. >> tonight we have a view from the ground on both sides starting with martin fletcher in tel aviv. [laughter] look at this! the gaza reporter looks like an extra from the hurt locker. while the reporter in israel looks like he's going to bang out his stand-up and then head to a jimmy buffett concert. they're a living political cartoon for the war in the middle east. the world has gone mad. is there anything that can save us at this point now, science, maybe, rational, reliable, factual, you'd never let us down science, would you? >> c.d.c. workers lost track of samples of a dangerous h5n1 virus. >> more than 08 workers at the

middle east correspondent martin fletcher joins us now from tel aviv. martin? >> reporter: hi, lester. good evening. well, israel's saved again today by the iron dome. hamas firing more than 100 rockets at israel today. they were shot down by the anti-rocket system. one teenager was hit by falling metal debris. now, hamas fired more than 900 rockets in the last week, and he's the first israeli to be hurt from a rocket. they're waiting for the order to invade. a senior army told the press today israel will, quote, strike with might from this evening. it isn't clear that means more attacks from the air, or whether troops will go in on the ground. but clearly, northern gaza is the target. as ayman mentioned earlier, smaller units already did go into gaza, israeli soldiers. as far as we know, they're the first to go in. a commander unit from the navy destroyed a rocket launcher facility that the army said could not be hit from the air. four of those israeli soldiers were lightly wounded, but they're all home now and the army said they accomplished their mission. pr

martin fletcher live from tel-aviv. thank you. >>> this morning parts of the pacific northwest on fire. crews trying to tame 21 wild fires burning in oregon and washington. look at the video. the fires lit up by lightning storms last week. a million acres already charred and scarred more than 100 buildings lost in all of this. in washington, a man died trying to save his home. cooler weather in the forecast could slow down the flames. more fallout following the death of a new york man after police officers appear to have put him in a choke hold during an arrest attempt. four emergency service workers responded to the call on thursday are on modified duty while the death of 43-year-old eric garner is reviewed. a father of six was arrested on a number of indications for selling illegal cigarettes is telling officers he cannot breathe as they hold him down and cuff him. the officer who allegedly placed the choke hold on him has since been stripped of the gun and badge and placed on modified assignment. the agency that inve

nbc's martin fletcher reports it won't be the only encouragement by ground troops. >> reporter: there is every sign that an israeli ground invasion may be happening. there could be more by commando groups, but the israelis announced that a unit went into gaza in order to attack. >> we were successful in our engagement. we had a few scrapes, nothing substantial. they had some substantial damage. >> it is rather unusual for them to announce what secret units are doing. but it certainly adds momentum to the idea that a ground invasion is about to take place. it may not be massive, but could be a rolling type of operation in the same way we've just seen with the naval commander. with 38,000 troops reserves joining the regular army ammassed on the border it looks imminent. they have been warning residents in gaza to vacate their homes, about 4,000 live well, many have left their homes. israel says it needs to attack these places because that is where the rockets are fired from, among the civilian population. martin fletcher, nbc news, tel aviv. >>> a popular smartphone app has been made to

>> martin fletcher starting us off tonight from tel aviv. martin, thank you. >>> and now, as promised, to gaza. the view of this conflict from inside the largest hospital in that community of 2 million, fair warning, some of the pictures are hard to watch. nbc's ayman mohyeldin spent the day there. >> reporter: on every floor, in every room, a story of sorrow and suffering. here 3-year-old shamas comforted by her father and her doll, the only family she has left. her mother, brother and sister all killed in an israeli air strike while walking down the street. israel says it targets only militants. shama's father asks her, were with you carrying any weapons? no, she said. this woman has a broken arm, and a broken heart. she lost most of her extended family in a single air strike. israel tried to kill a relative of hers, gaza's police chief. he survived, 20 members of their extended family did not. the hospital, short staffed and under equipped is struggling to cope. here a mother sees her son for the first time since he lost his leg and was ba

our veteran middle east correspondent martin fletcher starts us off from tel aviv tonight. martin, good evening. >> reporter: brian, good evening. arab and israeli media report hamas and israel will agree to stop the fightingment stop the fighting. according to a deal proposed by egypt, the shooting will end, the siege on gaza will be eased and israel and hamas will go to cairo to work on a longer term agreement. the shooting will stop tomorrow morning 9:00 a.m. local time. this is the urgency. seven days of carnage and chaos in gaza. more than 185 palestinians dead, most of them civilians, many of them children according to united nations report. it all fueled calls for a cease fire and calls on israel to stop its air bombardment. in its defense, the israeli air force released this operations recording showing how hard they try to avoid hitting civilians. they're aiming at hamas target in gaza. there's a lot of children, the commander says. abort, abort, abort. >> every civilian death is a tragedy. and we're making our utmost effort to avoid it. >> reporter: but not very su

