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New Day Sunday

Israeli Soldier Died in Battle, Not Kidnapped; In the Path of Mideast Violence; No Ceasefire Between Israel and Hamas; American Ebola Patient Arrives in U.S. Hospital; History of Trouble for Malaysia Airlines; Ten Killed After Shelling Near Gaza School; Efforts to Broker Cease-Fire in Cairo; More Remains Found at Flight 17 Crash Site

Aired August 03, 2014 - 05:00   ET

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


CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Early 5:00 a.m. here on a Sunday. And we're so grateful for your company. I'm Christi Paul.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN ANCHOR: It is very early. I'm Miguel Marquez. This is a special early edition of NEW DAY SUNDAY. We'd like to welcome our viewers from the United States and around the world.

PAUL: Good morning to you. We do begin this morning with a stunning turn of events in the conflict between Israel and Gaza.

MARQUEZ: The Israeli military now says that -- the soldier reportedly captured and killed by Hamas was not kidnapped but instead killed by a blast by a suicide bomber in a Gaza tunnel. Hamas counters that claim saying they believe Goldin died in an Israeli airstrike.

PAUL: We're going to have more on that coming up but let's get caught up on what else we know this morning.

Israel is moving forward with its pursuit of targets inside Gaza. The IDF says least 200 terror targets have been hit since the ceasefire was broken and as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu added yesterday Israel will continue to defend itself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (via translator): We will regroup and arrange our forces in such a way that will enable us to defend our country. We will continue this operation until the goal is achieved.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUEZ: Now for that goal comes at a price for Palestinians. Gaza officials say 44 people have died in the last several hours bringing the death toll to more than 1700 since the conflict began.

PAUL: And we're just learning this morning of a shelling incident in the vicinity of a U.N. agency-run shelter in the town of Rafah. Ten people, we understand have been killed, several wounded. This is according to Gaza officials. We will update you as we get more information as that's a pretty fluid situation at the moment. Meanwhile, the funeral for Lieutenant Goldin will take place about 5

1/2 hours from now. Want to bring in senior international correspondent Sara Sidner. She's at the Israeli border and correspondent Karl Penhaul is in Gaza City.

Sara, let's begin with you. Do we have any further evidence of how Goldin died?

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the Israel military has said that they believe he died in that initial suicide blast when they were trying to destroy a tunnel, on the tunnel mission in Gaza.

We are standing near the border, standing near an Iron Dome system. We do know that the family of Hadar Goldin has invited all of Israel, as they put it, to come and say good-bye to their soldier killed there and has accepted the IDF's version and the announcement that Hadar Goldin has been killed in the operation.

That is the 64th soldier who has been killed during the operation and its lasted now four weeks. We also know that there are hundreds of soldiers that have been injured. We visited some hospitals both here in southern Israel and in Tel Aviv. And we talked to the families about the dangers of these missions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAYA LAPID, ISRAELI SOLDIER'S MOTHER: Look, he's only 21. He got hurt. He saw -- his friends got killed in front of him. He lost five friends from his school. What is going to happen to him?

SIDNER: He doesn't want his face shown because he's insisting on finishing his mission. Helping complete Israel's objective of blowing up part of the Hamas tunnel network. That it says can be used to strike inside Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: And you heard from that mother. Her son actually had shrapnel to the neck and face and was recovering in the hospital but wanted to go back in to complete the mission. Hamas for its part has said look, if soldiers are in our territory, blowing up our tunnels, killing our fighters and killing our civilians, they should expect a fight and they've said that over and over and over again.

As for Israel's mission inside of Gaza, they say it is not over yet but they are removing some soldiers from some areas and have told the civilians and the residents of Gaza in some parts that they can return to their homes.

We are standing here on the border as I mentioned. There have been, according to the IDF, 12 or 13 rockets that have been fired towards Israel. Most of them about 99 percent of them have fallen in open areas. One was taken out by the Iron Dome. That is the system that is anti-missile defense system that you're seeing just over my right shoulder behind me. It kind of blends in with the landscape, which is what it's supposed to do so that it is not easily targeted. But, yes, there have been rockets that have been coming over and certainly there have been fighting in Gaza today from the Israel side as well.

