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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Gaza in Shambles; MH17 Shot Down: Cease-Fire at Crash Scene

Aired July 31, 2014 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Gaza in shambles. A market, a school now hit. Just in: Israel accused of more crimes.

No place seems safe this morning. We have shocking images as both sides refuse to stop the fighting.

We are live in Gaza and Jerusalem with the latest developments overnight and the political fallout.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning. Just minutes ago, Ukraine announcing a cease-fire near the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Investigators have been kept from the scene for days trying to collect victim's bodies. Live team coverage in Ukraine, ahead.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

BERMAN: And I'm John Berman. Good to see you this Thursday. It is July 31st, 4:00 a.m. in the East.

We want to welcome all of our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

Up first, some horrifying images spiraling out of control. We do want to warn you, that these pictures are graphic. Israeli warplanes bombarding a marketplace in eastern Gaza City, killing 20 Palestinians and wounding some 200 others. This after a deadly blast at a U.N. school left 17 Palestinians dead. Israel insists Hamas bears responsibility, but the U.N. secretary general doesn't see it that way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BAN KI-MOON, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: It points to Israeli artillery as the cause. Nothing is more shameful than attacking sleeping children.

MARK REGEV, NETANYAHU SPOKESMAN: We know for a fact that Hamas terrorists were using the vicinity at the school as a shield to shoot at our forces.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The area, though, but not the school itself. REGEV: If you are standing by the front gate and shooting and you don't want to be shot back because there's a school behind you. It's the same.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: This just in, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas firing up a letter to the United Nations secretary general saying that "Israel's systematic attack and deliberate attack on civilian homes as well as U.N. schools sheltering civilians and on hospitals that constitutes war crimes. I have declared the Gaza Strip a disaster area," he says.

We are joined by Karl Penhaul live from Gaza this morning.

In the midst of this all, Karl, we understand that Israel now calling up 16,000 more reserves.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. I don't want to tell you about the numbers although, I will tell you that yesterday here, on the Gaza Strip, more than 120 Palestinians were killed.

But I want to tell you a couple stories. First of all, that horrific attack in the market. The reason why these markets continue to function is because of wartime mentality is growing. Any chance that the farmers get for pause in the fighting are seen rushing out to their fields to bring them food to try and feed people so that things don't get too critical.

And it was at that time, that explosives went off in the market. And you are seeing pictures of those horrible scenes, why? Because two local journalists, two Palestinian journalists, were in the thick of that market taking pictures. The explosives come in. And one of the journalists was killed.

The assistant picks up the camera and carries on filming. He believed it was so important to have testimony of what was going on. So, he just carried on and did his job.

Before that, of course, earlier on in the U.N. school north of Gaza, we went up there and, again, people that had already fled their own homes coming under fire from artillery. The United Nations says very adamantly that it was Israeli artillery. Those people were sleeping in what they believed was a safe haven.

A woman told me, she said, "I woke up, there was smoke everywhere and shrapnel was raining down on us." Another man said, "I was sleeping outside so the women could have privacy." He says, "I saw old men cut to ribbons by the shrapnel."

And the pathetic nature of all this, they weren't the only victims. At the school gates, those people were so poor that they ridden to shelter on donkey carts. They parked their donkey carts with their donkey's outside. And another explosion rippled through the donkeys, and there's bodies of donkey's lying around as well.

The war just comes following after these people wherever they try to seek shelter -- John.

BERMAN: And, of course, Israel, Karl, suggests that Hamas is using these facilities, in some cases, to hide rockets. The U.N. did say that one of their closed off schools, they uncovered a store of rockets of there. Any reaction from Hamas to that?

PENHAUL: Absolutely, John. And you are absolutely right to point that out, because in such a tragic situation as any war is, we have to keep the balance. And the United Nations quite clearly is coming out and saying that in the last couple of weeks or so, on three separate occasions, they have found Hamas storing rockets in U.N. schools.

