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CNN Live Sunday

Israeli Airstrike Kills 50 in Qana; Condoleezza Rice's Trip to Beirut Canceled; United Nations Worried Violence Could Spread; Kofi Annan Calls for Cessation of Hostilities

Aired July 30, 2006 - 15:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. I'm Brianna Keilar at the CNN Center in Atlanta. It's been a day of dramatic developments in the Middle East. "IN THE MONEY" won't be seen today, instead we're going to bring you a special hour of CNN LIVE SUNDAY.
Here's what we know now. More than 60 people were killed including at least 19 children in an Israeli airstrike in Qana Lebanon. The Israelis say they were targeting Hezbollah and had no idea so many civilians were in the area.

The U.N. Security Council held an emergency session to discuss today's attack. U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, who's been talking with Israeli leaders will return to Washington to help write a U.N. Draft resolution.

And more than 130 Hezbollah rockets landed in Northern Israel today. Police say 48 people were hurt, one of them seriously.

The Mideast crisis takes on new urgency today after that Israeli airstrike destroyed a civilian shelter in the village of Qana, Lebanon and our Ben Wedeman was there and we do want to warn you that some of the images in his report are graphic. Ben joins us now from Tyre, Lebanon -- Ben.

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna they were indeed grim scenes in the village of Qana, which is 25 minutes from here. We set off early in the morning as soon as we heard the reports of this strike that left at least 60 people dead, we're told, more than half of them could be children.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(voice-over): Another stretcher, another body. The ambulances are full of the dead, children, women, old men, crushed while hiding in the basement. An Israeli bomb landed right next to a house in the village of Qana where dozens of women, children and old people had taken shelter.

"There's a 4-month-old baby under the rubble," says Qana resident, Riab Shalhoub (ph).

Lebanese army officers say they counted more than 80 strikes on Qana overnight, large parts of the town have been totally devastated. Those who've come to help pause as another Israeli jet roars overhead. (on camera): This town was struck just after midnight, the Israeli army says it gave inhabitants fair warning to leave, some didn't.

(voice-over): Town resident say they couldn't. "We wanted them to leave but they didn't have any money," says Halih Shalhoub (ph). "Cars and ambulance were hit. They were forced to stay here."

"We offered several times to take them out," says this town resident, "but they were poor. They were hoping nothing would happen to them."

It's difficult to confirm Israeli claims that Qana is an important base of operations for Hezbollah. In April, 1996, during "Operation Grapes of Wrath" more than a hundred Lebanese civilians were killed when Israeli artillery hit a United Nations compound. Ten years later, death has come again to Qana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WEDEMAN: And Brianna, despite the tragedy that occurred in the hills above Tyre today we see that the Israelis are continuing with their offensive in Southern Lebanon, just a little while ago we heard a huge explosion coming from the south of this position here -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Ben, I have to ask you, we saw some very graphic things, obviously, in your piece, but are there some things you're seeing that are too grim and are too inappropriate to put on the air?

WEDEMAN: Yes. Of course. I mean, they were bringing out body after body after body after body. Children, women, some of them were -- basically the building fell on these people, they were crowded into the basement, so some of them came out in conditions that obviously -- images that we cannot show. I saw a very graphic images on some of the Arabic satellite news channels, but, yes, things that would simply be inappropriate by CNN standards -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Ben Wedeman, live for us from the Middle East. Thank you so much for that report.

And Israel is apologizing for what it calls a tragic mistake in Qana. But Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, says his country will need another 10 to 14 days to wrap up its offensive against Hezbollah.

We're joined now by Israel's foreign ministry spokesperson, Mark Regev. He is live with us from Jerusalem.

So I have to ask you, Mark, what happened in Qana.

MARK REGEV, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: Well, it's obviously a tragedy and I think I speak for all my countrymen when I express regret and sorrow to see such carnage, such death. We didn't want to see this. I don't think anyone wanted to see this. This is really a tragedy. What else can one say? KEILAR: The international community, obviously reacting very strongly to this. Does this hurt Israel's position that it needs between 10 to 14 days to carry on its attacks against Hezbollah, to weaken Hezbollah?