MARQUEZ: All right, Sara Sidner for us in Ashkelon, thank you very much.

Now to Karl Penhaul.

Karl, you visited the ruins of a mosque bombed by Israeli forces. Worshippers there vowing not only to rebuild but also to continue the fight against Israel. Is that right?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Morning, Miguel and Christi. Certainly, as Sara is describing, the fight still continues here on the Gaza Strip. And we've seen Israeli shelling hitting parts of eastern Gaza, we've seen it hitting parts of Gaza City, not far away from where we are. And also interestingly enough, shelling going into northern Gaza as well. That is the general area that the Israeli military advised residents that perhaps it was safe to go back to with some caution.

And of course when we're looking at the casualty figures, I don't think we can understate in any way the impact on civilians here in Gaza, according to the United Nations. More than 70 percent of the dead here in Gaza have been civilians. If you want to compare that on the Israeli side, less than 5 percent of the dead have been civilians on the Israeli side.

What that seems to be doing here on the Gaza side, of course, is galvanizing public sentiment and we have seen very strong sentiment among many civilians that perhaps the best thing to do now is to continue to pay, to sacrifice, continue to fight, to try and get a better living conditions for the people of Gaza once and for all.

Let's take a look at this clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENHAUL (voice-over): They've been bombed. But they still bow in prayer. The imam is blind but says he can picture the ruins.

"The mosque is just stone and walls. We will rebuild. We say to the Israelis, we will crush you."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PENHAUL: Now, of course, the Israeli military has accused Hamas and other militant factions of storing weapons in mosques and other public buildings. Part of the guerrilla-style urban war that's being waged here. Attendees at that mosque, however, say that they certainly never saw any signs of weapons there.

It would, of course, be wrong to characterize the sentiment among the people of Gazans (INAUDIBLE) for war. More, I would suggest that they are calling and crying for peace but not peace at any price. They do want improvement in their living conditions. They want this war to have counted for something.

And also just opposite from that mosque you saw there, I was talking to a 17-year-old teenager. He said that he had initially expected to spend his summer cramming on English and he hoped to get a scholarship to a U.S. college. He now says that those dreams seem like they are in tatters, but he is trying to cling to some kind of hope.

Back to you, Christi and Miguel.

MARQUEZ: All right. Sara Sidner for us in Ashkelon and Karl Penhaul for us in Gaza City. Thank you very much to you both.

PAUL: Thank you both.

MARQUEZ: Now Israel and Hamas continue to blame each other for the collapse of an attempted ceasefire.

PAUL: And as we've been telling you the IDF has resumed shelling Gaza.

CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson has more details for us.

Good morning, Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Hamas has responded very quickly to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's latest statement. They are saying that this is an admission of failure of defeat and confusion. When I sat down with Khaled Meshaal, the political leader of Hamas, who talked about the breakdown of the ceasefire there, that Israel had said that Hamas was responsible for the ending of what was supposed to be a 72-hour truce.

This is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KHALED MESHAAL, HAMAS POLITICAL LEADER (Through Translator): The Israeli position is unacceptable. This is because a truce is a truce. But the presence of the Israeli forces inside Gaza and destroying the tunnels means it is an aggression because they are inside the Gaza territories. Therefore, we told Mr. Kerry that the Palestinian resistance has the right to self-defense and the right to deal with the invading Israeli forces who are inside our Gaza territories with the necessary means.

We did not deceive Mr. John Kerry and we did not deceive the Israelis. We fight honorably. Therefore they are the ones who should be responsible for this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: Well, I asked him also about the possibility of another truce to get another humanitarian ceasefire in place. He said that was possible that they were ready for it, that they were sending a team, sent a team to Cairo to talk about this. Indirect talks is how he described it. But he said the issue of a permanent ceasefire would be much harder. They have key demands for Israel to end the blockade of Gaza, allow the people there to lead normal lives. And he indicated that is still not something that he sees happening any time soon.

