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'Patriot' actress Bartusiak dead at 21
7/21/2014 3:04:45 AM
- Bartusiak, 21, suffered from epileptic seizures in recent days, her mother says
- "We think she had a seizure and choked and nobody was there," her mother says
- Bartusiak played the young daughter of Mel Gibson's "Patriot" character
- Her movie acting career began when she was just 6
(CNN) -- Actress Skye McCole Bartusiak, who played Mel Gibson's youngest daughter in "The Patriot," died Saturday at her home in Houston, her mother said Sunday. She was 21.
"We lost our girl," Helen McCole Bartusiak told CNN.
While investigators have not determined a cause of death, Bartusiak had been suffering from epileptic seizures in recent days, according to her mother.
"She was a kind and really beautiful girl," her mother said.
Bartusiak's most visible role was as the young daughter of Mel Gibson's Revolutionary War "Patriot" character in the 2000 movie.
Her movie acting career began when she was just 6 in 1999 with a role in "The Cider House Rules."
She played the daughter of Michael Douglas' character in "Don't Say a Word" in 2001.
Her last film role was the lead in "Sick Boy," a low-budget thriller released in 2012.
Bartusiak had been preparing to produce and direct her first feature film in recent months, her mother said.
Her boyfriend found Bartusiak sitting up in her bed in the garage apartment adjacent to her parents' Houston home, her mother said. "We think she had a seizure and choked and nobody was there."
Her mother said she started cardiopulmonary resuscitation on her daughter before paramedics arrived. "They were working on her for 45 minutes and could not get a heartbeat," she said.
"I've done CPR on that kid more than one time and it just didn't work this time," Bartusiak said.
She's suffered epileptic seizures since she was a baby, although they disappeared for a few years until returning last week, her mother said.
Bartusiak's mother spent Sunday morning looking through photos of her actress daughter for the funeral. The images include pictures with Presidents George W. and George H.W. Bush, Mel Gibson, Dennis Hopper and Michael Douglas, she said.
"The girl has lived such an amazing life," she said.
People we've lost in 2014
Gaza conflict: U.S. calls for immediate cease-fire
7/21/2014 1:33:45 PM
- NEW: Israel kindergarten struck; it was empty
- Gaza hospital shelled; Israel says missiles in the vicinity were targeted
- Seven more Israeli troops are killed; Hamas says some were ambushed
- Israel investigating whether a soldier was captured
Gaza City (CNN) -- The death toll on both sides of the Gaza battle jumped Monday, as Palestinian officials reported scores more killed and Israel announced seven more soldiers died -- including several on Israeli soil.
About 550 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza Health Ministry officials said. It's unknown how many were militants, but the United Nations has estimated that 70% are civilians. Israel has reported dozens of terrorists killed.
In total, 25 Israeli soldiers have died, including three believed killed by friendly fire. Seven of the soldiers were killed Monday. Four were on Israeli soil, killed as a result of infiltration by Hamas operatives, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Two of the soldiers were dual Israeli-American citizens: California native Max Steinberg and Sean Carmeli, from South Padre Island, Texas, the U.S. State Department said.
Two Israeli civilians have also been killed. Israel's Iron Dome defense system helps protect its residents from missile attacks every day.
Gaza hospital shelled
The Shuhada Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza was hit by shelling, leaving five people dead -- one patient and four relatives, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Hamas TV showed upper floors damaged.
Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told CNN that the reports of hospital shelling are being questioned, "and we will make all the facts found public."
The Israel Defense Forces said an initial investigation shows that a cache of missiles was stored in the immediate vicinity of the hospital and was targeted. "Civilian casualties are a tragic inevitability of the brutal and systematic exploitation of homes, hospitals and mosques in Gaza," the IDF said. "While the IDF takes every possible measure to minimize civilian casualties, Hamas and its deliberate tactic of embedding terrorist activities within the urban environment is ultimately responsible."
Israel also blames Hamas for other civilian deaths in Gaza, noting that the group has encouraged people to stay in their homes despite repeated warnings from Israel in advance of airstrikes. But some Palestinians have said they feared that even if they left they could face the same violence anywhere in Gaza. More than 83,000 Palestinians have taken refuge in U.N. facilities.
"Nobody is safe and nobody can flee anywhere because everywhere is targeted," said Enas Sisisalem, a mother of two who lives in the al-Remal neighborhood of Gaza City. "When we hear the shelling my kids will cry."
Israeli kindergarten struck
A rocket fired from Gaza struck a kindergarten, which was empty at the time, in the Israeli town of Sha'ar Hanegev, the IDF said.
More than 2,000 rockets have been fired at Israel since the start of Operation Protective Edge, it said.
Hamas said Monday it had killed Israeli soldiers in an ambush and that the Hamas fighters were uninjured. It also said it successfully targeted Israeli troops in several places.
Israel killed more than 10 Hamas terrorists who entered the country through tunnels "to attack two different kibbutzim," or communal areas, "where farmers are trying to conduct their daily lives," government spokesman Mark Regev told CNN.
"We will see Hamas come out of this substantially weakened, their arsenal of dangerous weapons diminished," Regev vowed Monday in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "They will understand they can't shoot at our people with impunity."
In a meeting late Sunday, U.N. Security Council members expressed "serious concern about the growing number of casualties," according to the body's president, Ambassador Eugene-Richard Gasana of Rwanda.
And as the bloodshed continued Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that he has instructed Secretary of State John Kerry, who was headed to Egypt, to "push for an immediate cessation of hostilities."
The talks should focus on a return to the Gaza-Israel cease-fire agreement of November 2012, he said at the White House. "We don't want to see any more" civilian deaths in Gaza or Israel, he said.
Hamas speaking with other countries, not Egypt
Israel has slammed Hamas for refusing to consider a cease-fire proposal made by Egypt last week.
Senior Hamas political figure Izzat Risheq in Qatar told CNN on Monday that Hamas is not speaking directly with Egypt, but several other nations are involved: Turkey, Qatar, and Kuwait. Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal traveled from Qatar to Kuwait on Sunday, Risheq said.
Hamas postponed a scheduled news conference, at which Meshaal was going to speak, due to ongoing talks, Risheq said.
Kerry told CNN on Sunday the United States has "shown our willingness to try to deal with the underlying issues," but Hamas "must step up and show a level of reasonableness."
"No country, no human being, is comfortable with children being killed, with people being killed, but we're not comfortable with Israeli soldiers being killed either, or with people being rocketed in Israel," he said.
While steadfastly supportive of Israel in public comments, Kerry appeared to let slip some frustration when caught on an open microphone between television interviews Sunday. After one of his deputies mentioned the latest number of Palestinian casualties, Kerry was heard to say, "It's a hell of a pinpoint operation."