REGEV: I think this obviously is a tragedy and it does no good for my country, whatsoever. I think everyone understands that. I think though also, I mean, if people are pointing the finger and they should point the finger clearly at Hezbollah. It wasn't Israel alone, it was the U.N. who said a few days ago their Chief Welfare and Relief Officer Egeland who said that Hezbollah is a cowardly organization, I'm quoting him directly, hiding behind women and children, fighting until the very last Lebanese civilian -- I mean, there's a problem with Hezbollah tactics, they work out of mosques, out of residential areas. Where the tragedy was today, I mean, we've had more than a hundred rockets fired from that particular area into Israeli cities and though no one's justifying this tragedy, I mean, we were trying to hit rocket launchers who were targeting Israeli civilians.

KEILAR: Were Israeli forces unaware that there were that many civilians seeking refuge so nearby to their target?

REGEV: You know, had we known, had we known that there were civilians in that building we wouldn't have targeted the building and that's the truest thing we could say. And as you said, does this do us any good? Forget the moral argument that we don't deliberately target civilian, which is an important part of our moral credo. But from any political military point of view it was a terrible thing that didn't do us any good, so of course, we didn't do it deliberately.

KEILAR: Mark, I'm not sure you've had a chance to hear the comments from U.N. secretary general, Kofi Annan, but he recently came out and was talking about a cessation of hostilities, not a former cease-fire, but a cessation of hostilities. What is your reaction to that?

REGEV: Israel also supports a cessation of hostilities, but we want that to be sustainable because we don't want a just have a quick fix cease-fire, sort of a mirage, and then have, just have a few more weeks and another round of Hezbollah. And so we say a cease-fire has to lead us to 1559 which is the U.N. Resolution on Lebanon which calls for the disarming of Hezbollah. We have to remove from Hezbollah the capability, we have to take the arms away from them so never again can they orchestrate this sort of violence. Never again can they initiate this regional crisis which has caused death and destruction in Lebanon and in Israel.

KEILAR: So, if Kofi Annan is talking about this sort of temporary cessation of hostilities. Does that mean, from what you just said, that Israel is not interested in that?

REGEV: We're interested in a sustainable peace, in the implementation of the U.N. Security Council Resolution on Lebanon saying Hezbollah must be disarmed. What we even more than that is we don't want to see a cease-fire that allows Hezbollah to rearm, regroup, and replan the next wave of terrorist attacks. We're saying a cease-fire has to lead us in to disarming Hezbollah according to the U.N. resolutions.

KEILAR: All right, Mark Regev, Israel's foreign ministry spokesman, thank you so much for talk with us.

Meanwhile the United Nation is worried that is could spread. Secretary-General Kofi Annan calling for a cessation of hostilities as we said, as the Security Council meets in an emergency session. And we go now to our senior United Nations correspondent, Richard Roth -- Richard.

RICHARD ROTH, CNN UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Big day at the U.N. a on Sunday. The Security Council will come back for more discussions on in 90 minutes unable to agree on any type of statement at this point in reaction to what happened in Qana or the way forward diplomatically. Secretary-General Kofi Annan strongly urging the Security Council to adopt a statement, a resolution, that calls for an immediate cessation of hostilities and in telling the ambassador he has been deeply dismayed they have not done so far.

It is primarily the United States which believes Israel has the right to defend itself that has been blocking any type of firm response from the council to the fighting. Will there be a statement later on what happened with Qana? Perhaps. U.S. ambassador, John Bolton, hinted there may be some type of statement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: In the council discussion today, I think everybody, obviously. expressed their deep sadness at this tragedy and the deaths of the civilians of Qana, and I think what we're going try to do today is see if we can agree on a presidential statement or a press statement that will express our profound regrets and condolences to the families of those who have died and things along that line. That'll be worked out. We'll be meeting later in the afternoon and that would certainly be the objective.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Ambassador Bolton saying the U.S. has consistently urged Israel to exercise extreme care and restraint and Bolton noting that Condoleezza Rice continues her diplomatic efforts.

