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MH-17's Black Box May Be in Rebel Hands; Israel's President Calling Hamas Fighters the Worst Kind of Terrorists; Is Russia Responsible for Incident?; Civilians Flee Escalating Gaza Violence

Aired July 20, 2014 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Frederica Whitfield. These stories are topping our news this hour.

Crucial evidence in the hands of pro-Russian rebels? The very group blamed for shooting down a Malaysian plane may have its hands on the flight recorders. The group's leaders say they'll turn them over if they confirmed to be the black boxes. But, can he be trusted?

The deadliest day so far in the conflict between Israel and Hamas, fighters from the terror group luring Israeli tanks into a field with hidden bombs. Thirteen Israeli soldiers killed and at least 60 Palestinians killed today. Israel's President calling Hamas fighters the worst kind of terrorists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: These people are the worst terrorists genocidal terrorists, they call for the destruction of Israel and they call for the killing of every Jew wherever they can find them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: U.S. secretary of state John Kerry planning to go very shortly to the Middle East. Can he get both sides to drop their weapons?

Plus, an academy award winning actor whose career spanned over 50 years has died. James Garner, a man who says he wasn't looking for star status. He just wanted to keep working. Inside his influential career.

Black box which is could provide answers to what happened when a Malaysia airlines plane was fired at may be in the hands of the rebels who are accused of taking down the flight with 298 people on board.

Just a short time ago, the leader of the pro-Russian rebels said he has devices that might be the black boxes. He said if experts determine the devices found are, indeed, the flight recorders, they would be turned over to international investigators.

Reuters news agency distributed this video of what appears to be one of the flight recorders being recovered by a rescue worker. The video was shot on Friday. But adding more suspicion to the handling of the possible black boxes is this, an intercepted phone call between two pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine following the crash. Ukraine's security service released it.

And in the recording, which CNN cannot authenticate, an alleged rebel commander is heard telling a rebel fighter to find the plane's black boxes quickly because Moscow is very interested. Listen.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYING)

WHITFIELD: Also today at the crash site, search teams have now found the remains of 233 of the 298 people on board flight 17. European observers say many of the bodies are being loaded into refrigerated train cars at a station near the crash site. Governments from around the world have expressed outrage at the disorderly situation at the crash site and called on Russia's president to use his influence on the pro-Russian rebels.

British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted just a short time ago. Quote, "I've just spoken to president Putin. I made clear he must ensure access to the crash site so the victims can have proper funerals."

All right, there's a lot there. Let's go straight to CNN's Phil Black now at the crash site.

Phil, if the rebels do, indeed, have a black boxes, what will this mean for the integrity of the investigation and, of course, who ultimately will get those boxes?

PHIL BLACK, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, understandably they're considered very much to be a key item in any possible investigation that could determine precisely what happened to this aircraft. They have remained something of a focus for the international community, where are they, who has them, have they been corrupted in any way?

So now, today, the leader of the rebels, as you say, the self-declared prime minister of the people's republic of Donetsk says he has technical items which may be the voice and data recorders. This comes only one day after he denied having them insisting that his rebels were not going through the wreckage looking for anything in this way because they didn't want to in any way damage the scene for any imminent investigation.

So he says he might have them, he says that he is willing to turn them over only to international experts, not the Ukrainian government because he doesn't trust the Ukrainian government. But he has not commented, either, on that video that you've been talking about, nor those intercepted phone call which is the Ukrainian government alleges proves that rebels were seeking out to find those data and voice recorders in order to satisfy nameless masters in Moscow -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And then, Phil, what is taking place there or what has taken place at least one of the crash sites that you're able to be at today? BLACK: We've spent a lot of time at the crash site today and there

has been considerable change, nota notably. And it's an important point. Most of those bodies that were lying out in the sun for so long have been recovered, have been stored or are being stored now in refrigerated rail cars not too far away. That recovery effort is being led by Ukrainian government emergency workers.

