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NEW DAY
Violence Continues Between Israel and Hamas; Israel Enacts One- Sided, Limited Ceasefire; American Ebola Patient on U.S. Soil; Cameras to Detect if You're Sick?
Aired August 4, 2014 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: The latest attempt at a cease-fire is iffy at best. Palestinian official says 30 were injured in an air strike shortly after the cease-fire began. Israel denies the air strike and says three rockets were launched from Gaza. We should mention Hamas never agreed to the cease-fire.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And also Israeli ongoing operations, those did continue during the ceasefire. Now, Israel says it has come under heavy criticism by the United States and the U.N. also today for a deadly air strike that happened near a U.N. shelter, this coming over the weekend. Anderson Cooper is back with us this morning live from Jerusalem on the ground here. Anderson, what are you seeing on the ground? What's the very latest?
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I want to get you up to date on all the ceasefire details. We are more than halfway through with three hours to go. Israel agreed to hold its fire despite no commitment from Hamas. Israel says soldiers will keep working to destroy terror targets, including tunnels into Israel. Soldiers will respond, they say, if fired upon. The IDF will assume what they say are defensive positions on both sides of the border when the ceasefire is over.
Now, we've also learned that a senior Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative was killed in a mission overnight. It appears he was targeted before the ceasefire began. All of this of course follows another deadly air strike near a U.N. shelter in Gaza. As you mentioned, Israel says they targeted three militants after nearly a dozen rocket launches from nearby that facility. They say it was a targeted strike. Still, the United States calls the strike disgraceful. The U.N. secretary general calling it a violation of international law, calling it a crime.
For more, let's bring in Saima Mohsin. Thanks for being with us. The ceasefire is limited because Israel says they're going to continue operations in the area they're already operating.
SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. In effect they've actually declared it for themselves without agreement from Hamas. What they're saying is that wherever there are Israeli soldiers already operating they will carry on their operations.
And also, crucially, you mentioned the hit on the U.N. school or near a U.N. school where nine were killed, operation in that area will still carry on as well. So this is in effect really a selective ceasefire. Nevertheless, this morning we are seeing people coming out of their homes, coming out of their shelters, trying to survey the damage in Gaza.
And if you take a look at the pictures over the last few weeks, many people have been trapped in their homes or shelters, unable to move anywhere. As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry put it on Friday, when they were supposed to have that three-day, 72-hour ceasefire and a break for those people, they need to get to the vital functions of life -- food, water. There's been no electricity in Gaza for more than six days. So people are now starting to come out and make use of this break. But it's only a pause in certain areas.
COOPER: Again, the clock is ticking, only three hours or so left in this ceasefire. We'll see what happens when it ends. Appreciate the reporting. There is a lot more to talk about, but I want to toss it back to you, Chris.
CUOMO: All right, Anderson, thank you very much. Do me a favor, stay with us so we can have a discussion and you can add obviously what you're seeing and hearing there. On this side, Aaron David Miller, vice president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center. He also served as a Middle East negotiator in Democratic and Republican negotiations, I believe six different State Departments.
We also have Mr. Peter Beinart, CNN political commentator and contributing editor for "Atlantic Media," senior columnist for an Israeli newspaper "Ha'aretz." All right, thank you very much, gentlemen. It's good to have you here.
Coop, if I can bring you in first, three-plus hours, four hours into this ceasefire, but what are you hearing on the ground there if that's what this is really perceived as?
COOPER: Certainly there's a lot of support in Israel for the operations that have taken plus thus far. There's no doubt about it now that support continues to hold. People are waiting to see what's going to happen at the end of the ceasefire. The Israeli Defense Forces say rockets have already been fired in the four hours of this ceasefire, have been fired from Gaza into Israel already.
For their part Palestinian officials say Israel violated the ceasefire some 20 minutes into it with a strike on a house in a refugee camp. Israel says they're investigating that but say they don't have information on it thus far, saying they don't believe it was them. So the tit for tat continues. But there is certainly a lot of support in Israel for the operations. And people want to see Hamas significantly weakened. There's no doubt about it.