I said, do you feel that you're winning? Does Hamas had victory right now? He said steadfastness in holding out against the Israeli forces, he said that in itself was a fact showed that they were winning.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

PAUL: Nic, thank you so much.

By the way you can watch Nic's full interview with Khaled Meshaal later this morning at 10:00 a.m. Eastern on "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS."

MARQUEZ: And this morning, an American doctor infected with the deadly Ebola virus is back on U.S. soil.

Coming up, we'll tell you about the moment he was reunited with his wife after more than 14 hours in the air.

PAUL: Also, 400,000 people are warned, do not drink the water. We'll tell you what raised the red flag and where.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: It was quite a sight. An American doctor infected with the deadly Ebola virus is fighting for his life on U.S. soil this morning after he finally arrived yesterday.

MARQUEZ: Amazing to see him actually. Dr. Kent Brantly who contracted the virus while treating patients in Liberia landed in Georgia yesterday. He's the first person ever to be treated in the United States for the virus.

PAUL: Upon landing, Brantly was rushed to Emory Hospital where he was placed in isolation. According to a family representative, Brantly's wife visited him for about 45 minutes, but think about it. The couple had to be separated by a glass wall to do so.

MARQUEZ: For good reason, I think. This morning, Brantly is described as being in great spirits.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The fight to keep American Dr. Kent Brantly alive is now in the hands of infectious disease experts at Atlanta's Emory Hospital. The 33-year- old Brantly, a missionary with Samaritan's Purse, made the long journey from Liberia to the United States in a specially equipped jet.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm worried about him. Yes, I am. But he'll be OK, regardless. GUPTA: After nearly 6,000 miles, 14 hours in the air, Brantly touched

down Saturday morning in Atlanta. But not before a brief refueling in Bangor, Maine. He's the first known Ebola patient on U.S. soil.

I spoke with Dr. Bruce Ribner, one of the leading physicians overseeing Brantly's care. He says there was never a question of bringing the two Americans who contracted Ebola to Emory. They were ready for them.

(On camera): Why take the risk at all?

DR. BRUCE RIBNER, EMORY UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: I think you've been in that part of the world. And you know the level of care that can be delivered. These are Americans who went over there to supply a humanitarian mission of medical care for these individuals. And our feeling is that they deserve the best medical care to try and resolve this infection that they can get.

GUPTA (voice-over): By early Saturday afternoon, Brantly was transferred from his isolation on board the plane into an ambulance on the tarmac. Then a caravan took to the streets of Atlanta where his every move was tracked by air and ground. Awaiting him at the hospital, a specially outfitted containment unit, one of only several on the world.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What sort of message do you have for folks at home, general public, that were concerned about having an American with the Ebola virus here in their backyard?

DR. JAY VARKEY, INFECTIOUS DISEASES DOCTOR, EMORY UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL: I think that's the key point. That this is not a virus, this is a patient. This is one of our neighbors. This is a parent. This is a child. This is a spouse. This is a sibling. This is a sick person who needs our help.

GUPTA: The other American missionary, Nancy Writebol, is awaiting her trip back to the United States as well. Around 12:30 Saturday afternoon, about an hour after the plane landed at Dobbins Air Force Base, it was back in the air, and she's expected to join her colleague at Emory early next week.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Amazing to see Dr. Brantly walk out of that ambulance on his own.

PAUL: I don't think anybody expected that.

MARQUEZ: I certainly didn't.

Be sure to watch "SANJAY GUPTA MD" at 7:30 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN as he goes even more in depth on the Ebola epidemic.

PAUL: So imagine waking up this morning and thinking, can I use my water? Can I take a shower? Can I have some coffee? I don't know.

MARQUEZ: I'm not sure I've woken up this morning. That's the reality, though, for nearly 500,000 people across northwest Ohio. They are being warned not to use, drink, cook, even boil, amazingly enough, the tap water.