Inside the Security Council, at this emergency session, Lebanon's foreign ministry representative, here, said Israel had committed, in effect, war crimes against his country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NOUHAD MAHMOUD, LEBANESE REP. TO U.N.: For action, not talk. With the backing and support of the entire nation, we have left no stone unturned and no avenue unexplored in our sincere desire for a rapid and comprehensive cease-fire, and an end to the lethal rampage and carnage carried out by the Israeli army over the past 18 days and their systematic determination to destroy Lebanon. And we are confident that the seven-point plan, I proposed at their own (ph) conference, would be supported by all peace-loving nations. Instead, the Israeli response has been yet another massacre of innocent women and children in the town of Qana, which suffered a similar human tragedy 10 years ago when Israel cold bloodly (ph) murdered more than 100 civilians who had taken refuge at the U.N. outpost, there. They called it "Grapes of Wrath." What principle of warfare will they invoke this time? Why, we wonder, did they choose Qana yet again? Perhaps this time we should call it "Grapes of Hatred."

We can only reassert that there is no place on this sad day for any discussion other than our call for an immediate and unconditional cease-fire, and withdraw to behind the blue line, as well as an international investigation into the continuing Israeli massacres in Lebanon in violation of international laws and conventions and basic human decency without delay.

We cannot be expected to negotiate or discuss anything else while the ruthless, pitiless sword of the Israeli war machine continues to drip with the blood of innocent women and children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Lebanon envoy, there, reading a statement, a letter from Lebanon's prime minister. Following his appearance directly, it was time for Israel ambassador, Dan Gillerman saying Hezbollah was using Qana as a hub of operations against Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAN GILLERMAN, ISRAELI AMB. TO U.N.: I would like to ask my Lebanese friend today of all days tell your people, the brave people of Lebanon, tell your government which you represent, and your brave prime minister for whom we have a lot of respect, the demonstrations held today in Beirut should not be against the United Nations. They should be against the Hezbollah. The Hezbollah is the one that caused you all that pain. The Hezbollah is the monster you have allowed to grow. If you would have taken care of it before, if you would have deployed your forces in the south, this would never happen and if this council would have enforced resolution 1559, this would never happen. Tell your people to demonstrate not for blood, but for peace, for hope because if we want to live together in this tough neighborhood and in this blood-ridden region, we need to create a culture of hope rather than a culture of violence.

We need to create a culture in which the children which were hurt in Qana would have been at school today rather than huddled together as hostages for the Hezbollah and where the children Kiliachmoni (ph) would have gone to school today instead of being scared and huddled in bomb shelters because of katyusha rockets.

We need to change the culture of hatred. We need to teach our children about hope and we should not let what happened today, tragic and horrible as it is, to change the facts and the truth as they are and that is that Hezbollah must be totally disarmed, otherwise if there's a cease-fire today and it remains with its capabilities and with its huge arsenal of arms, it will rise its ugly head again and it will rise not just against us and not just against the people of Lebanon, but against the whole region and civilization as we know it.

Don't let Iran end (ph) Iran. The sponsors of Hezbollah have their day. Make it clear that this must end, not hostilities and fire must end, but terror and the Hezbollah must end because until they end there will be hostility and there will be fire and more innocents will pay the price.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: The Lebanese say that there were no Hezbollah positions near the building in southern Lebanon that was bombed. Israel's ambassador, at that meeting and the Security Council today, disagreed. Kofi Annan, again, hoping that when the Security Council returns in about an hour or so that there'll be some type of agreement on a statement at least in reaction to Qana and a united call for a cessation of hostilities. Annan says that is faster than getting a cease-fire. He says a cessation of hostilities buys time for diplomacy to work and to get civilians caught in the crossfire, to get them removed on a humanitarian emergency basis. Brianna, back to you.

KEILAR: Richard Roth, live for us at the U.N. Thank you for that report.

