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Wolf

More Rockets and Bombs Fall on Israel; CNN Crew Takes Cover Near Gaza Border; John Kerry Preps for Possible Middle East Trip; Israel Shows No Signs of Ending Strikes; Who Are the Hamas Leaders; Protesters Try to Storm Synagogue; Hamas Rockets; Immigration Crisis

Aired July 14, 2014 - 13:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, scenes like this are playing out all over Gaza. Tens of thousands of Palestinians are rushing for cover or taking shelter in schools. Meanwhile, hundreds of rockets are being launched at Israel. The situation seems dire, but there may be some new developments. We'll have some breaking news on a U.S. attempt to try to facilitate a cease-fire.

The immigration crisis along the U.S. border with Mexico heats up. And now, Congress is taking up President Obama's call for billions of dollars in emergency funds to deal with the 10s of thousands of immigrant children caught up in the middle.

And right now, Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl is getting ready for his next assignment, a return to active duty now that the U.S. Army has determined that he's finished with his reintegration program.

Hello, I'm Wolf Blitzer reporting today from Jerusalem. So far, calls for a cease-fire have fallen on deaf ears as more rockets and bombs fall on Israel. Here are the latest developments in the conflict. The death toll in Gaza reached 176 after almost a week of Israeli air strikes. Among the dead, 18 members of one extended family. You see their graves being prepared here. Palestinians say they died in an Israeli air strike targeting the head of the Gaza police force.

The Israeli military says it shot down a drone spotted along the coastline. The military wing of Hamas says it has sent drones on missions inside Israel but provided no details.

Meanwhile, Israel says Hamas has fired almost 1,000 rockets into the country. Caught in the middle of it all, civilians living in Gaza. Over the weekend, Israel dropped leaflets warning them to leave northern Gaza but Hamas told them to stay put. Some who stayed said they had nowhere else to go.

Throughout Gaza and Israel, people are clearly on edge, forced to take cover at a moment's notice. That was evident when our CNN crew was waiting for permission to pass through a military checkpoint near the border with Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER (on camera): We just heard shots. We're not exactly sure what's going on but you can see one Israeli soldier over there collapsed. No, no, no don't shoot. No pictures. All right, don't shoot. Just shoot me. We don't know what's going on. But there's some -- did we get the all clear?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER (live): That Israeli soldier who collapsed clearly was a young woman soldier, probably 19 years old. She clearly had been traumatized by the sirens and the explosions coming into the southern part of Gaza near that border between Israel and Gaza.

We're following all the breaking news out of the Middle East. Among developments right now, the secretary of state, John Kerry, preparing for a possible trip right here to the region to try to lay the groundwork for a cease-fire.

Our Foreign Affairs Reporter Elise Labott is standing by in Washington. What do we know about the secretary, when he might be coming to the Middle East?

ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Well, Wolf, senior U.S. officials tell me that the secretary is preparing a trip in the coming days. It may not come off. The question is, is the timing right? The secretary has been talking with officials in Egypt and in Qatar about how they can use their influence on Hamas to make sure that any cease-fire, Wolf, would be lasting. You've heard Prime Minister Netanyahu say that he'll only consider a cease-fire if he knows it's going to stick. He doesn't want to just give Hamas a time out.

And so, the question is, are the deploy -- is the diplomacy ripe for this kind of cease fire? I'm told the secretary wants to lay the groundwork using Qatar's influence with Hamas. They're the ones with the most influence with them right now. The Egyptians also have a role to play, in terms of making sure that Hamas would not be rearmed from Gaza, from the border, those tunnels the Egyptians have been closing up.

But Hamas also wants some guarantees, Wolf, that Israel would stick to the cease fire, that some more humanitarian aid could go into Gaza. Obviously, the humanitarian situation very dire there right now. So, Secretary Kerry trying to use diplomacy in the region but not ready to travel to Israel just yet, Wolf. I'm told he doesn't have any plans to go there any time.

BLITZER: The U.S. clearly interested in talking to Egypt and Qatar and other groups, maybe in turkey, for example, elements that do have discussions, do have contacts with Hamas. The United States has no direct dealings with Hamas. I assume they'll want to check in with the Palestinian authority, Elise, as well.

LABOTT: Well, obviously, Wolf, if he would go to the region, that he would. But, right now, you know that prime minister -- President Abbas (ph) really doesn't have any influence over Hamas them right now. And this is the rub. The United States has acknowledged that the president is in this unity government with Hamas but they're really not the players. Those outside actors, like Qatar, like Egypt, are the ones that are going to have the influence with Hamas right now, Wolf, and that's where the diplomacy with Secretary Kerry has to start.

BLITZER: You'll let us know when the secretary makes a formal announcement about his travel plans. Elise Labott in Washington, thanks very much.