CUOMO: Coop makes a very strong point, Peter. In Israel there's tremendous support to keep going, keep getting this done. When we look at the situation on the ground, the improvement this time, this ceasefire, is that people do seem to be able to go outside and get what they need in Gaza. But like last time, Hamas not on board. Israel is pulling out but not really, still doing the operations which seems to aggravate the tension. Another U.N. shelter bombed, people say wrongfully. Does any of this look like improvement? PETER BEINART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think the core problem is
that each side has a goal that they're not very close to being able to accomplish. Israel wants the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip. Nobody knows exactly how exactly they're going to demilitarize the Gaza Strip if Israel's not going to be in permanent control of that territory.
Hamas wants some lifting of the blockade. There's been no suggestion that this Israeli government is going to offer to do that, nor is the Egyptian government going to do that because you have an Egyptian government that's very hostile to Hamas. So that's the core reason I think you're not able to get to a ceasefire is because both sides have goals, but the other side is simply not prepared to concede at this point.
CUOMO: Mr. Miller, a big flash point at least internationally is what keeps happening at these shelters, All right. We have the strongest language yet from the U.S. and U.N. big words, "appalled," "disgraceful." The U.N. saying they think it is a crime. But for all the talk, what are they going to do about it?
AARON DAVID MILLER, VICE PRESIDENT, WOODROW WILSON INTERNATIONAL CENTER: They're not going to do much. But look, there's a certain reality here. No matter how compelling Israeli talking points on this, the fact that Hamas co-locates high trajectory weapons, fighters in densely populated areas, the talking points when compared with the pictures and the asymmetrical picture of the casualties really cause the Israelis I think to lose and they are losing the PR game.
The question in the end is, will it matter? Chris, I think we're in a new phase here for two reasons. The Israelis basically have shifted their strategy. They've unmoored themselves from any ceasefire negotiations and they're not operating unilaterally in an effort to preserve as much flexibility as possible, not get bogged down in Hamas-negotiated ceasefires. As you saw this morning or yesterday, they basically tried to impose their own one. And the objective here is at least at this phase to deny Hamas the political victory they want.
The real issue here in the end is this, I think. After 28 days, 1,800 plus Palestinians dead, 67 Israeli soldiers, three Israeli civilians, and a major humanitarian crisis in Gaza, will the end game here, the end state be any different than the previous two rounds in 08-08-09 and 2012? That's the struggle that is going to shape the next several weeks. You can't live ceasefire by ceasefire on this one. It's way too early to determine how in the end this is going to play out.
CUOMO: So basically you're saying any U.S. efforts to negotiate peace at this point are fruitless because this doesn't end until Israel gets done what it believes it needs to do. And until then, you might as well just wait.
MILLER: There's three endings. Number one, in 08-09 it ended with a unilateral ceasefire imposed by the Israelis. I'm not sure you're going to get this because Hamas' military wing I suspect believes its winning and may want to continue. Second, in 2012 it ended with a negotiated ceasefire by the Egyptians.
You're not going to get that either because you have Sisi in power, no longer the Muslim Brotherhood. And there's tremendous tension with the Egyptians between Hamas and Egypt. John Kerry tried twice, and the reality is right now there's still insufficient urgency on the part of Israel or Hamas, frankly. I would still believe really Hamas does want to continue this a while longer, to stand down. And that's the struggle and the challenge for diplomats in the international community over the next several weeks.
CUOMO: Anderson, on the ground there what's the feeling about whether the U.S. bungled the last ceasefire and the appetite for ceasefire in general?
COOPER: Well, certainly there was a lot of concern within the Israeli government and people here about John Kerry's role in this. There was a lot of public criticism of John Kerry for what Israel viewed as a flip-flopping from originally backing Egyptian's proposal and then 24 hours later bucking a proposal from Qatar and Turkey. There was a lot of anger towards the United States. And I think some of that has continued.
The public statements from the Israeli government have been supportive of President Obama, very supportive of John Kerry. Behind the scenes there's certainly been a lot of tension, a lot of back and forth. A report this weekend that was not denied by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, some tough words that he reportedly had for Secretary of State John Kerry, essentially saying don't second-guess me when it comes to Hamas. He did not come out and deny saying that in so many words, but he sort of quibbled with the tone of the comments made in that private conversation.
