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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Seven-Hour Gaza Cease-Fire Ends; Hamas Not Only Armed Group in Gaza; Doctor Improving After Experimental Ebola Drug

Aired August 04, 2014 - 12:30   ET

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


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ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A seven-hour humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza is now over, and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the campaign will continue.

Even during the cease-fire -- it wasn't much of a cease-fire actually, there was still violence. Israel says it struck a house in a refugee camp, an operation that targeted militants and had been an ongoing operation, and thus Israel says it didn't violate the cease-fire.

The IDF also killed an operative in charge of intelligence gathering before the cease-fire started. In Jerusalem a backhoe slammed into a bus, flipping it over. Police there call it a terror attack.

So far in the conflict, 67 Israelis have been killed, the bulk of them soldiers. And then in Gaza, really, an asymmetric number, more than 1,800 Palestinians dead.

A blast going off near a United Nations-run school and shelter, something that actually stuck in the craw of the United States State Department. It actually used the word "disgraceful" to describe what happened there.

CNN's Chris Cuomo asked the state department spokesperson about that very comment this morning on "NEW DAY." Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, "NEW DAY": When you use the harsh words, they seem kind of empty because the U.S. supports Israel almost unconditionally.

You know why they're doing this. You any they're going to keep doing it. So why even come out with a statement like that that kind of injured Israel, but you're not going to do anything to stop the practice?

JEN PSAKI, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESWOMAN: With all due respect, I think you're simplifying the issue here.

The issue here is that Israel, we believe they have the right to defend themselves. And we understand that they can't -- the people of Israel can't be waking up every day with terrorists coming in through tunnels, threatening their lives, threatening the health of their people.

But at the same time, as they're defending themselves, there's more that can be done to prevent attacks that are impacting civilians in Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: The leader of Hamas' political wing is pointing to that growing number of Palestinian casualties, saying that Israel is the aggressor and it's striking too many civilian areas.

But on the counter side, Israelis says Hamas is to blame for constantly bombarding Israel with rockets that are coming out of those civilian areas.

It may not just be as simple as Israel versus Hamas, either. As Paula Hancocks reports, Hamas is not the only armed group in the tiny Gaza Strip.

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what Israel is up against, a secretive group of well-trained killers who will stop at nothing to destroy a state they believe should not exist.

But this is not Hamas. This is the Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigade, one of more than half a dozen different militant groups in Gaza.

This group says it helped kidnap Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit back in 2006. They have been training to kidnap more, a perfect example of why Israel and its allies should be worried by far more than just Hamas.

Hamas' political leadership is not even in Gaza. It's based in Qatar. They say the occupation prevents them from going home. The reality is, Israel would likely target them if they did.

Leader Khaled Meshaal has only been to Gaza once, back in 2012. To effectively run Gaza, you have to be in Gaza.

Another problem for Hamas, logistics. Imagine an area the size of Detroit with no power, little water, 1.8 million residents who can't leave, being run by a group that's a shadow of its former self, with a military wing worried about using cell phones that can be tracked by Israel.

KHALED ELGINDY, FELLOW, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Internal communication within Hamas has been disrupted and so they have a hard time even getting on the same page internally, much less bringing outside groups into line.

HANCOCKS: Despite this, Israel says Hamas rules the strip with an iron fist, so whoever breaks the cease-fire, Hamas is accountable.

But the reality is more complex. Islamic Jihad, al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, Army of Islam, just a few of the better known group, the question is, how many more splinter groups are there that until now may have been operating under the radar?

ELGINDY: We know that there are Jihadi groups in the Gaza Strip. This is the sort of environment that Jihadi groups tend to thrive in.

HANCOCKS: Israel blames Hamas for sparking this latest conflict, perhaps to try and force concessions.

The longer this lasts, the more this becomes a life or death battle for Hamas as well as the people of Gaza

Paula Hancocks, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BANFIELD: One American citizen infected with the Ebola virus is already now being treated inside the United States. That's a big statement. The other patient is on her way here to a hospital for treatment.