Obama spoke Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the second call in three days. Obama reiterated U.S. condemnation of Hamas attacks against Israel "and reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself," the White House said in a statement. Obama also "raised serious concern about the growing number of casualties, including increasing Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza and the loss of Israeli soldiers."
UN: 'Massive' airlift under way
The United Nations is sending supplies into Gaza in what Chris Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, described as a "massive humanitarian airlift."
"In the coming days, more airlifts are scheduled to arrive in Amman, from where UNRWA will truck the aid into Gaza for distribution," he said on Twitter.
The IDF, meanwhile, tweeted, "While Hamas continues its attacks, tons of goods are reaching Palestinians in Gaza from Israel," including 148 trucks of food and medical supplies.
Israeli soldier captured?
Hamas said Sunday it had captured an Israeli soldier. "He is a prisoner, and if Zionists lie about the dead and wounded, then the fate of this soldier is their responsibility," Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said.
Gunfire and cheers erupted in Gaza in apparent celebration of the soldier's capture.
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations later disputed that claim. "There's no kidnapped Israeli soldier, and those rumors are untrue," Ron Prosor said.
But Monday morning, the Israeli government said it was unsure.
"It could just be Hamas bravado. We're looking into it," Regev said. "We don't underestimate Hamas. Hamas has built a formidable military machine. We see that with these rockets that they can shoot at the center of our country -- at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. That network of tunnels under the Gaza Strip, there's a whole subterranean terror world there in Gaza. Some of those can go into Israel and pop up on our side of the frontier with arms, with explosives and can cause murder and mayhem on our side. So we take the Hamas threat very seriously."
If the claim is true, it will be "a game changer immediately because it's going to change what the Israelis are doing on the ground in that sector. They're going to be looking for him," said CNN military analyst Lt. Col. Rick Francona. But, he added, "overall, the Israeli strategy is not going to change. They're committed to this mission."
In 2006, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured. He was released some five years later in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Hezbollah reaches out to Hamas
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah reached out to Hamas to express its support Monday.
Hassan Nasrallah, the group's secretary-general, spoke with Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal, who lives in Qatar.
Nasrallah "praised the steadfastness of the resisters and their creativeness in the battlefield, the enormous patience of the wronged people of Gaza and their stand behind their resistance," according to a CNN translation of a Hezbollah statement.
Nasrallah also spoke with Ramadan Shallah, head of Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group, the statement said. Shallah is one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists.
READ: Gaza crisis: Who's who in Hamas
READ: Israeli military's 'knock on roof' warnings criticized by rights groups
READ: War-scarred Gaza medical crews also in harm's way
CNN's Karl Penhaul and Ian Lee reported from Gaza City, Josh Levs and Ali Younes from Atlanta and Jethro Mullen from Hong Kong. CNN's Kareem Khadder, Ben Wedeman, Atika Shubert, Ben Brumfield, Tim Lister, Michael Martinez, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Yon Pomrenze contributed to this report.
Israel denies Hamas' IDF capture claim
7/21/2014 12:15:04 AM
- NEW: The Palestinian death toll in Gaza rises to 476, health officials say
- Israeli soldiers from California and Texas are reported killed
- U.S. Secretary of State Kerry will travel to Egypt on Monday
- 13 Israeli soldiers were killed Sunday, Israel says
Gaza City (CNN) -- Hamas claimed it captured an Israeli soldier Sunday on the deadliest day yet in the battle between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.
Ron Prosor, Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, denied the report.
"There's no kidnapped Israeli soldier, and those rumors are untrue," he said.
According to Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' military wing, al-Qassam Brigades, the soldier was taken during an early morning operation.
He provided the supposed soldier's name and ID.
"He is a prisoner, and if Zionists lie about the dead and wounded, then the fate of this soldier is their responsibility," the spokesman said.
Gunfire and cheers erupted in Gaza in apparent celebration of the soldier's capture, according to CNN reporters on the ground.
"It's a game changer, immediately, because it's going to change what the Israelis are doing on the ground in that sector. They're going to be looking for him," said CNN military analyst Lt. Col. Rick Francona.
"Overall, the Israeli strategy is not going to change. They're committed to this mission," he said. Though, in the future, Francona said, the Israelis are "going to have to make some sort of accommodation to get this guy back."
In 2006, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured. He was released some five years later in exchange for more than a thousand Palestinian prisoners.
Gaza battle's deadliest day for both sides
Eighty-seven Palestinians died, at least 60 of them in Israel's assault on the town of Shaja'ia, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
The IDF said 13 soldiers were killed. At a news conference, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed the country's "deep pain" at the loss of the soldiers.
Among those killed was Max Steinberg, a California native, according to the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles. Steinberg attended Pierce College and served as a sniper.
Sean Carmeli, an IDF soldier from South Padre Island, Texas, was also killed, according to Rachel Simony of the Congregation Shoova Israel in South Padre Island.
In total, 476 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel's military operations against Hamas on July 8, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It's unknown how many were militants. The United Nations has estimated that 70% were civilians.
The Health Ministry said 3,130 people have been wounded.
Since beginning ground operations Thursday, Israel said, it has killed at least 70 terrorists and captured others.
"We're doing everything we can not to harm the people of Gaza," Netanyahu added. "Hamas is doing everything they can to make sure the people of Gaza suffer."
But people in Gaza who spoke with CNN painted a different picture. "What is happening is a massacre," said a resident of the al-Remal neighborhood.
Hamas claimed responsibility for the deaths of the Israeli soldiers, saying it had lured tanks into a field in which it had hidden improvised explosive devices. The attack "destroyed the force completely," Hamas said, calling it a "heroic operation."
In total, 18 Israeli soldiers have been killed, in addition to two civilians. Israel has used its Iron Dome defense system to block many missiles, fired by militants in Gaza, from hitting population centers.
Dozens dead in Shaja'ia
Hundreds of people fled in panic into Gaza City on Sunday as Israeli troops focused their firepower on nearby Shaja'ia. Bodies lay in streets beside gashes blasted into apartment buildings, said people who had escaped the violence.
Overnight, Hamas fired rockets from Shaja'ia toward Israel.
For three days, the IDF had warned residents of Shaja'ia to flee, Israel said. Such warnings are delivered through calls and text messages as well as fliers that said "it is the intention of the IDF to carry out aerial strikes against terror sites and operatives" in the area. The fliers told people to head to Gaza City by Wednesday morning and not to return until further notice. The IDF posted an English translation of the fliers Sunday on Twitter.
Some residents said they received the warnings but felt that even if they fled, they could face the same dangers in other parts of Gaza.
But the IDF said Hamas "ordered them to stay" and "put them in the line of fire."
The IDF posted a photo Sunday on Twitter, saying, "We fired a warning shot at this target in Gaza. In response, these civilians ran to the roof and brought their kids."
