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Palestinian Dr. Riyad Monsour Reacts to Israeli Attack on Gaza; Israel Continues Bombing the Gaza Strip; A Look at Where the Bombed Cities Are Located in Gaza; Female Soldiers are Treated to Mission Makeover.

Aired December 28, 2008 - 17:00   ET

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

ROBERT LUI, CNN ANCHOR: Day two of the Israeli air strikes in Gaza. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says they could last, in his words, "longer that we are able to foresee." Here's what we know right now -- Palestinian security sources say at least 277 people are dead in Gaza, and hundreds more are wounded.
The Israelis say their assault has targeted Hamas militants and has sharply reduced Hamas rocket attacks on Israel. But one missile landed near the Israeli port city of Ashdod, deeper into Israel than ever before.

Israel is calling up 7,000 military reservists. Meanwhile, tanks are being deployed around Gaza. But Israel denies having any plans to reoccupy the territory.

Well, CNN's Cal Perry has been watching developments. He reports: conditions in Gaza are getting increasingly more desperate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAL PERRY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fears turns to a footrace for safety. Some of the wounded are rushed to hospitals by civilian cars, others by ambulance. CPR in progress.

There were at least 40 air strikes in Gaza on Sunday alone, according to the Israeli army, and a major lifeline for Hamas has also been destroyed -- forty tunnels that run between Egypt and Gaza. But even after all the air strikes, a simple gunshot still makes people jump. Gaza is burning.

"What is happening now is destruction," the man says, "an Israeli massacre and everyone is watching this in silence and they are just sitting there watching us. We demand Israel to end these massacres and open all the crossings."

They're scrambling in Israel, too, in the city of Ashdod, 30 kilometers to the north of Gaza, sirens wail. More than 110 Hamas rockets have been fired from Gaza since Saturday morning, according to the Israeli military, many raining further down into Israel than ever before, police say, killing at least one Israeli since the ceasefire ended. Which is partly why Israel is being so steadfast and its leaders in the south are urging calm in the face of dark realities.

"Be patient," the mayor says, "The army is doing its work and doing it well. It's possible there are more difficult days to come. We will be calm and we will wait for better days."

As Israeli tanks mass along Gaza's border, poised for a possible ground invasion, old faces and familiar scenes of Palestinian frustration are also playing out across the West Bank in east Jerusalem. The people of Gaza have begun to bury their dead, while just a few kilometers away, Israel, too, begins to mourn its losses.

(on camera): With every air strike from Israel, and each rocket fired from Gaza, there's no misconception here that in the coming days, the funerals are likely to continue.

Cal Perry, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: The United Nations is calling for an end to the violence in the Middle East. A four-hour emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council ended with this call for a new ceasefire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEVEN JURICA, CROATIAN AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: The members of the Security Council expressed serious concern at the escalation of the situation in Gaza, and called for an immediate halt to all violence.

RIYAD MANSOUR, PALESTINIAN ENVOY TO U.N.: I can assure you that we, the Arab nations, and our friends in the Security Council and the international community, we will come back knocking on the door of the Security Council in order to bring Israel into compliance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: We'll be hearing more from the Palestinian envoy to the United Nations as you just heard him speak. He'll join us in this hour.

President Bush is following the events in Gaza, meanwhile, from his Texas ranch. White House correspondent Elaine Quijano is there live in Crawford.

Elaine, how is the president getting updates on this subject?

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Richard, the president is getting updates via phone and secure video. The White House, really, is watching and waiting to see what happens next in Gaza and officials are also making quite clear, though, that Hamas, in their view, is responsible for this latest round of violence, saying that Israel's actions are justifiable self-defense. Now, at the same time, the United States is very mindful of the mounting death toll, now 277 people have died.

A White House spokesman saying that Israel has told the United States that its campaign is aimed at Hamas militants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GORDON JOHNDROE, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: Israel has said that they are targeting security and headquarters elements of Hamas. We have asked and urged Israel to avoid civilian casualties. We want the ceasefire to be restored. But we understand that Israel is reacting to the hundreds of rockets that have been fired upon the innocent people of Israel over the last few days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUIJANO: Now, President Bush has consulted with his top advisers, again, by phone and by secure video, including his national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, and his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. We should also mention, Richard, that Secretary Rice has been in contact by phone with President-elect Barack Obama, giving him updates on developments as well -- Richard?

LUI: Elaine Quijano live for us in Crawford, Texas, thank you.

