhead, literally a couple minutes ago. it looks as though gaza might be in for a few more air strikes. what's happened here on the ground in ashkelon, we are only about eight miles away from the border with gaza, they've had at least 20 rockets come over from gaza here in ashkelon. what they have in place here is a missile defense system called the iron dome and across southern israel, the israeli defense forces say that missile defense system has intercepted as many as 130 rockets coming out of gaza but of course, it can't intercept all of them. that's the reason the israelis say why they keep sending war planes over there to try and suppress especially the medium and long range rockets coming out of gaza, because one of the things that also happened today is that the out

fred pleitgen, thanks. >> the death of a television icon. take a closer look at the long career of larry hagman and the role he relished more than any other. you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list that's a few names longer. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank. [ gordon ] for some this line is a convenience. how you doing toda i'm good thanks. how are you? i'm good. [ gordon ] but for others, it's all they can afford. every day nearly nine million older americans don't have enough to eat. anything else? no, not today. join me, aarp, and aarp foundation in the drive to end hunger by visiting drivetoendhunger.org. in the drive to end hunger trying to find a better job can be frustrating. so at university of phoenix we're working with a growing li

here again, fred pleitgen. >> don, there was a lot going on in the ashkelon area today.ot of air alarms going on. we woke up this morning and the first thing we saw when we looked out our hotel window is that a rocket had hit in downtown ashkelon. really went exactly the same way since then. we went to the scene of the first air strike. there was another air alarm while we were there. he had to take cover. and it continued exactly that way. now the israeli government says there were at least 120 rockets fired out of gaza into this area in israel throughout the day. of course, one of the things that the israelis have here is the iron dome missile defense system. i was on the scene of one of these missile defense batteries, and it was in action the entrier time. you could hear it fire off rockets, see it fire off rock rockets. there was one instance where we were actually taking cover from a possible rocket strike and we could see it intercept seven or eight rockets at once, only about 200 yards above our heads. now of course, all of this is taking a heavy toll on the popu

here again, fred pleitgen. >> reporter: don, there was a lot going on.ke up this morning and the first thing we saw outside our hotel window is a rocket hitting downtown. it wasn't exactly the same way since then. we went to the scene of the first airstrike. there was another air alarm while we were there. he had to take cover. and it continued exactly that way. now the israeli government says there were at least 120 rockets fired out of gaza into this area in israel throughout the day. of course, one of the things that israelies have here is the iron dome defense system. it was in action the entire time. you could hear it fire off rockets, see it fire off rockets. there was one instance where we took cover from a possible rocket strike and we could see it intercept seven or eight rocket at once. only about 200 yrds above our heads. now of course, all of this is taking a heavy toll on the population that lives in this area here. especially 23 the people here are concerned. they are trying to leave their houses, as little as possible. venture out as littl

ben, we just saw fred pleitgen hit the ground, and i know it's just as tense there in gaza city. what can you tell us about what's happening right now? >> reporter: well, right now it's relatively quiet. we can hear the israeli drones overhead as we hear all day long, but, of course, just a few hours ago, in fact, 2 1/2 hours ago, we heard three large explosions, and this building behind me which you can't see because the electricity is caught off, got hit three times. in that building there are several things. there were the offices of a television station affiliated with the hamas movement. but one of those missiles we saw it sort of a plume of orange fire bursting out from the front from about the second floor, and we rushed to the scene. what we saw is the ambulance personnel were bringing out the body, very charred body, of a man who appeared to be quite life looks like, in other words dead, and he, we're told, may be a member of islamic jihad's military media office. he may have been the target of that attack. that attack left the building on fire and it took the palestinia

. >> in berlin, germany, i'm fred pleitgen.arack obama, according to early polls, would have gotten about 90% of the vote here in this country. nevertheless, there were a lot of newspapers that were quite unsure. look at this one, for instance, they had two front pages. if obama won, they had this one. if romney one, it would have been this one. >> some reaction from around the world this morning. it's proof that we were gloued to our television sets last night, watching the election returns. you can bet they were gloued at homes around the world as well, including the homes of world leaders. i'm joined now by cnn's christiane amanpour. what are you hearing from these world leaders this morning? >> you can see from our reporters around the world how popular president obama is around the world. and he has been for a long, long time. in europe, particularly, and in so many other parts. although his popularity has plummeted somewhat in the muslim world. they like stability and continuity. they've had a relationship with president

cnn's fred pleitgen has more on the mystery surrounding yasser arafat's death. >> reporter: even eight yasser arafat's death, the circumstances remain a mystery. was the palestinian leader poisoned? a team of international scientists will try to find clues, working behind this blue tarp, exhuming arafat's body and taking samples for forensic analysis. i consider it a painful necessity, the lead investigator says. this is necessary to reach the truth in the death of president yasser arafat. arafat died in 2004 after a short and severe illness. doctors were never able to determine the cause of death. even as his body was laid to rest, rumors began to circulate yasser arafat might have been murdered. a recent investigation found traces of the radioactive substance polonium, which has been used in assassination attempts in past, on some of the palestinian leaders' belongings. french authorities have launched a murder probe. now experts from france, switzerland and russia will examine arafat's remains, also looking for a possible polonium concentration. the exhumation process will only take