PAUL: The advisory comes after a dangerous toxin was discovered in a local water treatment plant there. And that led the governor to declare states of emergency across the state. Even the National Guard has been called in to help bring safe water.

MARQUEZ: Officials say that there haven't been any reports of people getting sick from the water yet but many store shelves have been picked clean of any and all water leaving families worried about how they'll eat and even make baby formula.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I don't have water, my baby doesn't eat. So that's going to be an issue.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We waited an hour and 15 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And what did you get?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nothing. It was all gone.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: What does that make you feel like?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I don't think you really want to know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

PAUL: Nothing that she can voice publicly. There have -- there have been reports of bottled water price gouging at stores as well as on Craigslist.

MARQUEZ: The Ohio EPA warns that if -- they won't know if the water is safe to drink until sometime this morning at the very, very earliest.

PAUL: Hope they get good news there.

MARQUEZ: Indeed.

PAUL: All right. Two major airline disasters and one airline. Will Malaysia Airlines weather this storm? Experts are weighing in on what they're going to have to do to stay in business.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MARQUEZ: After two major air disasters in less than six months it is understandable the public and investigators may be losing faith in Malaysia Airlines. PAUL: The airline is not ready to throw in the towel and efforts to

rebrand are under way. But as Ana Cabrera reports, the airline does have a history of scandal apparently.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As the world mourns those killed on Flight 17, and the fate of MH-370 remains a mystery, the focus on Malaysia Airlines intensifies.

MICHAEL BOYD, AVIATION CONSULTANT, THE BOYD GROUP: Two airplanes in the wrong spot at the wrong time. It's the hand they got. They've got to deal with it.

CABRERA: Two planes lost in just four months, 537 lives taken too soon. Unfortunately, Malaysia Airlines has been here before. The airline is no stranger to unusual and tragic circumstances. A hijacking in 1977 killed all on board. Another crash in 1995 left 34 dead, and now we're learning more about a bizarre case in 2000. An Airbus A-330 was headed from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur. Ironically, the reverse route of MH-370.

The flight itself went smoothly, but on the ground disaster struck. Baggage handlers got hit with toxic fumes. They discovered chemical filled canisters had leaked, poison covered the cargo area. No serious injuries, but the corrosive chemicals damaged the plane beyond repair.

BOYD: Hazardous materials are carried by every airline in America, every airline in the world, probably. And if something is mislabeled or mispackaged or badly packaged, you can have that happen.

CABRERA: Even if you can call what has happened to Malaysia Airlines bad luck or a fluke, travelers may have trepidations and the airline is already struggling. Having lost an estimated $1.3 billion in business over the past three years.

DANIEL ROSE, AVIATION CONSULTANT, ATTORNEY, FORMER NAVY PILOT: It's not unusual for airlines that go through this kind of thing to end up in bankruptcy.

CABRERA: So how does an airline with such a troubled past survive?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At Malaysia Airlines --

CABRERA: Malaysia Airlines now said it's considering a rebrand. A reputation overhaul. In an editorial piece for Sunday's "British Telegraph" newspaper, the airline's commercial director Hugh Dunleavy writes, "Our majority shareholder, the Malaysian government, has already started a process of assessing the future shape of our business, and that process will now be speeded up as a result of MH- 17."

BOYD: They need to do it, they need to do it very quickly, color schemes need to be different, the name needs to be different, everything has to be different. They need a program that they can put into place within probably 90 days.

CABRERA: Industry insiders say the airlines turnaround must also focus on more than image. The airline can't just scratch the surface, it has to look deeper into its own corporate culture for the sake of its passengers.

DAVID SOUCIE, FORMER FAA SAFETY INSPECTOR: What needs to be done now is Malaysia Airlines needs to look very closely. If they're going to survive, they're going to have to look very closely at their safety culture. They're going to have to open their minds to looking at hazards that they would never have suspected.

