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Violence between Israel and Hamas Continues; Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu Speaks about Israeli Operations in Gaza; Protest Takes Place at White House against Israeli Actions in Gaza

Aired August 02, 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, again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield in the CNN NEWSROOM.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": We are live here in Jerusalem. At any moment now the Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to address the nation. He is talking about Israeli military operations in Gaza. We expect a major statement. We are monitoring every new development. We'll bring you the latest on what he has to say. You'll see it, you'll hear it live here on CNN.

It all comes after a day of violence in Gaza with more shelling, more death. One strike at Gaza actually hit a university, a university that Israel says Hamas was using to work on weapons. Israel is also searching for a soldier who Israeli officials say Hamas captured yesterday. Hamas has denied that. Right now it's not clear what happened to that Israeli soldier.

So what can we expect from the prime minister of Israel? Fred, as we await the prime minister of Israel, he is going to make this major statement, let me point out what I'm hearing is he will make a major announcement as far as Israeli ground troops are concerned, the start of the withdrawal of Israeli ground troops, keeping open the option of more air strikes, more naval strikes to deal with Hamas rockets and missiles that presumably will still be coming into Israel from Gaza. Let's see precisely what he has to say. This could be pretty significant.

WHITFIELD: And I wonder, too, Wolf, if he will make comment or explanation why an Israeli delegation wouldn't have been dispatched to Cairo to try to lay the ground work for any new ceasefire.

BLITZER: That's a good point, because the Israelis have definitely improved their relationship with the new government of the President el-Sisi in Cairo. There's a better relationship between Israel and Egypt than there was when Mohammed Morsi, the former president who has now been arrested, one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Israel has dramatically improved its ties with Cairo right now. There were Israeli delegations that have been there over the past few weeks. I know that the Israelis are in close touch with Egyptian officials. Whether or not they actually send a formal delegation to Cairo right now, that remains up in the air.

But certainly they don't want to do anything to undermine what they see a very collaborative improving relationship with Egypt. They also point out that Egypt apparently does not have great love for Hamas in Gaza right now. They see, the new Egyptian government, of Hamas right now as basically an offshoot, a cousin, if you will, of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they're adamantly rejecting in Egypt, in fact accusing the Muslim Brotherhood of being a terrorist organization.

We're told, by the way, Fred, that the prime minister is about a minute or minute and a half away from the address. So he will be speaking in Hebrew. We do have simultaneous transition ready to go. We will hear what he has to say. But this could be a significant moment in what is now week four of this war between Israel and Gaza. Fred?

WHITFIELD: And of course, we're looking at the live pictures of that podium where the Prime Minister Netanyahu will speak. And it will be interesting to note or notice whether he has any comment, any further comment about Israel's position that this soldier Israel soldier, was taken into custody by Hamas. Hamas of course denying that, but perhaps the prime minister might even reveal what kind of evidence it may have as to why it is pointing the finger at Hamas.

BLITZER: Yes, it is true. The prime minister I assume would refer to the Israeli soldier. He will walk in, he will make his statement. I am told also, by the way, Fred, he is open to answering reporters' questions. Reporters are there. I assume he will also be accompanied by the defense minister of Israel and the army chief of staff who will be there as well. In the past few weeks that's what he's usually done when he has addressed the Israeli public in this kind of venue, shall we say.

I know he is emerging also from emergency meetings with his Israeli security cabinet. They've been meeting basically every day for several hours to review what's going on. So we will hear from the prime minister of Israel. Our correspondents, Fred, are standing by in Cairo. Reza Sayah is there, Sara Sidner is in southern Israel near the border. John Vause is in Gaza. So we will have full reaction to what we hear from the prime minister of Israel.

But his aides have told me that this will be a significant statement and a change, if you will, as far as Israeli ground troops are concerned in Gaza.

WHITFIELD: In fact, Reza Sayah in Cairo with us as well, Wolf. So Reza, from your vantage point, is there any anticipation or even hope as to what the prime minister would detail in this statement?

