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Middle East Cease-Fire Is Over; Kerry Talked to Netanyahu Earlier Today; Egypt's President on New Cease-Fire Talks

Aired August 01, 2014 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me. We begin this hour in the Middle East and a potential game changer unfolding as we speak. A cease-fire between Israel and Hamas last only an hour and a half and the violence threatens to surge to a whole new level.

Gaza says dozens of people were killed when massive Israeli air strike pulverized this residential area and the market. Hamas says the attack was unprovoked. Israel shattered the truce just 90 minutes in a 72-hour agreement that Washington helped broker.

Israel says it was Hamas that broke the ceasefire just minutes earlier. A suicide bomber emerged from a militant tunnel and detonated among Israeli troops. And most ominous of all, Israel says one of its soldiers was kidnapped during this attack.

As you can see from these huge plumes of smoke erupting this morning over Gaza, Israel is retaliating with ferocious air strikes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GERSHON BASKIN, ISRAEL/PALESTINE CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND INFO: There's a price to pay for abducting an Israeli soldier as well and they are going to pay a very heavy price.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SITUATION ROOM": I suspect as bad as it's been this first --

BANSKIN: You ain't seen nothing yet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Ominous words. CNN is deploying its vast resources around the world with correspondents and guests covering all the angles. Tell us more, Wolf.

BLITZER: Carol, thanks very much. It's clear that that cease-fire is obviously no longer in business. The escalation of the warfare is continuing. It's moving very rapidly even as we speak right now. We're told at least 16 or 17 Hamas rockets have already been launched into Israel since that ill-fated cease-fire.

Israeli military operations are now moving full speed ahead. Let's bring in Mark Regev who is the spokesman for the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu. I know that Secretary Kerry had a phone conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu as the cease-fire was unravelling. Can you give us a read out? What did they discussed? What did they conclude?

MARK REGEV, ISRAELI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN: The prime minister said that we agreed to this U.N.-American cease-fire proposal. Our forces at 8:00 a.m. local time this morning ceased all offensive operations against Hamas targets in Gaza. The idea was there would be a 72-hour period, three days, for humanitarian relief to reach the people of Gaza.

And they badly need that relief. That's clear because they've been at a war zone. At 9:30 this morning, our forces who were honoring their commitments under the cease-fire were attacked and provoked and unfortunately, two of our servicemen were killed.

Another apparently taken hostage. Others injured and we have seen Hamas fire across the frontier both with rockets and mortar shells. So Hamas has violated this U.N. cease-fire and my prime minister said to Secretary Kerry, Hamas gave commitments and assurances to the international community, and of course those commitments apparently aren't worth anything.

BLITZER: Do you know for sure it was Hamas, the military arm of Hamas or could it have been some other Palestinian faction like Islamic Jihad?

REGEV: I've been told that Hamas is actually one of their military wings of Hamas has taken responsibility for the attack on the Israeli forces this morning. And let's be clear. Hamas can't subcontract out terror attacks. Hamas is the ruler in the Gaza Strip.

They rule with an iron fist and any terrorism from Gaza against Israel is their responsibility and they have to be held accountable not only for killing two Israeli soldiers this morning and kidnapping another.

Not only for those rocket fire on Israel for torpedoing this U.N.- sponsored peace initiative, a cease-fire that should have been in place, but ultimately Hamas must be held accountable for the ongoing humanitarian tragedy in Gaza because Hamas has closed the door to that humanitarian assistance that the people of Gaza need so badly.

And I would like to add I'm sure that the intelligence we'll see in the coming hours will show clearly that the people in Gaza are furious with Hamas for torpedoing this possibility, to have this humanitarian aid reach the people of Gaza.

BLITZER: I'm told Israeli forces in Gaza, especially in that area where that Israeli soldier was taken are now going literally house to house searching for that soldier. Is that true?

REGEV: Correct. What we have, whenever we have a soldier kidnapped or the possibility of that, we have a special operational structure, where we go in and try to isolate that area. We know that if you have a potential kidnapping, you have to move quickly. You have to move expeditiously in the immediate area because once they can take him back into another area, the chances you finding him are much, much lower. So you could have act quickly. You got to act decisively in the immediate area of the kidnapping and that's exactly what we are doing.