But, there is no doubt that the people if charge on the ground are still very much the pro-Russian militants, the men with the guns. They are the ones that are overseeing this recovery operations.

There has also been some improvement in the restriction of access to this site. No longer can all members of the public simply wander around these impact zones as they have been able to do for some days now. But it is only limited restriction, limited security, really. There are still vast areas, key points, including where the flight -- the plane's cockpit has come down some distance from the main impact zone. That's still largely open and not secured.

And this is all important because the investigators aren't on the ground yet and everyday that site is becoming increasingly corrupted, if you like, from an investigation point of view, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Phil Black, keep us posted, thank you so much. Very grim situation there, as well as in the Middle East.

A very deadly Sunday. At least 60 Palestinian kills, hundreds wounded near Gaza city, 13 Israeli soldiers confirmed dead and dozens hurt. And finally today, a brief cease-fire so wounded civilians could get medical attention in Gaza and get out of harm's way. More than 400 Palestinians have died in the conflict along with 18 Israeli soldiers and two Israeli civilians.

Eighty one thousand Palestinians have fled the fighting to take refuge in U.N. schools in Gaza city. Israel says it has struck 2,300 terror targets in Gaza and found 13 tunnels used for weapons smuggling.

All right, now, let's talk more about those 13 Israeli soldiers killed today. Hamas militants claimed they lured Israel's tanks into a field full of improvised explosive devices. Israel defense forces have not commented on that.

CNN's Atika Schubert joins us now from the Israel/Gaza border where she has been seeing wounded troops pouring in left and right.

Atika, what can you tell us about these soldiers?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We went to a hospital earlier today, (INAUDIBLE) hospital. That is the closest hospital to the border. And they are treating dozens of wounded soldiers, a number seriously injured. In fact, I had a chance to speak to a woman, a nurse at that hospital whose son was serving in Gaza when he was brought wounded to her very hospital. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHUBERT: The truth is, I don't know he was in Gaza, she says. I came to work calmly as I usually do. And then I was suddenly told that my son is in emergency and that he was wounded. So I ran to the emergency room and found him among a few other soldiers who were also wounded and had just arrived. To my joy, he was conscious and he spoke to me and my heart just kept going boom, boom, boom, she say says.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUBERT: Now, her son was a member of the Gilani brigade. This is an elite infantry brigade that suffered heavy losses, 13 of their soldiers were killed. So this is quite a blow for the IDF.

One of the touching details of what she told me was that her son continued to ask for other members of the Gilani brigade he was serving with. She didn't want to tell time full details, that some of them had been very seriously wounded.

But this is the highest death toll we've seen on the Israeli side now for, frankly, a number of years. But certainly, since the beginning of this operations. And the big question now is what will public opinion make of this. It is not likely to stop the operation, but it may change the way people feel about it.

WHITFIELD: Right. And that is the question that has been asked to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Atika Shubert, thank you so much.

In fact still to come, we have that conversation between Wolf Blitzer and Israel Prime Minister who says Israel does not glorify killers, his words. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: In a briefing today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli soldiers have destroyed most of the Gaza tunnels. President Obama also called Netanyahu, raising concern about growing casualties and telling him that will secretary of state John Kerry will soon travel to Cairo to seek an end to the conflict. The prime minister has been prepping Israelis for long days of fighting. But he is also getting hard questions about the conflict with Hamas.

Earlier today, CNN's Wolf Blitzer sat down with the prime minister and asked about an exit strategy from this ground offensive in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": We're being seen now by viewers in the United States and around the world in more than 200 countries around the world right now. Quick question, your exit strategy from Gaza. What is it?

NETANYAHU: Sustainable quiet. I mean, we didn't seek this escalation, Hamas forced it on us. They started rocketing our cities, steadily increasing the fire. I called for de-escalation; they refused. I accepted an Egyptian cease-fire proposal backed up by the Arab league and the U.N.; they refused. I accepted a humanitarian law proposed by the United Nations; they refused. We'll stop our operations when we can bring back quiet to our people.

