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Obama will Pursue Broader Strategy in Iraq; Cease-Fire Ends with More Attacks; CDC has Issued Its Highest Alert for Ebola; U.S. Strikes Target ISIS Positions

Aired August 09, 2014 - 11:00   ET

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

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: But is there any leader -- can there possibly be a leader that makes all sides happy and will feel included in this new government?

PHILIP MUDD, FORMER CIA COUNTERTERRORISM OFFICER: I'm not sure that there is in the short term and I would expect as a realist to see a level of violence that might continue for a period of time that makes us really uncomfortable. The reason is simple. Saddam Hussein was a dictator in our eyes. He was a Sunni. The Sunnis are a minority in Iraq.

The Shias now 60 plus percent of the country control government and they're looking around saying, we were repressed for years by a Sunni dictator. We own the turf and we'll set the rules. Meanwhile, as we've seen, Sunnis and Kurds say, wait a minute. What's our stake?

I think this transition from revolution away from a Sunni dictator to democracy led by a Shia majority is going to take years.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN HOST: A lot of people are looking at this and wondering, though, what is the immediate threat to the U.S. from ISIS? What do you say to that?

MUDD: There's a couple of threats. One is strategic, one is sort of more tactical. The strategic threat is we've seen sort of militant attacks on the border of Lebanon recently, There's some fighting last week. I think there's a threat to Jordan. So we have to worry after we've already seen the elimination of the border, the erasure of the border between Syria and Iraq. We've got to worry about this infection spreading to other places like Lebanon and Jordan. We've also seen Islamic activity in the Sinai down in Egypt. So this is a broad problem spreading across the Middle East.

More tactically though, what I would be worried about in my experience, I spent 25 years chasing these guys at CIA and the FBI. When you have Islamists who have a global vision that's sort of an al Qaeda vision, that is, we want from their perspective, we want to take over not only Baghdad but we want to attack the held of the snake. The head of the snake for them is Israel. It's the United States. It's the United Kingdom.

When they get a sense of what the President referred to as safe haven, when they start to feel comfortable in that area of Anbar province, for example, they're going to start to say, how do we organize cells with 1,000-plus Europeans and Americans who are among us? How do we organize cells to attack the head of the snake in New York, or Washington, or London or Paris?

That's what we've got to worry about because at some time they're going to start to say, our problem is bigger than Baghdad. It's Washington and New York, and we're going to try to create a car bomb in Times Square. That's coming.

BLACKWELL: All right. CNN counterterrorism analyst, hate to end on that note. But thank you so much for joining us, Phil Mudd. We say just a moment ago, the first family walking there on to Marine One. They're heading off to Andrews Air Force Base. They'll be going off then to Martha's Vineyard to begin their vacation for a couple of weeks.

Phil Mudd, thanks to you. Let's go to Ivan Watson who is still with us. Ivan, the President spoke for just a moment about the difficulty in now that these thousands of religious minorities, this religious minority group they're on this mountain. They now have to get down and back to their homes. Air strikes from what you understand, also combined with the humanitarian corridor that the U.N. is working on. What's the progress there building this corridor and will that, too, take months instead of weeks?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that the Kurds say that they've successfully established some kind of evacuations, at the very least, thousands of these trapped Yazidi Kurds from Sinjar Mountain, and that one of the directions they've gone to evacuate these people is believe it or not, across the border to neighboring Syria.

To a Kurdish enclave there that's controlled by a group known loosely at the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK. So we have coordination between the PKK and the Kurds of northern Iraq. It gets very confusing area but this is a confusing area to help thousands of those Yazidis escape by foot in some cases or by car across the border to Syria.

But there are still, we're hearing from Kurdish officials, tens of thousands of people trapped on the mountain. Some of them are getting these emergency aid drops, but we're also hearing horrific accounts of elderly, of children, dying there day after day, due to the immense -- the high temperatures and to dehydration as well. So it is a crisis and in some cases it sounds like those who want to escape, they have to go out on foot. If you're already weakened, if you're young, if you're old, that is a very difficult prospect especially in an area where temperatures soar to 120 degrees Fahrenheit during the day.