And we will delve deeper into this long, simmering conflict with Aaron David Miller. He's an expert on Mideast relations and a former adviser to six U.S. secretaries of state. We'll explore the issue of broader regional conflict, could it explode? That's just in a few minutes.

Oh, yes, plenty of severe weather and plenty of it. We begin in Liberty, Utah, a "winter wonderland" where business is booming when it comes to snow removal. The Ogden Valley has seen 70 inches of snow in just the past 10 days. Locals call it business as usual, though.

Then, near Portland, Oregon, melting snow is blamed for this supermarket's collapsed roof. Firefighters say, a 30-by-30 foot section of the roof buckled under the wake of the melting snow pack. Good thing no one was injured there.

And then, look at sparks in Kansas City. A power line fire sparked by winds of more than 60 miles an hour, it downed utility lines. It tipped small planes over, even toppled a few trees.

Meteorologist Karen Maginnis is in the CNN severe weather center.

And, a lot of the focus here, Karen, is in that northwest part of the country. It is 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon and they are hoping for some good news right now.

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And, unfortunately, it looks like these back-to-back systems just kind of lined up as areas of low pressure move in from off the Pacific just to the south of that Alaska bay region. While we're seeing this enhanced moisture, one weather system moves onshore, there will be another little trough that moves in behind it. And all that amounts to is this enhanced flow of moisture. It's going to back up across the Cascades where we do have winter weather advisories out.

But we're probably seeing the heaviest amounts from about Eugene, all the down in to Eureka, California, where a couple of inches will accumulate there. Now, some areas yesterday saw as much as seven inches of rainfall. So, all these rivers and streams there's been snow melt so there is some runoff. We've also had reports of some debris slides or mudslides. Now, this is not of the magnitude that we might expect when we hear words like that, but nonetheless, it's something to be concerned about because some of these areas are going to pick up another couple of inches, as the temperature is going to rise above the freezing mark, and some of these low-lying areas definitely higher elevations expecting up to a foot of snowfall.

So, from around Portland and Salem and into Eugene, we do have this flash flood watches and further south from Eugene to Redding, and Crescent City, and Eureka, we're looking at flood warnings out for a number of those areas, three to five inches of rain possible.

Now, we're taking a look across the Great Lakes. And yesterday, our focus was across northern Illinois and northwestern Indiana. And a number of rivers and places along these major rivers are seeing some rivers running about two feet above normal in some cases, in some near record-setting levels. DuPage River, Des Plaines River, the Kankakee River, Fox River, Iroquois River, depending on where you live along these rivers, we are seeing them rise from minor to moderate levels.

Yesterday, mild temperatures, it was 61 degrees yesterday in Chicago. Well, today, it's a little bit more back to normal. We're expecting temperatures there to pretty much remain in the 30s, which is typical for this time of year.

Now, the wind gusts. Another area, we went from the Northwest to the Great Lakes, now to the Northeast, in New England, where those winds have really been fairly gusty. They backed off a little bit. Watertown, New York, 63 miles an hour. Lexington, Kentucky, 60 miles an hour.

Richard, by the way, I want to advise our viewers, if you've got some great pictures of weather, go to iReport.com and send them to us and we can use them on the air. Back to you.

LUI: And, Karen, with all of that wind, are you seeing any delays at the airports in those regions?

MAGINNIS: In Philadelphia, Newark and New York, we're looking at delays for about a half-hour to as long as two hours. So, that's the critical zone right now.

LUI: Yes, a lot of folks traveling on a Sunday and they're hoping for the next week to be easier on weather. And do you expect the next week to be a little bit softer?

MAGINNIS: I think, as far as the big snowstorms that we were looking at just in the past week or so, in the Pacific Northwest, it is flooding. So, not really a flight problems, but fog has also been a big problem as well. Fog is fairly difficult to predict but I think in the Northeast, in New England, we could see a little bit better situation for the next several days.

LUI: Break the cycle, my friend, break the cycle for us.

MAGINNIS: OK.

LUI: Karen Maginnis, thank you.

MAGINNIS: See you.

LUI: The president-elect may be in paradise for the holidays, but he's keeping tabs on Gaza developments.