BLITZER: Some of your cabinet ministers think the only way to do that is to reoccupy Gaza which you evacuated from and gave it up back in 2005. Do you support reoccupying Gaza?

NETANYAHU: Well, I support taking whatever action is necessary to stop this insane situation. Just imagine. I mean, imagine what Israel is going through. Imagine that 75 percent of the U.S. population is under rocket fire and they have to be in bomb shelters within 60 to 90 seconds. So I'm not just talking about New York. New York, Washington, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Miami, you name it. That's impossible. You can't live like that.

So I think we have to bring back, restore reasonable, sustained quiet and security and we'll take whatever action is necessary to achieve that.

BLITZER: But that includes possibly reoccupying Gaza? Because a lot of your military planners are afraid of what they would call a quagmire, a dangerous quagmire.

NETANYAHU: Nobody wants to go to excessive military lengths but what is happening here is excessive. They're not only targeting our cities but deliberately firing thousands of rockets. They're already fired 2,000 rockets in the last few days on our cities. You can imagine this.

It's not only that. And they wanted to kill as many of our six million Israelis who are targeted as they could. They haven't succeeded, not for lack of progress because we've developed with American help, and I appreciate the help that President Obama and the U.S. Congress have given us to develop these iron dome fantastic systems, but some of the missiles perforate and they hit our schools.

So we have to stop that. But in addition to the rockets, they've gotten now terror tunnels that they build in Palestinian homes in Gaza. They penetrate underground into Israeli territory. Terrorists pop up there, try to murder civilians, kidnap Israelis as they did with Gilad Shahlead (ph). So we are taking action right now to neutralized those tunnels. And we will continue the action as long as it is necessary.

BLITZER: You see these painful pictures, though, these Palestinian children and these refugees, thousands of them fleeing their homes, it's a horrendous site what is going on if you look at the images, heart wrenching. What goes through your mind when you see that?

NETANYAHU: I'm very sad. When I see that I'm very sad. We're sad for every civilian casualty. They're not intended.

This is the difference between us. The Hamas deliberately targets civilians and deliberately hides behind civilians. They embed their racketeers, their rocket caches, their other weaponry from which they fire -- which they use to fire on us in civilian areas.

What choice do we have? We have to protect ourselves. We try to target the racketeers, we do. And all civilian casualties are unintended by us but actually intended by Hamas. They want to pile up as many civilian dead as they can because somebody said they use -- it's gruesome. They use telegenically (ph) dead Palestinians for their cause. They want the more dead the better.

BLITZER: The argument your critics make is that you're overreacting right now, overkill.

NETANYAHU: Well, look, I want to say this. I mean, there are very few examples in history of countries that have been rocketed on this scale. If you look at our response, it's actually very measured and trying to be as pinpointed as we can. But I think when people say that -- I appreciate the support we've received from President Obama and many world leaders for Israel's right to self-defense.

But others are saying, yes, you have to right of self-defense as long as you don't exercise it. What can a country do? What would you? What would the people of the United States do if your cities were rocketed now, 2,000 rockets falling on American cities? You know, people would say in the United States, as they're telling America, obliterate the people. We don't obliterate them. We don't have any battle with the Palestinians in Gaza.

BLITZER: But it is brutal there now.

NETANYAHU: It's very difficult because Hamas is using them, Palestinians, as human shields. We develop anti-missile systems to protect -- we use anti-missile systems to protect our civilians. They use their civilians to protect their missiles. That's the difference.

So, again, such a cynical, brutal, heartless enemy. We try to minimize civilian casualties. We try to target the military targets. And unfortunately, there are civilian casualties which we regret and we don't see. They all fall on the responsibility of Hamas.

BLITZER: And President Obama urged you the other day, all of the parties, to return to the cease-fire that was reached in November, 2012. Are you accepting his proposal? Go back to that cease-fire?

NETANYAHU: I already did. I already did.