So I think there's a lot of concern that the U.S. and particularly from the blunt statements that, as you said, Chris, it's the strongest statements yet by the United States condemning actions by Israel, the statements yesterday that were made in wake of a hit near a U.N. shelter.
CUOMO: Anderson thank you for bringing up the quote from Netanyahu. Peter, when you take the strength of that quote, right, which I don't care what your tone is, if you tell me don't ever second-guess me again with Hamas, you have the biggest smile on your face in the world, it's going to sting, and no change in tactics, is the U.S. kidding itself here in terms of its ability to broker peace?
BEINART: Look, the truth of the matter is, the Obama administration despite its, frankly, private, I would say deep animosity towards the Netanyahu government, has never really been willing to challenge this Israeli government because the domestic political costs have been too high. That's the reality. I don't think the United States government or the Obama administration ever believed that Netanyahu was serious about negotiating a two-state solution with Mahmoud Abbas. But the truth is Barack Obama has made the political decision again and again that the political costs of a real political confrontation with this Israeli government are too high, and Obama has been weakened in his leverage over the Israeli government because he's not that popular in Israel. And I think that's why you've been able to see Benjamin Netanyahu be able to get away with basically not having to listen that much to the U.S.
CUOMO: One button point for you, Mr. Miller, and then I'll let you guys go because we're out of time. Anderson had a great back and forth with Regev, the spokesperson from Israel. Regev said, hey, this is the seventh time we've tried a ceasefire here, we've tried to do the right thing. And Anderson said, it's also the seventh time that one of these U.N. shelters have been hit. Is that what we're seeing here? Do you believe this is more about PR than it is about peaceful restraint?
MILLER: No. I just think the Israelis are operating in a set of conditions which basically makes it impossible to avoid civilian casualties. Last week the U.N. is now claiming the Israelis used heavy artillery and that caused the damage and the destruction and the death at the other U.N. compound. I don't know. Look, my view is Israel's policy is not immoral. They're not willfully targeting civilians. They're not casual or reckless. But the reality is they have certain objectives. And preserving civilian life may be a factor in shaping Israeli policy, that is to say Palestinian life, but it is not the driving force.
And that I think is one of the reasons, that and the fact that Hamas continues to co-locate its military resources in densely populated areas, that you have a catastrophe that you have. And ultimately that is the real problem. I talked earlier about the end state. Unless we get a better outcome this time, think about what is occurring over the last four weeks, and most of it, frankly, is going to be in vain. We've got to figure out a better way to create a more stable end state. And that will not, Chris, be an easy thing to do.
CUOMO: Not easy to hear but the realities are very important because people have to keep their eyes open about the practicalities. Aaron David Miller, thank you very much, Peter Beinhart, thank you. Coop, obviously we'll be back with you, Anderson. Thank you very much for weighing in for us in this segment, appreciate it.
A lot of other news as well. Let's get right over to Michaela.
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Chris, let's give you your headlines right now. Iraq's largest dam and a key oil field are now in the control of Sunni militants. They also seized three more towns over the weekend in heavy fighting with Kurdish forces. By taking over the Mosul dam Sunni fighters have the ability to flood major cities or withhold water from them in their bid to topple Iraq's Shiite-led government.
Rescue workers searching for survivors this morning following a deadly 6.1 magnitude quake that struck southwestern China. Nearly 400 people are dead, 2,000 others among the injured. The Chinese government has sent over 2,000 troops to the region, but heavy rains are blocking roads and slowing relief and rescue efforts.
A U.S. marine jailed in Mexico since March is due back in court today. Andrew Tahmooressi is being held on weapons charges. He admits to driving into Mexico where authorities say they found a pistol, shotgun, and rifle in his car. Tahmooressi for his part says he merely took a wrong turn from the California side of the border into Tijuana.
