Editor's note: CNN has crews in Israel, Gaza and around the region reporting on the latest attacks, talks and fallout from the upsurge in the Gaza-Israel conflict. Here are some of their stories:
[Updated 8:35 a.m. ET Wednesday]
A bomb exploded on a bus in Tel Aviv as it passed by Israeli army headquarters around noon local time Wednesday. The attack, which police said left at least 22 people injured, shook up the Israeli public and threatened to complicate efforts to achieve a cease-fire on the eighth day of violence between Israel and Gaza.
At the scene of the bus bombing, police cordoned off the street as ambulances arrived. CNN's Sara Sidner said there is a hospital nearby. Sidner said the injured included people on the bus and people who were on the street.
[Updated 9:21 p.m. ET Tuesday]
[Updated 9:17 p.m. ET]
Massive strike right behind Shurouq building...multiple hits. Broke quiet of several hours #gaza
—
benwedeman (@bencnn) November 20, 2012[Updated 5:14 p.m. ET Tuesday]
Ministry of health spokesman in #gaza tells cnn that casualties now 137 dead and more than 1,100 injured
—
Arwa Damon (@arwaCNN) November 20, 2012
[Updated 4:14 p.m. ET Tuesday]
Damon reports that six or seven explosions could be heard from her vantage point in Gaza City a few minutes ago. This coincides with this tweet from Cooper, also in Gaza:
a lot of incoming right now
—
Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) November 20, 2012The nighttime explosions in Gaza – and rocket attacks from Gaza into southern Israel – come after Egypt and Hamas had indicated that a halt, or calming, might happen around 2 p.m. ET. But Hamas and Egypt seem to have pulled back from those statements.
[Updated 3:58 p.m. ET Tuesday]
Several explosions near our office in last few minutes while we are live on the air @CNN #Gaza
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Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) November 20, 2012[Updated 3:07 p.m. ET Tuesday]
Cooper reports that in the last half-hour or so, an explosion happened at a villa owned by a well-known banker who no longer lives there. Locals told Cooper's team that they don't know who, if anyone, used the building. No injuries to anyone were immediately apparent, Cooper reported.
explosion hits bldg a block from our office. Destroys villa. A fire is burning. Arrived on scene before ambulances. no sign of bodies
—
Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) November 20, 2012[Updated 2:25 p.m. ET Tuesday]
presidential office in #egypt says there is no announcement re ceasefire...massive blast just shook blgd, broke glass on lower floors
—
Arwa Damon (@arwaCNN) November 20, 2012[Updated 2:08 p.m. ET Tuesday]
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri says Israel has yet to agree to terms that could halt violence, Wedeman reports.
[Updated 2:01 p.m. ET Tuesday]
Both Wedeman and Damon report a huge blast in Gaza. The blast comes minutes before the start of what a senior Hamas official said would be a "calming down."
The Hamas official said an announcement would come from a Hamas official in Cairo at 2 p.m. ET. The "calming down" could halt violence, but is not the same as an official cease-fire or truce, Wedeman reported.
Pleitgen, in Ashkelon, Israel, says that in the past hour, he's seen rockets from Hamas intercepted by the Israeli military in the sky over southern Israel.
Huge blast central #Gaza now, continued Israeli naval bombardment. Building shaking.
—
benwedeman (@bencnn) November 20, 2012heard massive explosion in #gaza followed by what sounded like intense artillery fire
—
Arwa Damon (@arwaCNN) November 20, 2012[Updated 11:33 a.m. ET Tuesday]
Sayah said three or four huge explosions happened about 35 minutes ago near the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and Gaza. He said he didn't know what exploded.
Sayah reported that other explosions have happened in that area over the past two days. Asked how people there react to the blasts, he said: “Frankly, they’re used to it."
"They may duck, they may look to see where it came from, they may listen to the car alarms, but by now they’re very much used to the explosions,” Sayah said.
[Updated 10:47 a.m. ET Tuesday]
Pleitgen, reporting from Ashkelon near Israel's border with Gaza, says four or five rockets were just fired from Gaza into Israel's airspace, and that it appears Israel's military shot down all of them.
He reports that the Israel Defense Forces claims five Israeli soldiers were injured in a recent rocket strike from Gaza – information that the IDF also makes on its website. Information on where the soldiers were injured wasn't immediately available.
[Updated 10:29 a.m. ET Tuesday]
Cooper reports he and his team saw a body of a man – alleged to be a spy for Israel – being dragged by a motorcycle that someone was driving along the main streets of Gaza City. The motorcycle rider was accompanied by other men on motorcycles, and the group alleged that the dead man was a spy, Cooper reports.