CABRERA: Ana Cabrera, CNN, Denver.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: And we want to thank Ana for the report there.

Well, a New York man is dead. His death ruled a homicide at the hands of a police officer. And now his widow wants justice.

MARQUEZ: And an aerial game of chicken. It is reminiscent of the Cold War. We'll tell you what happened between a U.S. spy plane and the Russian military.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: Bottom of the hour right now. So glad to have you with us. I'm Christi Paul.

MARQUEZ: And I'm Miguel Marquez. We return to our coverage of the conflict in Gaza. As we mentioned earlier, heavy shelling has been reported in the vicinity of a U.N. school in Rafah in southern Gaza this morning.

PAUL: Chris Guinness joins us live from Rafah.

Chris, thank you so much. Tell us, what did you see today? What did you hear?

CHRIS GUNNESS, UNRWA SPOKESMAN: Well, in the vicinity of a -- a boy school in Rafah, there has been a shelling incident. Very sadly and tragically, I can report there were multiple deaths and injuries. We're not going with a confirmed death toll or confirmed injuries.

But I can confirm a shelling incident has caused multiple deaths n injuries in the vicinity of a school. Again, I am not saying it was a direct hit and we're not confirming who it is by yet. We hope to have more details later.

But let me again underline the utmost need for all sides in this terrible conflict to respect the sanctity of civilian life, the neutrality of U.N. property and premises and to respect international law obligations towards and to protect humanitarian workers because just yesterday. Confirmation came through that nine of my colleagues are workers, have been killed and there are unconfirmed reports of more coming in. But could I also say that whereas most aid organizations would have pulled out or withdrawn in the face of that.

The world has seen heroically, let me modestly say leading the humanitarian response to this catastrophic human displacement crisis. People need us. There are now 260,000 people in 90 UNRA shelters across the strip. We'll continue working with them in the battle zone to bring aid to them.

And can I also say that we are grateful and proud that the American people, the American government, is our largest single donor. None of this would be possible without American taxpayers giving to UNRA the money they've given. We're profoundly grateful. It's been possible because of that.

MARQUEZ: Mr. Gunnes, our reporters said there were several rockets outs going from Gaza. Did you see any of that activity prior to this bombardment, and do you have any idea whether this was from a plane or artillery or tank? What do you gather it was that hit near this U.N. school?

GUNNESS: We're not in the position and the fog of war is everywhere. And don't let it also be forgotten the first casualty in war is the truth. And we're not going to go down that road until we have fully confirmed information.

But can I say that we do not have hard and fast evidence that any in of the incidents involving our schools there were militants in those schools firing out rockets. That isn't to say they didn't happen, but we have no evidence of that.

If we did, we would condemn this in the strongest possible terms as a flagrant violation just as we have done, by the way, on the three occasions when we have found rocket caches in our schools. And we've condemned the groups who put them there.

That's why we're very even handed and very balanced about this. We're not saying there's a symmetry of power militarily, but in terms of our neutrality, neutrality for an organization is the family silver and we guard the family silver very jealously.

PAUL: Chris, real quickly, how many people were being housed at that school and are we talking about a lot of children, obviously?

GUNNESS: Very good question. Forgive me for not getting to the obvious question of the most important point of the potential victims, about 3,000. Now that's a huge number. Of course, there were many women and children amongst them.

We've seen so tragically what can happen to women and children in this conflict. The life of children is one of the most precious things we as human beings have wherever we are. And we have to remember that it's our children that need the most protection and our schools are full of people who make up the next generation. It's simple and as sad as that.

PAUL: Chris Gunness, we so appreciate you letting us know what's going on there and keeping us up to date. Thank you so very much.

MARQUEZ: Thanks much.

PAUL: And we'll be talking to you, I'm sure, a little later as well.

Let's go back to the border now to Israel. CNN's senior international correspondent, Sara Sidner. We just heard from Christopher Gunness. Is there any word from Israel as to whether they hit near that school?