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the hope for a lot of people is that the prime minister is going to announce a de- escalation of the military strategy, perhaps withdraw the ground troops, and that announcement, if it happens, would perhaps set the stage for the truce talks, for a ceasefire that was of course supposed to take place yesterday, Friday morning, 8:00 a.m. local time, but of course it never happened because of the violence that flared up again.

I think a lot of people around the world are watching this conflict in Gaza, the bloodshed, and they want these two sides to stop the fighting, to come to Cairo, to sit down and talk together. That hasn't happened yet. In talking to Egyptian government officials, they're hopeful that it's going to happen. It is not clear what Egypt's role is going to be if indeed these truce talks are going to happen.

But according to officials, they're been actively talking to both sides. We know that according to Palestinian Authority leaders, they have a negotiating team coming here, they're on the way. It is not clear if they've arrived. But obviously if you're going to negotiate, you're going to need another side. The Israeli leaders have announced so far they're not prepared to come. Perhaps in his announcement many people are hoping the prime minister would suggest they're prepared to reconsider the truce talks with Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

WHITFIELD: So Reza, though, when the Egyptian authorities, including the president, learned that Israel was not sending a delegation, how was that received? Was there a feeling that OK, since the relationship is fairly good between Netanyahu an el-Sisi, that it's certainly not a slight, that there is instead confidence that this ceasefire could be built without Israel's direct involvement by way of a delegation, or was it felt like it was a slap?

SAYAH: I don't think the Egyptian authorities viewed it as a slight. They believe it had everything to do with the flare up of violence, specifically at the Rafah crossing yesterday. Obviously that ruined the ceasefire and the truce talks, and again, they basically had to reset.

And Egypt, like much of the world, once again waited to see if those truce talks and that ceasefire could be reestablished. And if indeed truce talks take place, I think it will be fascinating to see what role Egypt plays in these truce talks. Remember, the relationship between Cairo and Hamas has changed significantly. If you look and compare it to November, 2012, that of course is the last time when Hamas and the Palestinians fought against the Israelis. At that time you recall we were deep into the Arab spring, about a year and a half into the Arab spring, the president in Egypt, Mohammed Morsi, the former Muslim Brotherhood leader, many in Egypt, many across the Arab world were hoping that finally perhaps new leadership in these Arab countries would heed and listen to the call of the Arab people, the so-called Arab street. And one of those calls was for these Arab governments to support the Palestinians.

Of course, last year out went the Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohammed Morsi, the former president, in came Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, the current president, who quickly branded the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas a terrorist organization, accused Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood of a campaign to destabilize Egypt. And that's why relations between Cairo and Hamas, very much suspicious now. They don't trust one another. So it is not clear what role Egypt is going to play other than hosting the talks, if indeed they happen, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK. And again we're waiting for Prime Minister Netanyahu to emerge to take the podium. You're seeing live pictures right there of the room in which that statement will be made.

And Wolf, back to you in Jerusalem. Yesterday, President Obama made his comments, talking about Israel having the right to defend itself, yet at the same time how horrible it is that so many thousands of people -- and now we also are joined by Sara Sidner there as well, so Sara, I'll incorporate you in the conversation. But Wolf, the president also saying how horrible it is that so many hundreds, thousands of Palestinians have died. But can the U.S. have it both ways, shake the finger in one instance, at the same time also give a pat on the back?

BLITZER: Yes, according to Palestinian health officials, I think about 1,600 Palestinians have died and the U.N. says maybe 80 percent or so are civilians. The Israelis say they have killed several hundred Hamas militants in the course of this fighting.

The president was very firm in accepting Israel's version of who was responsible for breaking that 72 hour ceasefire that was supposed to go into effect yesterday morning, 8:00 a.m. local time. He blamed Hamas as the Israelis have blamed Hamas. He is also saying it was a nightmare to see the horrible pictures coming out of Gaza with all of those civilian casualties, although even he, the president, says Hamas has itself at least partially to blame because it puts its military operations, its weapons, its rocket launchers in heavily populated civilian areas.

He said no country would be able to accept hundreds of rockets coming into populated centers as Israel has had to deal with over the past four weeks. so the president basically said the kinds of things the Israelis wanted him to say in that statement yesterday.