BLITZER: If Hamas were to say to you right now "we accept the cease- fire," would Israel withdraw its forces from Gaza?

NETANYAHU: That was the Egyptian proposal which we send and they refused.

BLITZER: If they accepted now, is it too late?

NETANYAHU: I don't know. I don't want to speak about it being too late. I think the first thing is a cessation of hostilities.

BLITZER: Would Israel withdraw the forces as part of a cessation of hostilities?

NETANYAHU: First, we have to deal with this tunnel business. We're not leaving those tunnels.

BLITZER: So you would stay until those tunnels are destroyed?

NETANYAHU: We're doing that right now.

WHITFIELD: How long is that going to take?

NETANYAHU: It's being done fairly quickly. But I think the important thing right now is not to begin put terms. I think the important thing is to end the hostilities and then get into a situation where we have a sustainable cease-fire. That means beginning to discuss the demilitarization of Gaza.

Gaza under all the previous agreements should have been demilitarized. Instead of being demilitarized, it became basically an Iranian financed and equipped fortress of terror with thousands and thousands of rockets and other weapons being smuggled and developed in it. That has to stop.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Still to come, we'll have more of Wolf Blitzer's conversation with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He says Hamas is destroying Gaza and the citizens there. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Obama called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today expressing concern about the growing number of casualties in Gaza. He also told the prime minister that secretary of state John Kerry will travel to Cairo soon in an effort to seek an end to the fighting.

Earlier today CNN's Wolf Blitzer sat down with Mr. Netanyahu and asked about a growing number of extremists in his country.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: I've been here in Israel now for what, ten, eleven days. And many Israeli friends have said to me they are deeply concerned about what they see in this rise, tiny but very violent and dangerous Jewish extremism. We saw that with that murder of that young Palestinian boy and the aftermath of those three Israeli teenagers who were kidnapped and killed.

How concerned are you about this? Because that police report that came out in that murder of that -- you've read that. That was awful.

NETANYAHU: Well, here's the difference. We don't glorify these killers. We apprehended them three days after that tragic killing, immediately put them custody, we're putting them on trial. They'll serve a good chunk of their lives in jail. That's what we do with the killers. We don't name public squares after them. We don't glorify them. We don't educate our people, our children in suicide kindergarten camps as happens in the Palestinian side and you should see what Hamas is educating them to. No peace, no two-state solution, nothing, just jihad.

More and more violence, more and more murder and more and more bloodshed. This is not our way. We have, I think, a society that's tested not by the extreme fringes of that society but how it takes care of them. We take care of those extreme fringes. We basically isolate them and ostracize them and punish them.

I think what you see in Palestinian society, but especially in Gaza is that these people are lionized. And the worst thing that I see, the worst thing, is they use their children, they use their civilians. They don't give any thought about them. I mean, the Hamas leaders are divided into two -- those who are in underground bunkers in Gaza, they don't care. Let the people there with the racketeers and with the attack tunnels, let them die as Israel tries to surgically take them out.

But they're safe underground, the military leaders. And then they've got the political leader. This guy (INAUDIBLE). He's roaming around five-star hotel suites in the Gulf States having the time of his life while his people, while he's deliberately putting his people as a fodder for this horrible terrorist war that they're conducting against us.

So this has to stop. And I think many people in Gaza understand that Hamas is destroying Gaza, destroying their lives. They've taken tons -- not tons, tens of thousands of tons of concrete that we enable them to bring goo into Gaza to bring skyscrapers, to build schools, to build hospitals.

You know what they did with that, Wolf? They put 700 tons of concrete into each one of these terror attack tunnels to penetrate Israel. Now we've discovered a dozen of them. So you are talking about tens of thousands of tons of concrete instead of going for the benefit of schools and the population, it's going for terrorism against Israel.

I think the international community has to -- once this is put in place we really is to undertake a program to demilitarize Gaza and to change the situation because it's unacceptable.