SIDNER: No, we have not gotten word yet. Usually what happens in these incidents is that they will look into it, investigate it and then get some information from this side of the border. We can tell you from this side of the border that about 13 rockets have been fired towards Israel.

Only one of them taken out by the iron dome system, one of which is sitting behind me to the left, on my left shoulder. It's a missile defense system that has put in areas where the population is the one that it usually takes out are ones that are going to be hitting a populated areas.

The other 12 rockets landed in open fields so no injuries or deaths caused by those rockets. We do also know that the deployment of soldiers, there will be more, according to the IDF into the Gaza. But they also are pulling some soldiers out of some areas and have told residents they can return there in Gaza to some neighborhoods.

So you can see a little bit of a change in what is happening on the ground there in Gaza, although Israel saying they're going to continue with their objective to try and rid Gaza of all of its tunnels.

PAUL: Sara, we appreciate the report. Thank you so much.

We're just going to try to figure out exactly what's going on there, particularly with that school. And, OK, excuse me, do we have Diana with us? We do. Diana, thank you so much.

The hunt for -- this is a bid to stop the violence. We have an official Palestinian delegation reportedly arriving in Cairo for a cease-fire negotiation.

Diana Buttu is a human rights attorney, former legal adviser to the PLO. Diana, thank you so much for being with us. We know Hamas previously rejected proposals from Egypt as well as the Palestinian Authority. Wondering what your reaction is to that?

DIANA BUTTU, HUMAN RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, those proposals that had been put forward were not proposals that were involving Hamas in any way and that's why I'm hoping that now that there are -- that Hamas is actually involved that we will get to some sort of a cease-fire arrangement.

The big problem is that the Israeli government has already announced they'll not be sending a delegation. And so you can't again have a cease-fire when not all of the parties are willing to sit down and discuss. So my fear is that this is going to simply continue.

Israel will end its military operations unilaterally, but it won't get to the heart of the issue, which is the fact the Gaza strip has been living under a military blockade now for eight years. A military blockade that has strangled this area and that the United Nations and other countries around the world have condemned.

I feel that the only way we can move forward is if we begin to stop ignoring that parties exist and get to the point of actually discussing how to let the Gaza Strip survive.

MARQUEZ: All right, we want to bring Sara Sidner back in who is in Ashkelon. Sara, we want you in this conversation as well.

SIDNER: Diana, hello. This is Sara. I'm on the border, the Israeli/Gaza border. I wanted to ask you a couple of we know and are greatly disturbing, the world is, by the number of Palestinian civilians that have been killed in Gaza. We've heard from Israel.

They talked about potentially going to something like a quiet for quiet type of scenario which, obviously, is not a ceasefire scenario until that's worked out. But Hamas has even refused that saying that, you know, there's not going to be any quiet for quiet as long as Israeli soldiers are on its territory.

But with the number of civilians being killed there in Gaza and Hamas knowing that they do not have the kind of firepower to fight Israel, Israel has a better military apparatus, what do you say to that?

And are the Palestinians, the authority in Ramallah, are they talking to Hamas saying, look, at least go for quiet for quiet so that the civilians can try to go back and live their lives, a little bit, at least, bury the dead?

BUTTU: Well, the big problem is not this issue of quiet for quiet because there has never been quiet. Each and every cease-fire arrangement that has ever been reached has been broken by the Israelis. In this cycle of not having quiet and demanding quiet, all that we see is that in the process, the Palestinian civilians who end up being hurt.

Even before this latest attack began, there were a number of Palestinians, who were killed by the Israelis, whether they were killed by sea, whether killed in air strikes in Gaza and of course, the fact that the Gaza strip remains blockaded for such a long period of time.

This is why I think it's more important, rather than simply looking at an end to violence that we start looking at why violence is there in the first place and we begin addressing the root causes of this violence.

And the root cause is the fact that Palestinians have been denied their freedom for such a very long time. Nobody wants to see an end to this more than the Palestinians themselves because we are the ones who are actually suffering the most.