Israel says it will keep a -- keep up its offensive in Gaza as long as Hamas keeps firing rockets into Israel. Meanwhile, Hamas shows no signs of backing down, may be upping the stakes.

Our Correspondent Diana Magnay is joining us now from the Israeli town of Sderot, that's right near the border with Gaza. What's the latest there, Diana?

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. Well, in the last couple of hours, we've seen four rockets go over. Now is the kind of time when you tend to see more, when it begins to get dark. Over my left shoulder here, I don't know if you can see them anymore but the Israelis have been putting up flares into the sky over Zikim which was the coastal area which those naval commanders from Gaza, the Hamas militants, managed to swim across, armed to that coast. So, we don't know what's going on there, but it's interesting that the IDF is trying to illuminate the area once more.

Hamas has sent in aerial drones into Israel. They claim that they sent in three today. Well, the IDF says that it shot down one. We don't know whether that drone had missiles or explosives inside it. We await more information from the IDF on that one.

But I've been driving down the length of this strip really, Wolf, trying to see what kind of troops are in place. We saw a regiment of tanks, about 30 of them. We also saw a big build-up of tents. But it's difficult, really, to sense what kind of a build-up the Israelis have on this side. A lot of the area behind me, between me and the Gaza strip, is a closed military zone. So, it's unclear how they're positioning their troops. And they, clearly, don't want us to see how they are positioning their artillery, their tanks and everything else.

It was interesting, though, that we did see an artillery battalion. And they were clearly firing 155 millimeter Howitzers into Gaza which we were not expecting. Most of the ordnance that's been raining down on Gaza has been from air raids. But, clearly, they are also firing from the grounds too -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Diana Magnay in Sderot, right near the border of Gaza. Diana, stand by.

Israel is sending warnings to civilians in northern Gaza, get out while you can. Leaflets dropped by the Israeli military over the weekend warned of plans to launch air strikes in that area. Thousands of people in Gaza heeded the warning to evacuate, but some did stay saying they simply had no choice. They had no place to go in that very congested area of Gaza.

Schools in Gaza City have been converted into shelters. According to the United Nations, 17,000 people are now taking refuge in some 20 schools. Our Senior International Correspondent Ben Wedeman takes an up-close

look at the civilian exodus from Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE.)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over) (translating): The clock is ticking. It's time to go. Israel ordered the inhabitants of this northern area in Gaza to leave by 2:00 p.m. Sunday. Hamas told them to stay put. I don't answer to them, says Ahmed, I do what's best for us. He's sending his family to safer ground in Gaza city. Relatively safer, that is. Although he'll stay behind. Luckily, he caught a taxi to take them away and not a moment too soon. These children have heard the crash of shelling and air strikes for days now, but it still terrifies them. This is the third time in the last five years Ahmed's family has had to flee their home.

(on camera): Like almost everybody in this area, we're leaving too. It's dangerous. There's shelling. There's some people staying behind, basically to guard their houses. But as the man back there told me, 80 percent of the people in this area have already left. And at this time, the deadline to leave ends in 35 minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, yes, I think we --

WEDEMAN (voice-over): On the drive into Gaza city, empty streets and rubble from the Israeli air strikes. By taxi or mostly by foot, the people fleeing the north are heading to United Nation schools, more than 1,000 in this school alone. Food has yet to be provided. The only source of sustenance, a water tank. Um Jamaa and her family of 15 fled their home at 2:00 in the morning.

UM JAMAA: (INAUDIBLE.)

WEDEMAN (translating): We told the kids, get up, get up, she tells me. We walked all the way here. This baby needs milk but we don't have any. We have nothing, not even safety. There's little to do here but wait until the fighting stops and they can go back to their homes, if they're still there.

Ben Wedeman, CNN, Gaza City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Israel has been targeting Hamas leadership in Gaza. One of its highest profile attacks, it bombed the house of a Hamas police chief, killing him and more than a dozen members of his family. But the leadership of Hamas remains largely unknown in the United States.

Brian Todd is joining us from Washington. Walk us through, Brian, who some of these Hamas leaders are.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, you know, the Hamas leadership is strewn with a lot of palace intrigue, a lot of internal rivalries. But there are some leadership positions that we're getting kind of a clearer picture of. Here you see kind of a graphic of some of that. The overall leader, since about 10 years ago, is Khaled Meshaal. He's the head of a Hamas political bureau. He's based in Qatar. He does a lot of their speaking. He does a lot of their, kind of, with other Arab leaders in the region.