And we'd like to bring you some new video just in out of Gaza City. Palestinian security forces ejected about 2,000 demonstrators protesting the attack in Qana Lebanon, that Israeli airstrike that killed at least 60 civilians. These protesters in Gaza City had stormed the U.N. compound there from which the U.N. operates its relief and aid operations for all of Gaza. Apparently, U.N. staff were in the building, but they managed to escape.

And coming up, delicate diplomacy, the secretary of state wrapping up her Mideast crisis trip. Her focus now, a U.N. resolution to end the conflict. We'll check in with our John King.

And later, terrorized patients pour into Israeli hospitals as doctors there struggle to care for those caught in the crossfire. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta has an exclusive look inside.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: John King is keeping track of the latest developments in the Middle East crisis. He's with us now live from Jerusalem.

So what can you tell us -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well Brianna, the diplomatic fallout from the tragedy in Qana was instant. Secretary Rice was in a meeting with Israeli defense minister when she found out. One of the things the United States officials are mad about today is the defense minister didn't mention it, an aide to Secretary Rice had come into the room and tell about the tragedy.

Secretary Rice, not long after that meeting, held a session with reporters in which she voiced her regret, offered her condolences, but the fallout was immediate. The Lebanese prime minister said don't bother coming, Secretary Rice says it was her idea, but the prime minister of Lebanon says he won't meet with any U.S. official unless the official is prepared to call out for an immediate cease-fire. The United States reiterated today, again it is not prepared to do that.

She's also had some meetings with Ehud Olmert and some U.S. officials are now telling CNN they think Israel is stalling. Secretary Rice in the session with Prime Minister Olmert said she was confident that there could be agreement very soon on the United Nations Security Council resolution that would bring an end to the fighting and give Israel what it wants and that is an international force to go into Lebanon and keep Hezbollah under wraps, but Prime Minister Olmert, we are told, told Secretary Rice he needed 10 days to two weeks more for Israel to achieve its military objectives.

So there is a growing sense of frustration among Secretary Rice's part that the United States has taken a great deal of heat for buying Israel more time in the military campaign and right now these officials are saying Israel, they appear -- Israel, to them, appears to be stalling. Again they were angry that she found out about the bombing not directly from the defense minister, but from one of her own aides.

And of course now, Secretary Rice, we are told feels exasperated and her own credibility is on the line. She will leave Israel in the morning after final meetings with Israeli officials, she will head back to Washington, but her biggest challenge in the days ahead, is trying to broker agreement on the language of the United Nations Security Council resolution. It is not only Israel being condemned in the wake of the bombing, more and more capitals around the world say the United States shares some of the blame because it has steadfastly resisted calling for an immediate cessation of the hostility. So, dramatic diplomacy, Brianna, all of it affected by the tragedy earlier this morning.

KEILAR: John King bringing us the latest from Jerusalem. Thank you for the report.

Meanwhile, Israeli ground troops continue to conduct military operations against Hezbollah, across Southern Lebanon. And CNN's Matthew Chance is with us now live from Northern Israel -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, thanks very much. And Israel's ground forces are indeed still engaged with Hezbollah fighters on the ground in southern Lebanon, particularly around the village Hiber (ph), which, like Qana, the Israeli military says, is used frequently by the Hezbollah militia as a base from which to fire its missiles into Northern Israel.

Now, there's been such a lot of international controversy about the killings at Qana that Israel's military, Israel's government as well, has been trying to explain its actions to the international community. It's released a couple of video clips which they'd like us to have a look at if we can.

The first one comes from July the 22. Neither of these clips, I have to say are actually of the attack in Qana today, but the first one from July the 22 showing the location in South Lebanon, not necessarily Qana, from which we see Hezbollah militants launching their katyusha rockets into Israel. This is exactly what the Israeli military says happened in Qana before they struck it.