our veteran middle east correspondent martin fletcher in tel aviv for us tonight. good evening. >> reporter: brian, israel says it's destroyed 2,000 rockets in gaza, but there are many more targets to hit. and the army says it's all set to invade gaza. all the army needs now is the government order. gaza's death toll passed 100 today. palestinians killed in israel's four days. but israel says it's trying to limit the civilian casualties. this is how. they call it the knock on the roof. a neighbor shouts, warning, warning. before israeli attacks a civilian home, it warns them by dropping a bomb with no explosives and also sends text messages and makes phone calls to the residents. one minute after the warning, israel says it is all the fault of hamas for hiding control centers and rocket launchers among civilians. rockets like these. islamic militants have fired 660 rockets at israel in four day thes. the first to do any real damage hit today. a gas station in the southern city of ashtardin. the impact caught by the cctv cameras. eight wounded, one seriously. and pr

martin fletcher, nbc news, tel aviv. >>> more dates now. a popular smartphone app has been expanded to save lives in the middle east. the social media app called yo sends a fleeting greeting to a friend. it can now warn users about missile, rocket, and more tan attacks in israel. the developers in san francisco to further expand the app services say it won't replace air raid sirens but it will spread realtime information about what's happening in israel. >>> thousands of dollars in damages and shoppers turned away. high-end retailers still closed after a water main break flooded stores. live from the scene of the cleanup, sounds like a lot of people were frustrated they couldn't get in today. >> reporter: they were very frustrated. there was at least one store that had a lot of happy shoppers finally getting to pick up their beautiful jimmy choo shoes. for the most part what we saw here was workers. right on the other side of this orange car you can see one of them. their water damage restoration workers trying to get these businesses back

every day getting closer. >> martin fletcher for us tonight. thanks. >>> now to a story from today that's enough to make you check the calendar. is it 1940 or 2014? germany expelled the top cia man in germany and the result is a bit of a mess between two allies and major powers and another major embarrassment for u.s. intelligence accused of being caught red-handed at something usually done privately -- spying. we get the details from our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. >> reporter: it is an unprecedented breach of trade craft. america's top spy in germany the cia station chief expelled from the u.s. embassy in berlin. sent packing by america's close ally angela merkel after not one but two cia agents, germans were caught spying on her government last week and this, right under her nose. merkel, privately furious, said pointedly today spying on allies is a waste of energy in the end. this after edward snowden's revelation last year that the nsa was listening in on merkel's cell phone. only two months ago president obama was

nbc's martin fletcher joins us from tel aviv, where once again air raid sirens warned of rocket fire again. >> reporter: the israelis saying they are targeting terrorist tunnels along sites of the iraqis, but there was also tragedy last night in gaza. bun rocket hit a palestinian home. eight members of one family killed while they were sleeping, including five children. a couple of hours before that, at a beach camp in gaza, a group of people were watching the world cup soccer game, when they were hit by an israeli rocket. it isn't clear what the israelis were targeting, but they say they have been, as i said before, targeting the tunnels, but they're also attacking the homes of hamas military leaders, sometimes sending warnings to the residents. in those two cases, tragedy occurred among civilians. this morning, there have been many rocket attacks by palestinians at israeli centers. here in tel aviv, at least three times, residents were sent running for their lives to the bomb shelters, escaping from those rockets. but those rockets were intercepted in the sky by israel anti-rocket

martin fletcher joins us live from tel aviv, israel. you are there on the ground. are you seeing anything that indicates a hope for a cease-fire today? >> not much, no, dara. there was talk about a humanitarian cease-fire, allowing the fighting for about five hours. israel said no. every indication is that israel wants to keep going until they've achieved its objectives. the focus of the diplomatic activity now is here in jerusalem and in cairo. the u.n. secretary general ban ki moon is in israel talking to israeli leaders. secretary of state john kerry is in cairo talking to the egyptian president, and palestinian leaders are also being brought in to talk on behalf of hamas. trying to work out an agreement that could be acceptable to both hamas and israel. that, of course, is after egypt did make the proposal about a week ago which hamas rejected and israel did accept. now the fighting is continuing, and an israeli ground offensive is moving slowly but deeper into gaza, continuing its operating in that northern area where the fighting has been fiercest. the big qu

for more on the bloodshed in the middle east to telaviv and bureau chief martin fletcher. what's the israeli population response to the rising civilian death figures in gaza? >> when you speak to people here there is a sense of horror at the pictures, respect for the dead. one has to say that. at the same time what they keep saying is, look, what we are doing to the palestinians, we are not doing on purpose. they would dearly love to do that to us. there is a groundswell of support for the army and the government here to finish the job with hamas. they have time as far as the israeli public is concerned to finish this. there is great pressure on israel because of the civilian deaths to stop the fighting and reach a deal with hamas. what israel says with is we accepted that cease-fire. now all eyes are on the secretary of state kerry and the u.s. secretary general and their attempts to bring about a cease-fire. >> how will israel achieve their mission if they are able to knock out the rocket launchers and capture them. if they are able to seal off the tunnels where terroris

