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Crises in the Military Operations; Can Cease-fire Last Amid Gaza Tensions?; Second U.S. Ebola Patient Due in Atlanta Soon; German Military: Afghanistan Attack Kills at Least 1 ISAF Soldier, Wounds 15

Aired August 05, 2014 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: That's right, unfortunately there's a lot going on. Have a great day. NEWSROOM starts now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO (voice-over): Happening now in the NEWSROOM, holding fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both Israel and Hamas agreeing to an Egyptian plan for a 72-hour cease-fire.

COSTELLO: As Israeli soldiers withdraw from Gaza, U.S. relations in laser focus after words like "indefensible," "flagrant violation," "unacceptable," "shameful." Personalities clashing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Indefensible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flagrant violation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unacceptable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shameful.

COSTELLO: Personalities clashing --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are tensions.

COSTELLO: -- as Israel's prime minister tells Obama to never second- guess him again.

And hours away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Today has been a good day.

COSTELLO: American missionary Nancy Writebol arriving on U.S. soil.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR, OUTFRONT: The second person ever in history with Ebola to be brought on purpose to American soil.

COSTELLO: New details and new warnings this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is not the last time we're going to see this.

COSTELLO: How did they get Ebola in the first place and will the virus reach America. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It isn't a question of if anymore, it's only a

matter of when.

COSTELLO: Let's talk live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: And good morning, I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me.

And we do begin with breaking news out of England this morning, where officials say an incoming passenger plane was escorted to Manchester Airport by a Royal Air Force jet. Police say the pilot had information of a possible suspicious device on board that plane. In the end, the plane landed safely. Now officials don't know how serious the threat is at this time. Of course we'll continue to monitor the story and give you updates as we get them.

Also lots going on in the Middle East this morning, where the sound of rockets and shelling has been put on pause. After nearly a month of fighting, Israel and Hamas have both agreed to a 72-hour cease-fire brokered by the Egyptian government. Israel withdrawing all ground forces from the Gaza Strip, in fact, this is what the Gaza Strip looks like right now.

The aftermath of a war zone, buildings completely crushed by incoming fire. People struggling to walk down the streets littered with concrete and rubble. The satellite images show the force of the fighting. On the left you can see what this northern Gaza town looked like in early July when the conflict began. On the right, well, that's now what's left, buildings leveled to the ground.

In the past month, more than 40,000 homes in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, causing more than $6 billion in damages. Today's truce marks the seventh cease-fire in three weeks. The shortest we've seen so far lasted only minutes so Israel is keeping forces along the Gaza border just in case. But they have pledged to send a delegation to Cairo to discuss a long-term solution if that cease-fire holds.

We're following the story like only CNN can, with a team of experts around the world. We begin, though, with Anderson Cooper, he's live near the Israel-Gaza border.

Hi, Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, AC 360: Hey, Carol. It is 4:00 here in the afternoon in Israel, eight hours into this cease-fire, which seems to be holding. I'm in Ashkelon, which is a few miles north of the Gaza border. The scene here is very calm. There's people actually going out to the beach today, people strolling around, people walking around without the fear of sirens going off, without the fear of rockets heading toward this town from Gaza.

A very different scene than has been here for the last almost four weeks or so of this conflict. As you said, Israel is planning to send a delegation to Cairo to engage in talks. This is a 72-hour cease- fire thus far. What makes it different this time, Israel has said they have ceased all operations against tunnels. They say they have destroyed some 32 tunnels in all but that they have ceased all military operations, they brought their troops, they say, to the Israeli side of the border where they are maintaining what they call a defensive position.

For any longer-term solution it's going to take more than 72 hours to negotiate, assuming this cease-fire holds, they're going to first negotiate to try to extend it for a longer period of time and then we'll see what happens if real talks and real progress can be made. The scene is very different, as you point out, Carol, in Gaza City and throughout the Gaza Strip, where people are able to finally get outside, get outside of those U.N. shelters that they've been in, leave their homes, if they still have homes, try to walk around, see their friends, see their relatives, see their neighbors. They're pulling bodies out of the rubble. The death toll there expected to rise.