One of the patients amazed a lot of people when he was able to actually walk. Take a look at the screen -- walking, prior to almost believing he was about to die.

How on earth did he get this well this fast? We're going to talk about a remarkable new treatment in a moment.

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BANFIELD: The first known patient to be treated for Ebola on United States soil is improving in an Atlanta hospital today. Dr. Kent Brantly, who contracted the virus in Liberia, was given an experimental serum right before he was airlifted to the U.S. This weekend, and that serum reportedly improved his condition dramatically.

Incredibly, he was seen on video walking by himself into Emory University Hospital. What a turn of events, considering he thought he was on the brink of death.

Another American aid worker, Nancy Writebol, who was also infected with the virus, is expected to arrive in the United States tomorrow.

Meantime, the Ebola outbreak in Africa continues to spiral out of control. We have the latest numbers for you that were just released by the World Health Organization. So far this virus has claimed the lives of 887 people, and more than 1,600 have been infected.

Add to that, Nigeria confirming four cases of the virus. Puts Nigeria on the list, along with three other west African nations who are struggling with this outbreak.

Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been working the story. He's live at Emory University Hospital. Where I truly can't believe what you've been reporting. This morning about Dr. Kent Brantly and just how quickly he responded to this sort of miracle treatment. Can you take me through it? DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think it's

surprising to a lot of people, quite stunning, frankly.

The story is this treatment, which is a type of serum, was sent in to Liberia, sent in at subzero temperatures, and was sent there to basically try and provide an option for these two American missionary workers. Dr. Brantly and Writebol.

When it arrives, Brantly said let's give Nancy, Miss Writebol, the medication first. He being younger, he thought more likely to recover. What happened next is kind of astounding.

He, Dr. Brantly, had a sudden deterioration in his condition, according to sources that have described all these events. He started to have labored breathing, a rash sort of was going over his trunk, his abdomen, his chest area. And he thought he was going to die. In fact, he's a doctor himself. That's what he said to the personnel.

In the interim, the medication, which had been destined for miss Writebol, was given to him through an iv. Within 20 minutes to an hour, he had a dramatic improvement. The rash went away. You didn't see the rash anymore. And he started to feel much, much better. He was able to get up and take a shower prior to departing on the prearranged jet Medevac out of Africa.

This is a medication that had never been used in a human being before, only in monkeys. It's not something that's gone through the clinical trial process. Dr. Kent Brantly was the first person in the world to receive it. It seems in his case -- it's just one patient, but in his case, it seems to have had a just remarkable, remarkable impact.

BANFIELD: So, Sanjay, we're watching those pictures again of Dr. Brantly getting out of the ambulance by himself. You know, ambulatory after the condition he was in hours earlier.

But Nancy Writebol, who got this vaccine -- or this serum after he did not have quite the same reaction. And maybe you can get me up to speed on her condition as she gets ready to arrive in the United States tomorrow.

GUPTA: Our understanding is she has had two doses of this medication, both in Liberia. The first dose did not give the same impact but the second dose did. That's very important.

Keep in mind, Ashleigh, you want to make sure someone is medically stable enough to actually make this flight.

And, Ashleigh, I'm actually here with Dr. Isakov, who has overseen this entire process, no small feat.

Let me just ask you a couple questions. First of all. this jet that went to go get Dr. Brantly, now getting Writebol, is it the only jet of its kind? Do more jets like this exist with that capability?

DR. ALEX ISAKOV, DIRECTOR, EMORY'S OFFICE OF CLINICAL PREPAREDNESS: My understanding is that this is the jet that has the capability that was designed to work with CDC and the isolation unit here. If there are others, I'm personally not aware.

GUPTA: I've heard it's the only kind in the entire world, so I just wanted to confirm that. Mrs. Writebol is in Liberia. Do you have any updates on what's going on? We know a medical evacuation in under way right now.

ISAKOV: So the intention is to bring her from Liberia back to Emory University Hospital. We expect that that's going to happen tomorrow.

GUPTA: And we hear that she's stable enough medically?