But unless and until the international community steps up and shows some leadership, I am afraid we're going to continue to see more violence and much more of a blockade on the Gaza Strip.

MARQUEZ: Everybody wants that. I think everybody certainly wants that as well, but as long as Hamas is so diametrically opposed to the existence of Israel, how can you even begin that conversation? Does Gaza need new leadership to begin with?

BUTTU: Well, I want to challenge you a little bit on this idea that they don't recognize Israel. If you look at what Israeli officials have said, they themselves have never recognized Palestine's right to exist. This isn't just a question of recognition. It's a question of who is in power and who is in military control.

And the fact of the matter is, is that it's Israel that's occupying Gaza, not the Gazans who are occupying Israel. In order to move forward, and I think it is vitally important to move forward there has to be international leadership and that international leadership has got to put some red lines through Israel saying first and foremost, the blockade is illegal.

Secondly, which is also very important, Israel's obligation is to protect Palestinians, not to kill them. In this way, if we begin to uphold and abide by international law, we'll be able to see and move forward. But if we simply get into this situation of looking at what one charter says versus another charter, I'm afraid we're never going to --

MARQUEZ: Those charters are important. I mean, those -- that is the basis for their existence. The U.S. has a constitution. We live by that constitution. We live by those laws. That's the same standard that should apply to Hamas, yes?

BUTTU: Every single Israeli party in this current coalition also does not recognize Palestine's right to exist. So we can go down the semantic argument, but I'm more concerned with the lives of Palestinian civilians. And let me also say, Hamas has also said that they would be willing to recognize Israel if Israel recognized Palestine.

And we've never seen an Israeli leader come forward and say they recognize Palestine's right to exist. Again, the semantics are not as important as what life is on the ground.

And being able to make sure that Palestinians are living their lives under a system that is where they are not considered below the law. And Israel is not considered above the law as I think most vitally important.

PAUL: Well, Diana, Dore Gold, an Israeli diplomat just today on CNN International, said that it will help rehabilitate Gaza, but it cannot do so until Hamas is demilitarized. Do you agree with that?

BUTTU: No, I don't. This is a statement they've made time and again. What they mean by saying this is that they'll not ever let the Gaza strip live meaning that they will never open up the borders. They want to continue to let it be in the situation -- this isn't the first time the Israelis have bombed the Gaza Strip.

They even bombed it before Hamas was even ever elected into office. Yet each and every time they've never allowed any type of equipment to come into the Gaza Strip to rehabilitate it. This is why there are tunnels because once you cage people in there is going to be a means for people to try to get -- to try to get materials in.

At the same time, I think moving forward, which is what I'm more interested in is moving forward, we can't simply look at one side of the equation which is Israel's security.

As we've seen over the course of the past three weeks there's been close to 1,700 Palestinians killed, 80 percent of whom are civilians. This is the type of issue that we should be looking at. We should be talking about -- not demilitarizing --

PAUL: There is no doubt that people are watching this and feeling a lot of anxiety and stress for all of the children and the women and the people that are dying in Palestine. It's a complicated issue. Diane Buttu, thank you so much for being with us. Sara Sidner, we appreciate you as well. And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAUL: A high school student featured in the CNN series "Chicagoland" was shot and wounded this weekend. This is according to the "Chicago Tribune" and the "Sun Times."

MARQUEZ: The 20-year-old had recently graduated from high school and he had spoken in the series about wanting his life to be turned around.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEL MCCOLLUM: My two worries in life are not making it and being unsuccessful and ending up on the streets. The second worry is, I want to be a father and able to provide for their family.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: Again, Lee was wounded in that shooting. Police are investigating whether it was gang related and at this point, nobody is in custody.

MARQUEZ: After more than two years on the run, a shootout in a New York market -- it was the end of the line for an accused child molester.

PAUL: Investigators say a tip called in during CNN's "THE HUNT WITH JOHN WALSH" helped crack the case. CNN national correspondent, Deborah Feyerick has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The search for suspected child molester and fugitive, Charles Mozdir ends here. The shootout at a Manhattan west village smoke shop.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mozdir fired upon the officers at very close range and the officers returned fire.