What I am hearing, Fred, I want Sara Sidner to weigh in as we await the prime minister of Israel. He's about to make a major statement. Sara, I expected, this is what I've heard from Israeli military officials, they think they're pretty close to eliminating those Hamas tunnels that have gone from Gaza into Israel. They think they made a tremendous amount of progress on that front. They also think they have made a significant amount of progress in destroying a lot of Hamas' other military capabilities. I believe the prime minister will make those points in explaining why it is time for Israeli ground forces to start pulling out.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, we heard from the head of the military southern command who is in charge of the operation there in Gaza just a couple of days ago, and he had mentioned that they were coming very close to completing the mission, giving some kind of a signal that perhaps there was going to be a change on the ground there in Gaza. They didn't give specifics as to how much time.

There was talk from different people that it could be a few days, it could be a week, but not longer than that. So it will be interesting to see if we hear that very thing from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

I can also tell you, and we have been talking about this for some days now, that the Israeli public, when Israeli Jews were interviewed and were surveyed, up to 95 percent of them said we don't want a ceasefire. They were against a ceasefire. Why were they against a ceasefire? The resounding answer was they want to stop going through this every two to three years. They want to stop having this blow up into a war every two to three years. It happened in 2008, it happened in 2012 while I was here, and now it's happened again in 2014, this being the worst of it, more than 1,650 Palestinians dead there in Gaza. You have, you know, more than 50 soldiers killed, three civilians her in Israel. And the rockets keep coming, and the air strikes keep happening, and they want that to stop.

Ultimately, what they really wanted was for Hamas to be crushed because they didn't want to go through this anymore. That is a very difficult task. Any analyst you talk to, we even talked to a former head of Mossad who talked about how difficult that would be, saying basically that that could take years, not days, not weeks, not months, but years, and would require the Israelis to reoccupy Gaza, not something that Israel wants to do.

And so it will be interesting to see exactly how this ends. And I think the difficulty is finding what the end game is going to be. Too many people have died. There's so much destruction in Gaza. It is a humanitarian crisis. Something has to be done. How do you get out of this? It will be a very interesting thing to see, especially since the ceasefires simply have not worked. The longest one that went on was 12 hours, and even then, there were still rockets coming over, still operations on the ground there in Gaza by the Israeli military. So the ceasefires haven't really worked. And I think the world is watching and saying, OK, you have to find some kind of solution. We have to stop this bloodshed, Wolf.

BLITZER: Sara Sidner, stand by. Fred, you can see we're still waiting for the prime minister of Israel. One of the lines I expect he will probably make is quiet will be met with quiet. If Hamas rockets and missiles stop coming into Israel, Israel will stop going after those rockets and missiles and other Hamas targets. This is presumably a significant statement we're going to hear from the prime minister as far as Israel's strategy is concerned. We're still waiting for him to go to the microphone.

WHITFIELD: All right, to all of you, thanks so much. We're going to take a short break. When we come back, perhaps that's when Netanyahu will be taking to the microphone. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Supporters of Gaza are making their voices heard. In the nation's capital today they're flocking to the White House for a rally and march, and CNN's Erin McPike is in Lafayette Square just across from the White House. While, actually tou're on the White House lawn, but the protest is happening in Lafayette Square, I guess. What's happening right now?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fred. You're seeing live pictures of that rally right now. Now, there are demonstrations that go on every single day outside the White House, but this one is much more emotionally charged and heated and rowdier than we generally see. I can also tell you competing demonstrations have broken out. There's a small blocked off area where there's some Israel supporters, and actually supporters of Gaza are around that fence area, yelling "Gaza" at them. We saw some of that earlier today. I think you're seeing live pictures of that there as well.

Now, I can tell you what's happening in the bigger part of the protest that's in the middle of Lafayette Park right now. There's a program, there are a number of speakers, and that is pretty intense, too. One of those speakers led a chant essentially charging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of genocide.

After that program wraps up, all of these protesters are going to go through a march of Washington, D.C. where they intend to stop at Caterpillar's Washington, D.C. offices. According to brochures that they are handing out, they are saying that after Israeli tanks enter Gaza, there are these Caterpillar bulldozers that are sent in to flatten homes in Gaza.