What makes it unacceptable is Hamas and Islamic jihad. These people are the worst terrorists, genocidal terrorists. They call for the destruction of Israel and they call for the killing of every Jew wherever they can find them.

BLITZER: We're out of time. But one final question on Iran. Now that the U.S., the five permanent members of the U.N. security council, Germany, they've agreed to a four-month extension allowing these talks with Iran and its nuclear program to continue. Does that mean a unilateral Israeli military strike potentially is off the table over the next four months?

NETANYAHU: You know, I never talk about what Israel will do or not do. But I think what is important is that there wasn't a bad deal because there's no deal. And no deal is better than a bad deal. We'll see what the extension produces. I think that good deal is what was achieved with Syria. They're under the threat of U.S. military action and with a joint effort by President Obama and president Putin.

Syria removed its chemicals and the capability to make chemical weapons. They didn't just keep in the place, freeze it and put it under a lock and put an inspector on it. They actually dismantled and removed. That's not what Iran wants is holding are for. Iran wants to keep its capabilities and say we'll put a lock under it and you can expect it.

But the whole idea for them is that at a certain point they break the lock. The inspector will even say they broke the lock. It will take them a few weeks to put together the wherewithal for a nuclear bomb. That's a bad deal. Don't make that deal. Because if you think the Middle East is bad now with ISIS, with Hamas, with Hezbollah and with Iran wait until Iran, one of the pre-eminent terror state of our time has nuclear weapons. Then, I would say they will goes in to (INAUDIBLE). Don't let it happen.

BLITZER: Mr. Prime Minister, thanks very much for joining us.

NETANYAHU: Thank you. Thank you, Wolf.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And fleeing for their lives, the conflict in Gaza gets even deadlier. And citizens are trying to escape the violence anyway they can. Details on that straight ahead.

Plus, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry pulling no punches. He blames the pro-Russian rebels for downing the Malaysian plane. Coming up, we'll tell you what he's demanding from Russia.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We're learning new information about the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Here's what we know right now. A self- declared pro-Russian rebel leader in Ukraine seen here in the blue jacket says his troops found some technical objects that may be the plane's black boxes. He says if experts confirm their flight recorders, his group will turn them over to international investigators.

Today Reuters news agency released video of a searcher carrying what appears to be a flight data recorder, right there. The video was shot on Friday. So far, 233 bodies have been found. The Royal Malaysia Air Force is sending planes to fly back crash victims' remains. There are reports of people stealing credit cards from the victims' bodies.

The Ukrainian president says the way the rebels are dealing with the bodies is quote, "beyond moral boundaries." Blame is being placed on pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine for shooting down Flight 17.

Today on CNN, on "STATE OF THE UNION," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told our Candy Crowley the U.S. has evidence and that the rebels' involvement leads right back to Russia.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KERRY, SECRETARY OF STATE: We also know to a certainty that the social media immediately afterwards saw reports of separatists bragging about knocking down a plane then the so-called defense minister self-appointed of the People's Republican of Donetsk, Igor Strelkov, posted a social media report bragging about the shoot down of a transport plane at which point when it became clear it was civilian they pulled down that particular report.

We know from intercepts, voices which have been correlated to intercepts that we have that those are, in fact, the voices of separatists talking about the shoot down of the plane. They have shot down some 12 planes, aircraft, in the last month's or so who of which were major transport planes.

And now we have a video showing a launcher moving back through a particular area there out into Russia with a missing -- at least one missing missile on it. So we have enormous sort of input about this which points fingers and now we have --

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": At who, Mr. Secretary? At who?

KERRY: Well, it basically -- it's pretty clear that this is a system that was transferred from Russia in the hands of separatists. We know with confidence, with confidence that the Ukrainians did not have such a system anywhere near the vicinity at that point in time. So it obviously points a very clear finger at the separatists and that's why President Obama and the international community are demanding a full- fledged investigation, which Russia said they would do.