ISAKOV: Actually, I'll tell you, Sanjay. The details about even the first patient's condition prior to arrival were difficult to obtain, and I would say at this point I don't have great details about her condition either.

For the purposes of the transportation, I get information shortly before the patient arrives so that we can be best prepared to manage if they're more critical than otherwise.

GUPTA: You probably heard a lot of the concerns, the fears. People certainly in Atlanta have.

What was your biggest concern? Did you worry about your personnel on the plane, on the -- in the ambulance, to keeping them safe? How did you sort of approach the situation?

ISAKOV: So I think all the personnel, especially the ones that I worked with directly at Grady M.S., for example, have really literally been training for this for the last 12 years, anticipating the possibility of transporting a patient with viral hemorrhagic fever or otherwise.

So they're confident in their skills over those years of training and preparedness. There were no concerns about anything. They were prepared to do the job.

GUPTA: Everyone showed up for work? No one said, look, I'd like to sit this one out?

ISAKOV: No. And I know I've seen it in the press, and it's true. Some of the hospital workers canceled their vacation because they were part of the team and they wanted to participate in the care and try to help make people better.

Our team is on standby and ready to do the transport.

GUPTA: And just real quick, the plane lands at Dobbins Air Force Base. It's about 30 minutes by ground then to get here to Emory University Hospital.

Why not use a helicopter just to keep the patients off the ground at that point and fly them straight to the hospital?

ISAKOV: I think maybe the best reason is that we're trying to get the patient as close to the isolation unit as we possibly can. So it's logistics. Our helipad here is on the ninth floor. That means a longer distance maybe to the isolation unit. It's a much shorter distance if you can transport by ground. So that's the primary reason.

I think the other reason is the protocols and procedures for properly disinfecting a transport for the metro Atlanta area. They were facilitated for ground transport. Helicopters are also at risk for inclement weather and not having an ability to fly. So we really focused on a very sure way of moving the patient, and that's by ground.

GUPTA: I know you're on the clock, because this is still an ongoing situation, Ashleigh, bringing Miss Writebol back to the United States as well.

And, again, you heard it. It happened with a jet that's the only one of its kind really in the whole world.

BANFIELD: It's just awesome, remarkable on all of the participant's parts taking that risk.

Sanjay, thank you, and also please thank Dr. Isakov for is for that interview and for doing the work that he and his team are doing.

Also, coming up in a few minutes, Dr. Sanjay and Dr. Isakov continue their discussion. We're going to take you live to a treatment center in Africa to look at the possibility of this disease maybe mutating once again.

Yes. The possibly. That next.

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BANFIELD: One of the biggest fears when it comes to Ebola is the possibility that that deadly virus could mutate and actually become airborne. If Ebola becomes airborne, it will spread even faster and be even more difficult than it is now to contain.

In the meantime, health workers in Africa are struggling to contain what they're dealing with now, the spread of that virus. Here are the latest number just released by the World Health Organization. And so far it has claimed the lives of 887 people and more than 1,600 people have been infected by it. And Nigeria has confirmed four cases of the virus, adding it to the three other west African nations that are struggling to deal with this problem.

This is not something I say lightly, but I'm going to talk about those mutations in just a moment. But first, the man on the right-hand side of your screen is David McKenzie from CNN. And he, exclusively to us right now, has landed in Sierra Leone, one of the countries that is on a travel warning list. There are 252 people who have died from Ebola in this country.

David, I hope you and your team are taking remarkable precautions as you bravely report on the situation there. But get me up to speed. And I understand we have quite a long delay, so go ahead and give us your report. DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ashleigh, there certainly is

a very dire situation here in eastern Sierra Leone. Of the three countries and maybe a fourth one that has been affected, this is the epicenter of this epidemic and it's really the worse Ebola epidemic we've ever seen.

There are scores that are dying every day it seems in these three countries. And I've spoken to Doctors Without Borders, which is managing a clinic here and a very tricky circumstance of this deadly virus, and they say, you know, they opened a new section to their clinic here in this village in eastern Sierra Leone and it was almost immediately filled. They don't have the manpower, they don't have the money and they don't have the supplies to contain this epidemic right now. It's a very serious situation.