Hamas' cease-fire demands
Hamas told CNN on Sunday that it would only agree to a cease-fire if it was guaranteed that certain demands would form the basis of negotiations. Izzat Risheq, a senior Hamas political leader in Qatar, said the demands include opening the border crossings, freeing detainees Israel arrested in June, and opening the Gaza port.
The militant group overnight turned down an invitation by Egypt to talk about a cease-fire initiative that Cairo had proposed.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to go to Egypt on Monday to meet with senior officials about the crisis in Gaza. While there, he will push for a cease-fire, a State Department spokeswoman said.
U.S. President Barack Obama spoke Sunday with Netanyahu, the second call in three days. Obama reiterated U.S. condemnation of Hamas attacks against Israel "and reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself," the White House said in a statement. Obama also "raised serious concern about the growing number of casualties, including increasing Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza and the loss of Israeli soldiers."
Speaking to CNN's "State of the Union," Kerry said the United States supports Egypt's initiative for a cease-fire and "will work for a fair cease-fire."
The United States has "shown our willingness to try to deal with the underlying issues," but Hamas "must step up and show a level of reasonableness," he said.
"Israel is under siege by a terrorist organization that has seen fit to dig tunnels and come through those tunnels with handcuffs and tranquilizer drugs, prepared to try to capture Israeli citizens and take them back to hold them hostage. No country could sit by and not take steps to try to deal with people who are sending thousands of rockets your way," Kerry said.
"No country, no human being, is comfortable with children being killed, with people being killed, but we're not comfortable with Israeli soldiers being killed either or with people being rocketed in Israel."
"Hamas uses civilians as shields," he said. "They fire from a home and draw the fire into the home."
Separately, Kerry was caught on an open mic, appearing to criticize Israeli assurances that its ground offensive in Gaza would be limited.
His comments occurred between multiple television interviews. He was heard in a phone conversation with a State Department deputy, Jonathan Finer, discussing the deaths of Israeli soldiers killed overnight.
"I hope they don't think that's an invitation to go do more," Kerry said in the unguarded moment. "That better be the warning to them."
At that point, Finer is heard mentioning the number of Palestinians wounded and killed in the past 24 hours.
"It's a hell of a pinpoint operation. It's a hell of a pinpoint operation," Kerry said, a seemingly frustrated comment aimed at Israel.
Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, said on Aqsa TV on Saturday that there would be no truce or surrender while Israel is attacking.
Israel opens field hospital for Palestinians
Israel announced Sunday it would open a field hospital at the Erez Crossing to treat injured Palestinians. On Saturday, the defense forces delivered truckloads of medical supplies to Gaza.
Meanwhile, at Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, soldiers have been coming in with serious wounds from shrapnel and gunshots. The hospital treats soldiers and civilians, as well as injured Palestinians, although none were there Sunday.
The hospital is frequently hit by rocket attacks from Gaza. It has emergency procedures in place, including moving its neo-natal ward into a reinforced rocket shelter.
Israel agreed to a two-hour cease-fire Sunday, at the request of the Red Cross, to allow Palestinian emergency medical workers to tend to the wounded and dead in Shaja'ia, the IDF said. Israel also announced it was extending its cease-fire, but said Hamas was not holding its fire.
Hamas, meanwhile, said Israeli forces shelled Shaja'ia after the cease-fire was declared.
The IDF said it has held fire three times since beginning the operation in Gaza, but "Hamas never stopped shooting rockets."
Israel is still "early on in the mission," IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said Sunday. "You can't erase 10,000 rockets overnight," he said of Hamas' arsenal.
The IDF is adding troops to the incursion. It called up tens of thousands of reservists at the start of Operation Protective Edge to prepare for the ground operations.
Israel said it has struck "2,300 terror targets" in Gaza and found 13 tunnels the militants use for smuggling weapons.
Netanyahu: Demilitarize Gaza
Netanyahu called on the international community to "undertake a program to demilitarize Gaza" in the future.
The situation is "unacceptable" because of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, Netanyahu told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an interview Sunday.
"These people are the worst terrorists -- genocidal terrorists. They call for the destruction of Israel and they call for the killing of every Jew, wherever they can find them."
Hamas fighters in Gaza "don't care" about the dying people around them, Netanyahu said.
Israel has enabled the shipment of concrete into Gaza for buildings, hospitals, and schools, but the militants use hundreds of tons of it for each tunnel, Netanyahu said.
Hamas: Israel committed 'crime against humanity'
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, speaking to Al-Jazeera, said Israel committed "a crime against humanity," and that most of those killed in Shaja'ia were women and children. "Our people will not sit idle in front of this brutal aggression."
He called on the Palestinian Authority, in the West Bank, to "stop its security coordination with the occupation" and to "stop suppressing the demonstrations in the West Bank." He also said "the Arab world should not sit idle."
The Israeli government has repeatedly said that, unlike Palestinian militants, the IDF does not target civilians and works to avoid innocent casualties.
But in Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas on Earth, more than 70% of those killed in the hail of artillery and airstrikes have been civilians, according to the United Nations. A fifth were children. More than 40% of Gaza's population is 14 or younger.
About 81,000 Palestinians have taken refuge in U.N. facilities, Robert Turner, the director of U.N. efforts in Gaza, said Sunday. The United Nations has been investigating a cache of rockets used by militants found in a U.N. school.
Gaza crisis: Who's who in Hamas
Israeli military's 'knock on roof' warnings criticized by rights groups
War-scarred Gaza medical crews also in harm's way
Opinion: A smart way out of the Gaza confrontation
CNN's Ben Wedeman and Karl Penhaul reported from Gaza; CNN's Ben Brumfield and Josh Levs from Atlanta. CNN's Atika Shubert reported from Israel near Gaza. CNN's Tim Lister, MIchael Martinez, Kareem Khadder, Ian Lee, Ali Younes, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Ralph Ellis, Samira Said, Michael Schwartz, Salma Abdelaziz and Tal Heinrich contributed to this report.
Gaza conflict: U.S. calls for immediate cease-fire
7/21/2014 3:11:04 PM
- NEW: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrives in Cairo
- Israeli kindergarten struck; it was empty
- Gaza hospital shelled; Israel says missiles in the vicinity were targeted
- Seven more Israeli troops are killed; Hamas says some were ambushed
Gaza City (CNN) -- The death toll on both sides of the Gaza battle jumped Monday, as Palestinian officials reported scores more killed and Israel announced seven more soldiers died -- including several on Israeli soil.
About 550 Palestinians have been killed, Gaza Health Ministry officials said. It's unknown how many were militants, but the United Nations has estimated that 70% are civilians. Israel has reported dozens of terrorists killed by its forces.
In total, 25 Israeli soldiers have died, including three believed killed by friendly fire. Seven of the soldiers were killed Monday. Four were on Israeli soil, killed as a result of infiltration by Hamas operatives, the Israel Defense Forces said.