want to bring in martin fletcher, live from tel aviv. and let's explain the escalation.know we had been reporting on egypt trying to helm a truce here. that brokerage failed. explain the point where they felt they needed to ground invade. >> reporter: there's been a buildup of the army for a ground invasion for about ten days. but it was clear the israeli government did not really want to do it. what happened, what changed the game, was two days ago, when hamas refused the truce that egypt had offered. at that point, it now appears israel gave the green light for the ground operation. but they didn't say go. they gave the green light. then, the final straw appears to have been yesterday, two things. after the humanitarian pause, a huge barrage of rockets from gaza continued to fly into israel. 150 after the 5-hour break. and specifically, in the morning, there was that tunnel operation, where the israeli spotted what they said were 13 palestinians who had gone through a tunnel from gaza into israel, with the aim of attacking soldiers and civilians. and israel spotted the

martin fletcher will join us later this hour. >>> cdc is under fire, the third time in just under a month. they acknowledged that a sample of animal influenza sent to a lab was contaminated with the deadly h1n1 bird flu virus. what's worse, the mistake went unreported for six weeks. it comes from a small pox scare last week and anthrax scare in june. . >>> it was like a scene out of hollywood. a fedex truck shutting down the freeway. if the temperature reaches 50 degrees the contents would become flammable and explode. luckily, the fedex driver understood this and called for help before anything could happen. >>> and manhattanites bracing the view. that happens when the sunset is perfectly aligned with the street grid creating picture perfect moments. the second occurs tonight at 8:25 p.m. >> now to the weather. while the calendar reads july strange weather phenomenon is bringing talking of this past winter. it is beautiful today. the upper midwest might feel a mid-summered oddity. good morning to you, keith. >> good morning, alex. yeah, i'll talk about the cool air in the midwest, the fi

martin fletcher, you've seen so many questions in the palestinian disputes.ublicly supportive, though we're hearing even from the phone call that president obama made to netanyahu on sunday already saying that the death toll is just too crushing and that israel, having supported the cease-fire before, has to come up with a solution and has to be much more tactical in the way that they respond. let's also revisit the situation, though, at the airport. the flights were canceled, lufthansa canceled all flights to and from israel. we know that john kerry was called in by netanyahu yesterday protesting vigorously against the faa decision. in support today, el al, michael bloomberg flew on the israeli airline to show solidarity with israel's people. are you hearing anything different from israel's officials as the world pressure increases on israel? >> just to speak on the narrow subject of the airline ban, there is outrage in the israeli government on that. they say it's rewarding terror and they want that ban turned over as quickly as possible and they are waitin

and martin fletcher is standing by in tel aviv. martin, let's start with you.ou again. >> thanks, joe. well, israel's launched what it called the ground invasion. one of israel's right wing ministers said israel's gone from iron dome to iron fist and they have gone in to gaza now with massive force. they've launched ferocious air attacks and sea attacks to soften up the ground, and then last night the israeli army went into gaza. they're fighting a lot on the north, the center, and in the southern part of gaza. mostly keeping out of main city centers. they're aiming their first strikes alone the border in order to find and destroy the tunnels that hamas has built leading from gaza into israel. but they're also getting some operation now from palestinian fighters, and there is fighting on the edges of some of the towns, in particular in the northern part of gaza, joe, where the israelis drop the leaflets and warn the residents to leave for their own safety, and that is where the israelis right now are going from house to house, mosques, schools, looking for any

. >> nbc's martin fletcher has more on the situation inside israel. >> reporter: kirsten, good morning. it's been the heaviest night of israeli attacks against palestinian targets in gaza so far. at least 320 targets in gaza were hit by israeli rockets fired from the sea and the air. the israelis say they're targeting mostly palestinian secret tunnels used for attacks against israel underneath the border fence with gaza, and they're also targeting those long-range rocket systems that have been firing at israeli cities for the last two weeks and in particular the last few days. now, there's tragedy though. last night about 2:00 in the morning, one israeli rocket hit a palestinian home. eight members of one palestinian family were killed, five of them children. the israelis when they attack homes normally are aiming for the homes of militant leaders or from hamas and they often give warnings to the residents to get out -- for civilian residents to get out before the rockets land. in this case, however, tragedy. and another tragedy a few hours earlier at a beach ka faye. a number of peopl

martin fletcher in gaza. malaysians pushing for their government to take a tough stance against russia, after pro-russian separatists in ukraine allegedly shot down the jet. miguel almaguer in kuala lumpur for us today. >> reporter: good morning. shock has turned to anger here in malaysia, not just the government but many of the population here in malaysia demanding bodies of those victims aboard flight mh-17 be brought back home. here in malaysia, they've seen images of the bodies strewn across the cornfield in ukraine. folks have said they want those victims brought back home. it's a call echoed all around e where victims came from the country. there's a growing protest here, planning to demonstrate in front of the russian embassy in just a few hours from now, very upset with the government. folks here saying they want bodies brought back home by the end of ramadan which ends later this week. they say they don't have much power internationally but believe they are gaining support. it's a large rallying cry