CROWLEY: Mr. Secretary, do you believe that Russia is culpable for the downing of this commercial jetliner if they gave these separatists the equipment, whether or not they were there on site at the moment the anti-aircraft missile was launched. We do know from folks that have said so publicly in the intelligence community that, in fact, they had to have been trained by Russians. They had to have got the equipment from Russia, doesn't this make Vladimir Putin culpable for this plane crash?

KERRY: You know, culpability isn't a judicial term and people can make their own judgments about what they read here. That's why we've asked for a full-fledged investigation. Yesterday, I didn't do on Friday the investigators and the people who need access, the OSCE, monitors were given 75 minutes and the area is under control of the separatists.

Yesterday, they were given three hours. Today we have reports of drunken separatists piling the remains of people into trucks in an unceremonious fashion, actually removing them from the location. They are interfering with the evidence the location. They have removed we understand some airplane parts. It is critical that this is a very, very critical moment for Russia to step publicly and join in the effort in order to make sure there is a full pledge investigation. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: But first, is Russia ultimately responsible for the active taking down that plane. Let's bring in our panel of experts, CNN's aviation analyst, Attorney Arthur Rosenberg is in New York along with CNN military analyst, Retired Army Lt. Col. Rick Francona. All right, good to see both of you.

Colonel, to you first, is a country does train a force and it strikes down a civilian aircraft, does that lead back to the trainer in this case, Russia?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I would think so. There's no way that the separatists could have learned how to use this system on their own. Someone had to show them how to use it and when you show them how to use it you tell them how the use it properly, efficiently and responsibly and obviously that did not happen. Did they give them the tools that would allow them to identify a civilian aircraft? We don't know and we'll find that out later.

WHITFIELD: Because that comes with this -- I guess battery of arsenal that there is that capability that you would be able to identify the plane, the type of plane even if it were 30,000 feet in the air?

FRANCONA: Right. The BUK system is more than just that one vehicle we see. The BUK system consists of four vehicles, one of them is an acquisition radar that has the tools on it that would identify a civilian aircraft. It has a transponder that could interrogate the aircraft, the aircraft would respond with the proper code that says "I'm a civilian aircraft." It would give them exact height and a better location of the size of the aircraft. So with that information they probably would not have engage this target because it was obviously not that transport they were looking for.

WHITFIELD: Arthur, you're an attorney. Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S. have lots of evidence that this was done by the Russian- trained rebels. One example being that a transcription of that radio call. How much evidence is needed to get Vladimir Putin to join the public call for an international and independent investigation?

ARTHUR ROSENBERG, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: I think -- here's the bottom line. This is no great mystery. This is a case where we know who done it and how they did it. The purpose of this up, clear investigation by recovery experts, rescue experts, hopefully NTSB for the Aussies and others is to put this evidence into a form where it can be used and I think where we are headed is into the International Court of Justice in The Hague where the triggermen, which were probably these separatist rebels, pull the trigger and can be tried and held accountable.

Now, the evidence was laid out impeccably today by Secretary of State John Kerry and the words that he used, if you listen, we have a high degree of confidence, we have the infrared signature, we have the audiotapes, we have photographs. There's a plethora of information here. The key is -- nobody wants to bring the Russians to their knees on this we want the Russians' cooperation.

Putin holds sway over these rebels. We need him to step in, tell them cooperate, make this crime scene safe so the experts can come in and the people who are responsible, the people who pulled the trigger can be held accountable.

WHITFIELD: Colonel, if Russia steps in to assist in deescalating, can it be trusted if Russia also says we want to be part of that international coalition to investigate?

FRANCONA: The mere fact that the Russians want to investigate something that they may be culpable for is puzzling to me because I think we'll find Russian fingerprints on it somewhere. They did the training, it's their system. They have to be involved somehow so to have Putin come in, it's like he's agreeing to help in his own prosecution.