Leaders from across Africa are in Washington today for the first U.S.- Africa summit for three days of meetings. They will focus on economic development and establishing ties with U.S. businesses. This is the first time a U.S. president has hosted a conference of African leaders. The presidents of Liberia and Sierra Leone were forced to cancel their attendance because of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. That is such a big issue in West Africa right now. Obviously it will be a topic of discussion there, how to prevent the spread of it. And I also guess that there will be a conversation about the school girls that are missing and being held captive by Boka Haram. So they have a lot of things to discuss today.
BOLDUAN: Thanks, Michaela, thanks for those updates. So let's take another break.
Coming up next on NEW DAY, the second American Ebola patient set to arrive in the United States tomorrow as we learn that the first patient ever treated for Ebola in the United States seems to be improving. We'll have an update on that coming up.
CUOMO: The big concern is about the virus spreading. Now, there is a new device that can catch it before it happens. We're going to have a live demonstration of this potentially lifesaving technology. You're getting a taste.
Look at how big and red my head is. You two look very nice. You look nice even in thermocolor.
BOLDUAN: Difficult to look pretty in thermo.
CUOMO: Hair looks good though.
BOLDUAN: Good head of hair.
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PEREIRA: The first known patient to be treated for Ebola is back on U.S. soil and he is improving in an Atlanta area hospital this morning. That doctor, who contracted the virus in Liberia, received an experimental serum before he was airlifted to the U.S. over the weekend. Incredibly, look at this, he is seen essentially walking under his own power into Emory University hospital.
Meanwhile, another American infected with the virus is expected to arrive back home in the U.S. tomorrow on board an isolation jet. But their arrival on U.S. soil has many concerned that Ebola could spread in the U.S.
We want to bring in our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta; he is live at Emory University hospital. How real is this concern? I know they're taking extraordinary measures, Sanjay, to make sure that this patient is isolated, but Ebola is on U.S. soil. DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's no
question you can understand the concerns. People hear about Ebola, everything we know of it are from these stories from Africa, Central and West Africa. But the idea, again, that it could spread, that now that it's here in this country, that it could cause another sort of outbreak, is so remote, so unlikely, that I think scientists feel pretty confident being able to take care of this patient here.
Keep in mind, Michaela -- and you've probably heard this before -- this doesn't spread through the air like a flu virus or like SARS or something. You have to have close contact with somebody who is already sick. This isn't somebody walking around an airport shaking hands; they're usually in bed or in a hospital and only health care workers -- that's why you see them covering up all of their skin, so they don't get any of the body fluids on them.
So I think very, very low if any risk at all to the general public. Health care workers, obviously, have to take special precautions.
PEREIRA: But we know it has a 90 percent fatality rate and I think that is the part that freaks so many people out. Sanjay, will you stand by with us? Because we have a really interesting guest here. One of the concerns is how to detect when people are sick.
We want to bring in Gary Strahan; he's founder and CEO of Infrared Cameras, Incorporated. This is a company that manufacturers thermo- scan cameras that can detect sick people.
Gary, good to have you here with us this morning.
GARY STRAHAN, FOUNDER & CEO, INFRARED CAMERAS, INC.: Hey, thank you very much. Appreciate it.
PEREIRA: I think this is mind-boggling to some of us. You think these thermo-scan cameras can actually detect, and they have been used to detect, when people are ill.
STRAHAN: Absolutely. The cameras see radiated energy emitted from the human body. And so we use them in screening in airports internationally to detect fever. It can't actually detect the Ebola virus, but it can in fact detect fever.
PEREIRA: And that's the difference, right? Because, as Sanjay will talk to us and has talked to us about, you have to screen for it with a blood test. But if someone is sick with a fever, which is one of the symptoms of Ebola -- so let's jump ahead. I want to show you a picture. You took this picture and brought it for us.
STRAHAN: Exactly.
PEREIRA: This is a male and he is healthy.
STRAHAN: Exactly.
PEREIRA: No fever here. STRAHAN: That's exactly right. In the image, the dark -- the green
areas are cool, the red and white areas, as you'll see maybe in the next image, are much more warmer. So this is an individual of what a normal male would look like.
PEREIRA: It makes sense because we think of green as cooler, red as a hot head. And this would be normal, a normal human being. So then let's look in contrast somebody --
STRAHAN: This is me.