They do point out, however, that those schools were vacant at the time and didn't have displaced people in them, and that the U.N. is trying to keep vigilant, trying to keep ahead, because the U.N. has been very clear. Both sides in this conflict have been violating the rules of war.

And in terms of Hamas reacting to that, we have had no reaction from Hamas. Of course, look at the nature of the Gaza Strip. This was always going to be urban warfare. It is a densely populated area. It is a very built-up area.

The open areas are very close to the border between Gaza and Israel, which means the war has come into the built-up areas. This is -- any war is dirty as we know, but this war is far dirtier than most.

BERMAN: And the victims, of course, more and more innocent people.

Karl Penhaul, thank you very much for joining us this morning.

ROMANS: The White House expressing grave concerns about the operation in Gaza, condemning the shelling of that school, but not directly placing the blame on Israel. In a carefully worded statement, the Obama administration made sure to also, quote, "condemn those responsible", end quote, for hiding weapons in U.N. facilities. Officials in Jerusalem reacting now to a Latin American backlash, calling decisions by Peru, Chile, and El Salvador to pull their ambassadors out of Tel Aviv, a deep disappointment.

Israel does appear to be getting backing from an unlikely source, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, all distancing themselves this morning from Hamas.

Let's go live to Jerusalem and bring in Saima Mohsin.

Saima, what can you tell us about, I guess just the reaction and the view there where you are about the world's reaction to what's happening with this operation?

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's been a very interesting one, Christine. Let's talk about first the Latin American countries pulling out their envoys. Adding to that, Brazil has actually declared Israel a terrorist state. The reaction to that was one of complete dismissal, actually turning around and bringing football into it, responding to Brazil about losing the football match against Germany. But one very dismissive response from Israel there, really not taking the international condemnation seriously.

What they will take seriously perhaps is, as you mentioned, the White House reaction to that shelling of the U.N. school and what the deputy spokesman says or press secretary said, I want to read this to get this right, that while they recognize Israel's right to self-defense, it says the White House is also being very clear that Israel needs to do more to live up to its own standards to limit civilian casualties. So, reminding Israel that it says that it is being very careful to avoid civilian casualties and yet it's not.

The United Nations estimates of those kills, and more than 1,300, let's remember, in Gaza have been killed. Many of them, hundreds in fact, children. The U.N. estimates that 70 percent to 80 percent of them are civilians.

So, now, the White House has been forced really to weigh into that and say, look, Israel, we are understand your rights to protect yourself. We understand that Hamas is firing rockets at you, but you need to avoid civilian casualties. Of course, Israel will respond saying, as it has for three weeks, Hamas is using civilians as human shields to protect themselves and using U.N. schools as ammunition bases.

But as Karl Penhaul points out, the United Nation says that's simply not true. Only empty or disused buildings might be used by Hamas, but certainly not current U.N. shelters or schools that are being used as shelters.

So, the message is very clear from the international community, whether Israel wants to heed it or not is unclear, certainly dismissing Brazil's accusations calling it a terrorist state this morning -- Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Saima Mohsin for us in Jerusalem -- thank you, Saima.

BERMAN: We have breaking news just in from another crisis zone. The Ukrainian military declaring a one day cease-fire in its battle with pro-Russian rebels. This starts today and comes as international investigators have failed, again, to gain access to the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

But, a CNN crew was able to reach the crash site on Wednesday, finding human remains and passengers personal belongings scattered across this debris field.

Ukrainian officials are now warning anyone trying to reach the wreckage, that there could be land mines planted nearby.

Our Matthew Chance is tracking the latest developments live from Kharkiv this morning.

Matthew, let's start with this cease-fire. Is this across the entire region or just near the crash zone?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It appears to be an announcement which had been made unilaterally by the Ukrainian military, the Ukrainian government, to bring a cease-fire into force today alone in the village that is have been the scenes of fierce fighting over the course of several days between government forces and pro-Russian rebels.