And, quick action, perfect timing and amazing nerve. One father saves his family from an elaborate crime plot. This is a story worthy of Hollywood.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(CHANTING)

LUI: Sights and sounds from the streets of Iran's capital today have for you there, as the Arab world boils with rage at the Israeli air strikes in Gaza. And look at this, tens of thousands pouring into the streets of the Yemeni capital to express their discontent. There were similar demonstrations in Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, and beyond.

So, just how bad is this latest round of Mideast violence and what can the U.S. and President-elect Obama do? Aaron David Miller is a scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and author of "The Much Too Promised Land." He served as an adviser to six previous secretaries of state.

Mr. Miller, thank you for joining us this evening. I want to start by asking you -- how much more broadly might the violence we see now go to, just with the pictures as we were leading into this segment, shows the reaction across the Arab world?

AARON DAVID MILLER, AUTHOR, "THE MUCH TOO PROMISED LAND": Well, the possibilities of escalation are there. Hamas may or may not resume suicide bombing within Israel proper. It's conceivable that Hezbollah could open up a front in the north.

But I think, Richard, the real tragedy here is this -- that when all the killing is done, when all the grieving is over, Israel and Hamas will still be in confrontation, the Palestinian national movement will still be a mess, and the Israelis will be uncertain and unclear about what price they're prepared to pay for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement and the Obama administration will inherit a crisis that they probably do not have the capacity to address. So, I see very few silver linings in this one.

LUI: As bad as it sounds, Mr. Miller, what can be done to turn this around?

MILLER: Well, first of all, you're going to have to restore a ceasefire. And we -- and while the United States will not be the primary driving force in that effort, the Egyptians will probably have to take the lead role. Number two, there is going to probably be, well, will be a huge humanitarian crisis. And the idea of pouring economic and humanitarian assistance not only into the West Bank, but into Gaza proper, I think, is going to be very much on everybody's mind.

Finally, if the situation could be stabilized, the Americans should probably try to nurture quietly the very productive discussion that have been taking place between the president of the Palestinian authority, Mahmoud Abbas, and the next prime minister of Israel. Of course, we have elections in Israel on February 10th.

But the bottom line here I think is clear -- there is no conflict ending agreement between Israelis and Palestinians right now, and the Obama administration may well find itself in the position of having to manage this mess, while perhaps seeking a real agreement between Israel and Syria, in the course of the next year or two.

LUI: As you were talking about the election, impending in February, how might that be inputting to the decision now, to take military action into Gaza, given that the defense minister as well as the foreign minister were or are candidates trying to become the next prime minister of Israel?

MILLER: Well, it's a very good question. One of the reasons the Israelis have not moved until now, I think, is the fear of the political consequences. The fact is, that the current two candidates, Tzipi Livni and Benjamin Netanyahu will either benefit or not as a consequence of the success of this particular operation. If it goes well, then it seems to me the Olmert government, including Tzipi Livni, who is a member of Olmert's party, Kadima, may stand to do well in the polls. If it goes badly and Hamas resumes suicide terror against the Israelis, then it seems to me Benjamin Netanyahu is almost certain to benefit.

LUI: Give us some historical context here. 2006, the summer, when there was a Hezbollah/Israel war, we had rockets raining into the north of Israel. We had then troop carriers and tanks moving up to the border, it then moved in to invasion of some areas of Lebanon. Will we see the same thing here in Gaza?

MILLER: You know, it's a very good question, because the shadow of the war between Israel and Hezbollah in the summer of 2006, cast a huge impact over the current crisis. I think the Israelis this time around are doing several things differently. Number one, their goals are not that ambitious. The goal is not to extinguish Hamas, or topple it from Gaza, or to rid Gaza of Hamas completely, as they seem to identify with Hezbollah several years ago in that operation. And they're taking this, it seems to me in a very measured, incremental way, in terms of the amount of forces that they're going to deploy.

But make no mistake, it's a lot easier to get into a war than to get out of one. America knows that full well, and the Israelis may find themselves in the position of having to put far more than 7,000 forces on the ground in Gaza. And if that's the case, if we're dealing with a prolonged military occupation, or reoccupation, the consequences of this are very frightening.

LUI: We are early on, Aaron David Miller, scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center and author of "The Much Too Promised Land" -- thank you for stopping by this evening.

MILLER: It's a pleasure.

LUI: Just ahead: The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations -- he'll join us live in about 15 minutes with his perspective.

President-elect Obama is following events taking place in Gaza. CNN's senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, is in Hawaii where the president-elect is vacationing.

Ed, who is keeping Obama updated on the developments in the Middle East right now?