A rope attached the body's legs to the motorcycle, Cooper says.
a half dozen men on motorcycles just dragged the body of a man down a main street in #Gaza. They were yelling he was a spy for Israel
—
Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) November 20, 2012[Updated 9:51 a.m. Tuesday ET]
Wolf Blitzer is touring homes that have been destroyed in Beer Sheva, Israel, says CNN producer Linda Roth, who is with him there. Eleven Hamas rockets hit Beer Sheva on Tuesday, causing casualties, according to Blitzer. He will have more from Beer Sheva on CNN's "The Situation Room" at 4 p.m. ET.
Homes destroyed: Be'er Sheva, Israel. Watch @wolfblitzer @CNNSitRoom 4pET #pillarofdefense http://t.co/QZEojd5f
—
linda roth (@lindarothcnn) November 20, 2012[Updated 8:40 a.m. ET Tuesday]
resident: leaflets dropped by #israel warn residents in some areas of #gaza close 2 border to leave immediately and go to #gaza city
—
Arwa Damon (@arwaCNN) November 20, 2012Moments after we saw rocket fired from #gaza our Jerusalem bureau reported hearing sirens followed by a thud
—
Arwa Damon (@arwaCNN) November 20, 2012Damon's tweets came on a day when an Israeli official said his country is holding off on a ground offensive into Gaza, in hopes that a diplomatic solution may be achieved to halt the raging violence. But fresh rockets fired into Israel and strikes by Israel in Gaza showed there was no immediate sign of a cease-fire.
[Updated 8:38 a.m. ET Tuesday]
Three more rockets just launched from #Gaza City towards #Israel
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Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) November 20, 2012IDF leaflet dropped from sky warning Gazans to stay away from Hamas. #Gaza #Israel instagr.am/p/SQJ8cuEkFT/
—
Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) November 20, 2012Just saw leaflets being dropped by IDF warning people in an area of #Gaza where rocket was recently launched to stay away from Hamas.
—
Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) November 20, 2012[Updated 8:34 a.m. Tuesday ET]
Eleven Hamas rockets came flying into the Israeli city of Beer Sheva, causing casualties, Blitzer reported from the city. More than 30 rockets were fired into the area Tuesday, but most were destroyed by Iron Dome interceptors.
I'm in Beersheba where 11 Hamas rockets have just come in. There are casualties.
—
Wolf Blitzer (@wolfblitzer) November 20, 2012[Updated 10:09 p.m. ET Monday]
Explosion sounds in #Gaza City as calls to prayers echo through the night
—
Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) November 20, 2012[Updated 7:01 p.m. ET]
4 rockets just fired from near media center in #Gaza City. The same media center bldg hit by three IDF missiles earlier today
—
Anderson Cooper (@andersoncooper) November 19, 2012Check out CNN's on-the-ground posts from Monday.
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Israel has broken 65 U.N. resolutions with no consequences. Compare that with Iraq whom has broken 2 and was invaded and destroyed.
Question: Which country has nukes, won't sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty and won't allow IAEA inspectors in? (HINT: It ain't Iran)
Hamas shot over 1000 rockets into Israel in the last 2 months that is terrorism
The Israeli have right to defend themselves so called Hamas extremist aggression which been instigated iran
I don't get it. What are you saying by posting this link?
Yeah
Since CNN won't report anything except "5 Israeli soldiers injured", let me shed some light on it.
144 Palestinians "offed" with 866 injured. No they're not all terrorist's.
1643 rockets fired into Gaza
822 houses destroyed
This report was from yesterday.
That's because they cowards and they hide behind innocent while they are trying to kill you. Israel should have defending themselves long before now. There is no such place as Palestine. Gaze is part of Israel. The only reason less people have died in Israel is because they have a defense system. Unlike our government at least they have the balls to make a stand. We just let our people die.
Israel denies the right for palestinians to llive. Check the oather networks. If Alexander Cooper wants to "keep them honest" he must say the truth of tha atrocities commited by Israel against Palestinians. He is Now In Ghaza how can't he see?
Anderson Copper, not Alexander...
He has reported on the results of Israeli airstrikes. He is also seeing Hamas launch rockets from residential buildings, and has reported such. Can you handle that bit of "Truth"?
He can't see because he is a human shield for (standing in front of) the "brave" palestinian leaders and terrorists.
Hamas said, (and I quote): “the Palestinians are a nation of jihad and martyrdom; we desire death more than you desire life”. Hamas TV instructs the population that (quote) “bombs are more precious than children.” Hamas (and the other fine upstanding organizations) will hide behind their women, children, elderly, and the media; this is their “brave” tactic. That’s why all the $ they get from the arab and European world is spent on bombs instead of shelters and sirens, like in Israel. The palestinians are lucky they are dealing with Israel and not syria....