cnn's fred pleitgen experiences the terror that's the reality for those living in the rockets' range. >> we have an alarm going off right now. i'm going to have to seek cover. we're going to go over here. let's take the camera off the tripod. seems like something impacted in the distance. not sure how far away. there, over in the sky, you probably won't be able to see it here, there's an interceptor missile taking off right now. that is the iron dome interceptor. if you just saw the flash in the sky, that was a rocket coming out of gaza that was just intercepted right now. >> back in gaza, a targeted strike on the second story of a building that houses various media groups. two people are killed, one of them an official from islamic jihad rent an office in the building. islamic jihad is a group that israel and the u.s. consider a terrorist organization. regular life in gaza city is pretty much ground to a halt. stores are closed and shuttered. streets which would normally be filled with people are largely empty. most people just try to stay indoors as much as they can, only venturing

fred pleitgen, cnn, ramala. >>> elton john is adding a note of protest to his songs in china. singer dedicated his only concert in beijing yesterday to chinese artist and critic aw weiwei. he was detained for 81 days last year without being charged. he has had battles with tax officials who fined him more than $2 million for alleged tax evasion. there's big news. presenting androgel 1.62%. both are used to treat men with low testosterone. androgel 1.62% is from the makers of the number one prescribed testosterone replacement therapy. it raises your testosterone levels, and... is concentrated, so you could use less gel. and with androgel 1.62%, you can save on your monthly prescription. [ male announcer ] dosing and application sites between these products differ. women and children should avoid contact with application sites. discontinue androgel and call your doctor if you see unexpected signs of early puberty in a child, or, signs in a woman which may include changes in body hair or a large increase in acne, possibly due to accidental exposure. men with breast cancer or who

. >> fred pleitgen, thank you very much indeed. >>> joining me is the israeli ambassador to the u.n. welcome to you, sir. >> thank you. good evening. >> this is a dangerous situation, isn't it. what is your reading of what is happening on the ground? we're hearing tonight of 2,000 troops being moved, israeli troops, maybe 30,000 others being brought up as well. what are you hearing and what is the plan? >> well, i won't get into military operations but it has to be very, very clear. israel and israel's government will do anything it takes to protect its citizens. and you know, you went after who is to blame here. i was director general, the permanent undersecretary of foreign service when we went out of gaza. we went out of gaza not to look back. we wanted them to make gaza prosperous and a place that what did they turn gaza into? they turned it nointo a haven o global terrorism, of missiles flying in and out of israeli cities, civilians, and an ammunition dump from weapons coming in from iran, syria, and they're continuing to do that. now no nation, no people and no government could

cnn's fred pleitgen runs for cover when sirens blare warning of a possible rocket attack. >> we just had an air alarm. it's going off right now. we will get into a safer place. it literally just went off as we got on the air. get this thing unplugged. let's get inside. >> please be safe. >> when the rockets land, destruction. lives changed forever. at least 11 rockets hit the southern israeli city today. cnn's wolf blitzer visited a home left in ruins there. a family of six ran to a safe room and survived with just 30 seconds to spare. farther north outside tel aviv, a residential building was also hit. just hours ago in jerusalem, u.s. secretary of state hillary clinton arrived for peace talks. >> the goal must be a durable outcome that promotes regional stability and advances the security and legitimate aspirations of israelis and palestinians alike. >> that is what the last 24 hours have looked like. again, the breaking news this evening, a series of massive explosions have really rocked central gaza city over the last hour or two, and it is often the time when some of the biggest

let's go straight to fred pleitgen where sirens have been going off earlier. and joining us is ben wedeman in the gaza strip, gaza city. fred, what are you seeing now in ashkelon? >> reporter: >> from ted pleitgen, have the rockets stopped in ashkelon? >> reporter: the rockets, yes, have stopped in ashkelon. it was interesting, because up until about a minute before our broadcast began, there were still booms that were heard in the sky. and about ten minutes ago we had to run for cover in ashkelon. now it appears as though things are quiet. i can tell you from speaking to people here on the ground, they're telling us this he don't really believe in this cease-fire just yet at this point in time. folks that we're speaking to at this cafe who have been watching the speech of prime minister benjamin netanyahu say they believe this is not a solution to the problem that they are going to be having to face rockets falling on their heads very soon again, anderson. >> i'm also joined here in jerusalem with cnn's wolf blitzer. we'll be monitoring developments over this

. >>> want to bring in fred pleitgen, news out of israel near the gaza border. fred?uzanne, we just had an air alarm now, going off now. we'll get into a safer place. >> please. >> reporter: it literally went off as we got on the air. >> please be safe. we'll -- >> this is the air alarm going off. we'll move to a safer area. still with me? >> i am. please move to a safe area. if you have to disconnect. >> reporter: we're moving inside. come on, guys, let's go. come on. we're almost inside. let's go. we're moving to a safer place. basically inside this house where we can continue. so this has been going off a lot in the past couple of hours really that we've seen a lot of barrages of rockets fired out of gaza. a couple of minutes before we began our broadcast we had some fired towards the area that we saw intercepted in midair by the iron dome interception system and now the first strike that we've witnessed here since we've gotten back here. we know there have been a few throughout the day. so this was another one of those. i can also say, i was on the hill earlier an

fred pleitgen, cnn, ramallah. >>> palestinian president national authority abbas speaking.e and to live in freedom and peace. palestine comes together to the general assembly because it believes in peace and because its people has proven in past days are in desperate need of it. palestine comes today to this prestigious international forum representative and protector of international legitimacy reaffirming our conviction gnat international community now stands before the last chance to save the two-state solution. palestine comes to you today at a defining moment regionally and internationally in order to reaffirm its presence and to try to protect the possibilities and the foundations of a just peace that is deeply hoped for in our region. mr. president, ladies and gentlemen. the israeli aggression against our people in the gaza strip has confirmed once again the urgent and pressing need to end israeli occupation and for people to gain their freedom and independence. this aggression also confirms the israeli government's adherence to policy of brute force and war. which i