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good evening, Richard.

He's getting updates from his own national security staff but also, most importantly, he's getting updates, as we noted yesterday, from current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. There's another example of how, during this delicate transition process, both Bush and Obama officials are trying to work together to, in the words of the Obama transition team, try and speak with one voice.

And in fact, that's why, when David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Barack Obama, was appearing today on NBC's "Meet the Press," he stressed that the president-elect does not want to say too much about the current crisis in Gaza, because he doesn't want to make it look like there are two governments operating at the same time. That he's going to wait until January 20th, before he really starts speaking out on matters like this, so there's no confusion around the world. But in the meantime, he is getting these intelligence briefings, these updates so that he can hit the ground running on January 20th of next year.

Meanwhile, during this working vacation, he's also getting updates from his staff about the economic crisis as well, and that's something else David Axelrod addressed today on "Meet the Press."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, NBC, "MEET THE PRESS")

DAVID AXELROD, SENIOR ADVISER TO PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA: We feel it's important that middle class people get some relief. Now, he's promised a middle-class tax cut. This package will include a portion of that tax cut that will become part of the permanent tax cut he'll have in his upcoming budget. It's vital. People need money in their pockets to spend. That will help get our economy going again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: Sort of a two-pronged approach, in addition to those tax cuts, we're hearing about, as well. Right now, economic adviser to the president-elect over the holidays are huddling and dealing with the economic rescue package, that stimulus bill that we've heard so much about, the latest price tag about $775 billion on top of those tax cuts that we talked. We're expecting at this point that Democratic leaders on the Hill will get the actual sort of outlines of this legislation, the first week of January, with a goal of trying to get it signed in to law as early as inaugural week.

So, again, the president-elect can try to show just as he is trying to show on national security, on economic security that he wants to hit the ground running, Richard.

LUI: Senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, in Hawaii -- thank you.

They've had it up to here. Coal, ash, sludge, and the massive mess it left behind. A Tennessee town -- they want some answers. A meeting between residents and officials is happening right now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: Police arrested the second of two bank robbery suspects in Maryland this morning. Both accused in an elaborate scheme that included taking the bank manager's family hostage in hopes of making a big withdrawal. From CNN affiliate, WJLA-TV, here's reporter, Richard Reid (ph).

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD REID (ph), WJLA-TV REPORTER (voice-over): It was a frightening chaotic day along Briarcliff Drive in Clinton.

EZZRA FARRELL, NEIGHBOR: Guys with guns and rifles who's around the back yard and side of the house.

REID (ph): Since 10:00 Saturday morning, heavily-armed police barricaded this house, an armed suspect believed to be inside.

SHERRONE MARTIN, NEIGHBOR: And they asked us to, you know, stay low, go down the basement, don't get up.

REID (ph): What neighbors didn't know was that this was a drama that had been unfolding since Friday evening, two suspects, one with a gun, the other with a knife, followed a woman home driving this Mazda from her branch manager's office job at a SunTrust Bank in Silver Spring. The two men forced their way into the Briarcliff house, the woman's husband and two boys, 8 and 11 years old inside.

GREG SHIPLEY, MARYLAND STATE POLICE: They held this family hostage overnight. They actually used electrical cords from within the home to tie up the father and mother.

REID (ph): Their plan sounded simple.

SHIPLEY: They are apparently going to use her to facilitate a robbery of that branch, prior to it opening at 9:00 this morning.

REID (ph): But the plot was foiled when the father began driving erratically along the Beltway. A Maryland state trooper pulled the car over and arrested the suspect. The family is still in the car. The family is safe, the house discovered empty.

MARTIN: It's scary and I'm glad it's all over with now, and everybody's safe.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: A third suspect is now being sought by police in this case.

Living in the wake of disaster, city officials in Kingston, Tennessee, are holding an emergency meeting this hour. The area is awash in more than 1 billion gallons of coal ash sludge from a ruptured retention pond. CNN's Brooke Baldwin is in Kingston.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We were able to take a tour of it and we can talk about it and show you some of the stuff in just a moment. But that meeting that something that you mentioned is about to start in about 10 minutes, and it's significant, because obviously, it's involving Kingston City council members, also concerned citizens who live in this area, Rome County Emergency Management but also the Tennessee Valley Authority, TVA. This is the first time they're all getting this opportunity to sit down and speak publicly about this whole thing.