And, yes, for us to come here, we're taking some level of risk. But for those doctors and nurses that are trying to deal with this, given that health workers, often the most affected in an outbreak, it's really incredible work that they're doing and it has very important local and, of course, global implications.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: So, David, again, with the delay, bear with us but -- because the symptoms for those who are strike within Ebola are so similar to so many other diseases that people in that region experience. I mean, you know, fever, chills, diarrhea, bone aches, et cetera. How is the message getting disseminated to people that they need to take it seriously and they need to either quarantine or find treatment as quickly as possible?

MCKENZIE: Well, Ashleigh, this entire country today is on a lockdown as it were. Well, everyone has to stay at home. We were driving down the street here for several hours towards the epicenter and there was not a single car on the road. The reason they're doing that is to get through to the population just how serious this is. Imagine an entire country coming to a standstill. That's what we witnessed today. And , yes, they're getting the word out on radio, in person, through messages, just door to door.

One, you know, horrific thing I heard just recently is about one town that we went through, there's a lot hospital, which was one of the forefront hospitals when this broke out. And because you describe the symptoms are kind of aspecific (ph), it could be malaria, it could be a common cold, when they first started dealing with this outbreak, they didn't know necessarily what they were dealing with. And many, if not most, of the nurses and doctors who were working on this in the very first days have, in fact, died or are infected. I bumped into a donor, a person from the European Commission. He said, while money is very important, what they desperately need in here is supplies and manpower, physicians, nurses, to volunteer, to come here, to try and help because they say that this outbreak currently is out of control.

Ashleigh.

BANFIELD: Listen, you are a very brave man and the CNN team going there. And, please, do be careful. But at the same time, I want to ask you what you just said about this appeal for health care workers to come and help. How on earth do they expect to get anyone to come to that region and help in a situation where already two American health care workers have been stricken?

MCKENZIE: Well, it's a very good point. And, you know, obviously, it would be a very big decision for anyone to come here. If it's one thing coming to the region but, you know, as we've been reporting on consistently, Ebola is very infectious but it's not that contagious. Me just standing here being in the area, I'm not at risk. It's when you physically come into contact with someone who is sick. So the doctors are the ones and the nurses who are most at risk. So it's a very good point you raise. Who would physically come?

Well, groups like Doctors Without Borders, Samaritans Purse, have been working on this issue. Particular Doctors Without Borders have been doing this for year. They have a very strict protocol in place. When they get in those space suits and then get out of them, they sometimes can only be in them for an hour at a time because it's so hot here. That strict protocol is what protects the doctors and allows them to both treat the people and make sure that the quarantine is set up.

But outside all of this, you have people out there in the villages, in the forests around here who might be too scared or are in denial about what Ebola really means and they might be hiding away. That's a huge health risk not just to Sierra Leone but to the region. And also (INAUDIBLE) we've seen to potentially the entire globe. So you need nurses and professionals and volunteers going out and tracing or contact the people who have gotten sick to try and stamp out this outbreak. And they say it could take months at beast but there's no guarantee, Ashleigh, that they'll get this under control without the help that they need.

BANFIELD: And, of course, then, you know, the reporting is that the gravest fear is that researchers have been so worried that this could ultimately mutate and become airborne. So I know what you're saying, but I still caution you to be as careful as you can. And I know you and your team do take a lot of precautions when you do these assignments.

David McKenzie with his exclusive report in Sierra Leone. Thank you. Thank you so much for volunteering for that assignment and also for bringing us this very important story. We'll continue to cover this story as well.

I ran out of some time, so not much coverage on the mutation of Ebola, but we've also got Wolf Blitzer who is fresh back from Jerusalem. He's going to come up live after this break. Tomorrow we'll bring you more on the Ebola story.

In the meantime, thank you for watching, everyone. Stay tuned for "Wolf" right after this quick break.

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