Our Karl Penhaul filed this report a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is Hill Street. It's a neighborhood in eastern Gaza. Today because of the cease-fire, because right now it is holding, people are coming back to see what is left. This is the answer that they have. This is what is left. Some of them thought they were going to come home today, even for a few hours. They have no home to come home to.

This building here we're told by residents was a two-story building. The one behind a five-story building and over there behind me, some young men still sifting through the rubble of what was their three- story home. I've been watching them now for the last 20 minutes. The only thing that they've been able to pull out of that is a few strips of rag. The only entire piece of clothing that I saw them bring out was a baby's top.

They're putting those in plastic bags and now they're taking them away to where they've been sleeping out either with extended family or in U.N. refugee -- in U.N. shelters for the displaced, but this really is the story. It is, yes, the cease-fire, the end of war, that is something that the Palestinians have been saying. They don't want war, of course they want peace but not only is it a question of far into the future, what will those talks in Cairo produce in terms of better living conditions for the Palestinian people.

That is one of Hamas' and other militant groups key demands but also in the much shorter term, what will become of their lives, who will help them rebuild their homes, where are they going to live. Meanwhile it is, as the United Nations has already pointed out, the start of the humanitarian crisis, not the end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COOPER: It is very much the start of that crisis. There's a lot of work to be done in Gaza, a lot of work to be done around negotiating tables, if that really continues.

Carol, we'll continue to monitor the cease-fire here on the Israeli side of the border as well as in Gaza -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. Anderson Cooper reporting live for us this morning.

Tonight on CNN, be sure to check out a special "AC 360" live from Jerusalem, that's at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

In the meantime, the United Nations is urging both sides to begin peace talks as soon as possible. A Palestinian delegation is already in Cairo, Egypt, and Israel, as I told you, says it will send representatives only if that truce holds. So let's talk more about that with CNN's Reza Sayah, he's live in Cairo. Is there any sense of optimism there?

REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think there is. I mean, we've seen this scenario before over the past several weeks, but you get the sense that this time both sides feel that there's something different and both sides are taking this seriously. It's a little after 4:00 p.m. local time here in Cairo. We're still waiting on the Israeli delegations to arrive. They've made it clear that that's their plan but they just want to make sure that this cease-fire holds.

The Palestinian delegation is already here. This is the same delegation that arrived over the weekend and crafted the cease-fire proposal, along with Egyptian government officials, Egypt in turn passed along the proposal to Israel yesterday, and eventually Israel said yes, presumably if this cease-fire holds, the Israelis will come here to Cairo and meet face-to-face with the Palestinians.

Again, we've seen the scenario before, but you get the sense that both sides feel that this time it's for real. Once they get together, once they sit across from the table, they'll be laying out their demands, demands that they've never backed off from, and that's been a big problem. Of course, Israel's demands, they want Hamas to stop firing their rockets. They want to demilitarize Gaza, disarm Hamas. Hamas has said that's a non-starter, that will never happen.

Hamas in turn wants Israel to lift the economic blockade, open the cross-borders and they also say they want a semblance of a dignified life. That hasn't happened for a long time. All of that, Carol, is going to be on the table, if and when these two sides meet. Again, a lot of hope around the world that this time it's going to happen.

COSTELLO: And I would assume that Hamas is not going to be at the table.

SAYAH: Hamas is going to be at the table. They've sent representatives with the delegation that arrived here over the weekend, and another three-member delegation came from Gaza today. So indeed Hamas is at the table, and it's safe to say that these talks wouldn't go forward if Hamas, the fighting force in Gaza, wasn't at the table, and that's going to be interesting to see. Obviously Israel has labeled Hamas a terrorist organization, but these

talks moving forward with Hamas on one side part of the Palestinian delegation, Israel on the other.

COSTELLO: Wish I could be a fly on the wall. Reza Sayah reporting live from Cairo, Egypt, this morning.

The question for many after weeks of tense negotiations and dashed hopes, will this cease-fire hold, because those peace talks can't take place unless this cease-fire holds, and Israel takes a seat at the table.