It happened about six days ago. You mentioned more than 1 billion gallons of this coal ash. Essentially, it's a byproduct of this plant, the plant that burns coal to provide electricity, and some of the big concerns amongst some of these residents, because it sort of ranges the spectrum of emotion from sort of panic to just sort of concern about their own home value. It's not only the water quality, and you can bet that a number of water quality tests are being done right now, but also, in terms of the air, and this dust as it starts to dry out, this coal ash.

We did talk to a couple, their backyard they described, once as peaceful, they're sitting on a cove just off of the Emory River. Now, it is just a disaster zone full of sludge and he told me the biggest concern he has is the unknown.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're hearing all kinds of stories. I mean, we're, hearing everything from this. It's perfectly fine to be around to get away, you know, as far as you can from it. So, we really don't know what the right answer is there. We're not going to get panicked about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Meeting starts at in about 10 minutes' time. You can see sort of a steady stream of people heading inside this small community center, Richard, and you can bet this place will be packed with people wanting answers.

LUI: Brooke, an amazing story. We can't even imagine what a billion gallons of this coal ash sludge looks like. We hear that it's made it into a lot of the waterways. You had a chance to see this up close, haven't you? What does it look like?

BALDWIN: We did. We just got back from the scene just about 10 minutes ago, and I think the best description I heard, it's sort of like a wet moonscape. Imagine sort of moon craters, yet it's muddy and full of sort of dislodged boats and docks.

I have some of the sludge. You can see it right here, sort of concrete colored. This is the sludge and this is sort of like a fraction, the most minute fraction of what you can see in some of the videos we've been showing. And also, this is what's been taken from some of the water. So, this is river water and you can see when you shake it up, see that muddy color, Richard, that's kind of what it looks like throughout this entire portion of eastern Tennessee.

LUI: Great demonstration. That means that that billion of gallons can affect a lot of water, just based on that one example you have there of that small jar that one gallon.

BALDWIN: Right.

LUI: All right. Brooke Baldwin, thank you so much.

BALDWIN: A lot of water, a lot of people, a lot of wildlife, yes.

LUI: Thank you, Brooke Baldwin, with the latest for us -- appreciate it.

Well, Brooke said a lot of people, in fact that meeting going on right now and we are hearing that the town hall is where the original meeting was supposed to happen, they had so many people, they had to move it to a gymnasium where the mayor and head of TVA will be addressing the crowd there. We've got a reporter, Brooke Baldwin, in there, listening to that right now. We'll have the very latest on these billion gallons of sludge.

A second vehicle and more questions, the mystery behind that Christmas Eve massacre during a family Christmas party.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RICHARD LUI, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: All right, now more on the latest Middle East crisis. One hour ago we heard from Israel's ambassador to the United States.

Now we're going to talk to Palestine's permanent observer to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour. He joins us from New York, live.

Thank you for joining us live this evening.

RIYAD MANSOUR, PALESTINE'S PERMANENT OBSERVER TO THE U.N.: You're welcome.

LUI: Let me start with this, Mr. Mansour. There have been concerns about the rocket attacks since before the end of the cease-fire, which two months before the cease-fire ended, the reports of rockets going in to Israel. and then there were 80, 20, 40 rockets since the end of the cease-fire going in to Israel, these attacks with rockets coming from the Gaza Strip. Isn't it justified that Israel is defending it self at this moment? MANSOUR: Well, at this moment, you know, killing and wounding 1,000 Palestinians in 24 hours cannot be justified whatsoever. From the point of view of international law there is the concept of proportionality. If something that, let's say, a rocket is to be fired from Gaza, that doesn't mean that you have to unleash the military power of Israel against the civilian population 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza. That is not just. That is not fair. That is not humanitarian.

What we need to do now, as the Security Council decided at 2:00 this morning, the cease-fire has to be in place. All military activities in Gaza should be stopped. and from our point of view, this means that the Israeli aggression against our people in Gaza need to be stopped immediately, and humanitarian material, medicine and other material need to enter Gaza to address the catastrophic situation of our civilian population. and then we need to go back to the cease- fire that was in place for six months, to allow for the political process to be resumed.

LUI: Mr. Mansour, you outlined what the U.N. Security Council came out with overnight in their resolution saying, number one, that the air strikes should stop, and number two, openings should be allowed so humanitarian aid can flow in to Gaza. That was on the resolution. And you said that after 48 hours, if those air strikes have not stopped, you will then relook at what needs to be done to stop Israel and its actions. Why wait 48 hours, when so much violence and so much death is happening right now?