Two of the soldiers were dual Israeli-American citizens: California native Max Steinberg and Sean Carmeli, from South Padre Island, Texas, the U.S. State Department said.
Two Israeli civilians have also been killed. Israel's Iron Dome defense system helps protect its residents from missile attacks.
Gaza hospital shelled
The Shuhada Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza was hit by shelling, leaving five people dead -- one patient and four relatives, the Gaza Health Ministry said. Hamas TV showed upper floors damaged.
Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni told CNN that the reports of hospital shelling are being questioned, "and we will make all the facts found public."
The Israel Defense Forces said an initial investigation shows that a cache of missiles was stored in the immediate vicinity of the hospital and was targeted. "Civilian casualties are a tragic inevitability of the brutal and systematic exploitation of homes, hospitals and mosques in Gaza," the IDF said. "While the IDF takes every possible measure to minimize civilian casualties, Hamas and its deliberate tactic of embedding terrorist activities within the urban environment is ultimately responsible."
Israel also blames Hamas for other civilian deaths in Gaza, noting that the group has encouraged people to stay in their homes despite repeated warnings from Israel in advance of airstrikes. But some Palestinians have said they feared that even if they left they could face the same violence anywhere in Gaza. More than 83,000 Palestinians have taken refuge in U.N. facilities.
"Nobody is safe and nobody can flee anywhere because everywhere is targeted," said Enas Sisisalem, a mother of two who lives in the al-Remal neighborhood of Gaza City. "When we hear the shelling my kids will cry."
Israeli kindergarten struck
A rocket fired from Gaza struck a kindergarten, which was empty at the time, in the Israeli town of Sha'ar Hanegev, the IDF said.
More than 2,000 rockets have been fired at Israel since the start of Operation Protective Edge, it said.
Hamas said Monday it had killed Israeli soldiers in an ambush and that the Hamas fighters were uninjured. It also said it successfully targeted Israeli troops in several places.
Israel killed more than 10 Hamas terrorists who entered the country through tunnels "to attack two different kibbutzim," or communal areas, "where farmers are trying to conduct their daily lives," government spokesman Mark Regev told CNN.
"We will see Hamas come out of this substantially weakened, their arsenal of dangerous weapons diminished," Regev vowed Monday in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "They will understand they can't shoot at our people with impunity."
In a meeting late Sunday, U.N. Security Council members expressed "serious concern about the growing number of casualties," according to the body's president, Ambassador Eugene-Richard Gasana of Rwanda.
And as the bloodshed continued Monday, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that he has instructed Secretary of State John Kerry to "push for an immediate cessation of hostilities." Kerry arrived in Cairo on Monday.
The talks should focus on a return to the Gaza-Israel cease-fire agreement of November 2012, the President said at the White House. "We don't want to see any more" civilian deaths in Gaza or Israel, he said.
Hamas speaking with other countries, not Egypt
Israel has slammed Hamas for refusing to consider a cease-fire proposal made by Egypt last week.
Senior Hamas political figure Izzat Risheq in Qatar told CNN on Monday that Hamas is not speaking directly with Egypt, but several other nations are involved: Turkey, Qatar, and Kuwait. Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal traveled from Qatar to Kuwait on Sunday, Risheq said.
Hamas postponed a scheduled news conference, at which Meshaal was going to speak, due to ongoing talks, Risheq said.
Kerry told CNN on Sunday the United States has "shown our willingness to try to deal with the underlying issues," but Hamas "must step up and show a level of reasonableness."
"No country, no human being, is comfortable with children being killed, with people being killed, but we're not comfortable with Israeli soldiers being killed either, or with people being rocketed in Israel," he said.
While steadfastly supportive of Israel in public comments, Kerry appeared to let slip some frustration when caught on an open microphone between television interviews Sunday. After one of his deputies mentioned the latest number of Palestinian casualties, Kerry was heard to say, "It's a hell of a pinpoint operation."
Obama spoke Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the second call in three days. Obama reiterated U.S. condemnation of Hamas attacks against Israel "and reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself," the White House said in a statement. Obama also "raised serious concern about the growing number of casualties, including increasing Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza and the loss of Israeli soldiers."
UN: 'Massive' airlift under way
The United Nations is sending supplies into Gaza in what Chris Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, described as a "massive humanitarian airlift."
"In the coming days, more airlifts are scheduled to arrive in Amman, from where (the U.N. agency) will truck the aid into Gaza for distribution," he said on Twitter.
The IDF, meanwhile, tweeted, "While Hamas continues its attacks, tons of goods are reaching Palestinians in Gaza from Israel," including 148 trucks of food and medical supplies.
Israeli soldier captured?
Hamas said Sunday it had captured an Israeli soldier. "He is a prisoner, and if Zionists lie about the dead and wounded, then the fate of this soldier is their responsibility," Hamas spokesman Abu Obeida said.
Gunfire and cheers erupted in Gaza in apparent celebration of the soldier's capture.
Israel's ambassador to the United Nations later disputed that claim. "There's no kidnapped Israeli soldier, and those rumors are untrue," Ron Prosor said.
But Monday morning, the Israeli government said it was unsure.
"It could just be Hamas bravado. We're looking into it," Regev said. "We don't underestimate Hamas. Hamas has built a formidable military machine. We see that with these rockets that they can shoot at the center of our country -- at Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. That network of tunnels under the Gaza Strip, there's a whole subterranean terror world there in Gaza. Some of those can go into Israel and pop up on our side of the frontier with arms, with explosives and can cause murder and mayhem on our side. So we take the Hamas threat very seriously."
If the claim is true, it will be "a game changer immediately because it's going to change what the Israelis are doing on the ground in that sector. They're going to be looking for him," said CNN military analyst Lt. Col. Rick Francona. But, he added, "overall, the Israeli strategy is not going to change. They're committed to this mission."
In 2006, Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured. He was released some five years later in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Hezbollah reaches out to Hamas
The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah reached out to Hamas to express its support Monday.
Hassan Nasrallah, the group's secretary-general, spoke with Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal, who lives in Qatar.
Nasrallah "praised the steadfastness of the resisters and their creativeness in the battlefield, the enormous patience of the wronged people of Gaza and their stand behind their resistance," according to a CNN translation of a Hezbollah statement.
Nasrallah also spoke with Ramadan Shallah, head of Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian militant group, the statement said. Shallah is one of the FBI's most wanted terrorists.
READ: Gaza crisis: Who's who in Hamas
READ: Israeli military's 'knock on roof' warnings criticized by rights groups
READ: War-scarred Gaza medical crews also in harm's way
CNN's Karl Penhaul and Ian Lee reported from Gaza City, Josh Levs and Ali Younes from Atlanta and Jethro Mullen from Hong Kong. CNN's Kareem Khadder, Ben Wedeman, Atika Shubert, Ben Brumfield, Tim Lister, Michael Martinez, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Yon Pomrenze contributed to this report.