PAUL: All right -- urgent situation. Ivan Watson, thank you so much. Stay safe there in Erbil where he's coming to us.

We are going to hand it off here to Fredricka Whitfield in just a moment as you watch President Obama and his family head off to their vacation.

BLACKWELL: Yes, Will's up here from the south lawn of the White House. Marine One taking off in just a moment. And Christie said, we're going to hand it off to Fredricka Whitfield to continue the breaking news. The President saying that he doesn't think that this is going to be solves in a matter of weeks. This likely will take months.

Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. Hello to our viewers around the world. From the CNN Center in Atlanta I'm Fredricka Whitfield. This is the CNN NEWSROOM.

President Obama just spoke minutes ago about the U.S. airstrikes in Iraq targeting militants who were threatening people in northern Iraq. Here's what the President said about two rounds of strikes yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So far these strikes have successfully destroyed arms and equipment that ISIL terrorists could have used against Erbil. Meanwhile, Kurdish forces on the ground continue to defend the city and the United States and the Iraqi government have stepped up our military assistance to Kurdish forces as they wage their fight.

Second, our humanitarian effort continues to help the men, women and children stranded on Mount Sinjar. American forces have so far conducted two successful air drops delivering thousands of meals and gallons of water to these desperate men, women and children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The President also said the U.S. is ready for more strikes to help Iraqi refugees get to safety but he would not give a timetable as to how long this operation might take. On Friday the U.S. targeted the militant group ISIS or the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The group has been getting dangerously close to the city of Erbil forcing thousands of people to flee.

The U.S. military released this video of two 500-pound laser-guided bombs hitting an ISIS artillery unit yesterday morning. Later in the day a drone struck an ISIS mortar position and then another round of air strikes. Eight more bombs were dropped on an ISIS convoy.

And during this fight to beat back to ISIS, thousands of people trying to escape are stranded. They are in limbo, they're hungry and they're thirsty. President Obama spoke about the humanitarian aid drops of food and water to those Yazidi people in the mountains. He also said France and the United Kingdom have pledged to help.

And we just got this incredible new video in from a Kurdish television station -- remarkable images showing just how desperate those refugees are, the people there in the thousands surrounded the helicopter which was full of supplies that were also delivering aid as well as having reporters onboard. And a few of the people, the refugees that you see right there, managed to jump inside the helicopter and were able to escape to safety. Some of them crying out of sheer joy being able to escape and then of course, big sadness on what they're leaving behind and saying prayer onboard that flight.

Erin McPike joining us live now from the White House. So Erin what else did the President feel was very meaningful to address this morning just before he and the family heads off to a vacation in Martha's Vineyard?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, the big take away is, of course, that this particular mission is just beginning. And he did say that over the past 48 hours there have been those air strikes that have destroyed some ISIS equipment and there have been those two successful food drops.

But the thing he pointed out was that even this mission is still complicated, because they then have to coordinate with the international community, the safe passage of those people stranded on Mount Sinjar down the mountain. So this particular mission is a problem, and still has many steps to go to get completely resolved.

But then he made the larger point about how the Iraqi government has to come together to fight ISIS to keep Iraqis safe. And he said that the American government and the American military can't do that. That Iraqis have to come together to do that.

Now as far as the larger threat that ISIS poses, he essentially said that they have progressed more rapidly than intelligence suggested. That is what we're hearing from a number of politicians here in Washington on both sides of the aisle. That they want to see what the broader strategy is for dealing with ISIS, and he hasn't articulated that just yet.

He did say that there is no particular timetable, that this is going to be a long project, but that they're not moving the embassy or the consulate anytime soon -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: And the President making it very clear that these air strikes are in large part to also help protect the many Americans, dozens of Americans on the ground, to help in various U.S. facilities and installations as well.

Erin McPike thanks so much.

So in all of this, the President emphasized the U.S. will not get dragged into another long drawn-out conflict. I'm joined now by Christopher Hill, the former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq who served from 2009 to 2010. Ambassador, an operation in Iraq that is prolonged -- the President is making it very clear while this is not a mission that will have overnight success, it just might indeed mean an investment in the next few months.