Then, you've got -- as far as the political leadership inside Gaza, you've got Ismail Haniyah. He's the head political leader inside Gaza. He is the former prime minister of Hamas. You've got Musa Abu- Marzouk who is another deputy of the political bureau there. These are the top political leaders of Hamas, again, headed by Khaled Meshaal. But what we're getting from analysts, Wolf, is that the political leadership and the military brigades don't always talk to one another or don't communicate all that well. And that one analyst just told me that the military brigade, the Qassam (ph) brigade of Hamas, headed by Mohammed Deif there, you saw him in the graphic, they are the ones actually calling the shots in this operation, that they've overruled the restraint that was called for by some of the political leaders of Hamas, so you have Mohammed Deif and another man named Marwan Issa in the military brigades of Hamas who are actually calling a lot of shots here as far as the firing of the rockets into Israel and some of these operations. And that the political and military wings of Hamas may not be quite on the same page right now -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Not necessarily all the time. Islamic jihad is there on the scene as well. You've got a complicated situation to be sure. I'll speak, by the way, with Osama Hamdan, the spokesman for Hamas later today in "THE SITUATION ROOM." We'll get that perspective. Brian Todd, thanks very much. Brian will be back with us in "THE SITUATION ROOM" as well.

Meanwhile, a Paris synagogue is under police guard after a group of protesters tried to storm the building. "The Guardian" newspaper reports they were protesting Israel's air strikes on Palestinian targets inside Gaza. Police inside the synagogue were -- I should say, people inside the synagogue were holding a prayer service for the three Israeli Jewish teens who were found murdered in the west bank. The paper also reported about 6,000 people showed up for a pro- Palestinian march in northern France. France, by the way, is the home to the largest Arab and largest Jewish communities in Europe.

Up next, the unique junk yard in Israel filled with rocket remnants. I'll take you on a tour. And the fight over the immigration crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border moves to Capitol Hill but the political battle lines are already drawn.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The Israeli air strikes are targeting Hamas rocket launching and manufacturing sites in Gaza. In recent days, nearly 1,000 rockets have been fired into Israel. There have been casualties, but so far there have been no Israeli deaths linked to those attacks. Earlier, I had a chance to get an up close look at the remains of some of those Hamas rockets.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: And Micky Rosenfeld is joining us now. He's the spokesman for Israel's national police force.

All right, so, Micky, you've collected some rockets, remnants of rockets here. We're in Sarot (ph), not far from the Gaza border. These are rockets that came in from Gaza in recent days, is that right?

SUPT. MICKY ROSENFELD, ISRAELI POLICE SPOKESMAN: Yes, what we have here in the Sarot police station, there are a number of different rockets that landed over the last 24 to 48 hours striking in the heart of Israel. These rockets have been fired by the Hamas, aimed at women and children and families. The rockets are brought here to the police station where they're examined. We see exactly what type of rockets they are, how much of a warhead there are, how many of an explosive device there are. And then I can tell you that these rockets, if they were to strike the city itself, they would cause tremendous damage.

BLITZER: Now these rockets were not intercepted by the iron dome anti- missile system, right?

ROSENFELD: All the rockets that are here haven't been intercepted. The rockets land in and around the different areas in the city. That's why it's tremendously important for the members of the public that are listening to the sirens when they go off to take cover. Where we're standing right now, we only have 15 seconds. If the sirens go off, we're heading straight into a safe zone. Otherwise, we'd be seriously injured or possibly killed.

BLITZER: Because we're that close to the Gaza border.

All right, so what are these rockets? Give me an example of some of them.

ROSENFELD: I'll give you an example of what we have. We have different times of Qassam rockets. The most recent rockets that was fired, in fact, into Israel was, as you can see, a regular Qassam rocket. OK. This is just the leftovers of the rocket itself.

We also have, as you can see, the fin of a Grad (ph) rocket. This Grad rocket itself is capable of striking within 52 kilometers into the heart of Israel, to the city of Belsheva (ph), where, in fact, until the area of Belsheva are more than 1 million Israeli citizens, women and children, under the threat of these Grad rockets. Military made. You can see the fin on the back. Much more advanced. Ten kilos of explosives.

BLITZER: Did these rockets here cause any significant damage or did they land in sort of farmland?

ROSENFELD: All of the rockets that have landed and been brought here to the police station, landed in open areas. No direct strikes within the city over the last 24, 48 hours. But our units are on standby ready to respond. Each different area that takes a hit, our police units and our bomb disposal experts are on the scene.

BLITZER: It seems, at least so far, relatively quiet today, is that right?

ROSENFELD: Well, until now, throughout the morning, 36 rockets have been fired. Within the last 10 minutes, there was a rocket that was fired in Ashkelon (ph), which is just 20 kilometers north of the Gaza Strip, (INAUDIBLE). Luckily, it was taken down, intercepted by the IDF and the iron dome. So we're ready to, obviously, the days ahead of us, also today, tomorrow, we'll see how things develop.

BLITZER: Now, what is this rocket over here? I want to walk over here. This one right over here, what is that?