The second bit of video we have is actually of Qana, but it's from a few days ago, again, and not of the actual attack, but it shows that from behind a similar building to the one hit in today's attack, Hezbollah militants are using it as cover from which to fire their rockets, according to the Israeli military, into Israeli territory. And so even though the Israelis say that they acknowledge it was Israeli fire that caused of those civilian casualties, that caused all that damage in Qana, they're obviously not rejecting that, they're saying Hezbollah should be made responsible, should take responsibility for this because they are using the civilian areas, they say, as cover for their military activities against Israel and are therefore making the civilians, in those areas, vulnerable to Israeli attack -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Matthew, any chance that Israel might scale back its military operations because of what happened in Qana?

CHANCE: Well, that's a good question and I think it's one that's being asked by a lot of people now who are observing this conflict. Certainly, the Israelis haven't shown any indication yet that they intend to do that, far from it. What they're saying is that at moment their are artillery strikes, their airstrikes, their ground forces operations in Southern Lebanon are continuing as planned and at pace, but lets wait to see what international pressure, what pressure from the United States is brought to bear on Israel over the coming days to see whether they changed their military strategy. At moment there's been a lot of apologies and a lot of regrets from Israel, but no sign that their military plan is going to change -- Brianna.

KEILAR: CNN's Matthew Chance live for us from Northern Israel.

A tragic mistake, that's what Israel says about the attack in Qana. But how did Israeli force get it so wrong? That's what we're going talk about next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Israel says the civilian deaths in Qana today are the result of a tragic mistake. Israeli officials say they were targeting a Hezbollah site and had no idea so many civilians were in the area. Earlier today I discussed the targeting process with CNN military analyst retired Brigadier General James "Spider" Marks.

BRIG. GEN. JAMES MARKS (RET.): The process works this way, the unmanned aerial vehicle, the drone, takes video of targets that it sees. It looks at very specific spots on the ground and it sees what Hezbollah is doing. It has very good locational data, very precise, down to the tenth digit. That's inches on the ground of where that activity is taking place. Instantaneously, that is relayed back to an attack platform; in this case it was an air force aircraft, an Israeli air force aircraft. It then launches a bomb off its rails and that bomb is satellite-guided, so it's got satellite accuracy into the target and it hits where it is aiming, very specifically. There are a couple of other options...

KEILAR: General Marks, I want to interrupt you real quick just to say that this video that we're looking at right now is not video of the attack. This is video that the Israeli military has released of a similar situation where Hezbollah, they say, is near a civilian location, and that they're launching their attacks. Pardon me, but continue on.

MARKS: You know, what that really demonstrates -- let's put in context, as we get into the details, the larger context is, this is how Hezbollah fights. It tucks up against civilian populations and civilian dwellings, wherever they are and it launches its rockets from those locations knowing that Israel has this capability to come right after it precisely. So Hezbollah understands how it's fighting. So what happens is Israel launches a bomb in this particular instance from an air force aircraft and it's guided into the target very, very precisely. It hits within inches of where it is aimed.

KEILAR: So then in this case, obviously something went wrong. Israel saying that it made a mistake. What could they have done?

MARKS: Brianna here's what happened probably is that this target was so close to a civilian population center. It was so close to a building and it had civilians inside that when the bomb hit the target, the blast effects of that bomb then caused collateral damage to the building. So one of two things, during the clearance of fire process that Israel went through, one of two things went through the determination. How close is the target to building and what's the size of the bomb, what's the blast of that bomb once it hits its target and then probably what Israel did not know is that this building was populated and it had a lot of civilians inside. They could have assumed that and absent knowing that that would have been one of the decisions that they had to make.

KEILAR: Should they have known this? Should they have known there were civilians in the building nearby?

MARKS: The point is if you don't know, then you have to assume the worst and that you make a determination, you either decrease the size of the blast or you make the call we're not going go for it because it's too close to that building.

KEILAR: So you see this as a mistake, then?

MARKS: Obviously it's a mistake. Israel has acknowledged that it's a mistake and it's one of the those parts that goes into this very complex and nuance call for fire and clearance for fire process and there is a human element in this and there's a human involved that could have said no, we're not going to make this call.