Tunnels allow Hamas attacks
7/21/2014 4:16:29 PM
Hamas' elaborate tunnel system is proving a challenge for Israel's military. CNN's Martin Savidge reports.
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Rebel leader: 'These boxes will reveal the truth'
7/21/2014 7:36:43 PM
- NEW: "These boxes will reveal the truth," rebel leader says
- Rebels hand over black boxes at ceremony in eastern Ukraine
- Train bearing bodies expected to arrive in Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials say
- Dutch foreign minister says human remains were "used in a political game"
Send iReport your photos and videos.
Donetsk, Ukraine (CNN) -- Rebels gave Malaysian officials the data recorders from downed Flight 17 on Tuesday, days after the passenger jet crashed in eastern Ukraine.
"We believe these are the black boxes and these boxes will reveal the truth," said Alexander Borodai, the self-declared rebel Prime Minister in Donetsk.
It was a significant step forward in an investigation that's been stalled for days, but key questions remained unanswered: Will the black boxes give investigators the clues they need? What will happen to the bodies of the plane crash's 298 victims, many of which are being kept in refrigerated train cars? And who pulled the trigger to bring the plane down?
Speaking to international reporters invited to watch the handover at the headquarters of the pro-Russian rebel movement early Tuesday, Borodai said the separatists had done their best to retrieve bodies and handle wreckage at the crash site. And he denied accusations that rebels shot down the plane.
"This is an information war," he said. "We don't have the technical ability to destroy this plane. Ukrainians are not interested in the truth."
Col. Mohammad Sakri of the Malaysian military thanked him.
"Having the black box is not to blame each other," he said, "but to show the Malaysians that we are so serious that these things be recovered for Malaysia."
The long-awaited handover came hours after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and U.S. President Barack Obama lashed out Monday at Russia over conditions at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, saying Russian-backed rebels were still impeding efforts to find out exactly what happened.
What will black boxes reveal?
The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, known as the black boxes, could provide key information about what happened to the plane, analysts told CNN.
But is it possible the rebels tampered with them before handing them over?
"You can't go and fool around with the data. These are solid, secure devices," said Peter Goelz, former National Transportation Safety Board managing director. "If there was any kind of attempt to alter them, investigators would know immediately."
The voice recorder could include audio from the cockpit, which would show whether the pilots knew the plane had been hit, said Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation.
And the flight data recorder will give investigators information about engine settings, pressurization and electronic communications, among other details, she said. but that doesn't mean the black boxes hold all the clues to explain what happened to the Boeing 777.
"The black boxes aren't going to solve" the issue of who downed the Malaysian airliner, a U.S. intelligence official told CNN's Evan Perez.
Handling the remains
The remains of 16 people were still missing Monday, four days after Flight 17 plunged to the ground, Poroshenko told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
Earlier, the Ukrainian government issued a statement saying that 282 bodies and 87 "body fragments" had been recovered from the sprawling crash site.
A train carrying the remains of 251 passengers was expected to arrive in the eastern city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said Monday. It will first have to pass through Donetsk, the scene of fighting earlier in the day between rebels and government forces.
Obama and Poroshenko decried how the bodies had been treated, echoing complaints that the remains had been left exposed to the elements for days and that rebels had stripped personal belongings from some of the bodies and their effects.
Poroshenko said the rebels' conduct was "barbaric." Obama called the handling of remains an "insult" that has "no place in the community of nations."
Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said bringing the victims' remains home is his country's top priority.
"To my dying day, I will not understand that it took so much time for the rescue workers to be allowed to do their difficult jobs," he told the U.N. Security Council on Monday, "and that human remains should be used in a political game."
Dutch forensics experts who inspected the train Monday were "more or less" satisfied with how the bodies were being stored," Bociurkiw said.
Ukrainian government officials have said the bodies will eventually be taken to Amsterdam. Most of those who died in the crash were Dutch.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte met with relatives and friends of victims Monday, calling the session filled with sadness and "very touching."
"All of the Netherlands is feeling their fury. All of the Netherlands is sharing their deep sadness, and all of the Netherlands is just gathering around all the next of kin," he said.
Who pulled the trigger?
The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Monday demanding full access to the crash site and condemning the downing of the plane. The resolution won unanimous approval from the 15-member council, which includes Russia. It did not specify who was responsible for the crash.
U.S. and other officials have said it appears the plane was shot down by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile located within rebel-held territory. Evidence supporting that conclusion includes telephone intercepts purporting to be pro-Russian rebels discussing the shootdown and video of a Buk missile launcher traveling into Russia with at least one missile missing.
While they have stopped short of putting the responsibility squarely on Russia, Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and others have said the pro-Russian rebels could not have shot such a high-flying jet down without weapons and training from Russia.
But officials said Monday that U.S. intelligence analysts are examining phone intercepts, social media posts and information gathered on the ground to see if Russian officials played a direct role in the shootdown, according to two U.S. officials directly familiar with the latest assessment. The officials declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.
"We are trying to determine if they manned it, advised, or pulled the trigger," one of the officials told CNN.
Poroshenko, speaking to CNN's Amanpour, pleaded for international solidarity against the pro-Russian rebels believed by many international officials to be responsible for firing the missile that downed the plane Thursday, killing all 298 aboard.
"I don't see any differences" between 9/11, the Lockerbie bombing and the attack on Flight 17, Poroshenko said, referring to the 2001 terror attacks on the United States and the bombing of a Pan Am flight over Scotland in 1988.
Obama called on Russia to rein in the rebel fighters, who he said had treated remains poorly and removed evidence from the site.
"What exactly are they trying to hide?" he said.
Russians blame Ukraine
Pro-Russian rebels have repeatedly denied responsibility for the shootdown.
In an interview with Chris Cuomo broadcast Monday on CNN's "New Day," Borodai said he believed Ukrainian forces either shot the plane down with a surface-to-air missile or, as the Russian general suggested, one of its own fighter jets.
"We didn't have motives and desire to do that, and it is obvious that Ukrainians have them," he said. "I can't say about desire, but motive is obvious that the crash of this plane was beneficial to them."
Moscow has strongly denied claims it pulled the trigger, and on Monday, a Russian general suggested that it may instead have been a Ukrainian jet fighter that shot the plane down.
Russian monitoring showed a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet flying along the same route and within 3 kilometers to 5 kilometers (1.9 miles to 3.1 miles) of Flight 17, Lt. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov of the Russian Army General Staff said at a news conference, Russian state media reported.
"We would like to know why the Ukrainian plane was flying along a civilian route on the same flight path as the Malaysian Boeing," Kartapolov said, according to the reports.
In his interview with Amanpour, Poroshenko rejected the Russian suggestion, saying all Ukrainian aircraft were on the ground at the time.
Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, also blamed Ukraine for the crash on Monday. But when asked about audio recordings purporting to show pro-Russian separatists talking about shooting down a plane, he suggested that if they did, it was an accident.
"According to them, the people from the east were saying that they shot down a military jet," he said. "If they think they shot down a military jet, it was confusion. If it was confusion, it was not an act of terrorism."
Ukrainian President: The world must choose sides
So much we don't know -- eight unanswered questions
Who were the victims?
Should jet have flown over Ukraine?
CNN's Michael Pearson and Catherine E. Shoichetwrote from Atlanta, and Phil Black reported from Ukraine. CNN's Gul Tuysuz, Ingrid Formanek, Faith Karimi, Stephanie Halasz, Aliza Kassim, Anna Maja Rappard, Antonia Mortensen, Barbara Starr and journalist Victoria Butenko contributed to this report.
Black boxes handed over
7/21/2014 6:43:06 PM
Pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine have handed over flight data recorders from MH17 to Malaysia officials. Phil Black reports.
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Rebel leader: 'These boxes will reveal the truth'
7/21/2014 10:49:00 PM
- Rebels hand over black boxes to Malaysian officials
- "These boxes will reveal the truth," rebel leader says
- Train bearing bodies expected to arrive in Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials say
- Dutch foreign minister says human remains were "used in a political game"
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Donetsk, Ukraine (CNN) -- Rebels gave Malaysian officials the data recorders from downed Flight 17 on Tuesday, days after the passenger jet crashed in eastern Ukraine.
"We believe these are the black boxes and these boxes will reveal the truth," said Alexander Borodai, the self-declared rebel Prime Minister in Donetsk.
It was a significant step forward in an investigation that's been stalled for days, but key questions remained unanswered: Will the black boxes give investigators the clues they need? What will happen to the bodies of the plane crash's 298 victims, many of which are being kept in refrigerated train cars? And who pulled the trigger to bring the plane down?
Speaking to international reporters invited to watch the handover at the headquarters of the pro-Russian rebel movement early Tuesday, Borodai said the separatists had done their best to retrieve bodies and handle wreckage at the crash site. And he denied accusations that rebels shot down the plane.
"This is an information war," he said. "We don't have the technical ability to destroy this plane. Ukrainians are not interested in the truth."
Col. Mohammad Sakri of the Malaysian military thanked him.
"Having the black box is not to blame each other," he said, "but to show the Malaysians that we are so serious that these things be recovered for Malaysia."
The long-awaited handover came hours after Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and U.S. President Barack Obama lashed out Monday at Russia over conditions at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, saying Russian-backed rebels were still impeding efforts to find out exactly what happened.
What will black boxes reveal?
The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, known as the black boxes, could provide key information about what happened to the plane, analysts told CNN.
But is it possible the rebels tampered with them before handing them over?
"You can't go and fool around with the data. These are solid, secure devices," said Peter Goelz, former National Transportation Safety Board managing director. "If there was any kind of attempt to alter them, investigators would know immediately."
The voice recorder could include audio from the cockpit, which would show whether the pilots knew the plane had been hit, said Mary Schiavo, a CNN aviation analyst and former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation.
And the flight data recorder will give investigators information about engine settings, pressurization and electronic communications, among other details, she said. but that doesn't mean the black boxes hold all the clues to explain what happened to the Boeing 777.
"The black boxes aren't going to solve" the issue of who downed the Malaysian airliner, a U.S. intelligence official told CNN's Evan Perez.
Handling the remains
The remains of 16 people were still missing Monday, four days after Flight 17 plunged to the ground, Poroshenko told CNN's Christiane Amanpour.
Earlier, the Ukrainian government issued a statement saying that 282 bodies and 87 "body fragments" had been recovered from the sprawling crash site.
A train carrying the remains of 282 passengers was headed toward the eastern city of Kharkiv, officials said Monday.
Obama and Poroshenko decried how the bodies had been treated, echoing complaints that the remains had been left exposed to the elements for days and that rebels had stripped personal belongings from some of the bodies and their effects.
Poroshenko said the rebels' conduct was "barbaric." Obama called the handling of remains an "insult" that has "no place in the community of nations."
Dutch forensics experts who inspected the train Monday were "more or less" satisfied with how the bodies were being stored," said Michael Bociurkiw, the spokesman for monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
After the train arrives in Kharkiv, the remains will be flown to Amsterdam on board a Dutch C-130 Hercules, officials have said.
Most of those who died in the crash were from the Netherlands.
Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said bringing the victims' remains home is his country's top priority.
"To my dying day, I will not understand that it took so much time for the rescue workers to be allowed to do their difficult jobs," he told the U.N. Security Council on Monday, "and that human remains should be used in a political game."
Who pulled the trigger?
The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution Monday demanding full access to the crash site and condemning the downing of the plane. The resolution won unanimous approval from the 15-member council, which includes Russia. It did not specify who was responsible for the crash.
U.S. and other officials have said it appears the plane was shot down by a sophisticated surface-to-air missile located within rebel-held territory. Evidence supporting that conclusion includes telephone intercepts purporting to be pro-Russian rebels discussing the shootdown and video of a Buk missile launcher traveling into Russia with at least one missile missing.
While they have stopped short of putting the responsibility squarely on Russia, Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron and others have said the pro-Russian rebels could not have shot such a high-flying jet down without weapons and training from Russia.
But officials said Monday that U.S. intelligence analysts are examining phone intercepts, social media posts and information gathered on the ground to see if Russian officials played a direct role in the shootdown, according to two U.S. officials directly familiar with the latest assessment. The officials declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.
"We are trying to determine if they manned it, advised, or pulled the trigger," one of the officials told CNN.
Poroshenko, speaking to CNN's Amanpour, pleaded for international solidarity against the pro-Russian rebels.
"I don't see any differences" between 9/11, the Lockerbie bombing and the attack on Flight 17, Poroshenko said, referring to the 2001 terror attacks on the United States and the bombing of a Pan Am flight over Scotland in 1988.
Obama called on Russia to rein in the rebel fighters, who he said had treated remains poorly and removed evidence from the site.
"What exactly are they trying to hide?" he said.
Russians blame Ukraine
Pro-Russian rebels have repeatedly denied responsibility for the shootdown.
In an interview with Chris Cuomo broadcast Monday on CNN's "New Day," Borodai said he believed Ukrainian forces either shot the plane down with a surface-to-air missile or, as the Russian general suggested, one of its own fighter jets.
"We didn't have motives and desire to do that, and it is obvious that Ukrainians have them," he said. "I can't say about desire, but motive is obvious that the crash of this plane was beneficial to them."
Moscow has strongly denied claims it pulled the trigger, and on Monday, a Russian general suggested that it may instead have been a Ukrainian jet fighter that shot the plane down.