let me move over to tel aviv where martin fletcher is holding court there. want to ask, i feel like there is a missing name and a missing person over the last week and that is mr. abbas, president abbas of the palestinian authority. where's his voice been in all this talk about a truce? there was that high-profile decision by abbas and hamas to sort of combine their political forces and negotiate as one, try to govern as one. where's abbas been over the last three or four days? >> reporter: well, that's what palestinians have been asking in gaza. he kept very quiet for the first two or three days, but then he spoke up. and when he did speak up, he said something palestinians in gaza did not want to hear. he said he was against fighting, against hamas' rocketing of israel. he called hamas, this is the palestinian president of all the palestinian people, he called hamas and called israel in the same phrase, he called them both traitors in war. by which he meant the fighting must stop. that's not what hamas wanted to hear. they wanted to hear more support from t

our thanks to martin fletcher.he last hour, president obama spoke out from the white house about the situation in gaza and secretary kerry's role in any future negotiations as he heads towards egypt. >> the work will not be easy. obviously, there are enormous passions involved in this and some very difficult strategic issues involved. nevertheless, i've asked john to do everything he can to help facilitate a cessation hostilities. >> joining me is mark regev, spokesman for benjamin netanyahu. thanks very much for being with us from tel aviv. you've seen the pictures. you've seen the violence on both sides, the casualties on both sides. you know that the world has been with you more than in previous engagements. but the president over the weekend, president obama did talk to prime minister netanyahu and said very interesting change of tone just yesterday. instead of emphasizing israel's need and right to defend itself, for the first time product obama was talking about the casualties and the need to do something abo

>> nbc's martin fletcher in tel aviv. thanks for that. steven cook is the senior fellow for middle eastern studies at the council for foreign relations. martin talked about the belligerent tone from netanyahu. his popularity in israel is skyrocketing. support for this incursion is very high in israel. on the other side, about feeling occupied is running high as well. >> well, i think it's exactly what martin fletcher said. both sides have an interest? continuing the fight. they both believe their military and political goals are served by continuing the conflict. that's why you see everybody surrounding them and saying it's time for cease-fire, it's time for humanitarian cease-fire, yet the parties continue to fight it out. this is going to go on for some time. netanyahu, who's boosted by an 85% popularity rating and considerable anger on the part of the israeli public is tempted to go further and deeper into gaza to bring the threats to israel under control. whereas, hamas believes it can continue to fight israel to essentially a draw, as

and martin fletcher, any israeli response to these latest attacks first of all? then i want to ask you about your journey today into those tunnels. >> i haven't heard any response so far to the attack on to the marketplace. for the earlier attack on the school, the israelis say that they were firing back at mortar fire placement. they say they were attacked from mortar from the area near the school and they fired back. that's pretty much what they always say. they almost always say when they fire back it's because they were fired from -- they were fired at by people near those u.n. installations, near the schools. and you know -- so they haven't admitted responsibility but they say they returned fire to the people firing at them. that's pretty much what they always say. >> and this is not as we were talking last week, when immediately they had those radar pictures and they said it was not their fault, that it was palestinian rockets from islamic jihad. but in this case, they have not responded in that way. so it remains to be seen. secondly, the tunnels. you went

martin fletcher joins us right now. martin, thank you for being here. how will these latest deaths affect the resolve here on both sides of the border? >> well, richard, the two israeli soldiers will be seen as very unfortunate and very bad news, the third soldier to be killed so far, but it won't do anything as far as changing israel's resolve. you mentioned the tunnels being a threat to israel. that's the way the soldiers were killed. militiamen from hamas emerged inside israel. it was a successful infiltration into israel. at the exit of the tunnel, they waited and the israeli army jeep went by. they fired an rpg rocket at the jeep, killed two soldiers. one of them, an officer, a major. the other israelis returned fire, killed one of the palestinians, and the rest apparently escaped back into gaza through the tunnel. so that killing of israeli soldiers reminds everyone how reel this is. when israel says they need to stop the threat from the tunnel network, they need to find and destroy them, that's what they're talking about. but so far, they've foun

. >> joining us is martin fletcher. martin? >> reporter: hi, ronan. israel keeps pointing out that the reason that they are attacking those densely populated areas is because that's where hamas has dug in and there was an example today. israel obliterated a hospital in gaza city today. they spent two days warning the people to leave, take out the patients, the medical personnel and then showed the army pictures of the air force destroying the building. they did because it was tunnels that israel is trying to find and destroy, there was a mass operations center, control and operations center in the hospitals. they say there were secondary explosions. that's what is going on. israel claims that the hamas is hiding amongst the people and they have no choice. all eyes are on the diplomatic efforts of secretary of state john kerry. israel says they are making some progress but there's still a long way to go and it's not clear what that means. israel and hamas clearly have a lot of fighting left inside of them. israel is very upset with the faa, the decisio

nbc's martin fletcher remains in tel aviv for us. martin, first of all, let's start with that report, an israeli press of a mortar shell falling. what more can you tell us about that? >> that's right. we're just about at 8:00, just when the 12-hour cease-fire was coming to an end. three rockets, the israeli army says that three mortar shells were fired from gaza into a southern area of israel, fell in open fields, didn't do anything damage, didn't hurt anybody, but of course, it's a threat to the cease-fire. i think there's a tolerance for those staggering last-gasp efforts. there's no serious fire. but the real question is that israel has extended the cease-fire by four hours, and the cabinet will be talking about extending it further. but there's no word yet from hamas. whether they've agreed to the truce or not. >> we know again that as you just said, the united nations asking for a full 24-hour cease-fire. does that seem likely at this point? >> i'm guessing yes, but i'm guessing. i think it depends whether hamas fires rockets at