KEILAR: So Israel is obviously as we said admitting that this is a mistake, but also saying that it has leafleted these areas so that civilians know that there will be attacks urging civilians to leave. Is it realistic for Israel to expect those civilians to leave?

MARKS: Of course not. You can't assume that a leaflet by it self is simply clearance to something that is going to cause the death of civilians and it's as if you can't blame the victim for the crime. In this particular case, warning civilian populations and civilian centers that they need -- that people need to vacate is insufficient.

You still have to make a determination before you make the call for fire what the results you have to estimate as best you can what those results will be. Both good and bad in this particular case, you could not determine how many folks were in that building and you could not determine whether that building was loaded with a bunch of eggs from market or a bunch of human beings and sadly, it was filled with human beings.

KEILAR: General Marks, thank you so much for taking the time to talk us to today.

MARKS: Sure.

KEILAR: An immediate cease-fire, that's what U.N. Secretary- General Kofi Annan wants and he wants it right now. But will he get it? We'll have that coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Day 19 of the fighting in the Middle East and here's what we know right now. Many more leaders are stepping up their call for a cease-fire after the deadliest attack since the fighting started. An Israeli air strike killed dozens of civilians in a village in southern Lebanon. Many of those victims were children.

And on the diplomatic front, the United Nations Secretary-- Security Council, rather, held an emergency session today to deal with the deepening crises, and Secretary-General Kofi Annan renewed his call for an immediate end to the hostilities.

CNN's Beirut bureau chief Brent Sadler is watching developments unfold in Lebanon, rather, and he's with us now from the Lebanese capital. Brent.

BRENT SADLER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Brianna. The lifeless bodies of many children were plucked from the rubble of Qana. This air strike devastated a building that the Israelis were targeting. Hezbollah, a fighting position is claimed by the IDF that toppled the building, the blast from that strike. Qana is synonymous with another bloody chapter of Lebanon's history. It was ten years ago that Qana suffered a similar fate when Israeli shells dropped inside a United Nations compound, killing more than a hundred refugees who were sheltered at that time during the grapes of wrath Israeli offensive to destroy Hezbollah, so it parallels with what's happening today.

The reaction in the Arab world triggered off serious condemnation from some top key allies of the United States. In Beirut, there was a violent backlash when demonstrators stormed the United Nations compound in the center of downtown Beirut. U.N. personnel inside the building fled to the basement. Now Lebanon's cabinet has just held a special session, specifically to discuss the Qana events and I am now joined live here in the Lebanese capital by acting Interior Minister Ahmad Fatfat. Ahmad give me some idea of the mood inside that cabinet meeting and what action you want to see being taken next.

AHMAD FATFAT, ACTING INTERIOR MINISTER: This cabinet, this meeting of the cabinet was a special one just for Qana. What happened is a massacre of Qana was a great crime by Israel against Lebanese civilians. We were -- we have the choice to resist, to resist it to this pressure to this, crime from Israel. We cannot resign under pressure. We need to cease-fire. We need to stop all this war, but we do not accept to resign without any interest of human interests.

SADLER: This is the second time that it's happened to Qana, ten years ago as I just reported, a similar event happened. Do you think this loss of life will galvanize world opinion and action to bring about an immediate cease-fire?

FATFAT: I hope it will galvanize, that is our opinion, but also the Israeli opinion and the opinion of the diplomacy in Europe and the United States. So we can go to the areas of cease-fire and so to discuss the Lebanese plan to reach a new agreement of armistice as in 49.

SADLER: Do you think Israel will cease-fire? Do you think Hezbollah and there are two members of your cabinet that belong to Hezbollah. Is Hezbollah and Israel ready for a cease-fire?

FATFAT: I -- I hear Hezbollah was clear. Hezbollah was clear; it is ready for a cease-fire. I don't know if Israel is ready for ready for cease-fire, but I can ask for the Israeli opinion what they want, what they would do, if the war continues like that with thousands of deaths, of killed and injured in Lebanon and Israel and this destruction is what the Israeli opinion like to see? Is this what American diplomacy like to see? And now do we have a great difference between the American and European diplomacy? I hope that the American diplomacy would change their opinion.