BLITZER: Because the last time they captured an Israeli soldier, they held him for five years in someplace in Gaza. They eventually returned him to Israel in exchange for 1,000 Palestinian prisoners who were free. That potentially could happen now again.

REGEV: First of all, we don't want to put the cat before the horse. We don't know for a fact that they have an Israeli. We don't know the condition of the Israeli who has been kidnapped. Let's be clear here, Hamas, though, is a brutal ruthless enemy.

Not only does it target Israeli soldiers, it indiscriminately targets Israeli cities with its rockets. As you know, Wolf, close to 3,000 rockets have been fired in Israeli cities over the last three weeks. They have been trying to kill our people.

But they also obviously through their actions they demonstrated they don't give a hoot for the people of Gaza themselves because ultimately the reason the people of Gaza today are not enjoying a humanitarian cease-fire and assistance from the international community reaching them now is because Hamas has condemned us all to the continuation of the violence.

BLITZER: You say you don't know for sure, but the IDF, the Israel Defense Forces, put on a statement saying the IDFs confirms the name of the officer who is suspected to have been abducted by terrorist earlier this morning.

Second Lt. Hadar Golden, 23 years old from Sabah, that's a suburb of Tel-Aviv, additional two IDF soldiers were killed in the attack. The soldier's families, all three of these families, have been notified. So why do you say you don't know for sure that this IDF soldier has been abducted, has been taken by Hamas?

REGEV: The operative word there and I know how the IDF works, every word in that statement is carefully thought about. They have the word suspected. There's a lot of information to suggest he's abducted. Until we're for sure, we'll presume he's been kidnapped and we'll make every effort to bring him back.

BLITZER: Well, we do expect some proof of life video or picture or statement from the captors to emerge? Is that something that you are bracing for?

REGEV: I'm not going to give the kidnappers and the Hamas terrorists any advice what they might or might not do, what they should or should not do. Now that they have closed the door to a diplomatic cease- fire.

Now that they have slammed that door shut in the face of the United States and the United Nations, who both said publicly they had received assurances from Hamas that it would honor this cease-fire.

Now that diplomatic door has been closed, we will be ratcheting up the military pressure on Hamas. Hamas must understand that it cannot continue to commit atrocities, shooting rockets at our people, tunnelling underground to commit terrorist attacks against our people, they can't do with impunity.

BLITZER: Will Prime Minister Netanyahu and you're his spokesman, will he be willing to negotiate once again for the release of this captured Israeli soldier in exchange for demands put forward by Hamas?

REGEV: With your permission, I'm not even going to speculate. I'm not going to go there, Wolf. At the moment, there the operation is totally focused in the area where the kidnapping took place, to try to locate that young officer and bring him home. I hope we succeed.

BLITZER: As far as you know, you accuse Hamas of breaking the cease- fire. Is the United States with you on this? Is the U.N. with you? Do they share your view?

REGEV: The facts are clear. The cease-fire started at 8:00 a.m. local. Everyone saw that, everyone saw that Israeli forces held their offensive fire precisely because that was our commitment under the U.N.-U.S. cease-fire proposal. We ceased all offensive operations.

And at 9:30, plus minus a few minutes, 9:30, there was a deadly attack on an IDF force that had a right to be there under the cease-fire agreement. A deadly attack that took two soldiers' lives and apparently led to the kidnapping of this young officer, so it's clear who broke the cease-fire. It's clear who gave assurances and who lied.

BLITZER: Mark Regev is the spokesman for the prime minister of Israel. Mark Regev, thanks very much for joining us.

REGEV: Thank you very much.

BLITZER: All right, so you've got the latest from the government of Israel. I'm sure the Palestinian perspective is going to be a lot different, Carol. We are going to stay on top of this story. Bottom line right now, fighting has resumed with even greater intensity in Gaza, in the after math of this broken cease-fire.

COSTELLO: Absolutely. Wolf, thank you. And you're right. After a break, we will have the Palestinian perspective on this possible kidnapping of an Israeli soldier next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: We've told you there has been an escalation in the fighting in Gaza now that an Israeli soldier has been kidnapped by Hamas. The U.S. has condemned the kidnapping and the fact Hamas broke a cease- fire agreement to do it. Of course, Hamas has a different perspective. CNN's Karl Penhaul is in Gaza with that perspective. Hi, Karl. KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Carol. Well, a couple of things to bring you up to date. We'll update you on what Hamas' military wing has to say. I also want to update you a little bit about the humanitarian situation.