Russian monitoring showed a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet flying along the same route and within 3 kilometers to 5 kilometers (1.9 miles to 3.1 miles) of Flight 17, Lt. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov of the Russian Army General Staff said at a news conference, Russian state media reported.
"We would like to know why the Ukrainian plane was flying along a civilian route on the same flight path as the Malaysian Boeing," Kartapolov said, according to the reports.
In his interview with Amanpour, Poroshenko rejected the Russian suggestion, saying all Ukrainian aircraft were on the ground at the time.
Vitaly Churkin, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, also blamed Ukraine for the crash on Monday. But when asked about audio recordings purporting to show pro-Russian separatists talking about shooting down a plane, he suggested that if they did, it was an accident.
"According to them, the people from the east were saying that they shot down a military jet," he said. "If they think they shot down a military jet, it was confusion. If it was confusion, it was not an act of terrorism."
Ukrainian President: The world must choose sides
So much we don't know -- eight unanswered questions
Who were the victims?
Should jet have flown over Ukraine?
CNN's Michael Pearson and Catherine E. Shoichet wrote from Atlanta, and Phil Black reported from Ukraine. CNN's Gul Tuysuz, Ingrid Formanek, Faith Karimi, Stephanie Halasz, Aliza Kassim, Anna Maja Rappard, Antonia Mortensen, Barbara Starr and journalist Victoria Butenko contributed to this report.
Mysterious crater forms in Siberia
7/21/2014 6:01:44 AM
A huge crater that has popped up in remote Siberia has scientists baffled. CNN's Ralitsa Vassileva reports.
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Shakhtar Donetsk players go AWOL
7/21/2014 7:15:22 AM
- Six Shakhtar Donetsk players refuse to return to Ukraine after playing against Lyon
- Five Brazilians and one Argentine remained in France
- Shakhtar is unable to play matches at its Donbass Arena stadium
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(CNN) -- The president of Ukraine's top football club has warned six of its players who have gone AWOL they will "suffer" if they don't return to the conflict-torn country.
Shakhtar Donetsk had played a friendly against Lyon on Saturday, but after the game five Brazilians and one Argentine remained in France rather than travel back to Ukraine. On Monday there was fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
"I don't rule out that these players will return to the team quickly, and some of them -- tomorrow," Shakhtar president Rinat Akhmetov told the club's official website.
"Players have contracts that they have to abide by. If they do not come, I think, they will be the first to suffer. Each of them has a minimum release clause, which is tens of millions of euros.
"If someone wants to reduce this amount by a million, then such a decision is our right."
Akhmetov also assured Brazilians Douglas Costa, Fred, Dentinho, Alex Teixiera, Ismaily and Facundo Ferreyra of Argentina they have "nothing to fear" if and when they return to Ukraine.
"Hopefully, the mind and heart will prevail over misunderstanding, and the players will not follow temptation and fear," said the Shakhtar president.
"We are ready to provide security. We will not take risks and in any case we won't bring players to dangerous places."
Shakhtar, which regularly features in Europe's top competition the Champions League, play rivals Dynamo Kiev in the Ukrainian Super Cup Tuesday, a curtain raiser to the Ukraine domestic league season.
"Despite the fact that we will be weakened in the Super Cup match against Dynamo Kyiv, our players will do their best to make the game hard for our opponents," added Akhmetov.
The ongoing unrest in the region means Shakhtar, the reigning Ukrainian champion, is unable to play matches at its Donbass Arena stadium.
The Ukrainian football season is due to start this weekend, with Shakhtar scheduled to host Metalurh Zaporizhya.
It is unclear where the match will be played, although Akhmetov would like it to take place in Kharkiv, a city over 150 miles north of Donetsk.
"We want to play in Donetsk very much, but, unfortunately, at the moment we cannot do it.
"The decision regarding the championship is taken by the Ukrainian Football Federation. Through our game, we will call for peace and try to bring joy to our fans."
Of the six AWOL players, playmaker Douglas Costa is arguably the most valuable.
The 23-year-old has previously been linked with Manchester United, but Akhmetov ruled out a "clearance sale."
Prior to the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crash last weeks, European governing body UEFA's Emergency Panel decided its European club competition matches involving Ukrainian clubs would be allowed to take place in Dnipropetrovsk and Odessa, in addition to Kiev and Lviv.
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk will play in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League while Chornomorets Odessa are in the Europa League.
UEFA's Emergency Panel also ruled Ukrainian and Russian teams cannot be drawn against each other in its competitions.
That ensured Dnipro were not drawn against Russian club Zenit St Petersburg when the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round draw was made last week.
Read: Ukraine-Russia crisis won't force Shakhtar to sell top players
Read: Germany captain Lahm retires from international football
Read: Football 1-0 U.S. Sport
India: An isolated Russia's best friend
7/21/2014 10:29:55 PM
- India has a long history of friendship with Russia
- Ravi Agrawal: MH17 disaster tests the alliance, raises questions
- He asks, will world's largest democracy continue to side with authoritarian Russia?
Editor's note: Ravi Agrawal is CNN's New Delhi Bureau chief and was formerly senior producer of the network's "Fareed Zakaria GPS." Follow him on Twitter @RaviAgrawalCNN. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
New Delhi (CNN) -- We are all Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. The callous, brutal shooting down of an airplane carrying 298 human beings could have happened to almost any other aircraft, carrying any other people, from anywhere in the world.
Indeed, in New Delhi, reports suggest that two Air India flights were nearby when MH17 crashed; one of them, Air India One, was carrying Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Frankfurt back to the Indian capital.
Indian officials have been quick to offer their condolences to the families of the deceased. As a growing number of world leaders accuse Moscow of creating Frankenstein's monster, of giving Ukraine's pro-Russia rebels the heavy artillery that brought down MH17, New Delhi is so far remaining on the fence.
In its ugliest hour, facing the likelihood of unprecedented sanctions, authoritarian Russia can count on at least one powerful ally: India, the world's largest democracy.
Russia and India, bedfellows? Sound surprising?
It shouldn't.
Just last week, before the MH17 disaster, at a BRICS summit in Brazil, Modi expressed his country's deep affection for Russia. "Even a child in India, if asked to say who is India's best friend, will reply it is Russia," declared the Indian Prime Minister.
Or consider how, at a speech in Moscow last year, then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said these words: "Russia has stood by India at moments of great international challenge, when our own resources were limited and our friends were few. ... Indians will never forget."
Both Modi and Singh were pointing to decades of steady relations, starting with India's independence in 1947 and its brush with socialism in the 1950s, through the Cold War years and the breakup of the Soviet Union, up to the present moment, with the two nations in the middle of joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan.
The special friendship has disappointed a number of India's other allies. Washington has been frustrated by New Delhi's silence on Russia's annexation of Crimea. Ukraine is even more upset. In an interview with the newspaper The Hindu, Ukraine's ambassador to New Delhi said it especially behooved India to "make a more clear statement on supporting Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity," given its aspirations to be a U.N. Security Council member.