SADLER: Ahmand Fatfat acting Interior Minister, just out of a Lebanese cabinet session there, Brianna saying that Hezbollah and the Lebanese government stand side by side in calling for an immediate unconditional cease-fire.

Brianna.

KEILAR: Brent Sadler, live for us from Beirut and again please thank Minister Fatfat for taking the time to talk with us.

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed dismay today that his calls for the end of the fighting are going unheeded. During an emergency session of the Security Council he again called for the fighting to end right now and our seniors United Nations correspondent Richard Roth is live there with more.

Richard.

ROTH: Brianna, there are only five more months left in the term of Secretary-General Kofi Annan and this definitely ranks as one of the worst crises in his 10-year time administration here at the U.N. He's caught between two key sides with the U.S. and probably Britain one and most of the United Nations membership on the other.

He implored at that emergency session members of the U.N. Security Council to do something, to take its solemn responsibility, Annan said. He said the most urgent need is to bring the fighting to a halt without further delay. Annan upset that the council has been unable to issue a call for a halt in the fighting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KOFI ANNAN, U.N. SECRETARY GENERAL: Therefore I reiterate my call for an immediate cessation of hostilities to allow desperately- need humanitarian relief to reach the victims. While that is happening we can work together on the political framework needed for a lasting cease-fire and sustainable solution. The strengthening of Lebanon's government, the disarmament of all militia and the implementation of full Security Council resolutions including 1559 and 1680.

I will work with you in the development and deployment of a stabilization force to support the government of Lebanon in this -- of the decision and responsibility to extend this authority throughout the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: Annan said in conclusion, the standing and authority of the Security Council are at stake. People have noticed, he said, its failure to act firmly and quickly during the crises. The United States believes Israel has a right to defend itself and has been holding off Security Council calls for some type of action, but Annan fears an escalation he told journalists.

Back to you, Brianna.

KEILAR: Richard Roth live at the U.N. in New York.

Coming up, CNN goes to the streets in Lebanon to talk to civilians about their fears, their hopes and their future.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The town of Qana, Lebanon, is a flash point from an Israeli attack a decade ago and today's attack has stirred anger across the region.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Translator): Twenty-five children were killed under the rubbles. These are the honor of Lebanon. Beirut is free! Beirut is free! Beirut is free!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Translator): I was there. I was inside the building that was destroyed. I was making tea and my uncle asked me to go and get two cups at 12:45. Before I even walked out when the air strike hit us, the pressure pushed me outside. I was thrown outside. My uncle was pushed out and hit the wall. I heard the kids and the women crying. We carried seven of the injured and we went to the city asking for help. They told us that they can't do anything because of the air strike. They asked us to call the Red Cross and the Lebanese internal forces. We were afraid to go and get them because of the air strikes. I lost my sister, my uncle and his kids and his wife. My other uncle's family, too, the kids were 10, 13 and 7.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Translator): I can't tell you anything. The bodies can tell you a better story. Look at them. Most of them are kids. Why should I talk? Their pictures speak for them. Even though I'm in the military and I'm not supposed to talk, but today I'll talk. I have to tell you this. This is a message that Israel sent us. They sent us this message to turn us into monsters but I'll respond to them in a different way. hold it -- hold it -- hold it --!

Do you see this? This is a message that we want to send to the Israeli people. They will not turn us into monsters. We are not going to kill their children and women.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (Translator): What can I say? They destroyed Lebanon. They destroyed the south. We had civilians there. They were all kids. They didn't have bread. They were hungry, without food for five days. Look at them. They were kids. They were all killed in their homes. We don't have resistance here. The resistance is at the borders fighting. They will defend us and Nasrallah will defend us. We are not terrorists. These kids were not terrorists. Show them the images of the children. Show these pictures to Bush and Rice.