ROSENBERG: Well, I would just too old that, what's going to happen here once this settles down, in my judgment, the Ukrainian people have the responsibility under ICAO to run this investigation. They're going to bring in expertise. They're going to bring in the United States, the Russians are probably going to participate at some level, but if you have everybody watching everybody, you have to checks and balances on the proof that we need to put this into proper form.

As far as making this area safe I think that's the most paramount thing to happen right now so these investigators can come in and do their job. This black box which they allegedly found, if this rebel to say -- if it turns out to be the black box, we'll turn it over, that's not how it works. First of all --

WHITFIELD: That condition worries you?

ROSENBERG: Yes. I mean, that's the best example of why this is all going awry and why we need to get this settled down and under control.

WHITFIELD: All right, Arthur Rosenberg, Colonel Rick Francona, thanks to you, Gentlemen.

Mass exodus. Hundreds of Palestinians in a town outside Gaza City fleeing in panic as the fighting there intensifies. That story coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We'll get back to our top stories in a moment, but perhaps you're looking for a new summer getaway. Follow along as this country music singer star, Craig Morgan, takes us on a back stage tour at the Grand Ole Opry in today's "Travel Insider."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CRAIG MORGAN, COUNTRY SINGER: I'm country singer, Craig Morgan and Nashville is my city. It's the capital of country music. We'll take you on a VIP backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry. First thing we do when we get in is we have to check in and find out where our dressing room is. Where am I at tonight?

As a member off mailbox so the fans can send mail to us here. Not everybody that plays at the Grand Ole Opry is a member of the Grand Ole Opry. To date there are just over 200 members. This is list of every member past and present. There's 19 dressing rooms. Well, actually there is only 18 because there's not a number 13.

You never know who you're going to run into. What is y'all's favorite thing about being here at the Opry? Porter, Roy Acuff and standing in them big tall shoes.

Look who we have here, Mr. Rickey skaggs. This is the green room. During the flood of 2010 this is how high the water level got. This is the infamous circle here at the Grand Ole Opry where the legends as well as the new artists stand to perform. Thanks for spending time with me backstage at the Grand Ole Opry. Hone to see you in Nashville soon. Now it's time to it this stage.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Turning now to the conflict in Gaza, today has been the single deadliest day for Israeli forces and for Palestinians, 87 Palestinians and 13 Israeli soldiers were killed. Civilians in Gaza are on the run as their homes are bombed. CNN's Karl Penhall has their story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fleeing for their lives. Few belongings, just the clothes on their backs as they go, Israeli bombs blast their neighborhood. This man says he had to abandon his own mother.

SAMEH GREGA, RESIDENT: She refused to leave our home. She asked me to leave.

PENHAUL (on camera): Since first light, thousands of people have been streaming down this street, one of the roads that the Israelis in a pamphlet drop told civilians they could transit safely along without fear of being bombed, but as they walk we're hearing explosions all around.

(voice-over): Israeli tanks, artillery and planes pounded Eastern Gaza throughout the night. But Hamas militants were fighting back. As human tide just trying to cling to life. On foot, in cars, on donkey carts, anyway, just out. "They're just hitting us, hitting and hitting" he says.

(on camera): And when they leave, where do they come to? Well, one of the United Nations schools that has been opened to shelter the displaced people. I just talked to United Nations' official, he has no time to speak on camera, but he said this is a critical situation.

(voice-over): Overflowing but a safe haven for now at least at Gaza's main hospital, no more space for the wounded, no choice except to transfer the bleeding and dying to other clinics. Others may still be lying in the combat zone.

NASSAR EL TATAR, DOCTOR: Many people are still underground. You see, those people, we couldn't arrive with those people and extract them so surely from those people are dead people, injured people and those who might die if we didn't something very urgent.

PENHAUL: For those who didn't make it, a resting place on the blood- soaked floor of the morgue. No need to understand Arabic to understand this man's pain. He says he saw a missile slam into his brother and mother. No time for a full autopsy, no time except to announce time of death. Karl Penhall, CNN, Gaza.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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