On paper, it would seem that India and Russia are unlikely partners. They share little by way of history or culture, are run on completely different ideals of government and have opposing economic and demographic trajectories.
According to a recent Pew survey, 45% of Indians have a "favorable" view of Russia. Meanwhile, 56% of Indians view the United States favorably. Surely the U.S. -- the world's second largest democracy -- would be a better official "best friend" for India?
If only. As Indian commentator Rajeev Sharma put it in an essay last year, "the Americans are known to be fast in finding new friends when it suits their national interest and faster in dumping them for the same reasons." Russia has been a more reliable ally, according to Sharma. It has long been India's biggest source of arms and, unlike the United States, has largely avoided doing business with India's perennial enemy Pakistan.
Opinion: Putin's big blunder
But if Russia becomes more and more isolated, how long would India stay loyal? At what point would considerations of trade, arms and energy give way to a vision of what India stands for?
In the coming weeks and months, India's government -- a fresh set of leaders with a rare, sweeping mandate for change -- will begin to formulate its foreign policy. It will need to redefine India's place in the world. Put simply, you can't be everyone's friend.
The collective opinion and moral stance of the world's largest democracy matters. It is easy to say nice things about relations with France, the U.S., Brazil and the UK, as New Delhi has done so adeptly in the last few weeks. It is much tougher to manage unpopular friendships.
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'70% of Palestinians killed were civilians,' says U.N.
7/22/2014 7:06:45 AM
- NEW: It's going to be "very difficult" to get a cease-fire, an ex-U.S. and U.N. official says
- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected to hold talks in Jerusalem
- The Palestinian death toll rises to 604, the Gaza Health Ministry says
- A total of 27 Israeli soldiers and two civilians have been killed
Gaza City (CNN) -- The death toll continues to mount on both sides of the Gaza conflict as the United States pushes for a halt to fighting between Hamas and Israel.
So far, 604 Palestinians have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded since Israel began its Operation Protective Edge two weeks ago, Gaza Health Ministry officials said Tuesday.
It's unclear how many of the dead were militants, but the United Nations has estimated that between 70% and 80% are civilians, including at least 120 children. Israel has reported that its forces have killed more than 180 militants.
In total, 27 Israeli soldiers have died -- more than double the number killed in the war with Hamas in 2008 and 2009. Two Israeli civilians have also been killed.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Cairo on Monday and said the United States would provide $47 million in humanitarian assistance to Gaza. He and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are expected to hold talks in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday that he has instructed Kerry to "push for an immediate cessation of hostilities."
Talks should focus on a return to the cease-fire deal that stopped the conflict between Israel and Hamas in November 2012, the President said at the White House. "We don't want to see any more" civilian deaths in Gaza or Israel, he said.
But some observers say the chances of a breakthrough remain slim.
"It is going to be very difficult to get a cease-fire right now, you see the objectives of both sides have changed a little bit over the last few days," said David Tafuri, a former U.S. State Department and U.N. official
"Hamas is now using tunnels to make ground attacks in Israel -- clearly they feel like they haven't done enough damage with the rockets," said Tafuri, who now works for the law and lobbying firm Patton Boggs. "Israel is now focused on destroying those tunnels. Israel says it needs more time to get all of the tunnels."
'Nothing but a massacre'
The deadly violence has continued on the ground.
The Shuhada Al-Aqsa hospital in central Gaza was hit by shelling, leaving five people dead -- one patient and four relatives, the Gaza Health Ministry said Monday.
The Israeli military said an initial investigation shows that a cache of missiles was stored in the immediate vicinity of the hospital and was targeted. "Civilian casualties are a tragic inevitability of the brutal and systematic exploitation of homes, hospitals and mosques in Gaza," the military said.
Israel claims Hamas is responsible for civilian deaths in Gaza, noting that the group has encouraged people to stay in their homes despite repeated warnings from Israel in advance of airstrikes.
"They want to pile up as many civilian dead as they can because, somebody said -- it's gruesome -- they use 'telegenically dead Palestinians' for their cause. They want the more dead, the better," Netanyahu told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Sunday.
But some Palestinians have said they fear that even if they flee they will remain vulnerable anywhere they go in Gaza's small, crowded territory. More than 100,000 Palestinians have taken refuge in U.N. facilities since the fighting broke out.
Palestinian lawmaker Mustafa Barghouti accused the Israeli government of "acting in a criminal way."
"What happened in Gaza during the past 10 days is nothing but a massacre," he told Blitzer on Monday.
"This has to stop," Barghouti said.
Clashes around tunnels
More than 2,000 rockets have been fired at Israel since the start of Operation Protective Edge, the Israeli military said, some of them intercepted by Israel's missile defense system.
In turn, the IDF says it has hit nearly 3,000 "terror targets" in Gaza, including tunnels and weapons storage and manufacturing facilities.
The need to take out Hamas' tunnels under the border was the reason Israel gave for launching its ground operation in Gaza last week. Israeli forces have so far found 23 tunnels, destroying six of them, the IDF said.
The Israeli military on Monday killed more than 10 Hamas fighters who entered the country through tunnels "to attack two different kibbutzim," or communal areas, "where farmers are trying to conduct their daily lives," Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev told CNN. Four Israeli soldiers were killed in the clashes, the IDF said.
Uncertainty remained over Hamas' claim Sunday that it had captured an Israeli soldier. Israel's ambassador to the United Nations had said late Sunday that the claim was "untrue," but the Israeli Defense Forces later said it couldn't confirm or deny it.
"It could just be Hamas bravado. We're looking into it," Regev said Monday.
Hamas talks with other countries, not Egypt
Hamas rejected a cease-fire proposal made by Egypt last week.
Senior Hamas political figure Izzat Risheq in Qatar told CNN on Monday that Hamas is not speaking directly with Egypt, but several other nations are involved: Turkey, Qatar, and Kuwait. Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal traveled from Qatar to Kuwait on Sunday, Risheq said.
Hamas postponed a scheduled news conference, at which Meshaal was going to speak, due to ongoing talks, Risheq said.
Hamas leaders have said previously they want a broader set of terms to be part of any truce, including the release of recently detained Palestinians and the easing of a border blockade that has been in effect for much of the past seven years on Gaza.
READ: Gaza crisis: Who's who in Hamas
READ: Israeli military's 'knock on roof' warnings criticized by rights groups
READ: War-scarred Gaza medical crews also in harm's way
CNN's Ian Lee reported from Gaza City, Josh Levs from Atlanta and Jethro Mullen from Hong Kong. CNN's Karl Penhaul, Ali Younes, Kareem Khadder, Ben Wedeman, Atika Shubert, Yon Pomrenze and Tim Lister contributed to this report.
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