PEREIRA: Were you sick?
STRAHAN: Yes, absolutely. I actually had a stomach virus and I took an image of myself. And you can actually see the white areas right here are hotter, elevated temperatures. On the human face, the warmest areas on the human face are at the tear duct.
PEREIRA: Isn't that interesting. I didn't know that. And our noses -- explain why -- because we were all joking about Chris's nose being so green.
STRAHAN: Your nose is cool because you're actually breathing.
PEREIRA: That makes sense. It's a cooling system.
STRAHAN: So it's a cooling system. The human body emits copious amounts of infrared light. And so the cameras actually see that light that's given off or emitted and it hits the sensor in the camera and actually is converted into a temperature measurement.
PEREIRA: You brought the device with us. Let's come on over and take a look at this. I think it's really amazing. So you've talked to us about how the colors change. And you have the camera pointing at our camera guys, a little back and for forth. And if we look on the big screen, again, this is live. You can see the areas of exposed skin. The fellows' hands and heads are the hottest.
STRAHAN Exactly. So in the image again, the color palette -- and I'm just going to very quickly switch to another screen. This rainbow palette right here, dark is cold and white is hot. And we actually can adjust this screen and we can actually change the image. We can make it darker; we can make it lighter.
PEREIRA: So then let me ask you, these are healthy men.
STRAHAN: That's correct.
PEREIRA: These are healthy men. If they were sick, it would be even more intensely red?
STRAHAN: Absolutely. If they were sick, and if I lower the level and span down, we can actually make them look hot falsely. The actual temperature measurement is here. You can actually see the area max (ph). And so you're actually doing a readout within this area box, this one on the screen is giving you a minimum, average and maximum temperature.
PEREIRA: So if you were using this at an airport, it would be one person at a time. They would be screened. You would have what would be average, what would be high and then you'd also have some sort of alarm or alert if the person was quite ill?
STRAHAN: Exactly. For example, if I take the area box and I put this around something that's more than 100 degrees, we would alarm. You see the system going into alarm.
PEREIRA: OK. That would alert authorities.
STRAHAN: It's picking up the light in the background. Yes, that would pick up authorities.
PEREIRA: Oh, and now we just -- it's OK, we're having tech issues here. So quickly, let me ask you, once they determine this is a person that is sick, what would happen? They would be separated and quarantined?
STRAHAN: Yes, they would be separated, quarantined, and likely given a blood test. So they would likely be given a blood test either from the system, too. Because the only way the Ebola virus can be detected is by a blood test.
PEREIRA: Let's bring back in Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, to me, this seems like this would be a really important tool, especially when you have people coming into the country but it's not being widely used in the United States. Why is that?
GUPTA: Well, obviously with some of these things, as with any public health thing, you want to make sure you're giving a test that is both sensitive and specific. It sounds like this is pretty sensitive just based on what you're describing. But obviously people have temperature or fever for lots of different things. And so how much do you want actually to be pulling people, doing blood tests, even quarantining for a period of time. Also, with Ebola, the fever is -- for example, 101.5 is considered a fever with Ebola. I'm not sure if Gary can comment, but that's a specific number. Can it quantify just how much of a fever the person has?
PEREIRA: Can they do that, Gary? Can it quantify just how much of a fever a patient has?
STRAHAN: Yes, yes. It can pinpoint and quantify the temperature, the surface temperature of the person. Now, we're not measuring core temperature, we're measuring surface temperature. Surface temperature is typically going to be actually lower, a little cooler than the core temperature. Just as you put a mercury thermometer in your mouth, it takes a couple minutes for it to get the actual core temperature of that individual.
PEREIRA: Interesting use of this technology. We really appreciate you bringing it down to let us see it for ourselves.
Gary Strahan, we appreciate it. And as always, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, we appreciate your voice of reason in all of this and we'll be following it along with you as this Ebola outbreak continues. Our thanks to you.
We're going to take a short break here on NEW DAY. Breaking news out of Jerusalem as we're hearing word that THE Israelis may have thwarted a terror attack inside Israel. We'll go live to Anderson Cooper on the ground in Jerusalem after the break.
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