MANSOUR: Well, what we prefer not to wait even more than 24 hours. The idea of waiting for a day or two, to give Israel an opportunity to comply with the position of the Security Council, to stop all military activities. And we sincerely hope that Israel would stop this process of slaughtering and killing hundreds of Palestinians, and wounding more than 1,000 of innocent civilians.

If Israel does not comply with the wish of the Security Council, then we have to go back again to the Security Council, and request from them what are you going to do about bringing Israel in to compliance with your wish, the wish of having a cease-fire immediately in place so that we can stop this massive cycle of violence and killing a large number of Palestinians. A great number of them are innocent people. And they should not be facing that situation.

LUI: We had the opportunity to speak with the Israeli ambassador to the United States earlier today. And he told me about external influences in Gaza. Let's take a listen to him now and what he had to say earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SALLAI MERIDOR, ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO U.S.: I think it was important to note is that there is a line connecting all of those dots, which is starting in Iran, which is basically the center of an octopus, with proxies throughout the region. And the same tactics they are using in Lebanon, they're trying to use in Gaza.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: And so the concern there, Mr. Ambassador, is that of the external influence in how that might be affecting what Israel is trying to defend against right now. How do you respond to that?

MANSOUR: If there is a connection between Iran and the political group in Hamas, does this mean that Israel should be authorized to go and unleash its military power against 1.5 million Palestinians? Does that mean that 1.5 million civilian Palestinians should be punished in a collective way in countervention to international law?

It does not make sense that an entire population should suffer as a result of action of a political group that may have a relationship with a country here or a country there. That kind of argument is immoral, and it can not be justified.

The entire population of Gaza, the civilian population, should not be punished in this matter as the Israeli army is doing, for example, during the last 24 hours, killing and injuring more than 1,000 people, many of them are children in our schools and women, and the civilian population cannot be justified.

LUI: Mr. Mansour, Israel said if the rocket attacks stop coming from Hamas into Israel, it will move to normalize relations to some extent. Why not just stop the rocket attacks coming from Hamas?

MANSOUR: We, the Palestinian side under the leadership of President Abbas organized the unilateral cease-fires in three occasions. Two occasions, when President Abbas was in charge of Gaza, and the last one was during the last six months, and under the control of Hamas. In all these occasions the Palestinian side was respecting the cease- fire.

But in return, Israel was doing two things. They were frequently having incursions and assassinating and targeting individuals in the Gaza Strip. And two, they were blocking the entire Gaza Strip, from having food and basic necessities, including medicine, so that the life of the Palestinians in Gaza was unbearable.

For a cease-fire to continue -- and we are in favor of the return of the cease-fire -- it has to be respected by both sides. And the Palestinian people in Gaza should not be collectively punished as a result of the cease-fire.

LUI: Riyad Mansour, Palestine's permanent observer to the U.N., thank you for joining us this evening.

MANSOUR: You're very welcome.

LUI: As we were speaking with Dr. Mansour, there were live pictures we were watching coming out of Gaza. More explosions. This, of course, as the air strikes within the last 48 hours ago, these live pictures again coming out of Gaza. The exact locations of these explosions we do not know, but we do know that it continues to appear as there is some issue of violence, of attacks. We can hear the sirens, whether the air raid sirens or ambulances moving in the area. Over 275 casualties so far, including civilians from what we hear from Palestinian reports at this moment so that continues.

So that continues. We hear the sirens. We saw explosions a little bit earlier, as we were speaking with Palestine's permanent observer to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour. We wanted to get you those pictures right now.

We also want to take a closer look at what's being targeted on both sides of this conflict.

Our Josh Levs gives us a lay of the landscape right now for us.

Hey, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there. We don't know where the latest attacks are in any given moment. But we want to talk you through what you're seeing. Sometimes the more complicated maps make everything confusing. I have a simple one of Gaza that gives you a basic sense of what's gone on so far.

Let's zoom way in on this map, which is available from the U.S. State Department. This is it, this little stretch of land. This is Gaza. It's about twice the size of Washington, D.C., 1.5 million people in this area. There's a few key locations for you to know about. Gaza City in the northern section, and here you have Khan Yunis. You'll be hearing about that.