Then after they stop there, they're going to "The Washington Post" because they say that the American media has been biased in favor of Israel and "The Washington Post" is the worst of that. Then they're coming back to the White House, and they have these symbolic coffins that are draped in the Palestinian flag where they're going to be putting the coffins at all these stops and drop more of them here in front of the White House, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK, so Erin, is there a response coming from the White House? As you said, the White House is very accustomed to protests taking place in Lafayette Square all the time, every day, every weekend. But this one is sizable. So is there a response coming from the White House?

MCPIKE: Not just yet on this particular protest. Obviously Secret Service is monitoring the situation. But President Obama has been golfing today and then heading to Camp David later today. But we have been hearing a lot from the White House. Obviously just yesterday President Obama had a press conference, and I wanted to play for you a little bit of what he said in terms of why a ceasefire in Gaza has been difficult to achieve. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The point is that when they sign on to a ceasefire, they're claiming to speak for the Palestinian factions. If they don't have control of them, and just moments after a ceasefire is signed, you have Israeli soldiers being killed and captured, then it's hard for the Israelis to feel confident that a ceasefire can actually be honored.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: Now again, much of this protest is protesting the United States and the tax dollars that the U.S. is sending in support of Israel, saying they're supporting essentially a massacre of the people in Gaza. But also there is this counter-protest that's right in front --

WHITFIELD: I'm sorry to interrupt you. Erin McPike, thanks so much from the White House.

Now Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (via translator): The defense operation continues. Our army continues to act full scale in order to accomplish what it was supposed to accomplish to bring back the quiet peace and calm to Israel and to severely harm the terrorist targets.

At the same time our forces are accomplishing work on the offensive tunnels. Up until now, tens of tunnels were destroyed. We managed to hurt severely the strategic system that Hamas actually built for many years. The tunnels that were built by Hamas enabled it to kidnap and abduct a lot of citizens and our soldiers in the course of simultaneous attacks in a number of tunnels which were dug under our territory.

Up until now the Israeli army achieved a lot of success. We actually caught and destroyed thousands of terrorist targets, the rockets, missiles, the factories which produce the rockets and missiles and many hundreds of terrorists. Our soldiers display heroism and bravery, which was characteristic of the previous wars in which Israel was engaged and our most dangerous operations.

There is a difficult operation, a dangerous operation in the built terrain. We actually fight terrorists, the civilian population, and I am very proud of our soldiers and officers who act in the most wonderful and marveled way, and ready to accomplish the goals with a sense of mission.

Together, with the families of the fallen soldiers, I send my condolences to them and condolences of the people of Israel. They have sacrificed the most precious lives of their family members who felt in order to defend our homes, our country, and each one of them deserves the praise. I speak to the families, and I understand their suffering.

I would like to strengthen and encourage the family of Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin who was abducted yesterday. I understand their feelings. Their words were very touching. I will speak to them later tonight.

The state of Israel will continue doing everything in order to bring our kidnapped soldiers home. Citizens of Israel, the strength and resilience that you show enables all of us to conduct this operation in a very calm and calculated way. I thank you for your resilience and for your unity, especially in the difficult times.

The strong cooperation between the minister of defense and the chief of staff, our cooperation is strong and it enables us to plan in a thorough way all of the operations and to implement them. In the beginning of the operation, we promised citizens of Israel to bring back calm and order, and we'll continue to operate until this goal will be reached, no matter how much time it will take and how much force it will take.

The strong support by United States and Europe of our need to diffuse terrorists and disarm terrorists is very important for the state Israel. It strengthens our demand to link the restoration and rebuilding of the Gaza Strip with the disarmament.

I would like to stress once more, we have nothing against the peaceful citizens of Gaza. Quite to the contrary, we are very sorry for every and each citizen that was hurt or killed during this operation. We encourage the international organizations, international system, to help and support the rebuilding of Gaza together with the disarmament of the terrorists in Gaza.