CNN chief national correspondent Jim Sciutto joins me now.

Good morning, Jim. So, so far so good, right?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, so far so good. I think the most encouraging sign is that Israel has withdrawn its forces from Gaza. There have been some talk early on that some forces would remain inside the Gaza Strip, though outside the urban areas, but by moving back, that's a sign from the Israeli side of seriousness about these longer terms. Cease-fire talks taking place in Cairo.

And I think in terms of the Israeli public, Israeli can't claim that it has struck a severe blow against Hamas wanting to destroying as Anderson described some 30 tunnels but also severe blow in retaliation for the many rocket attacks coming out of Gaza. And you'll remember just looking three weeks back. The abduction of those three Israeli teenagers and in their murder in the West Bank.

So, you know, about going forward, the real question is, can each side clme to their public that that they've accomplished something here. From the Israeli side, they can claim that. From the Palestinian side, from the Hamas side in the grim arithmetic. Of killed. They that they killed dozens of Israeli soldiers They did. The question is, going forward, though, because form the Hamas side those positions really about economic desperation in the Gaza Strip.

You know, the blockade that has sapped the Gaza Strip of any business, any trip. Hamas having trouble paying the salaries of his public workers which is really how it kind of keeps things running there.

So the question is going forward, can Hamas survive this, what was very deadly conflict? And can they claim that they something of a victory here. And, you know, that's an open question.

At the end of the day, Carol, it might just be exhaustion with this conflict, the death toll on both sides, brings more serious talks about a longer-terms troops.

COSTELLO: All right, Jim Sciutto, reporting live for us this morning. Thank you.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the second American Ebola patient now in the United States. On her way to receive special care in Atlanta. CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta is following her journey. He'll have latest

after the break.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Carol, we think that she's going to be coming to the hospital here right behind me. Exactly what that journey consist of and how she's doing. Lots of details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

COSTELLO: A terrible scenario unfolded in Afghanistan in Kabul City. We understand terrorists dressed in Afghan military uniforms opened fire an on a British Military Academy and 14 people were wounded and one person was killed. We believe that person was a German soldier who was part of the NATO security force.

Jim Sciutto is live in Washington to tell us a little more about this breaking news.

Jim, what more can you tell us?

Jim Sciutto is not quite ready but he's reading in on this again, terrorists dressed in afghan military uniforms opened fire on a group of soldiers at a British Military Academy in Kabul city. 14 people wounded, one ISAF soldier killed, we believe it was a German soldier. We don't know if any Americans were involved in this. Jim Sciutto is checking in on this and will join us as soon as he's ready.

Also in the news this morning, growing fears about Ebola. One patient remains in isolation in a New York City hospital. Doctors are testing him for Ebola.

Also missionary Nancy Writebol is now on a plane, that airplane landed in Maine for inspection just about an hour ago. That plane will then fly on to Dobbins Air Reserve Base outside of Atlanta. You're actually looking at the live picture out Dobbins. From there she'll be taken to Emory University Hospital.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at Emory, where he's on faculty and David McKenzie is in Sierra Leone, West Africa, the epicenter of this outbreak.

I want to start with you, Sanjay, and ask you about the situation unfolding in New York City. Lot of people are wondering why it's taking so long for doctors to determine if the patient has Ebola.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they take the blood and got to send this blood out to a special lab that tests for Ebola. So, I think it's a question of processing the blood, getting it to the lab and getting the results back. Usually, it's 24 to 48 hours.

Sometimes interestingly enough, Carol, it can happen even faster when you're in the field, when we were in Guinea, for example, they could get results back pretty fast, but I think that's just sort of standard process to confirm those results, Carol.

COSTELLO: Is it likely this patient here at Sinai Hospital has Ebola? He did visit West Africa.

GUPTA: We're hearing that it's not likely that he has Ebola, just the opposite. In fact, because certainly someone who visited that part of the world comes home, has fever and abdominal pain, it raises a couple of flags.