Let's go a little bit farther. This is Rafah, one of the places we're hearing about today. The Israelis said many times that there are tunnels that Palestinian militants use to smuggle weapons in from Egypt. Rafah, the border right there with Egypt, down in that corner. When you hear about the locations, this is where they are.

I was speaking with Cal Perry and asked him we don't know where all of the attacks have been but do we have a general sense? He said they've been in all of the areas. There have been some in the area of Gaza City, some in Khan Yunis and also some in the area of Rafah. He said because there are Hamas installations in all of those locations.

When we say there have been attacks in those areas we're not saying therefore they're directly on civilian targets. But Hamas controls life in that Gaza -- throughout Gaza. It controls Gaza. And there are Hamas locations all over. He says these missile strikes by Israel have been in all of those places that I just showed you -- Richard?

LUI: Josh, talking about the location that you're breaking down for us, I want to go straight to this tape that we are getting in, coming from Ramadan TV. It looks like the results clearly of some sort of explosions or attacks even. So clear to us that -- we don't know necessarily where these are happening, but it is a very dense area. We can see some of the rubble there.

LEVS: It is a dense area. As we said, 1.5 million people. And the comparison to Washington D.C. -- I was looking at the population in Washington, there you have about 680,000. So you're talking about a place twice as big as Washington D.C., but has close to three times the population. It is known -- and Israeli officials have said on our air -- that target sites inside Gaza, it is quite possible that some civilians will be caught up in those attacks. We don't know how many people are considered civilians of those killed so far. We have a lot to learn, including about these pictures we're seeing right now.

LUI: Josh, we can tell by looking at the pictures as they come in to us -- and they're consistent with ones we've seen before -- is that we're seeing a lot of concrete. These are multistory structures in what you've just described as a dense area that are coming down as a result of perhaps some of these air strikes.

LEVS: Sure. Some have been Hamas police installations. But you and I, neither of us knows what we're seeing there. And when there is a situation like this, and it's always so difficult to understand right away what it is we're seeing. It often takes awhile to determine what each site was and who was in there at the time and why. But obviously this is the kind of destruction we're seeing on that side of the conflict.

LUI: Right. And that's the destruction in Gaza Strip. But you are also watching for us the ability to for Hamas or others in the Gaza Strip to actually shoot rockets very far north.

LEVS: Let me show you that, too. We need to go soon, but let me show you that side of it, too. This is all Israel, all of Israel. This little tiny area down here that's where you're seeing Gaza. Now, what we have seen in general has been Hamas inside Gaza, sending out all of these rockets in previous months, which for years, as our reporters say, into various areas. They reached to Beersheba, which is over here, and they've also reached. Ashqelon.

What's new today, Richard, what you were just talking about is Israeli officials are saying Hamas managed to get a rocket past Ashqelon up here near, Ashdod, which is one of the fastest growing cities in Israel. And if you want to know how significant that is, look up here, that's Tel Aviv. So you're talking about reaching farther north from Gaza, closer to Tel Aviv, one of the most popular sites inside all of Israel, suggesting that rockets are reaching farther right now, which is one way that things have stepped up on the Hamas side of the conflict -- Richard?

LUI: Josh, you remember this, too, that it's very reminiscent of 2006, when the Hezbollah rockets were raining down towards Tel Aviv and towards that direction, one of the concerns back then?

LEVS: Absolutely, and people on both sides of this conflict, very concerned about security, very concerned about what's ahead, about how long this may go on, about who maybe get caught up in strikes, rockets, cross-fire.

LUI: Josh Levs, thank you for breaking it down for us and all of the geography there.

LEVS: You've got it. Thanks.

LUI: We'll be right back.

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LUI: Straight to this new video getting in, out of Gaza City, the Gaza Strip. We don't know if it's Gaza city. We don't know if it's Khan Yunis or Rafah, the main areas there in the Gaza Strip. We are getting this raw video from Ramadan TV that shows clearly there are fires and destruction.

As we've been monitoring the video coming in to us raw at the moment, we have seen concrete structures, we have seen cars, we have seen people. And you can see in these pictures now. There is some fire fighting action going on. And it is late in the evening there, almost at this moment. It's seven hours forward of eastern time, so we're looking at just past midnight there in Gaza in the Gaza Strip area, as we get more pictures of ambulances reacting. We have also heard sirens through this video.

