Report Hamas Military Got into Israel Through Tunnels; Horrible Casualties Following Attack on Gaza Hospital
BLITZER: The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just addressed the nation here in Israel, and he said -- I'm quoting now -- "The only aim of the tunnels is to kill our children and destroy our cities. This action first is an essential stage of the demilitarization of Gaza. This must be part of any solution. And the international community has to demand that rather than allow Hamas money and to tunnels, impossible that the Israeli citizens should live under the threat of rockets." That statement coming in from Benjamin Netanyahu. He says "Israel has to be ready," in his words, "for a prolonged campaign." He says, "We will continue acting with judgment and force." Joining us, the spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner. Several issues I want to discuss with you, Lieutenant Colonel. First, this report that Hamas militants got into southern Israel today through a tunnel, and they emerged, they exchanged fire with Israeli troops, and they're now on the loose. Israel is looking for them. What is the information you have?</s>LT. COL. PETER LERNER, SPOKESMAN, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES: Well, Hamas clearly spent the entire day just preparing more and more attacks. Indeed, in this evening, we have seen an infiltration again through a tunnel, much like the one you visited earlier today, into Israeli territory and they carried out attack. They shot at some of our forces. And we are in pursuit of them. Indeed, this is the exact problem we have with these tunnels. They serve only one purpose. And because of our forces on the ground, we were actually able to prevent them from striking our cities.</s>BLITZER: How many Hamas militants do you estimate got through that tunnel and may be in large in southern Israel right now?</s>LERNER: Still a bit early for me to indicate specifics. But when we do, we'll make that announcement.</s>BLITZER: Do you have any reason to believe they may have gotten back into the tunnel and gotten back into Gaza?</s>LERNER: That's a possibility. We'll have to confirm that or see what we have on the ground.</s>BLITZER: What can you tell us about this destruction, this shelling that hit the hospital in Gaza today? Horrible casualties, children, a lot of sick people. We know Hamas blames Israel. You're blaming Hamas, but tell us why.</s>LERNER: That's just preposterous. We did not target the hospital.</s>BLITZER: Could it have been an errant Israeli rocket or missile or shell, something along that line?</s>LERNER: Absolutely not. We have indications, and the chief of staff just presented a photograph of the launch of the Palestinian rockets from Gaza this afternoon around 5:00 p.m. That struck those positions. Now, since the beginning of this operation, we have noted 200 cases of rockets that have fallen short, within Gaza Strip.</s>BLITZER: Rockets fired by Hamas?</s>LERNER: By Hamas, at Israel, that have fallen short in the Gaza Strip. This is just another case. It's unfortunate that it lands in the Gaza hospital, but it has absolutely nothing to do with Israel.</s>BLITZER: One of our reporters there in Gaza told us he interviewed people there who heard an Israeli drone that makes a unique sound flying overhead before that incident occurred.</s>LERNER: Well, in the last three weeks, through your reporters, almost every time you can hear the drones, the air force in the background, there is extensive presence, because they're carrying out these attacks, these rocket assaults against our civilians. So we have capabilities in the air at any given time. We have nothing to do with this attack against the hospital, which was originated in Gaza and struck Gazans.</s>BLITZER: Just last hour or so, sirens were going off as far north as Haifa in the Galilee area. But Hamas has capability of launching rockets from Gaza and reaching that far north? We knew they could hit Tel Aviv, but I wasn't aware they could go all the way to Haifa.</s>LERNER: Wolf, we've been telling you over the last three weeks that Israel is under a threat by this ruthless organization that has rockets that holds three-quarters of our country under threat. They have over five million Israelis in their sights. And they will do anything and everything they can to strike us. This is the reality we are living. This is a reality we're not willing to accept. That is why we're operating in Gaza. We will strike these terrorists. We will not let them -- we will not permit them to continue this onslaught against us.</s>BLITZER: What's the maximum range of the Hamas missiles, and where did they get these longer-range missiles that can go up to Haifa and northern Galilee?</s>LERNER: They have a 200-kilometer radius that they can reach with the --</s>BLITZER: A range, 200-kilometer -- a 200 kilometer range?</s>LERNER: Yes. So that basically leaves almost all of the state of Israel --</s>BLITZER: That's 120 miles?</s>LERNER: Yes -- all of the state of Israel, except for the corners --</s>BLITZER: Where did they get these longer-range missiles?</s>LERNER: Well, we saw earlier in March an attempt by Iran to import these rockets. We said then it was Iran shipping rockets to Gaza. And, indeed, we knew that they had already had some of these rockets in the Strip. So we know that they have these longer-range capabilities. They've been striving to utilize them, striving to strike our cities, our towns, from Haifa in the north, down to the south, further south. This is what they're doing. They are trying to strike us from the air, from beneath the ground, from over the ground. They're constantly trying to attack our civilians. We won't let it happen.</s>BLITZER: No indication of a humanitarian cease-fire right now, right?</s>LERNER: I think safe to say we are combating a terrorist organization and, as such, we will continue to do so.</s>BLITZER: Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner, of the IDF, thank you for joining us. Doesn't look like there's going to be a cease-fire any time soon. Much more of the breaking news right after this.