Maybe some people will be surprised. We are not going to be surprised. With the strong relations that we have with other countries in our region, by the end of the operation, by the end of the fighting it will open up for us new opportunities. This time Hamas is interested that the residents of Gaza will be killed and hurt, thinking that the world will blame Israel for their suffering. Many in the world understand what is Hamas, the organization which together with Qatar promised the American secretary of state, Mr. Kerry, and the secretary-general of the U.N. Ban Ki-moon ceasefire and actually deceived both of them.

I embrace the strong words by the U.S. president, Mr. Obama and Secretary of State Kerry, who placed the responsibility for breaking the ceasefire upon the Hamas, with the words of Mr. President Obama yesterday of the Israelis right to destroy missiles and tunnels. We also heard important leaders in the world.

Fortunately there are other voices, different voice, and to those people I say that terror does not have borders, terrorism does not have borders. Today it threatened Israel. Tomorrow it will threaten your country. We do what we are required to in order to halt this aggression by the terrorist organization against our citizens, our soldiers. What will you do? Would you support Israel? Will you stand together with Israel, a democratic and ethical state, which is trying to defend citizens, or do you stand idle in the face of these murderous terrorist organizations which kills our people and inflicts cruelty upon its own citizens?

Citizens of Israel, our army continues to work toward the completion of this operation. After the completion of the destruction of the tunnels, we will regroup according to our security needs and only according to our security needs, while our overall goal is to restore calm and peace for you, citizens of Israel.

BLITZER: So there he is, the prime minister of Israel making a statement, saying that once the tunnels are destroyed, he says Israel will begin the process of redeploying, presumably begin the process of removing the ground forces who have gone into Gaza. And the defense minister, by the way, Moshe Ya'alon of Israel is now speaking. But a significant statement from the prime minister, saying that he believes most of the operation, military operation against those tunnels, against a lot of the missiles, missile launchers, rockets, have been successful. He says Israel will complete the operation. And then he expressed hope that Gaza, the Palestinians in Gaza will be able to get international support to rebuild the Gaza Strip right there. He also praised President Obama for the strong expressions of support that the president made yesterday. I don't know if we want to listen now to the defense minister. Let's listen a little bit. This is the defense minister of Israel Moshe Ya'alon.

MOSHE YA'ALON, ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER (via translator): A very important job done by our soldiers and officers. This was a very difficult and complicated operation. We used excellent intelligence that we have. It is important to praise those people who brought this intelligence.

During this work, operation against the tunnels, many of our excellent soldiers and officers were killed in order to bring peace to the settlements, the towns near the Gaza border. We continue destroying different offensive capabilities of the Hamas organization, especially through the actions of our air force. Hamas is paying a very heavy price.

We act in a most resolute way in order to destroy the tunnels, kill the terrorists, and destroy their capability of missiles and rockets. Yesterday our army destroyed a campus of Islamic university in Gaza where under the guise of activities they actually developed explosive devices. We continue hurting Hamas. We will not compromise the security of Israeli people. This operation continues for a long time. Hamas suffers and has actually created this problem for themselves.

We will continue, and we are supported by you, citizens of Israel, and they, the leaders of Hamas, will know that we will continue acting against those goals until the goal will be accomplished. I am very pleased with the operation by the soldiers and officers who are defending the Israeli citizens. Our soldiers and officers, members of the general security service, male and female soldiers, men and women, people from the reserves, people in active service, all of them display strength and resilience and do excellent job.

We understand the dangers and the soldiers understand the very missions that they have. Therefore, we will not desist until the peace and calm are restored for citizens of Israel. Hamas is a murderous terrorist organization which lies time and again, uses its citizens as human shields. We are very sorry about average citizens that was killed, but Hamas is actually a terrorist state which shoots Israeli targets such as schools and hospitals. The places where Hamas is are places of terrorism, and we destroy those places without any compromise.

This operation is conducted under leadership of the prime minister who sees the whole picture, including the international picture. It is important that you, citizens of Israel, will know that we do all that is possible in order to bring peace and calm to you. It is very important to behave now in a calm way and in a responsible way in order to accomplish our goals.

QUESTION: Mr. Prime Minster, the Goldin family spoke to the press and explained that they think that the army is withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, thus abandoning the soldiers.