KEILAR: And for more on Arab reaction to today's air strike we bring in our senior Arab affairs editor Octavia Nasr and some of this reaction is very much in response to the U.S. and not just to Israel.

OCTAVIA NASR, SENIOR ARAB AFFAIRS EDITOR: Absolutely. As you saw in this little vignette that we showed, people are upset with the U.S. as much as they're upset with Israel. Many in Lebanon are asking the U.S. to do something about what's happening in their country. They're asking the U.S. to do something about ensuring a cease-fire, allowing people to return home and perhaps live a proper life. So, yes, the anger is directed at both.

KEILAR: So that one woman we heard from, she was rallying very much behind Hassan Nasrallah the chief of Hezbollah. Does something like this pull people together?

NASR: It does, in a way. Yes. You have to understand they're seeing this as a massacre. They are not buying the line that this was a mistake. They think that it was done on purpose. As you mentioned in the beginning, a similar attack took place in 1996 so it's hard to convince these people that this was a mistake.

So, in this sense, yes. They're looking at these images that we're watching on all the different networks, all day long. These images that is sad and stirring up a lot of emotions. So at this point, yes. You can tell that Lebanon is unified in this tragedy.

KEILAR: Octavia, thank you so much for the latest on that. Coming up, catastrophe and care, we'll take you to a hospital on the front lines as doctors are struggling to care for those caught in the middle.

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KEILAR: Once again today, doctors and other medical personnel on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border are working to save lives and the hours are very long, as you can imagine and supplies are often in short supply. CNN senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta sets the scene at a trauma center in Haifa, Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Rambam Hospital, the largest hospital in northern Israel, now for the first time ever in the target zone. Doctors under fire.

We're in the operating suite at Rambam Hospital. I want to show you something that has not been seen before, doctors who are actually operating under situations of conflict while under attack themselves, and they're responsible for saving others' lives.

There is calmness here as Doctor Tony Kalm operates. A few floors above, gurneys and ambulances waiting, today they will all get used. A loud thus and an explosion close, too close, and then an increasingly familiar routine.

You get a sense of what's happening now. You saw the ambulance take off after that thus. Not even a hundred meters away here and there's total pandemonium here and everyone is getting ready. They're getting their gloves on and they're getting their garb on and waiting for any trauma that might actually come into the hospital.

Within minutes, patients come pouring in, all of them civilians and hard to say how badly wounded and bloodied, banged up and certainly terrorized. Suddenly all of those sirens and thus comes to life.

Just to give you a sense here, you get the sense that there's been a lot of shrapnel injury here, probably from a blast injury and obviously a lot of bleeding here.

Many of the injuries come from these vicious ball bearings packed into the rockets. I saw them firsthand.

Take a look at these pelts. The rockets we've been talking so much about are filled with thousands, tens of thousands of these pellets. I want to give you an idea of how much damage they can do. Take a look at this car. This is close to the blast site, look at this these thus have gone straight through the body of the car and shattered out all these windows and threw the car seat as well and the car is completely devastated by the ball bearings. Imagine what they would do the human body.

Today, no one dies from the missile strike. Quickly, breathing tubes are replaced and the blood is replenished, patients stabilized. Rambam is one of the finest trauma centers anywhere in the world, still, I saw it in Beirut and now here in Haifa, hospitals are not immune in this war.

You used to think that hospitals and ambulances and healthcare workers should be given some immunity from a war, but it doesn't appear the case this time around.

DR. TONY KARAM, SURGEON, RAMBAM HOSPITAL: Actually, it doesn't. You know, my daughter called me some days ago when she was crying, when the siren went off, she asked me why did I continue to go to work. I told her that it was accepted usually in the whole world that no one sends rockets to hospitals. So I will be safe here, even safer than any other place, but it seems it's not the case anymore.

GUPTA: And as the operation continues this is just another day in the life of Rambam Hospital.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Haifa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: CNN's coverage of the crisis in the Middle East continues with another full hour with reporters all across the region ahead. Stay with us.

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