That attack in which the Israeli soldier was taken prisoner according to the Israeli military took place about one and a half hours into the cease-fire in Southern Gaza. At around the same time also in Southern Gaza, a town came under shelling.

We're told by witnesses there, a market place area came under intense shelling as did the part of a street just outside of a hospital in that area. The Palestinian Health Authorities are telling us so far they have reports confirmed that 33 dead more than 250 wounded.

They say that the death toll could actually be much higher because they can't get to the area where some of the bodies are still left. They are putting out an urgent call to medical personnel to make their way to Southern Gaza to try and help out. That is how dire the situation is down there.

Now just in the last few moments, we've also had a statement from the military wing of Hamas and they are giving their version of a confrontation with the Israeli military down in Southern Gaza this morning. They accuse the Israeli military of advancing on Hamas positions and advancing to a town just an hour and a half before the cease-fire began.

Hamas say that they began engaging the Israeli military at that time and the confrontations apparently continued into the cease-fire hours. But they are clearly blaming the Israelis for trying to come further than their own lines and that's what sparked this confrontation.

Interestingly enough, the brigades make no mention of this captured Israeli soldier. That could be for two reasons, one could be that we know in the past, when Alkazam (ph) has claimed to have captured Israeli soldiers that they give a number of hours before they announce that possibly to get the soldier or his remains to a secure location.

In this case that could be what they are trying to do. We also do know that other militant factions operate in the area of Southern Gaza including Islamic Jihad maybe two, it could be that they may have this soldier involved somehow in those combats -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Karl Penhaul reporting live from Gaza this morning. Thank you. We want to get the Palestinian perspective on this. I want to bring in Yousef Munayyer. He is the executive director of the Palestine Center, a part of the Jerusalem Fund. Welcome.

YOUSEF MUNAYYER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PALESTINE CENTER: Hi, Carol. Good to see you again.

COSTELLO: Nice to have you here. Yousef, Israel is incensed by the fact Hamas violated the cease-fire in order to kidnap this soldier. Do you condemn those tactics? MUNAYYER: First, Carol, let's think about what you just said. You stated that Israel is upset that Hamas violated the cease-fire. We do not know what happened here. We have an Israeli claim and we have a claim from Hamas. As far as I know, your reporters have not been age to independently corroborate what's happened on the ground.

So let's be careful about assigning the blame and determining what the facts are before they are clear. That's the first thing. The second thing, you used the word kidnapping. We're not talking about the Lindberg baby here.

We're talking about a soldier, which was taken in the course of conflict in a military area, in the middle of a war, an armed conflict. This is not a kidnapping. This is a capture of a soldier, who is now a prisoner of war. So I'd be very cautious before we accept this, you know, Israeli framing hook, line, and sinker.

COSTELLO: Well, let me ask you it this way, the capture of this soldier, the possible capture of this soldier was sure to escalate things within Gaza. Many, many people are dying so why use that tactic?

MUNAYYER: Well, I think, first of all, what we're seeing here, what we saw this morning or at least has been reported from both sides is that there was something that happened, you know, in these tunnels, but exactly what happened is not clear.

What I think, though, this underscores is really the change of trying to implement any cease-fire agreement while there are still operations going on in these tunnels. What is going to happen if let's say the Israeli military goes into a tunnel.

And as it is advancing inside this tunnel, they come across, you know, people that are Palestinian militants. What's going to happen? There's going to be a fire fight. There's going to be escalation. So I think what we should be questioning now is whether or not the idea --

COSTELLO: And there are going to be fighters in suicide vests ready to blow themselves up? Should we expect more of that too?

MUNAYYER: I mean, I think when you are in a situation where the Palestinians are? Where they are confronting this massive military force, you know, they are likely to use the most desperate options available. It's not like they have tanks and planes to really combat this Israeli military. So the tactics that they use are really determined by the resources that they have in the nature of the battlefield.

COSTELLO: But by using these tactics, don't you think this just escalates things because Israel clearly has more fire power.

MUNAYYER: Yes, and they also have more of a responsibility to protect the civilian population on the ground under international law as the occupying force there. And it's clear that they have more fire power, but that doesn't mean you use it in civilian areas the way that they have resulting in all of these casualties.

COSTELLO: But doesn't Hamas also have the responsibility to protect its people?