But keep in mind, most of the people who are walking around West Africa don't have Ebola. It's the people who are coming in contact with other Ebola patients who are very sick that are most at risk and that is why it's typically health care workers, family members, people who attend public funerals where there is a laying on of hands in many places where the deaths are taking place.

So, the average person walking around shouldn't really be at risk but I think out of an abundance of caution and given his history, he's being tested.

COSTELLO: Sanjay, I hear what you're saying but there is a certain amount of fear here in the United States. So, you say it's unlikely that this patient in Sinai is infected with Ebola. We still hear talk about an Ebola outbreak. And I'll give you an example.

Congressman Todd Rokita, he suggested kids coming over the border from Mexico could be infected with Ebola. Listen to what he said to WIBC radio.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

REP. TODD ROKITA (R), INDIANA: We did that, Dr. Buschon was helpful, and I'm not sure if it's made the final draft of the letter or not, I think it did. To your point of the medical aspects of this, he said, look, we need to know just from a public health standpoint, with Ebola circulating and everything else, that's my addition to it, not necessarily his. But he said, we need to know the condition of these kids as well.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

COSTELLO: OK, Sanjay, again, is it possible for these kids coming over the border from Mexico to have Ebola?

GUPTA: You know, this reminds me of one of the quotes where it says the virus is not nearly as dangerous as the misinformation circulating around the virus. I think what you just showed there is an example of that.

Look, Ebola is not in this part of the world. It's not in Mexico. The two patients we've been talking about, Dr. Kent Brantly and Ms. Writebol when she arrives here, will be the first two patients really in this part of the world to have Ebola. So, it isn't Mexico as a starting point.

Second of all, people who have Ebola and who might actually be shedding the virus or be infectious in some way are usually pretty sick. They're not crossing borders, for example. So, you know, look, I've heard this before. I -- I'm not exactly sure what's generating it, but I think we have to be careful putting that out there.

COSTELLO: Right, because there is a certain amount of fear that patients with Ebola shouldn't even be treated in American hospitals, like at Emory University. How much of a risk is there for the people of Atlanta, for example?

GUPTA: I think the risk to the people in Atlanta is small. To be fair, health care workers who were taking care of patients with Ebola are at the greatest risk. You have close contact with a sick person. If some of their infected body fluid were to get on you, that could potentially be a risk. That's why you see them wearing those so- called space suits that are designed to just cover every square inch of their skin so they can't get a contamination that way.

But there is a risk. That's why health care workers in West Africa have become ill with this and that's why you see extra ordinary precautions taken place at Emory in order to take care of the patients.

But look, I'm right outside the hospital, a lot of people are right outside the hospital. There is a patient with Ebola in that building mind me yet we're standing here and feeling very much safe. We're not at risk from that patient here.

COSTELLO: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much. Now, let's head to Sierra Leone, the epicenter of this virus.

David McKenzie is there. So, David, what is being done there to contain Ebola?

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what they're doing is trying to contain this outbreak, Carol, but Doctors Without Borders which runs this large facility in the eastern part of the country say that the epidemic is out of control. There might be a patient in the U.S., but this is where the story is, in terms of human impact.

There are perhaps thousands of people affected by this Ebola virus, and many of them aren't being found by medical professionals. They're in here, they've doubled the capacity in the last two weeks, and already it's full, and they're doing everything they can to try to stamp out this epidemic, but they say that, at this point, the level of effort isn't enough to fix this very dangerous situation -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right, David McKenzie, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so both of you.

Remember, you can watch "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." every Saturday afternoon at 4:30 Eastern and Sunday mornings at 7:30 Eastern, right here on CNN.

Now back to the breaking news actually, I told you what was happening and unfolding in Afghanistan, a serious situation there. A group of terrorists dressed up in Afghan army uniforms opened fire on a NATO security force. One German soldier was killed, 14 others injured.

Jim Sciutto has been digging into this story and he's found out more.

What can you tell us, Jim?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Carol, thanks. When you came to me before, I was speaking on the phone to the Pentagon.