NETANYAHU: I understand them, but I am not saying what they're going to do, when they're going to finish these operations. We do not have any obligation apart from our obligation to the security of the people of Israel. It is our joint decision, my decision as minister of defense, and chief of staff, we will regroup and arrange our forces in such a way that will enable us to defend our country. We will continue this operation until the goal will be achieved. And all that we are doing will be done in accordance with this goal.

I will speak to Goldin family later tonight, and I think that I understand, personally understand their suffering. We would like to share with them all that we know.

QUESTION: This is a question to the prime minister and the defense minister. Is Qatar directly engaged in financing the terrorism in strip of Gaza, and are there Iranian forces in Gaza which support and help Hamas launching missiles against Israel?

NATANYAHU: You ask me or minister of defense?

QUESTION: Both of you.

NETANYAHU: Qatar is the main funder of Hamas and also head of the Hamas is in Qatar. We expect that they will use their influence upon -- for example, during the last ceasefire, it looked like they did just that. By the way, according to those obligations, we were supposed to continue destroying the tunnels. We did not agree without any ceasefire to stop those activities. So Qatar actually probably deceived us or they did not achieve what they told that they achieved. They brought an answer that was not satisfactory. It funds, it helps, and it supports Hamas and does not exert the necessary pressure on Hamas which the United States demanding from it to exert.

About Iran, some of the missiles, other projectiles, surface-to-air missiles were actually manufactured in Iran. This is proof that Iranians are in the Gaza Strip.

QUESTION: Prime minister, the impression is that this part of the operation was accomplished. Maybe the operation on the whole is being continued, but we are getting closer to the completion of this operation. What do you say at that point to the residents of this council that there will be no more terrorists, there will be no more missiles?

NETANYAHU: Well, I can tell you one thing. They can actually develop in different directions, and we actually keep all opportunities open. The very significant work was done. The tunnels were significantly harmed by our soldiers, and our soldiers acted heroically. I do not have any other word to describe it. The activities right now, when we hear from the army that this mission was accomplished, then we will decide.

There's another side to this, our defensive capabilities which we are currently developing, and I don't think we should go deep into this issue, but we are strengthening our defensive capabilities on all Israeli borders. For example, the wall that I initiated, we are the first country in the world that understands that we should act against other ways of infiltrating, and we will invest necessary resources and our intellect. These are the people who are actually geniuses and who would apply themselves to resolving this issue. We will not -- we are not going to accept the continuation of fire. We act in order to bring peace and calmness to our citizens.

Maybe Hamas will understand that, maybe it will not. So no matter how much time, it will come, but you should understand that Hamas is paying an extremely heavy price.

I think that there is very important international constellation right now, especially in our region, which actually enables us to create some new reality. And I am interested to reach both of these operations, militarily or politically. Of course I prefer to reach those goals in a political way, but if it is not possible, we will employ all the means that we have in our disposal.

QUESTION: Prime Minister, what is your answer to local government leaders, mayors, ministers in your cabinet, which say that the mission was not accomplished and that the Gaza Strip should be conquered.

NETANYAHU: First of all, all options are fairly on the table. Everything is open in order to bring peace and calm to the citizens of Israel, and we are acting in this way in very serious manner, a very responsible manner.

As prime minister of Israel, I bear the main responsibility for all the decisions taken by the government and for these decisions socially. And I always choose to review all the risks and all the opportunities, and that is what I do, together with the minister of defense. That is how we advance.

I am not reckless. I do not behave in a reckless way, especially when the lives of our soldiers and citizens are at stake. I really see the life of every soldier in front of me. But in order to defend you, your families, your children, each one of you, I take decisions that in my view are necessary in a very responsible way. I am not just talking. I take those decisions in a very responsible way together with chief of staff, together with minister of defense, in order to secure the peace and calmness for the people of Israel, as I already told you. All the options are on the table.

BLITZER: All right, so there you hear the prime minister of Israel making a very forceful statement, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the Israeli military, in his words, has made very, very significant progress in destroying most of those tunnels, those Hamas tunnels going from Gaza into Israel. He says they've destroyed hundreds of those Hamas rockets and missiles, the launchers that have gone into Israel.