It's been that violence that for four days in a row has prevented the international investigators, the Dutch and Australian investigators relations as well that have been attempting, under the escort of the OSCE to get to the crash site for a number of reasons. To recover the dozens of bodies, human remains that are still scattered around that area as a result of the MH17 crash and also to collect personal belongings and to repatriate those things back to the Netherlands where they can be forensically examined to get a better picture of what exactly happened to MH17.

So, this cease-fire for today could be crucial. We know that the convoy is on the road now towards the crash site. As I say, for four days in a row, they failed to get there because of the fierce fighting and security situation. Possibly, this cease-fire could be a breakthrough that will allow those teams to actually get on the ground. We'll bring you up to date on the information as soon as we get it from that convoy on its way to the crash site.

BERMAN: All right. Matthew, an interesting development. We're going to stay on this all morning. We'll check in with you in a minute.

Matthew Chance in Kharkiv, thanks very much.

ROMANS: So, if you ask the Russian people who shot down Malaysian Airlines Flight 17, most of them will tell you it was Ukraine. An independent poll revealing, 82 percent -- 82 percent of Russians believe that passenger jet was either taken out by a Ukrainian missile or Ukrainian military plane.

Meanwhile, the Russian government showing nothing but scorn for expanded economic sanctions imposed by the West. And get this -- the Russian stock market and its currency are higher. Investors relieved those sanctions didn't target critical gas industry.

I want to bring in Nic Robertson, monitoring developments live from Moscow. People in the markets, investors were really concerned this could be much, much worse and had been preparing for much worse sanctions and actually had a little bit relief rally. That's odd, but not surprising.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. It does kind of reflect the general procession here in understanding that Russia is in the right and the Europeans and the United States are in the wrong. That's the rhetoric that what we are hearing from the politicians here, particularly from the foreign ministry. Nothing but scorn, you said.

And that's absolutely right. There has been nothing but scorn, which is interesting in itself, because there hasn't been any sort of reverse sanctioning of any U.S. or European business interest on a large scale here. A few more goods have been banned from being imported from Ukraine. But that's the biggest reaction that we have seen.

And again, going to that 82 percent of Russians who believe it was Ukrainians who shot down MH17 over Eastern Ukraine, we understand today that the lead investigator, Russian investigator is in Kiev, hopes to get to the crash site himself, says he's there with a team of Russian expert who hope to present their evidence of what they believe happened to MH17.

There's a lot going on at the moment. In particular -- but the headline has to be, there's been no backlash so far, against European or U.S. business interest. I guess one other point here, that we're going to hear more of, the foreign ministry here demanding, calling on the U.N. and other international bodies to set up a humanitarian crisis action in the east of Ukraine right now.

They say there's a portending humanitarian catastrophe there -- Christine.

ROMANS: Nic Robertson for us there for us -- thanks.

BERMAN: A busy, busy morning, and we have more to tell you about. The deadly Ebola outbreak, the community is shutting down. The Peace Corps is pulling out of the danger zones as two more Americans come in contact with the virus.

ROMANS: Plus, House Republicans taking President Obama to court. We'll explain, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Sixteen minutes past the hour.

The Peace Corps has moved hundreds of volunteers out of West Africa over fear of the Ebola virus. Three hundred and forty members have now left Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. This as two Peace Corps volunteers are placed in isolation having contact with a person who later died of the virus.

Meantime, we are hearing from the son of an American woman infected with Ebola. Nancy Writebol contracted the disease helping as a missionary in Liberia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEREMY WRITEBOL, MOTHER CONTRACTED EBOLA: Dad's visits with mom right now are through a window at the home where mom is isolated. He's in a containment suit. The Ebola virus, in terms of mortality rate, right now, is about 64 percent. And so, that's good news for us. We feel like that's -- mom has a chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Mom has a chance. We wish her well. The virus has killed 670 people and sickened hundreds more.