What we know at the moment is that there has been in this, what is the 36th hour more or less, since this conflict started, in terms of the air strikes in to Gaza. There are 210 Hamas targets have been hit. Over 275 people have lost their lives. And over 110 rockets have been fired out of Gaza Strip into Israel. These latest pictures, we continue to monitor those for you and stay with us for the latest on that.

Coming up, she served her country. Now it's time to put soldiering aside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINA MOFFETT, U.S. SOLDIER: Overseas, they're not mothers. They're not daughters. They're not anything but soldiers, and they kind of lose that identity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LUI: Bringing back the beauty with Mission Makeover.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LUI: It is roughly just about 1:00 a.m. eastern time in the Gaza Strip. These are raw pictures we are taking in from Ramadan TV. You can see some of the concrete structures that have been destroyed. We've been watching fires or, well, attempts to be -- put out the fires that have resulted because of air strikes perhaps. We also heard the sirens. Over 210 Hamas targets hit at this time.

Yesterday, when we were talking about this, Don Lemon, the number was about 50, so a lot of attacks that have happened just within the last 24 hours.

DON LEMON, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: Yeah, and the death roll of course rising. And we have seen Israeli tanks massing on the Gaza border there. And the big question is, as this turns into a ground war, what happens next. LUI: Right.

LEMON: And they're trying to prevent that. That's what we'll cover in seven minutes coming up here in the "CNN NEWSROOM." We'll continue to cover the latest that's happening in Gaza and get the response from Israel and Palestine. And also to hear what the president-elect is saying about this, and as well as the current president. We haven't heard much from President Bush so what's going on here? People are trying to get this again from escalating into a ground war.

Also, we're going to be talking about this. Is this funny? Some people say it's no laughing matter. It's a parody given out by a Tennessee Republican who has designs to leave the national party. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

LEMON: There you go. And you heard the story. You heard who it's being distributed by. And as you expected, it's generating a world of controversy. We'll take a closer look. We're taking your responses right now. Log on to Twitter, Facebook and ireport.com. Tell us what you're thinking. We'll get your responses on the air on this controversial story.

LUI: Between that and what's happening in Gaza, you got a lot to talk about tonight.

LEMON: A lot to talk about. I could be up all night. if this escalates who knows, we could be covering this for 24 hours.

LUI: Don lemon in "the NEWSROOM," 6:00 to 11:00 tonight.

Thank you.

LEMON: Thank you, sir.

LUI: It's called the military mission makeover. Female troops returning from Iraq rewarded with a day of beauty. A Maryland hairstylist made it her mission to match soldiers with salons.

CNN's Brianna Keilar has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Christina Moffett is a wife and mother of three young boys. At home in Maryland she does playground duty and referees her kids' dance contests.

CAPT. CHRISTINA MOFFETTT, U.S. SOLDIER: Woo!

KEILAR: It's a departure from the role she's played the last 16 months -- Captain Moffett, Army nurse, stationed in Baghdad.

MOFFETTT: I can't imagine not taking care of them. Being over there, though, it was, you kind of forgot, you kind of just put it aside, but it was hard I was the only female, the only mom.

KEILAR: As Kristina adjusts to home life, she's reporting for another mission, a makeover at the hands of Evangelin Pesci. The local hair stylist and makeup artist offers up her talents free of charge to veteran's home from war.

EVANGELIN PESCI, HAIR STYLISTS & MAKEUP ARTIST: They're sort of thrown back into that light, where overseas, they're not mothers, they're not daughters, they're not anything but soldiers, and they lose that identity. So in my chair, I say to them what, do you want? What will make you feel beautiful? It's all about them at that moment.

KEILAR: Pesci launched the program, Military Mission Makeover, earlier this year, recruiting dozens of salons across the country.

Today, Christina is getting the works at the Renaissance Salon and Spa in Hunt Valley, Maryland, manicure and pedicure, makeup, hair color, and a haircut, as her husband and sons await the big reveal.

CROWD: Whoa, mommy!

CROWD: Whoa!

MOFFETTT: I'm still a soldier. I'll put my uniform on tomorrow and go to work, but I feel pretty.

KEILAR: It's just a few hours at the salon, what some might call frivolous pampering. But after living in a war zone for more than a year, Captain Moffett's new look is a new decision. and for Eva Pesci it's a way to say thank you.

Brianna Keilar, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LUI: With that, I'm Richard Lui. Don Lemon's up next, with more of all the top stories, including the new explosions and the new video coming out of Gaza that we're watching for you this evening.

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