Did you also hear from the President that still on the table is the possibility that the U.S. could be engaged in more later in Iraq? CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: I certainly got the

impression that the President understands that the politics of Baghdad are still very dicey. It's going to take a while for the Iraqis to sort that through. But he also made the point that this is a broader issue, and involves the neighbors of Iraq. None of them has ever really accepted the proposition of a Shia-led Iraq. So I think all in all, he's correctly identified this as a longer-term issue. But he's also put down I think a pretty clear marker that we're not going to see troops on the ground.

WHITFIELD: We didn't hear anything from the President that said there are commitments from any allies about any kind of military response but he did made it clear that France and the U.K. will be supporting by offering humanitarian support and that perhaps the U.N. is also assisting and responding to the needs. How does this assist or help the U.S. in its commitment?

HILL: Well, it obviously gives a certain multilateral imprimatur (ph) to this, presumably there will be some actions in the U.N. soon that will further solidify that, but I think the resounding silence we're hearing is from the Sunni-Arab states who have really not been very vociferous in any condemnation of ISIS and instead have focused on also another challenge, which is to get Maliki to step down and get a more inclusive government.

But I think we need a little of both. That is, we need movement on the governmental side in Baghdad, but we also need to see Sunni Arab states take a stand against an organization that would really come after them if they could.

WHITFIELD: So then how worrisome is that to you that there is that silence that you speak of?

HILL: I find it very worrisome and I think this goes back to the original project of Iraq. This notion that you could create a democracy in Iraq that would somehow be some kind of shining beacon to the rest of the world. The problem is that in the context where your sectarian identity is also your political identity, a democracy in Iraq meant Shia ruled Iraq and I don't think the rest of the Arab world has ever really accepted that proposition.

So we've got an issue there and it's no surprise that the President really has moved in with this humanitarian assistance and military assistance to the Kurds, because I think the Kurds actually they have made very clear, they've had it with Maliki as well, in fact, they have had it with being a part of Iraq and the only reason they haven't left Iraq is U.S. support.

I think now that we have that U.S. support in the last few days we can continue to keep that problem at bay, but this is going to be, as the President said, a long-term issue.

WHITFIELD: There's been a lot of expressed surprise that ISIS moved as quickly as it did, but perhaps it took advantage of the fact that the world was paying attention to what took place in Ukraine with a plane -- a commercial plane going down and with the crisis in the Middle East. Is it your feeling that the U.S. could have done anything, whether it be these air strikes launching these strikes sooner or is there anything else that could have done militarily to intervene?

HILL: I certainly understand and accept the point that this is a political problem in Baghdad that needs to be fixed. Clearly, Mr. Maliki should not be going for a third term -- very bad idea on his part. So I certainly understand the administrational rationale saying they're not getting in deeper until they see some political change in Baghdad.

But I would submit that this ISIS crowd really doesn't care which Shia is in charge in Baghdad. They simply do not accept the idea of Shia -- period. And frankly, when they meet them, they try to kill them. So I don't think it's so much a question of Sunni outreach for them.

The question really is can the Sunni community in Iraq come to understand that with one side ignoring them as they've accused Maliki of doing, and the other side trying to take their heads off, as ISIS has tried to do, they might try to make a stand against the latter group, that is against ISIS and we're not seeing enough of that.

WHITFIELD: All right. Chris Hill. Thank you so much.

Again, you heard from the President right there on the south lawn saying there is no military, American military solution to this problem. There's a great need for a legitimate Iraqi government.

Underscoring that exact point you just made. Ambassador Chris Hill, thanks so much.

All right. One of the big reasons the President -- really responded by launching these air strikes against ISIS to prevent a genocide against the Yazidi people who have fled to the mountains.

I'm joined now by Ivan Watson who is live for us in Erbil, near where tens of thousands of those refugees are trying to escape. Ivan what do we know about the latest food drops, how people are getting water? How are they able to survive?

