Hamas Says 24 Dead, 200 Wounded; Explosion Rocks Oil Platform In Gulf Of Mexico; Israel, Hama Conflict Intensifies
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Suzanne Malveaux. Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM. Just minutes ago, the Israeli military releases the statement saying it will operate until the mission has been completed. Rockets flying back and forth between Gaza and Israel and the death toll is now rising. The Hamas' rockets are reaching farther into Israel than they have ever before. Two have fallen just south of Jerusalem despite Israel's sophisticated anti-aircraft capabilities. Palestinian officials say that rockets from Israel have killed 24 Palestinians and wounded 200 in the past two days. Israeli officials reported no new death today. Three died yesterday from rocket fire. Now, this all started when Israel sent a missile to destroy a car carrying the head of Hamas' military, killing him. Jill Dougherty, she's joining us from the state department. Jill, first of all, we've heard the U.N. asking for restraint from both sides. But you've got both of them, and we just talked to a representative, a former legal advisor to the PLO saying, look, it's not their fault. It's the other person's fault, it's the other side's fault. I mean, how do you intervene? How do you get this to actually stop?</s>JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's the dilemma. I mean, I think the United States -- the only answer that really would be to try to get the countries that have the influence with Hamas to put pressure, so make them stop, to urge them to stop. But that's very difficult. You saw President Obama, two days ago, talking with, for example, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, but also with Mohamed Morsi, the president of Egypt. Now, Egypt, of course, has a longstanding peace treaty with Israel. There was concern that something -- they, obviously, support the Palestinians in this, but, at the same time, a senior cabinet official said that the peace treaty is not in jeopardy. So, there are delicate relationships here, but they need to try to get some type of pressure on Hamas to stop. The U.S., at the same time, has -- you know, is urging Israel to be careful, --</s>MALVEAUX: Sure.</s>DOUGHERTY: -- minimize civilian deaths, if possible, but also says that the -- that Israel has a right to defend itself.</s>MALVEAUX: I want to read -- this is from the U.S. ambassador of the U.N., Susan Rice, what she said during a security council meeting two days ago. She said, President Obama told prime minister, Mr. Netanyahu that he understands and supports Israel's right to self- defense in light of countless rocket attacks on Israeli civilians being launched from Gaza. The president urged that prime minister Netanyahu make every effort to avoid civilian casualties. Do we think that the president -- that this administration has much leverage in actually making sure that happens?</s>DOUGHERTY: Well, I mean, the Israelis really feel that they have gone too far. They simply could not hold back from defending themselves because of these, you know, hundreds of attacks. Sol, trying to stop that, trying to tell Israel not to defend itself is really impossible. But that said, the danger of this, of escalation and all-out war, is really very high. And that's why this administration is trying to, you know, urge both sides to stop. It's, obviously, not being very successful.</s>MALVEAUX: You know, Tony Blair, he's put a lot of political capital in this as an envoy. He's trying to come up with a peace agreement for the Middle East. He spoke about this recently, what he sees is happening. I want to play a little bit for you.</s>TONY BLAIR, MIDDLE EAST QUARTET ENVOY: The single thing that's most important straight away is to try and calm the situation to de- escalate it, and that means that the rockets have got to stop coming out of Gaza and then the Israeli military action cease and then we can try and find our way forward.</s>MALVEAUX: So, Jill, I mean, how many players are involved now? How many people are stepping up and trying to make sure that this doesn't escalate? I mean, is there a sense of faith here that they can pull back a little bit?</s>DOUGHERTY: Well, on many different sides. Certainly, here at the State Department, at the White House, other countries are certainly doing what they can. There was a call from the United Nations from Ban Ki Moon for everyone to do what they can do. But probably the best thing is exactly what Tony Blair was saying there, which would be to have a cease-fire, to at least stop the killing, and then, hopefully, try to have some type of resolution. It's very, very difficult right now but the cease fire could, at this point, be the only answer.</s>MALVEAUX: All right. Jill, thank you, appreciate it. The search and rescue mission is now underway right now in the Gulf of Mexico. An explosion ripped through an oil platform off the central -- south central Louisiana coast today, setting off a fire which is now, we understand, it's been put out. Coast Guard officials say there are two workers, however, who are missing, and this rig belongs to the Black Elk Energy in Houston, producing both oil and natural gas. I want to bring in Chad Myers to talk about what is taking place. We did talk to a hospital official in the last hour or so. They said they had four patients that were brought in.</s>CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Correct.</s>MALVEAUX: They were going to be transferred to a facility to treat burn patients. What does that say to you about the expense of what has taken place on that rig?</s>MYERS: That was the West Jefferson Hospital we talked to. We now know that there are 11 people that have been medivaced to four separate hospitals. We haven't talked to the other three. That's just coming off right now from a press conference that I just -- literally just left. The -- there were 11 people medivaced. Nine people were actually transported to other platforms and other places away that were not injured. The two missing -- there were reported two missing, two dead from the Coast Guard. That's the same. Those two people are the two missing, so officially not too two dead yet. Still the two missing would be the back and forth from those two reports. We're going to see four area hospitals, now. We're going to talk to them. The burn unit was there. People all -- everybody is worried about how much oil is in the water. Literally, this is not an oil situation. This is a human situation. This is people being burned, people being injured by this platform. The Coast Guard saying that the most that this could have spilled into the Gulf of Mexico is 26 gallons of oil. That's all that was in the pipe. They were cutting a pipe. It was a construction, maintenance crew. They cut the wrong pipe or cut into a pipe with a welding torch or something that caused a spark. The spark lit the oil. The oil caused the -- caused the blast.</s>MALVEAUX: Do we have any idea, Chad, how big this explosion was?</s>MYERS: No, we don't. We could just see the --</s>MALVEAUX: Do we know if it was multiple explosions or just one -- just one?</s>MYERS: We believe that there was just one because they were cutting into one pipe.</s>MALVEAUX: And how close is this to the land, to the beach there?</s>MYERS: It's about 20 miles to Grand Isle, maybe a little bit less to Venice. But, you know, you're still basically in the Gulf of Mexico. You're a couple of miles away. They said that the Coast Guard took 45 minutes for the first Coast Guard facility to get -- the first helicopter to get there. But other people, the commercial helicopter units that were in the area, got to the rig originally. And the helipad was intact. And so, these commercial helicopters, they went in there, they got out of the helicopter, they got the people out, and they flew them to other places. So, it was pretty immediate. That search and rescue is still happening now, but the immediacy, because there is so much activity in that part of the Gulf of Mexico, there was just minutes from when it exploded to when there was help.</s>MALVEAUX: All right. Chad, thanks for the details. Obviously, we're going to be keeping track of this story as it develops. Thank you, Chad.</s>MYERS: You're welcome.</s>MALVEAUX: Here's what we're working on for this hour. (voice-over): President Obama promises the country will stand by New York as it rebuilds after Superstorm Sandy.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to be here until the rebuilding is complete.</s>MALVEAUX: But the recovery has just begun. An exclusive look at the flood damage that crippled one New York hospital. And warning, we are heading toward a fiscal cliff. Should Congress and the president let the country fall off the cliff and agree to a tax hike or create a bridge and extend the current tax breaks? What you're saying. Plus, a political divide. More than 100 years ago, the new movie "Lincolns" take on the battle over slavery. "Lincoln" actress, Gloria Ruben, joins us live. This is CNN NEWSROOM, and it's happening now.