FEYERICK: Members of the U.S. Marshal's New York-New Jersey regional task force tracked Mozdir to New York following a tip that came into CNN'S "THE HUNT WITH JOHN WALSH."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My son sat me down and he said mom I have something to tell you. And he proceeded to tell me that Charlie had touched him inappropriately.

FEYERICK: Mozdir had recently been profiled on the show.

(on camera): One of the officers and identified Mozdir. He was alone police say inside that smoke shop. When members of the task force entered, that's when the shooting began.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: During the exchange of gunfire, the detectives and two marshals were wounded. Charles Mozdir was shot dead.

FEYERICK (voice-over): Police say Mozdir had grown a beard and had no intention of being taken quietly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A 32-caliber handgun was recovered at the scene, 20 rounds of additional ammunition were found in Mozdir' pockets.

FEYERICK: Alexis Green lives down the blocks from the smoke shop and took these photos immediately after the shooting.

ALEXIS GREEN, RESIDENT: What I first noticed was a large crowd and police officers with helmets on, detectives, ambulance workers.

FEYERICK: One U.S. Marshal shot in the leg and another one injured in the arm. The NYPD detective assigned to the task force shot in the abdomen. None of the injuries are believed to be life threatening.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we can see where the round entered, it was recovered in the vest.

FEYERICK: Mozdir was last seen two years ago in San Diego after being accused of molesting a friend's 7-year-old son. At the time, police searched his home and found a cell phone with images of child porn and bestiality. His abandoned car was found soon after in Georgia, the license plate removed and Mozdir seemingly disappeared. Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

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MARQUEZ: Now be sure to tune in or set your DVR for tonight's episode of "THE HUNT WITH JOHN WALSH." It airs at 9:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

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PAUL: Mortar fire echoing in the background as international investigators comb through the wreckage of Flight 17 in Eastern Ukraine.

MARQUEZ: That was the scene yesterday as recover teams used cadaver dogs to sift through debris. Officials a team of 70 experts found more of those innocent victims of somebody else's war and their personal belongings at the site.

PAUL: It's the largest number of investigators that have been allowed on scene since the plane was shot down July 17th. CNN's Kelly Morgan is joining us live from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.

Kelly, good morning to you. Are investigators expecting another full access day today at the crash site?

KELLIE MORGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Christi. We're hearing the team of Dutch and Australian experts are making their way to that crash scene again for a fourth day. It won't be a full day. We are -- it's 1:00 in the afternoon here in Ukraine. So they will do as much as they can today.

The priority again is to recover any remains that are still at that site. They are working in really horrendous conditions. It's more than 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the region at the moment. So it's a grisly task they are faced with.

The other difficulty is that there's concerns they could still be some remains under some of that heavy debris, which they are going to really need heavy haulage equipment to lift to see if there are any remains there that need to be taken away.

So a very difficult circumstances without the battle that is raging on the perimeter of that crash scene. Yesterday, one of the teams were working an area that -- where there was some shelling and they had to stop searching in that particular area.

It is very difficult for them. They are working against a backdrop of a battle zone. The Ukrainian military continues to make progress in regaining rebel controlled territory. They are moving closer and closer to Donetsk, which is the rebel strong hold and also the city of Lugantsk, which is closer to the Russian border.

Now they are the two key cities that the Ukrainian military really wants to keep pushing towards. And so it's that background that these international experts are working against and they are very keen, obviously, to get their task done as quickly as possible.

But this is not something that's going to happen in a matter of days. It could take them weeks so every day is crucial that they can get to that crash scene.

PAUL: All right, Kellie Morgan in Kiev, Ukraine, for us there. Kellie, thank you very much today. PAUL: The remains of a missing Israeli soldier now found in Gaza. Israeli's prime minister saying his forces will keep up their fight against Hamas no matter how much force it takes. We'll have a live report from the Middle East at the top of the hour.

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