Indoctrinated,
The Palestinian people have NO air force, navy or and armed forces as does Israel! They live and walk freely in their ever shrinking land and have nowhere to hide.
Israel does NOT deny Palestinians the right to live . Many Palestinian Arabs (Muslims) live in Israel proper, in peace and relative ease, getting many services like health care from Isreal at no cost. Others live on the West Bank. Gaza is isolated because of the Hamas terrorist dogs that are in control of that area. If Hamas were kicked out on the hind ends, and no longer threatened Israel, all would be fine and the people of Gaza would not be under blockade and would have a much better life.
Does CNN have more fake injury video for us? Maybe some Palestinians getting tortured or something like that? Surely you can put more fake stuff on the air...
I can't believe how many dupes are falling for the Hamas strategy of:
- fire rockets at civilians in Israel
- hide among civilians in Gaza
- get as many civilians as possible in Gaza killed in the retaliation
- scream to the world about Israeli atrocities
These monsters are killing their own children. Wake up! This is not Israel's fault.
The BBC recently broadcast a news report showing a man being carried off by four others, seemingly the victim of an Israeli missile strike, only for him to reappear in the same clip a few seconds later wandering around completely unharmed. The same organization’s Jon Donnison yesterday re-tweeted a picture of the dead body of a young girl on a stretcher in Gaza with the headline "Heartbreaking," only for it to transpire that the girl had sadly been killed three weeks earlier in Syria. Are the reporters the voice of truth?
Egypt supports Gazans, but won't let them enter their country. Why not?
Iran supports Gazans, but doesn't welcome them. Why not?
All of the Arab nations support Gazans, but nobody wants them. Why not?
Is it because they use their women and children as human shields?
Is it because these terrorists launch rockets from hospitals, knowing that Israelis won't sacrifice human life by bombing them?
They would rather die killing Jews and Israelis rather than live in peace.
Just leave Israel alone, and there will be peace.
CEASEFIRE DELAYED TILL TOMORROW Hamas said the deal agreed by Egyptian mediators, which was due to start at 10pm, had been put back after the Israeli government failed to respond to proposals.‘The Israeli side has not responded yet, so we will not hold a conference this evening and must wait until tomorrow,’ said Ezzat al-Rishq, a senior Hamas leader. ‘The truce is now held up because we are waiting for the Israeli side to respond.’
Why is CNN focusing on reporting from GAZA, and not reporting from within Israel where the Hamas terrorists' Iran-provovided non-guided missiles are falling randomly upon the innocent civilians, hoping to kill or damage anything or anyone. Israeli's warn the Palastinian population before targeting weapons within a given area, and only strike at designated Hamas targets. Unfortunately, the cowardly Hamas dogs hide behind the skirts of women within the civilian population, firing their missiles from civilian locations, some actually falling upon thier own people.
Dear Jews and Muslims,
Thanks for making our calendar very relevant for the next 30 days!
Sincerely,
the Mayans
The World has changed. The Middle East has changed. The balance of power is shifting. The US has to recognize the Legitimate rights if the Palestinian people and to stop siding with Israel and the Arab dictators in the Middle East. CNN should take a poll in the Middle from people in the streets and find out how they feel about the US policy and its blind support to Israel. The Americans show such weakness in front if Jews. Ignoring the fact that 350 million Arabs one day will give up On the US. The US has to be a fair partner.
Has anyone considered this connection?
Bashar al-Assad ruthlessly murders tens of thousands of his own people. Bashar al-Assad = ally of Iran. Bashar al-Assad and Iran both need a big distraction to move the media's and world's attention away from their atrocities.
Iran = ally of Hamas. Hamas needs few excuses to provoke Israel and make itself look like heroes to Gaza's Palestinians, who've rejected the corrupt Abbas PLO regime in the West Bank. So, well supplied by new and more sophisticated Iranian rockets, Hamas for the last several weeks starts firing thousands of rockets into popular populated Israeli civilian areas (not military targets).
So, of course, Israel and the IDF respond. Surprise, surprise. And voila, suddenly the media's and world's attention is focused on a 137 casualties in Gaza's and no longer on tens of thousands of Syrians butchered by Assad in Syria with Iran's help.
You are probably right in your comment and It's apparent that Iran pulled the trigger in Gaza. Iran needs some breathing room so stirring up the entire region including Egypt and Turkey is brilliant.
It's refreshing to see someone else who gets it. It's also refreshing to see some else who spells the French word "voila" properly, instead of butchering it like so many on the internet by typing "wallah" or something without understanding what "voila" actually means.