He says that there will be a new phase in this military operation once the current phase is completed. He didn't want to spell out when that would be, but you did hear the defense minister Moshe Ya'alon also echo what the prime minister says, that they think they are well on their way. They say that Hamas has suffered significantly in the course of these four weeks of this war, and that they will -- this will result one way or another in a peaceful environment for the citizens of Israel.

I want to bring in Reza Sayah, who was listening carefully to what the prime minister of Israel was saying. He's joining us from Cairo, where the Egyptian government is getting ready to receive a Palestinian delegation that was coming there to try to achieve some sort of ceasefire. Reza, you listened carefully to Prime Minister Netanyahu, and you heard him repeatedly criticize, blast Qatar, which has a very close relationship with Hamas, funding Hamas, but he also was reaching out to what he clearly saw as other Arab leaders in the region who have a more distant relationship with Hamas.

SAYAH: Yes, I think when you look at the airport world and the landscape, Qatar is the only Arab nation that's backing Hamas at this point. Otherwise, Hamas is very much isolated. You have Saudi Arabia, the Egyptian government, the United Arab Emirates, they seem to be backing off the support from Hamas. Of course, here in Egypt that has a lot to do with change in leadership. A couple of years ago, the last time these two sides fought, November, 2012, it was the Muslim Brotherhood leader, Mohammed Morsi, as president. Of course he was ousted by the current president, General Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, which considerably changed the dynamics.

But I think a lot of people here in Egypt, maybe around the world, they were disappointed in this speech because they didn't want to hear statistics. They wanted to hear prospects of the reviving of talks, of the ceasefire talks, the ceasefire proposal. That didn't happen. Obviously that's going to disappoint a lot of people who want to see an end to the bloodshed.

And that aside, I think it is easy to guess what the reaction from the Arab public is going to be to this speech, and it's important to distinguish the Arab public, the so-called Arab street, and the Arab governments. A lot of people on the Arab street are going to view this speech as Israeli propaganda that's designed to distort the reality on the ground and push forward the Israeli narrative. And that narrative is that Hamas is a dangerous terrorist organization, that Israel is doing all it can to protect its citizens and it has to take these sort of measures to protect its citizenry.

Obviously that's a narrative the Arab street completely rejects. They point to the staggers death toll in the last particular conflict, more than 1,600 people killed in Gaza, many of these civilians. They point to the disparity in the death toll between the Palestinians and the Israeli soldiers, and the three Israeli civilians, to point to Israel as being the aggressor.

And I can tell you there's a couple of comments that are going to outrage the Arab street as well. I recall one time Prime Minister Netanyahu described the operation as calculated, the military operation as calculated. And I know, Wolf, that many in the Arab street are going to be wondering if in Mr. Netanyahu's calculation was this high death toll. But the bottom line, no talk of the ceasefire talks, the truce talks resuming in Cairo. And I think that's going to disappoint a lot of people who were hoping these two sides stopped their fighting and get here to Cairo to hammer out some lasting truce.

BLITZER: Clearly the Israelis, at least for now, Reza, you're absolutely right, the prime minister making no mention of going into a ceasefire, saying that Hamas was responsible for the breaking of yesterday's proposed 72 hour ceasefire. And he did go out of his way to praise President Obama for the statement made at the White House yesterday, basically supporting Israel's stance on who is responsible for the rupture of that ceasefire.

Sara Sidner is in southern Israel not far from the Gaza border. What's it like there today? Are more rockets, more missiles still coming in, sirens still going off, Sara?

SIDNER: Yes. Actually just as Prime Minister Netanyahu was speaking about getting closer to the completion of this operation and having destroyed so many tunnels, we heard the boom of artillery fire going from Israel into Gaza. There have also been more than 65 rockets throughout the day that have come over into Israel today.