MUNAYYER: Legally, under international law, the Israelis are still the sole responsible party for the protection of the civilian population there. Look, the Israelis are confronting a difficult situation where they are involved in fighting in these civilian areas.

We know that. The question we should be asking is why is it that the Israelis continue to find themselves in this situation and the reason is there is a military occupation here of territory that's not an independent state. If it was an independent state, we would be talking about a completely different framework but --

COSTELLO: Well, maybe if everyone could like adhere by a cease-fire, there could be a conversation about that, but until that happens, there's not going to be any conversation about that at all.

MUNAYYER: And I agree with you that that's an important step to move things forward, but as we've seen in the past, without any sort of accountability for the parties, without independent monitoring of what's going on, on the ground, it's really left to the parties to observe the cease-fire.

And when you have such a dramatic imbalance of power between the sides, you are only going to see a continued crumbling of these initiatives. So I think, yes, we should have a cease-fire, but we also need to hold the parties accountable and take into account that imbalance of power.

Because if not the stronger party here, the Israelis is going to take advantage of that position of power so what guarantee do Palestinians have that they are going to be protected during these cease-fire periods?

They don't. They don't have the capacity to hold the Israelis in check, so somebody has to play that role and you can't leave it to the parties themselves.

COSTELLO: Yousef Munayyer, thanks so much. I've got to get to some breaking news. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. We got to head to Egypt now.

Yes, we have Reza Sayah. He is on the phone from Cairo. I understand, Reza, you just spoke to the president's office there.

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): According to government officials here, they are actively working to re-establish or salvage this cease-fire. I just spoke to the spokesperson for the president's office, President Abdel Fattah al- Sisi.

He couldn't reveal a lot of details, but he's told me that they are working to make something happen in the coming hours. Again, he told me they are working to make something happen in the coming hours and that was a clear reference to the cease-fire that fell apart a couple of hours after it was established.

Obviously, Cairo would play a key role if this cease-fire is to go into effect. They have been keeping an eye on activities in Gaza today especially, the Rafa crossing where violence flared up again.

Earlier, today there were reports that because of the violence, the government here in Cairo had withdrawn the invitation to the warring factions, but both the president's office and the foreign ministry deny this.

They tell CNN that the invitations are still in place. That they have been extended to Israeli leaders as well as Palestinian leaders to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

When this cease-fire is re-established, he will be extending the invitation to various other Palestinian factions including Hamas. So again the latest here from Cairo. The government officials here actively working to help re-establish this cease-fire and get the warring factions here to Cairo so they can talk about a lasting truce and a cease-fire -- Carol.

COSTELLO: I hope they succeed. Reza Sayah, thanks so much. I've got to take a break. I'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH EARNEST, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We finally thought we had reached an agreement just yesterday for a humanitarian cease-fire. The Israelis are reporting this morning that that cease-fire was broken, and that apparently Hamas individuals used the cover of a humanitarian cease-fire to attack Israeli soldiers and even to take one hostage.

That would be a rather barbaric violation of the cease-fire agreement. We would encourage the international community to respond to this and condemn it in the strongest possible terms. We would encourage those who have influence with Hamas to get them back on the terms of the cease-fire and to get them to abide by the agreements that they struck just yesterday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: As you heard, the White House is not mincing words over the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier calling it a barbaric violation of the cease-fire. Washington also had harsh words for Israel slamming it for the, quote, "Insensible death" last week at a U.N. school.

So let's talk about this, I want to bring in CNN national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto and CNN senior political analyst, David Gergen. Welcome, Gentlemen.

Nice to have you here. Jim, I want to start with you because the way Secretary Kerry laid out the terms of this cease-fire could be considered confusing. Was it? JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, there was an open question. It was a question I was pursuing administration officials last night on, where exactly could these anti tunnel operations take place? One State Department official said behind enemy -- Israeli I should say borders.

But Secretary Kerry said behind Israeli lines and that appears to be the terms of the cease-fire because those lines extend into Gaza, in this current conflict and Israel was clearly continuing operations inside Gaza, which they call defensive, which the agreement called defensive as well.

Now from the Hamas side, you have officials saying now that they observed Israeli forces advancing in the hours leading up to the cease-fire and they claim that this attack including the suicide bomber that led to the capture of this soldier was in response to those Israeli advances.