WATSON: Nobody seems to know the exact number of people that are trapped on this mountain -- Sinjar Mountain. Exposed under the element, temperatures soaring to 120 degrees Fahrenheit here under the sun in August without access to really food or water. Kurdish officials I've talked to say that particularly children and the elderly are dying every day from exposure to the elements, and from dehydration.

Now, those emergency aid drops that have been provided by the U.S. now, by U.S. air power, previously by Iraqi air force, perhaps are helping. There have also been efforts by Kurdish fighters to evacuate some of those people, in which case, from what I understand, the people have to walk some distance on foot. They're already weak and the most vulnerable, it's very difficult for them to do. Several thousand reportedly have managed to escape, of all places, across the border to Syria to a Kurdish enclave there controlled by a faction called Kurdistan Workers Party.

So there have been some who have escaped but the situation is very dire, very urgent for those still trapped on that mountain, as we speak -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And so, you know, Ivan, we hear the President of the United States reiterate that the U.N. has committed to humanitarian aid. What do we know about how that kind of U.N. assistance or even any kind of humanitarian aid from other countries is being delivered?

WATSON: Well, let me spell it out as one senior Kurdish official told me. Before this last week, there were already, in his words about 1.2 million displaced Iraqis who had fled the ISIS capture of the second largest city in Iraq, Mosul, in June. 1.2 million Iraqis who had come into the Kurdistan region which has its own population of about four million. Within the last week, add another perhaps half million Iraqis who are fleeing. They're the Yazidis who are up on that mountain top. They are more than 100,000 Iraqi Christians who are fleeing the ISIS militants. Other Kurds, Shiites, Turkmens, I mean this is a very mixed area of many different ethnic and religious groups.

That is an enormous wave of humanity that the Kurdistan regional government barely has resources to even begin to deal with, even as they're fighting, ISIS militants, on a front line that runs some 900 miles and the Kurdish Peshmerga militia have taken heavy losses in the last couple of weeks, as a result of that war. So two simultaneous crises, a humanitarian crisis of millions of people on the run, and homeless, and then simultaneously fighting a war. They need help right now.

WHITFIELD: All right. Dire situation. Ivan Watson, thanks so much, from Erbil. We'll check back with you.

Meantime, the three-day cease-fire in Gaza is over and the bloodshed continues. We're live from Jerusalem, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, now to the other major story we're covering: the collapse of a cease-fire in the Middle East and the new destruction as Israel and Gaza return to firing on each other. Israel claims it hit 70 Hamas targets yesterday, another 20 overnight. A mosque in central Gaza was also hit. From Gaza, more than 60 rockets flew at Israel hitting Israel, hitting mostly open ground.

I want to bring CNN's Jake Tapper in Jerusalem who has been monitoring things on the ground there. Jake, it looks quiet and placid behind you but I know, you know, pictures can be deceiving. What's happening there?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'm in Jerusalem. And obviously, the rockets from Gaza and the air strikes on Gaza are several miles away. We actually had a period of quiet last night, from about 10:00 p.m. Local time to dawn. No rockets fired. No Israeli strikes on Gaza. And then dawn came and according to the Israeli government, rockets were fired again from Gaza. It's unclear if it's Hamas doing the firing or some other group, such as Palestinian Islamic jihad, the Mujahedeen Brigades or some other group. The Israeli government frankly says it doesn't matter who's doing it since Hamas was elected to run and control Gaza they are ultimately responsible.

In any case, those rockets were fired according to the Israeli government, the IDF started conducting air strikes and we have word that at least five or six Palestinians have been killed today. Right now we still also have in Cairo, Egypt, Palestinian delegates, working and meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials, and there is still an attempt, still an effort, to have a cease-fire reinstated. Right now the two sides are entrenched in these two principles. The Israelis saying we're not going to talk about a cease-fire until the rockets stop being launched from Gaza into Israel and the Palestinians united around the Hamas principle, which is that we will not talk about a cease-fire until the economic blockade on Gaza is lifted.

And so far we're waiting for either someone to blink or someone to take leadership or someone to offer one of the sides a fig leaf. Until that happens, it looks like we are in for, in this region, something like a war of attrition, a low-level, low intensity constant battle between these two sides -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: My goodness. All right. Jake Tapper from Jerusalem. Thanks so much. We'll check back with you later on.