But certainly the fighting hasn't stopped completely, nor did they offer that up, nor did they say there was going to be a ceasefire. But it did sound like, and Wolf, you mentioned this also, that from both Moshe Ya'alon, who is defense minister, and Prime Minister Netanyahu, that it sounds as if they're getting very close and that we're going to see some action, some backing off, if you will, of these very strong fighting that we have been seeing both from the air and the ground, and those ground operations also trying to get rid of the tunnels, because they're saying it is almost complete, hearing that from both the defense minister and the prime minister.

There is definitely an interesting dichotomy here, because you'll hear the prime minister and defense minister talking to the citizens of Israel, saying, look, this is not as though we are leaving something undone. We are going about this in a calculated way. We will get the job done. But they also know the international community is watching, and there has been a great deal of condemnation for the numbers of people, citizens in particular, that have been killed in Gaza. We are talking about more than 1,650 people killed, and the United Nations says many of those are citizens, regular citizens trying to get by in their lives.

Also the destruction there. You heard the prime minister talking about rebuilding, that they would let international organizations that would need to be able to go in and help Gaza rebuild, but of course not giving Hamas a chance to go out and get more or build more weaponry, but to build for the people of Gaza.

So hearing from them, it does sound like, Wolf, and correct me if I'm wrong here, that there's going to be a change in this operation. It sounds like it is going to be, as the prime minister, put it regrouping. When that happens? They said, well, we have to ask the army. The army will tell us when the mission is complete and then we'll take action. Wolf?

BLITZER: You're absolutely right, Sara. It looks like about -- even though the prime minister didn't formally say so, it's looks like a major change in Israeli strategy. Right now they're going to start removing some of the ground forces because they think destruction of the tunnels near complete and the destruction of a lot of those missiles and rockets near complete as well. They also -- he is also making clear if there's quiet coming from Gaza, there will be quiet going into Gaza from Israel.

I want you and everyone else to stand by. We're going to continue our breaking news coverage right after this.

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Following a very lengthy statement coming from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who said that his forces have accomplished work on the Hamas tunnels, I want to bring in Erin McPike who is at the White House, and CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. To you first, Erin, is the White House reacting at all to the prime minister saying that it has severely hurt strategic systems of Hamas and what it has built, and that its military is now regrouping.

MCPIKE: Fred, we're still awaiting reaction from the White House on Benjamin Netanyahu's statement just now. However, we did hear from President Obama just yesterday. He says he is in constant consultation with Netanyahu. But of course this has gotten tense. We've heard from Israeli officials, also the Israeli media, they're criticizing John Kerry for not doing enough even though he has been on the phone with people from the region day-in and day-out since this has began. But essentially we're hearing from the Israeli press that they think that some of the Obama administration is being naive in trying to force this truce. There was an AP report that came out just this morning in which essentially Netanyahu has said to the Obama administration don't second guess me on what I am doing with Hamas, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, and Colonel Francona, what does it mean when the prime minister says the military is regrouping?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That means they're going to change their strategy. From what I gather from the prime minister's words, it looks like they're probably going to be shifting from concentrated ground operations, pulling back a little bit, and continuing the air strikes, the drone strikes, and the artillery and pulling their troops out. They've accomplished I guess what they thought they were doing with the tunnels. They have destroyed all the tunnels they have been able to find. If they can't find any more, there's no reason to have all those engineers and ground forces in there if they're not moving further into Gaza and try and occupy some of that territory. So it makes sent to pull back.

I thought it was very important that he made the point he was going to be in touch with Lieutenant Goldin's family because when you start pulling your ground forces out and you still have someone in captivity there, you could be accused of breaking faith with your troops, abandoning one of your soldiers who is missing in action. He was careful to make the point he was not doing that and that they're going to keep up the pressure. I did not hear any indication that they are going to unilaterally have a ceasefire and stop their operations, so they need to continue what they're doing.

WHITFIELD: A very obvious absence of any discussion about ceasefire. But you did of course underscore Netanyahu saying he would talk to the Goldin family later on this evening. Colonel Rick Francona, Erin McPike at the White House, thanks so much. And to our Wolf Blitzer as well as Reza Sayah and Sara Sidner also in the field, appreciate all of that from you.

I am Fredricka Whitfield. Much more from the CNN Newsroom, which continues right after this with Poppy Harlow and John Vause.

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