Let me tell you what we know now. So, first of all, this took place in Afghan National Security Forces, ANSF, facility, just outside of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. It's called Camp Qargha. I'm told that there were multiple casualties, no deaths confirmed at this point but a serious incident there involving soldiers, attackers rather dressed up as Afghan soldiers.

And, Carol, as you know, there have been a number of incidents like this over recent years where attackers or even sometimes members of the Afghan security forces, whether soldiers or police officers, turn their guns on coalition forces, including Americans. There have been a number of deaths and this has been an increasing problem inside the occupation there for coalition forces.

We don't know yet at this point, it sounds more like at this point these were attackers dressed up as members of the military, as opposed to actual members of the military, who turn their guns, but still a very serious threat inside those security forces, which as you know Americans, coalition forces, have been training at great cost, great effort, great risk, for a number of years now.

COSTELLO: I also have Tom Fuentes on the phone. He's former FBI director and our security analyst.

And, Tom, if what Jim said is true, these were a group of terrorists dressed up in Afghan army uniforms and not army Afghan personnel who turned, how did they get into this bridge of security British security facility?

TOM FUENTES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST (via telephone): Hi, Carol. Well, we don't know how far they were able to penetrate or whether this was on the perimeter but Jim is absolutely right. We've had cases in the past where it's been actual members of the Afghan police, actual members of their military.

So, at this point, whether they're in afghan uniforms or not, I think it might be premature to say that they absolutely were terrorists masquerading as soldiers. They may be soldiers which is worse. These are the people we're training. These are people we're going to turn the country over to very soon, and a good portion of both the military and the police had been infiltrated by the Taliban or people in those services turned and now have either become sympathetic or actual members of the Taliban, and it just is a bad omen for the future of what's going to happen in that country, when you can't trust their security services.

COSTELLO: So, Jim, you know, there's a certain date where all American soldiers will be out of Afghanistan. Might that change if this sort of thing continues?

SCIUTTO: I don't think so. I think that that date is pretty much set in stone and coming so quickly.

But listen, regardless, it's a debilitating, it's a sad story here because so much of Afghanistan security going forward, but also the U.S. plan for Afghanistan is built on top of both the effectiveness and the trust worthiness of afghan security forces. And this is a vulnerability, not only a risk to coalition soldiers but in many of these attacks, other Afghan security forces have been the victim.

So, it's a real problem going forward, and still to be clear, we don't know whether these were Afghan soldiers who turned their weapons or if they were terrorists who dressed up in Afghan uniforms, but each of those unique and very severe threat. But just reminding our viewers if they just tuned in now, Carol, what we have confirmed from the Pentagon, multiple casualties in an attack in an Afghan National Security Forces facility in Kabul, just outside of Kabul in Afghanistan, called Camp Qargha. Multiple casualties, nationalities not confirmed and just at this point one death confirmed of a German soldier.

COSTELLO: All right. Jim Sciutto, Tom Fuentes, thanks for your insight. Always appreciate it.

More breaking news to pass along with you, the African Business Forum is ongoing in Washington, D.C. President Obama is there. Also the leaders of African countries and Bill Clinton, who is speaking now. So let's listen in.

BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT: -- about this issue. We all want more trade, more investment, better ties. It is generally known that Africa is going to grow, as it has, somewhere between 5 percent and 7 percent as a continent. Six of the ten fastest growing economies of the world are in Africa. That it may go to seven in this coming decade. The middle class is growing.

But in spite of the $80 billion in foreign investment and the $400 billion in exports we'll see this year, three-quarters of those exports are still in oil and gas, metals and diamonds. So, the potential for economic diversification is great.

There are 650 million cell phone users on the continent of 900 million people, only 300 million people with electricity, about 170 million people with genuinely good Internet access, 23 percent of the people have a bank account, thanks largely to cell phone banking, and 5 percent have a credit card.

COSTELLO: All right. We're going to jump out of this, talking about the dire situation, economic situation in Africa, and how the United States might help. He also touched on the Ebola crisis earlier. We'll tell you more about that later.

I got to take a break. I'll be back with more in THE NEWSROOM.

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