Nearly 1,000 deaths and counting -- health officials say they are two steps behind the ebola outbreak and simply cannot catch up. Inside the CDC's ebola war room as scientists fight this deadly disease, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Nearly 1,000 deaths and counting. The deadly Ebola outbreak is getting worse by the day in West Africa. Global health experts have declared the epidemic and international health emergency.

Meanwhile, the two Americans who contracted Ebola while helping patients in Liberia are improving. Dr. Kent Brantly and aid worker, Nancy Writebol, are being treated at Emory University Hospital in atlanta.

Dr. Brantly release a statement saying he's growing stronger every day. The husband of the other American with Ebola, Nancy Writebol, says she's not out of the woods yet, but is in, quote, "very good hands."

Earlier this week, the CDC issued its highest possible alert for response to the Ebola crisis. CNN chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta was at the CDC when the change was made.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Fred, every time there's an infectious disease outbreak somewhere around the world, there's a room at the CDC that gets a lot busier than usual. We got a rare look inside. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA (voice-over): This is the CDC's emergency operation center. Think of it as the nerve center of its response to the Ebola outbreak. Just a few minutes after I walked in, phones and Blackberries started buzzing everywhere.

(on camera): While here the activation level just went up to level one just in the last couple minutes. What does that mean?

STEPHAN MONROE, CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION: What means more people and more resources dedicated to the response.

GUPTA (voice-over): In that room, you could feel a quiet determination and a sense of urgency.

(on camera): What you're looking at is what the CDC looks at. A map of the world. Trying to figure out what infectious diseases are happening and where they are happening. As you might imagine, a lot of focus on Ebola right now, tracking that also well realtime.

They've been doing it since March. Take a look in here, where this jumped out, mid-May. They thought things were basically under control. Look what happens at the beginning of June. Everything takes off. This is on its way to becoming the worst Ebola outbreak in history.

(voice-over): Dr. Stephen Monroe is helping lead the CDC's Ebola response, not an easy at all.

(on camera): Was there mistakes made? Is there a reason why this outbreak is worse than any other outbreak in history?

MONROE: The initial event, lightning struck, in the remote part of each of these three countries and so it quickly spread across the borders.

GUPTA (voice-over): Here in the United States, different questions, for example, if Ebola is not airborne, why such extraordinary precautions taken for Dr. Kent Brantly and Ms. Writebol? It turns out it was more an abundance of caution rather than a necessity.

MONROE: We're pretty confident that any large hospital could handle an Ebola case if one were to show up at their doorstep, using traditional isolation rooms with negative pressure room and with traditional droplet and respiratory precautions.

GUPTA: And while I suited up in multiple layers when I was in Guinea just earlier this year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Worn by health care workers when they come into contact with patients.

GUPTA: The CDC says a mask, goggles, face shield, a protective gown and gloves can provide all of the protection you need for most situations. (END VIDEOTAPE)

GUPTA: Fred, I should point out that the World Health Organization also declaring this now a public health emergency of international concern. That's going to have an impact on airline travel and also screenings at airports and advising all the nations where they have Ebola currently to declare a state of emergency. We'll bring them to you as they come to us.

WHITFIELD: All right, look forward to that. Thanks so much, Sanjay.

Right after this, we'll get the latest on the U.S. air strikes in Iraq. The impact they're having on ISIS forces and what the president had to say about it just a short time ago.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We are following the latest developments in Iraq. President Obama speaking a short time ago as he left the White House saying the U.S. air strikes have successfully destroyed arms and equipment used by ISIS terrorists.

That's after a U.S. fighter jet, and drones conducted a second round of air strikes. The president says France and Britain have agreed to join the U.S. in providing humanitarian aid to Iraqis endangered by ISIS.

Despite the air strikes, ISIS forces are continuing to advance on Kurdish territory. The president did stress that the U.S. will not become the de facto Iraqi military.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We can conduct air strikes, but ultimately there's not going to be an American military solution to this problem. There's going have to be an Iraqi solution that America and other countries and allies support.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining me now to talk about this from Washington, CNN's Evan Perez and from New York, CNN military analyst, Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona. Good to see you both of you, Gentlemen.