. >> nbc's martin fletcher is in tel aviv. he's got the latest. mart martin. >> reporter: hi, michelle. hi, bill. well, israel's invasion now is in full force, almost exactly 24 hours after they went in last night. they're mainly looking for tunnels along the north, central and southern borders, the israeli government said. those tunnels which lead from gaza into israel which are used to smuggle gunmen inside israel to attack civilians and soldiers here. well, the israelis say they have found about 21 exits of tunnels. that doesn't mean 21 tunnels. some of them have multiple exits, but that's an achievement so far, but the israelis say it will take 10 to 14 days to find and destroy all of those tunnels. at the same time, they're moving very slowly into the urban centers in the north of the gaza strip. you remember, the leaflets, the israelis dropped about 100,000 leaflets on three areas of northern gaza, warning the residents to leave "for their own safety." well, those are the areas where the troops are moving slowly, going house to house, searchi

nbc martin fletcher is in tel-aviv right now, and, martin, give us a little bit more detail, at least, on secretary kerry's visit an the expectations there >>well, expectations, unfortunately, not very high, tamron. care i have kerry is in town. he's meeting with israeli prime minister netanyahu, and kerry said he's making progress, but there's a lot more work to be done. not too sure what that means at this stage. definitely hamas and israel are wide apart in what they want in their conditions. and the tragic scenes that you described earlier in gaza, if anything spreading. israel has been attacking the northern areas of gaza very intensely. ever since the ground invasion began. now that attack has moved -- in addition to the north, is also taking place in the south. especial especially in the area in town where it's believed there are more tunnels dug by hamas from gaza to israel. intense fighting. eyes on potential progress toward a ceasefire but not much hope, unfortunately, at the moment. it's the only game in town. kerry's attempts at reaching a truce agreement. >> martin, we kn

joining me with the latest of both sides, martin fletcher of tel aviv and from gaza, aman mohyeldin. ic step. i'm not sure it would have happened without the shootdown and criticism of the malaysian airlines but they're sensitive and this is a pretty unusual move to cancel all flights to israel. >> well, that's right. but it's a moment for the reason you say. israel, the israeli airport authority of course very disappointed the government, too. but what happened is delta airlines canceled all -- all flights in -- for the -- until further notice. united airlines canceled two flights to israel from -- for today and they're going to assess how to go forward. by the way, korean airlines did the same thing a few days ago. what happened was that a rocket fell fired from gaza about five miles from the town and damaged three houses and nobody quite considerably, nobody was hurt. there was no one there at the time but it's very close to the airport. three miles. and other rockets have fallen in the sea and in open areas not too far away. there's a threat to the airport. nothing's actually happ

joining me from tel aviv is nbc news correspondent martin fletcher. martin, we just learned prime minister netanyahu has fired his deputy foreign minister for opposing his attempts to even broker that cease-fire. it does feel like both sides are extremely dug in. >> reporter: well, yeah, that's right. there is serious resistance in the israeli cabinet to benjamin netanyahu's refusal at this stage to order a ground invasion. there's great division among the israeli people at what the best way forward is. when israel accepted egypt's proposal for a cease-fire in the same way ayman was pointing out they didn't give everything to hamas they wanted, it didn't give israel everything they wanted either. and israel did agree to stop fighting, hoping the loss of life on both sides, hoping that the violence would cease. then they could start talking about the other conditions they have. that didn't work because hamas rejected the cease-fire. hamas then continued to fire rockets at israel, about 50 or 60. only after about six hours of receiving those rockets, isr

now to go to israel and i'm joined by nbc's martin fletcher in tel aviv. rtin, you just reported, is this the new mission, is this sort of the end game here, when the tunnels are destroyed, israel is ready for a cease-fire? is that what you're sensing? >> reporter: i think that's the way it seems to be edging. prime minister netanyahu today issued a statement saying that israel will not stop, regardless of cease-fires, until they have managed to find and destroy all of the hamas network of secret tunnels. that seems to be the way it's going now. the larger claims of the demilitarization of gaza seems to be stopping the tunnels. they have called up 16,000 reserves and that brings a total of 86,000 reserves now called up. the 16,000 were to replace rotating troops so some reservists being brought home. those 16,000 being added to the effort there. i should point out one thing. none of the reservists apart from combat energineers have entered the gaza strip. they're waiting if the ground invasion takes off to a greater extent. certainly you've got all these fa