BERMAN: An American-born jihadist who blew himself up outside a restaurant in Syria last May, he left behind a chilling video tape. Te footage now appearing on an al Qaeda Web site. It shows Florida- born Moner Mohammad Abu Salah chewing up his U.S. passport and warning all Americans, we are coming for you. There's also video of Abu Salah making a bomb and strapping it to his body, saying, "I want to rest in the afterlife."

ROMANS: The Republican-led House voting to authorize a lawsuit against President Obama, claiming the president overstepped his constitutional authority enforcing the Affordable Care Act. House Speaker John Boehner says the president broke the law by circumventing Congress with executive orders. The president is dismissing this lawsuit as simply a political stunt.

BERMAN: The House Republicans are rushing to act now on the border crisis. The House is scheduled to vote on a $659 million bill to expedite the return of thousands of undocumented children in Central America. Now, in addition to that vote, GOP leaders also plan to present an additional bill that would block the president's plan to grant work permits to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children. This could be controversial. This would be a very interesting day in the House.

ROMANS: Sure will.

All right. Time for an EARLY START on your money.

A rough day, a rough Thursday so far for stocks. European stocks lower. U.S. futures pointing down here, about half a percent. It could be an ugly day for stocks for what's really a pretty low week so far.

The Dow and S&P 500 down about half a percent this week and the NASDAQ is up just a little bit, just a fraction. So, a pause in the bull run here.

Also happening this morning, Argentina is in default for the second time in 13 years. Last minute talks failed to produce a deal, with the country's bond holders demanding payment overnight. Now, Argentina has defaulted. The change in credit rating will hike borrowing costs, put pressure on its already struggling economy.

Stocks in Argentina are actually up ahead of the news. Investors were not surprised by the looming default. They saw this coming. So, watch this space.

All right, a busy California shopping center parking lot becomes a runway when a plane crash lands right there from the sky. It happens, next, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: An investigation is under way this morning after a small plane crash in a San Diego shopping center. It killed an 80-year-old passenger. The pilot is recovering this morning at an area hospital. Witnesses say this plane bounced while landing in a nearby field and flipped the top of the Target store before crashing into this parking lot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were taking off about the same time she was on a different runway and we heard her say she was having issues with her power, and then a few seconds later, she said she was going down. We saw the smoke right afterwards. I mean, we saw her taking off. For the time, we saw her airborne until the smoke could have only been 15 seconds or so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The pilot sent out a stress call saying he had just lost power just before crashing.

ROMANS: Oh my.

All right. New details on the massive water main break in Los Angeles. UCLA saying the department of water and power, that's who should pay for it. Seven hundred cars stranded in flooded garages. They won't be moved until later today at the very earliest. The water loss much bigger than first thought, close to 20 million gallons spilled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COUNCILMAN PAUL KORETZ, LOS ANGELES: We're wet. I mean, UCLA is very wet. Fortunately, for us, the flood is over. We are restoring functions. We are pumping out the two parking garages. The Pauley floor which many people all over the world have written to me about is drying out. And let's hope we'll be able to repair that or replace it quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Can you imagine if you had a car in one of those garages? Maybe today you are going to get it out, and it's going to be wet, very wet. City officials say it's just too soon to decide if they need to raise a water rate to cover the cost of the flooding.

BERMAN: They use about 550 million gallons of water a day in L.A. But 20 million gallons is a big chunk of that. And, by the way, there's a water shortage, crazy.

ROMANS: Totally.

All right. Gaza in ruins. This morning, our big story: world leaders watching a humanitarian crisis unfold as Israel and Hamas both step up their attacks. More and more Palestinians caught in the cross fire. Live team coverage, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: Breaking news this morning: the fighting in Gaza intensifies. Israel adding 16,000 additional soldiers to the conflict, increasing attacks by air and on the ground. As Hamas -- Hamas vows not to back down. We are live on the ground in the Gaza and Jerusalem with the very latest.

BERMAN: More breaking news this morning, this time in Ukraine. The country's military just announcing a cease-fire at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.