ROSENFELD: This rocket is a rocket that was pulled out of the ground. You can see, I'll pick it up, it's very heavy. This rocket itself is a Qassam rocket. This isn't a military made rocket. It's a rocket that's been welded together with the inside the Gaza Strip. You know, Israel supports and helps the Palestinian population, helping them build the infrastructure, but what they do is they take advantage of both the pipes and the poles and they turn it into a lethal rocket that can strike inside Israel.

BLITZER: And these rockets inside here, these are from previous encounters, is that right, in years earlier?

ROSENFELD: Yes, the rockets we have over here, the different types of rockets throughout the years, since the year 2005, when rockets were fired inside of Israel. So we have different rockets, both 17 millimeters, 115 millimeters. We know that over the years, the rockets were developed and have succeeded both in terms of the distances that they can be fired, as well as the amount of warhead that they have inside them. The majority of the rockets that we have here landed inside the city itself. And our bomb disposal experts are based inside Zerot (ph) to react and respond as soon as the sirens go off.

BLITZER: I remember a few years ago when he was running for president, Barack Obama came here as a United States senator. You weren't here, though, when he was visiting here, were you?

ROSENFELD: The president came and visited and saw the rockets that had landed over the last 24, 48 hours, when, in fact, he was here. He was briefed on what had taken place in the region altogether, not just around the Sderot (ph) area, but in the southern region and what the population, the Israeli population, are up against, when the Hamas are firing into innocent populated areas.

BLITZER: I know when he speaks about the Middle East, he often refers to his visit here to Sderot.

Micky Rosenfeld, thanks very much.

ROSENFELD: Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Up next, a bloody weekend in Baghdad. Attackers carried out a massacre in a middle class neighborhood. We're going live to the Iraqi capital. Also, Congress takes up the immigration crisis involving thousands of

undocumented children who have slipped into the United States.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Tensions are rising along the U.S./Mexico border as the immigration crisis heats up. Now several towns in Texas are moving to prevent undocumented immigrant children from entering their towns. League City is the first Texas town to pass such a ban. In recent months, at least 57,000 immigrant children have crossed the border illegally. And now the issue is priority number one up on Capitol Hill. This week, Congress takes up President Obama's request for nearly $4 billion in emergency funds to deal with the crisis. But the political battle lines are drawn.

Joining us now from Washington, our chief political analyst, Gloria Borger, and our senior political analyst, David Gergen. He's joining us from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Let me ask both of you, how much pressure is on the Republicans right now to act, Democrats, how much pressure is on them to get something done? Gloria, first to you.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, I think there's a lot of pressure on both parties at this point to get something done. The president has put a proposal out there with a price tag on it. And the Republicans do not have the luxury of doing nothing at this point. They have to figure out what they can get through the House of Representatives in particular, something that expedites this process in a humane and a decent way.

And the Democrats also have a lot of pressure on them too, Wolf, because, you know, they're divided on what to do. There are lots of liberals and border state Democrats who say, do not deport these children, keep them here. And there are others, like the administration, who say, look, you have to find a way of sending them back or that would send the wrong signal. But, Wolf, pressure on both parties.

BLITZER: And, David, how do they both play this out, Democrats and Republicans, so politically at least they can claim some sort of victory?

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, Wolf, I think, first of all, Gloria's right, the public pressure here remains intense this week. But what we see in Washington is a splintering in Congress over what should be done and a cacophony of voices. And what we're going to need to get this passed is a couple of champions to emerge in Congress we can all look to in the media and others can look to to get it done. There's no one who's now stepped forward you can look to and say, this is the person who's -- this is the Teddy Kennedy of this fight, for example.

But the other thing is, frankly, we're going to need a hands on effort to -- from the White House. They put the statement out there, but, Gloria, maybe they're working behind the scenes, but their public engagement in the last 48 hours or so has been quite minimal.

BORGER: You know, and they've been kind of all over the map, and that's the problem. You know, the secretary of HHS has asked the question about a half a dozen times about whether these children should be sent back or not and kind of bobs and weaves on it. And, you know, it's an example -- another example of the administration looking like it wasn't ready for this crisis when, in fact, it had been warned about it. And this seems to be kind a pattern when you look at the V.A., when you look at the rollout of health care, people are continuing to ask the question about the competency of the management structure over there at the White House.

BLITZER: David, you've written a fascinating commentary on cnn.com and I recommend it to our viewers out there. You say this current crisis, this immigration crisis, brings back memories of a shameful moment in American history when a ship full of Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi, Germany, that ship was refused entry into the United States. Tell us about that.

GERGEN: Wolf, in the Holocaust Museum, one can find, you know, graphic representations of what is not only just painful but a shameful moment for America, and that is when there was a -- as a war approached in Europe, a large number of Jews, over 900, chartered a ship basically to go to Cuba where they thought they would get refuge. Cuba changed its mind while they were underway, under passage, so the ship came to America desperately looking for admission into the United States. A few were able to get off.