martin fletcher joins me.hat's the situation on the ground, the mood in the air. >> hi, luke, the situation is israel is all they want continues to been an end to that rocket fire. so all of israel's attacks are serving that end. they say targeting mostly the rocket sites and the launches of those rockets. now, just a few minutes ago for the first time, the israeli army gave an idea of how successful they have been. a figure of 2,000 rockets. the israele army said they destroyed 2,000 of those palestinian rockets so far in gaza. the question is how many are there? the answer is we don't know. at one point israel said there were 10,000 rockets in gaza. if they've droided 2,000 there's another 8,000 to go, but the biggest questions, is what are those rockets and what are their range? the longer range rockets -- the one you mentioned earlier, the rocket that felt in ashtud, that was the first to really do some serious damage. it knocked out a gas station, wounded eight people. one of the people injured in that at

from tel-aviv, martin fletcher. ayman, first to you, i heard the call from you and your producer as you witnessed this. tell me about the children and t parents and what you witnessed. >> reporter: it was a scene that was really indescribable. it was very, very painful to watch. we were at our hotel -- a hotel that was full of international journalists down by the gaza sea port at about 4:00 p.m. we heard two loud explosions and quickly saw smoke billowing down in the direction of one of the huts that was on the water's front line. then we started seeing a chaotic scene of children running down there and pulling bodies out of the scene of explosion. what we learned immediately afterwards is it was kids playing there. in fact, just minutes before we entered the hotel returning back to our hotel, i had actually stopped and started playing with these little boys in front of our hotel kicking a soccer ball around. we went our separate ways and then minutes later we heard the explosions. it turned out that the boys we we

. >> nbc's martin fletcher is live for us in tel aviv. , this is obviously the fourth israeli invasion over the last eight years. they've reached an interesting point where it seems that the public attention sk played -- however the more they go into gaza and the more tunnels they find underground. what is the mood in israel like? is there still public support for this type of movement into gaza? >> reporter: i think, if anything, luke, support is steady and almost going to say it's growing. there's a sense here that despite the israeli soldiers who have died, it's clear that hamas is a strong, tough opponent that needs to be brought to its knees now. if anything, there's this huge support for the gatherings of the funerals of the soldiers and very sad occasions but there's also a sense of it's now or never. and prime minister netanyahu has reflected that on the people. the effect the invasion of gaza is having on israel's economy is considerable. the tourism season, which is big business here, is being killed. airlines are complaining. at

nbc's martin fletcher in tel aviv with the very latest for us now. martin, please tell us, what are you seeing there at this hour? >> reporter: well, hi, t.j. that israeli buildup of tanks and soldiers and army reserves of more than 20,000 called up. that buildup on the edge of gaza is exactly what is forcing the international community to begin to intervene in this situation. the call you mentioned by the united nations security council is the most significant so far of the international call to stop the fighting, to de-escalate, but there's also a meeting plan for europe tomorrow with the united states, the european union, france, germany, where they're going to be drawing up a truce proposal. the arab league is supposed to meet in europe on monday to meet for the same reason on monday. there are proposals on the table. so a lot of international movement now to stop the fighting, especially before the possibly israeli ground invasion. but the fighting in gaza has been brutal. it's up to about 140 palestinians killed already in the last five days. is

nbc's martin fletcher joins me now live from tel aviv. n you give us a lay of what's going on there right now? >> reporter: yes, joy. it's almost exactly 24 hours after the first israeli troops crossed the border into gaza. their main objective in the short-term, anyway, the prime minister said is to find and destroy that network of secret tunnels the islamic militants have built leading from gaza inside israel to attack israeli civilians and soldiers inside israel. the army says it's found about 21 what they call exits of the tunnels. it doesn't necessarily mean 21 tunnels. each tunnel could have several exits. but that's quite an achievement in this short time. now, the israeli army says it could take about 10 to 14 days to find all those tunnels. that's a long time for the operation to escalate and for the fighting to get out of control. of course, that's the danger. at the same time, as they're operating along the border areas looking for the tunnels, the israeli army is entering urban areas in the northern part of gaza strip. you reme

martin fletcher joins me by phone from tel aviv. is what's been a little different this time in this skirmish between the israelis and hamas is that there is much more support for this one than perhaps previous ones. >> reporter: yeah, i think that's true, chuck. you know, there's always this issue of when the country is at war you support the military and don't ask questions, but this is really remarkable, the amount of support for the war. all the opinion, 90%, 95% of israelis behind the government and most of them actually insisting, calling for the government, for the army to keep fighting. the cease-fire is one thing, help the palestinians get food and the water they need, but there's a big pressure on prime minister netanyahu to keep fighting, to go deeper out in gaza and take out the rocket system and take out the tunnel system once and for all. that's what you hear all the time, once and for all. they don't want this situation again in 18 months it all starts again. this is three wars now between hamas and israel in five yea