Colonel, first to you. The president clearly wants Iraqis to take a bigger responsibility for their own defense saying the U.S. doesn't have all the answers militarily, but what does this mean for a current strategy and what might be next? Right now air strikes, but then potentially what's behind that?

LT. COL. RICK FRANCONA, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: A really good question. Right now committed to a limited number of air strikes. All told, maybe ten attack sorties. There is a lot of reconnaissance and surveillance going on up there, but actually putting bombs on target, that's very limited right now. And he's very much restricted it to that defensive Erbil. Rather than blunting the ISIS offensive throughout Northern Iraq, he's just focused on this one sector. And he's also, of course, doing the humanitarian support out in the northwest. But this is very, very limited and it's not going to do much to blunt the ISIS offensive anywhere else.

It may keep them out of Erbil, but it's certainly not going to keep the front coming down the Tigris Valley towards Baghdad.

WHITFIELD: Evan, what are you hearing in terms of what constitutes very limited? What is DOD willing to say about the military commitment and to what extent it will go?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Fred, one of the most remarkable things that came out of that address by the president just now was him saying that, you know, essentially this is an effort that's not going to be just be weeks talking probably months.

Because they're depending upon the reorganization of the Iraqi military, which is dependent upon the Iraqi government being able to figure out how to bring Sunnis back into the fold, and perhaps get them to stop supporting ISIS.

So that's the prospect here we're talking about defending U.S. personnel not only in Erbil, but also he mentioned that we're not going to move the embassy. We are not going to move the consulate from Erbil. He basically wants to play a defense here while he gives the Iraqi government time to reform itself.

WHITFIELD: And Colonel Francona, then to hear that, months, should alarm bells be going off because they were talking about a war-weary nation and when they hear the president has stopped the Iraq war and would not hope to re-engage, but then it could take months.

Whether it is airstrikes or something else and the president underscored this is in large part to protect the Americans. Dozens of Americans who are on the ground. Is this in step in keeping with this U.S. not engages in another war?

FRANCONA: Yes. I think he's walking a fine line here and I think the American people will support him as long as he keeps it to air strikes. It's the boots on the ground that really upset the peel. People are willing to accept air operations.

Remember, we conducted air operations over Iraq prior to the 2003 invasion for a decade keeping the Kurds say. There's precedence for this. Evan made a good point. He's trying to buy time for the Iraqi government to stand up and he's also trying to buy time for the Iraqi army to get its act back together.

Because in the end, this is going to be an Iraqi solution, a military solution on the ground. And right now, they're not capable of conducting offensive operations and we need to give them the time to stand back up. I hope that's all needs because I doubt you'll ever see more U.S. forces on the ground in Iraq. WHITFIELD: Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona, Evan Perez, thanks to both of you, Gentlemen. Appreciate it.

And after three days of calm, Gaza finds itself engulfed in a bloody war again. We'll go live to Gaza City for the latest next.

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WHITFIELD: The blame game and rocket fire between Israel and Hamas is on again. Israel waited several hours Friday before resuming attacks on Gaza even after militants began firing rockets at Israel. Talks to extend their three-day cease-fire failed when Hamas reportedly didn't see its key demands being met.

With the return to fighting, the death toll is rising again including a 10-yard Gaza boy who died while playing with friends, and three more deaths when an Israeli air strike hit a mosque in Central Gaza.

Let's go now to Gaza, where CNN's Martin Savidge is monitoring developments on the ground there. Martin, Israel says it hit 70 targets in Gaza yesterday. Another 20 overnight, a mosque was hit. What's the latest in terms of the efforts to try to retrieve bodies there or help people who have been displaced?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's difficult once again because of the ongoing conflict and going into those areas where the air strikes are taking place. This is the time of day. The sun is starting to set here, Fredricka. So it tends to be an active time.