here with the very latest i'm joined by nbc's martin fletcher from tel aviv. rtin, i think it's quite interesting, benjamin netanyahu saying international pressure will not stop him from moving forward protecting israel. what are we seeing within the country? obviously we saw your reports from bomb shelters. how will the prime munster's message play in israel that they are theep happy to go it alone? >> i think israel is very happy to go it alone but not for long. the pressure on israel always grows when they have these conflicts arise with the palestinians. the shooting like two years ago or three years ago and five years ago. israel always gets a certain amount of time to try to suppress those rockets and international pressure builds because of the rise of civilian deaths in gaza. we've had 103, i believe, palestinians already killed in gaza in four days. these israeli rocket attacks. there's support in israel for the prime minister, of course, to stop those rockets. and as the prime minister said and as president obama said, the support for israel's defense

. >> nbc news foreign correspondent martin fletcher is joining us now. john kerry is heading to cairo. is he going to find a mute point between the egyptian cease-fire and the proposal that hamas favors? >> reporter: well, julia, that is certainly the hope. and that's why he's coming here and the u.n. secretary general is also involved in the same effort to bring the two proposals closer. but the two parties involved, israel and hamas, they don't seem to be moving closer in the slightest in terms of the negotiations. the opposite, israeli leaders are going to intensify the fighting in gaza and the fighting is becoming much more intense over the last 24 hours. so yeah, hope that a cease-fire proposal can move forward and that kerry will have impact on that. but the reality on the ground now is that both sides bearing the dead from yesterday, the worst day of the fighting so far, more than 100 palestinians killed in gaza. 13 israeli soldiers were killed and about 50 wounded. so that was a heavy day of fighting. and today the fighting is just continuing. th

. >> for the very latest, i'm joined by nbc's martin fletcher from tel aviv and gaza. ayman mohyeldin. first to you, martin. the idea if the israeli defense force is disputing reports that an attack near a hospital today which caused many civilian casualties apparently had come from israel's side. they say it's from a failed hamas rocket. can you clarify it all or is this still in dispute? >> well, that's what the -- the israeli army is saying very clearly and by the way, they responded very quickly, almost immediately after the rocket attack. they said it wasn't us. we weren't operating in the area at the time. they said there was two failed rockets. one failed near the hospital in gaza, the main hospital. and one fell on the refugee camp only about five minutes drive away from the hospital. so two rockets hit those two places. israel says they were failed rock rockets. i believe they said they were fired not by hamas but by the other islamic militant organization, jihad. they say it wasn't israeli fire. it's interesting they responded so quickly and so immediately say

martin fletcher in tel aviv, thank you so much. and joining the conversation now is fawaz, director of the middle east center at the london school of economics. we just heard martin's reporting there. of course, no cease-fire deal reached today unfortunately. according to martin, no seeming urgency on either side. where do you see us standing at the moment? are we getting anywhere close to a cease-fire deal here? >> i think we are seeing the -- i mean, broad contours, the parameters of a cease-fire initiative. and it's hopeful. what john kerry has suggested is a two-stage process. you have a humanitarian pause or cease-fire for five or seven days in tandem with talks between the israelis and palestinians and the americans to bring about an end to the blockade of gaza by israel. a blockade, as you know, that has had devastating effects on the lives of 2 million people. and in the last year and a half, egypt has joined in blockade. what you have now in gaza is a war by starvation. so what john kerry is trying to do is to basically cal

nbc news special correspondent martin fletcher is in tel aviv. y to do next? >> reporter: well, they're standing by to give the green light to the army for the ground invasion of gaza, but it's something that the government is divided about. there's a bit of split among ministers. the more hawkish ministers want the army to go in now. others do not. the army apparently is saying that if they're going to really inflict long-term damage on hamas, there will have to be a ground invasion. israel has called up 38,000 reserves who have joined the standing army. they're all gathered around the border with gaza waiting for that green light. meanwhile, israel is continuing to pound gaza from the air. the significant development has been that the israelis dropped leaflets on the northern gaza strip telling the residents, ordering the residents to leave their homes. they say they're going to strike that urban area because the israelis say that's where about 38% of all the rocket launches against israel have been fired from. israel says those rocket launches

nbc's martin fletcher joins us live from tel aviv. martin, good morning. do we know what led to the faa's decision to reverse course? >> well, they said they would reassess the situation and came to the conclusion that it was safe for the planes to fly into israel. now the european airlines are following suit. the person that the israeli media is pointing to is the former new york mayor, michael bloomberg who flew in last night -- yesterday on a plane. he claimed he was -- that it was safe to fly and safe to land in the airport. he was very upset with the f.a.a. for introducing that ban. even if he didn't have a direct effect on the actual decision, the israeli media anyway is saying at least he directed attention to that unfair ban and as a result of him being here, partly, it was over thrown. bloomberg and israel getting some of the credit. >> martin fletcher in tel aviv. thank you so much. we'll take a quick break. but redskins training camp begins today with no signs the team is looking to change its name. it's not just the pros where this is an issue.

nbc martin fletcher joins us from tel-aviv this morning. thank you. it sounds like for a lot of people, this is becoming a living hell >>well, it is, jose. in gaza it is a living hell. there's no doubt about that. israelis have been shelling for two weeks aiming at targeting with, they say from which hamas is firing rockets at israel. and claiming that they are mostly in urban built up areas. israel hit five mosques, they hit a school, they hit a sports complex. they hit homes. all of those targets, israel is not hitting for the fun of it. they say that they're rocket launchers in or on the edge of those places. and all the civilians in the area, of course, paying the price for that. so you have now a bit of a 600th palestinian dead. about -- more than half the people in zba have no access to clean water. they're running out of food. and the phrase you used living hell sums up the situation for palestinians in gaza. not the same, i have to say, here in israel. the people are pretty much protected by the iron dome anti-rocket system. since israel's inv

martin fletcher in tel aviv. hi again, martin. >> reporter: hi. what is all happen, the israelis moving forward very quickly apparently in gaza. the troops moving from, into the north along the central sector and the south, looking for rocket launchers, but in particular, looking for the tunnels that the islamic militants have been building from gaza into israel, from which they hope to launch attacks against soldiers inside israel. the cabinet met this morning and prime minister netanyahu send finding the tunnels and destroying them is israel's key priority. the reports are they found at least five tunnel entrances leading into israel. so that's some success already within the first 24 hours of this operation. but in order to search the whole area and find all of those tunnels, the israelis say they're going to need between 10 to 14 days at least to dot that. that's a long time for the operation to get out of control, because with so many israeli soldiers now enters gaza, bear in mind, they've called up about 68,000 israeli reservists to join the

nbc's martin fletcher is showing me from tel aviv. good morning. this cease-fire is it expected to hold for the next few hours, about six we have left. i'm curious what the scene was like in gaza after it started. >> reporter: that's right. exactly halfway through the 12 hour cease-fire began at 8:00 in the morning local time, goes on to 8:00 p.m. local time. so far so good, no rockets from gaza, no israeli shelling of targets in gaza, so the cease-fire is holding. of course everyone hopes it will continue holding to the end. the question is what happens afterwards. will the lab miracle. will john kerry sometime in paris be able to organize a continuation of the cease-fire. no one's hopes very high for that at the moment. in gaza there was a flury of excitement and as soon as the cease-fire went into effect and i should point out there was shelling of gaza by the israelis up to the last minute. at 8:00 in the morning people began to stream out of their homes, going shopping, getting food, getting money from the atm machines and the banks and in par

. >> and nbc's martin fletcher has more now from tel aviv. martin. >> reporter: the fight is continuing. israel has launched at least 42 air raids against the palestinian rocket launchers in gaza. the hamas has fired 40 rockets at israel. no damage, no injuries reported here n gaza, the palestinian residents of the northern gaza where israel is targeting, about 17,000 of those palestinian residents have heeded israeli warnings to leave their homes before the shelling starts. they're now being looked after in schools by the united nations in gaza. israel said it will increase the intensity of its attacks and move not only from this one area of northern gaza but also to other areas. so the intensity of the fighting is increasing. even as -- even as diplomacy is beginning to move into higher gear, the arab league is meeting in cairo today. they're going to try to come up with some kind of truce proposal which they can present to israel and hamas. john kerry, the american secretary of state, is also involved. the european union is involved. everyo

martin fletcher, appreciate your insight. we'll be closely what's watching on the ground and whether the united states intercedes more aggressively. we've tried again and again and so many attempts have failed so far. >>> another big international story also about the question of international intervention. seemingly intractable problem. this time we're talking about an intervention for someone small but strong. that's mala yousafzai. she arrived in nigeria with a clear message on her 17th birthday this past weekend. don't forget to bring back our girls. that message delivered to the girls' relatives. and to nigeria's president. boko haram struck back today with a new pretty mocking rejoineder. >> bring back our girls, brings back our army. bring backs our army. >> bring back his army meaning boko haram fighters that he wants free. more than 200 of those girls remain captured. >>> and today, back at home, two 2016 hopefuls face off over the same question of international intervention. senator rand paul hit back against texas

nbc's martin fletcher is in tel aviv with the latest. martin? >> reporter: hi, krystal.l, not only the american airlines and the canadians but also the german airlines, the dutch, the french, swiss air, austrian air. they've all canceled their flights. it's not clear for how long. of course, tensions high because of the downing of the malaysian plane in the ukraine. but what happened here was with the rockets from hamas flying into israel, one of them fell about a mile from the airport here. it did damage to three houses only a mile away. for that reason, the airlines got nervous. it's the first time, by the way -- this has happened before, i should point out, in 1991. the foreign airlines also stopped flying into here when the iraqis were firing scuds at tel aviv. it's happened before, but the israelis issued a strong reaction to the move by the american airlines, which then was followed by many of the other airlines. the israelis said that this is simply a reward for terror, and they called on the international airlines to resume their flights as quickly as possible. n