Both in the number of rockets that are headed off in the direction towards Israel and of course, with the retaliatory strikes. For us this morning, it began even at breakfast when we heard an Israeli fighter jet just streaking in across the sky.

They make a very distinctive noise and then you get that loud explosion. It wasn't that far away. Not dangerously close but close enough. And then just 10 minutes later, it was repeated again, and it's been like that.

It seems the Israelis are relying on air strikes ever since the ceasefire came to an end and they have been added in and around this neighborhood all day long. At least 50 strikes from the Israeli air force today.

We are also being told that as many as 28 rockets went out. Now, just to point out, compared to before the cease-fire, this would be sort of defined as low intensity conflict. However, it's a ridiculously euphemistic praise because if the rockets strikes your home in Israel or a bomb falls on your street here in Gaza, there is nothing low intensity about it.

But it's not the same kind of level that we saw previously and you know, that could be troubling in many ways because it's almost like that could become the status quo that certainly with some people fear. What's also interesting, Fred, is that outside right now on the streets is people strolling about. The stores are open and there's traffic going around. You would think can was just another weekend evening and having explosions and blasts on the outskirts of rockets going into the sky. It's almost as if the people here say, this could be the way it goes for some time -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: It does sound like you're describing people are saying this is the new normal or at least the latest normal. You hear horns blaring in the background, you know, which really underscores when you're talking people going about their business.

What is the plan for many of them when they hear incoming fire, do they feel like those text warnings that we have spoken about over the past few weeks is helpful at all? Does it help people try to find safety at the last minute if they can?

SAVIDGE: I think what's changed it somewhat is, of course, it's not as many explosions. It's not the heavy artillery that we had, so you're getting more of these pinpoint and again, it's a euphemistic phrase, but you're getting these air strikes that hit specific targets.

As a result of that, this area clearly around us feels fairly safe even though we have seen strikes that come as close as maybe a mile away. So, I don't know whether people are just adjusting to it, whether they feel they're immune here or whether they sense that there are certain neighborhoods you don't go to and there are others it's fine to operate out of.

So, it's really difficult to define in this time, but it does not appear there's going to be any successful effort in se the next 24 hours to bring about a cease fire.

WHITFIELD: Martin Savidge, thanks so much for bringing that perspective to us from Gaza. At the center of a deadly Ebola outbreak, Sierra Leone declared a state of emergency just last week but some say came just too late.

Coming up next, how the death of one of the country's top doctors changed everything.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He didn't die in vain. He didn't die in vain. You die for humanity, for this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Sierra Leone has been the epicenter of the deadly Ebola outbreak with more than 700 people infected and nearly 300 dead. And some critics say the government didn't do enough to stop the spread of Ebola until it killed the doctor who was leading the fight against the disease. David McKenzie sat down with the Dr. Sheik Omar Khan's family for an exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dr. Sheik Omar Kahn's family knew the risks. He was the country's only Ebola specialist. When the deadly virus first hit, his father pleaded with him to come home so did his brother.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was a kid. This was, this was a young man who went to his work. He said I'm going to break --

MCKENZIE (on camera): It's very difficult to talk about this. His death.

C. RAY KHAN, DR. SHEIK OMAR KHAN'S BROTHER: Yes, of course it is. In retrospect, I wish I forcibly get him out, I mean, you could understand that.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): But in the Ebola stricken region, Dr. Kahn kept treating patients at the state hospital. More than 100 received his care and he promised his brother that he would stay safe.

KHAN: I'm a little bit angry. You just have to expect that from me because that's a lot, a lot of things the government should have done to mitigate this spread of this dreadful disease.

MCKENZIE: Despite a crumbling health care system, the government says it's doing everything it can. But Dr. Kahn went from caregiver to patient, from fighting the disease, he succumbed to it.

(on camera): If you had to say one thing to your brother right now, what would it be?

KHAN: You didn't die in vain. You died for humanity, for this country. That's true.

MCKENZIE (voice-over): C-Ray Khan said his brother was alone in his fight, but in his death, a nation woke up to this outbreak. David McKenzie, CNN, Sierra Leone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Still, much more to come in the news room. Stay with us.

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