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Connect the World
American Dies of Ebola; OSCE Investigators Still Can't Reach MH17 Crash Site; Israel-Gaza Conflict; UNRWA Obstacles; LA Water Main Break; California Drought
Aired July 30, 2014 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JONATHAN MANN, HOST: And with that, a short Israeli ceasefire for Gaza appears to have come to an early end.
I'm Jonathan Mann at CNN Center. Coming up on Connect the World we'll take you live to the front line.
Also this hour, inside the underground war. New video appears to show Hamas fighters using tunnels to attack Israelis on their own soil.
Also ahead, another doctor dies of Ebola amid the worst outbreak in history of the deadly disease.
ANNOUNCER: This is the hour we Connect the World.
MANN: Thanks for joining us. A brief respite from the fighting in Gaza is over. Have a look at the scene there just minutes ago when our
John Vause was reporting live on air.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, let's start with that--
(EXPLOSION)
VAUSE: It's over, as you can you can tell.
What we have right now is smoke, which is coming from an earlier airstrike in downtown Gaza City, that's a gas station, a petrol station,
which was hit according to Palestinian officials. What that other target was hit at this point we don't know, but clearly that humanitarian window
is now closed. It was meant to be open for another hour-and-a-half, but obviously the Israelis said it did come with a provision that if Hamas
continued to fire those rockets, it Israeli troops were in fact engendered in any way, then they would respond. As you can tell, the are now
responding to that -- to those Hamas rockets, which to be fair, Fionnuala, have continued to fire from Gaza.
(EXPLOSION)
VAUSE: Just over here, David. This really just over here, which has just been--
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: As John was just reporting, that four hour humanitarian window declared by the Israeli military was supposed to last until 7:00 local
time, but rockets from Gaza into Israel never stopped.
This latest round of shelling comes after the UN says Israeli strikes hit a school it runs in the Jebaliyah (ph) refugee camp. It was being used
as a shelter at the time for people fleeing the attacks. The Palestinian health ministry says 20 people were killed, dozens more were wounded. A UN
spokesman says the casualties were high, because the attack happened during morning prayers.
The Israeli military confirms it did respond to militant fire in the area, but says it's still investigating.
The UN relief and works agency strongly condemned the attack and said it was the sixth time one of its schools has been hit.
We do hope to go live to our John Vause in Gaza once the security situation improves a bit. The UN, meantime, is demanding accountability
for the shelling of that school. We'll talk to spokesman Christopher Gunness (ph) about the victims and the weapons uncovered at a UN facility
in Gaza.
First, though, a closer look at the events leading up to the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas. And we'll show you how Israel and Hamas
are taking part of their fight underground. That's coming up on Connect the World.
Looking elsewhere now, the chief monitor of the European mission in Ukraine is calling for a ceasefire to allow access to the MH17 crash site.
They're still not able to get there. The ongoing battles between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in that area have kept the
international experts away for a fourth straight day. They are still yet to see the wreckage.
Meanwhile, Russia is reacting to new sanctions imposed by the U.S. over Russia's alleged support for the rebellion. The Russian foreign
ministry says it will cause nothing but harm to relations between the two countries.
And a member of the Russian parliament has tweeted, "U.S. President Barack Obama will make history, not as a peacekeeper everyone forgot about
his Nobel prize, but, " the tweet continues, "as the statesman who started a new Cold War."
Senior international correspondent Ivan Watson is in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and joins us now.
Ivan, the inspectors say it is still too dangerous to go to that crash site. Our own people have been there. What did they find?
IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the international monitors have said that they were not able -- they sent our a
reconnaissance convoy and they had to turn back partway down the road due to mortar fire and the sound of gunfire about a kilometer away from where
they were.
Our team was able to travel there safely and return. The accounts that we're hearing is that areas adjacent to the sprawling debris field
are, in fact, a part of this battleground.
On Monday, the Ukrainian military announcing that it was pushing forward and trying to capture several towns along the main road from the
separatist controlled city of Donetsk towards the crash zone. And the Ukrainian government has announced that it will give free access to the
dozens of Dutch and Australian investigators to the crash zone once it has secured it, basically, taken it away from the separatists.
So, there are clearly some competing objectives here. The Australians and the Dutch asking for free access immediately. The Ukrainian government
saying we'll let you get there as soon as we've captured it and it's the fight for that area and for surrounding towns as well that is blocking the
investigators from getting there.
And if you need to get a sense of how intense, how deadly this fighting is, the regional government for Donetsk, a government in exile
effectively, saying that at least 19 people were killed in that area over the course of the last 24 hours. And a senior Ukrainian military official
confirming reports that had come form the Pentagon that short rage ballistic missiles were used by the Ukrainian military as recently as
Monday against a strategic hill that's located only about 20 miles, maybe 40 kilometers as the crow flies, form the MH17 crash site.
So this is an intense conflict that is claiming the lives of both Ukrainian troops, rebel fighters ,we presume, but also a disturbing amount
of Ukrainian civilians -- John.
MANN: Well, in fact we can't make that point enough, civilian areas are dangerous as well. Authorities have been evacuating some. What can
you tell us about that?
WATSON: Well, this may be a bright spot. Local officials and a doctor from an orphanage have both confirmed to me that three orphanages in
the area of what's increasingly becoming a battleground city of Donetsk still controlled by the rebels were successfully and safely evacuated
within the last 48 to 72 hours, that these three orphanages, a total of 129 children from these three orphanages were evacuated by bus. Among the
children were dozens of children from an orphanage for children infected with HIV, an orphanage that was visited about five, six years ago by the
British musician Elton John. He donated a piano.
I got to see it and meet some of the doctors there last week. They didn't want us to film there to protect the children and the staff from
being caught in the middle of this terrible conflict.
The administrator from the regional government that's in exile, that's basically still loyal to the government in Kiev confirmed that the safe
evacuation of these children, John, was accomplished with cooperation from some of the pro-Russian separatists from what she described as the Vostok
Battalion.
So that may be a bright spot here, among this killing and this artillery and rocket fire that rebels were able to work -- one battalion of
them -- with the Ukrainian government to help ensure the safe escape of 129 orphans under the age of four from the warzone -- John.
MANN: Ivan Watson live for us in Kiev. Thanks very much.
A doctor who treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone is being hailed as a hero. Sheikh Umar Khan died on Tuesday from complications of the
disease. He was one of the world's leading experts on hemorrhagic fevers, including Ebola. And in Nigeria, a U.S. financial consultant who worked
with the Liberian government has also died from Ebola. Patrick Sawyer flew from Liberia to Lagos, Nigeria, one of the world's biggest cities where he
died a few days later. He left behind his wife and three young daughters who live in the U.S.
Decontee Sawyer spoke about her husband's legacy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DECONTEE SAWYER, HUSBAND DIED OF EBOLA: He felt like Liberia needed him more. And he felt like he needed to fight the good fight in Liberia.
He wanted like a better democracy for Liberia. He would say Liberia doesn't have a middle class, you know, we have like very poor and very
rich. And you know -- because he's lived in America for so many years and so he wanted like a better democracy for Liberia, a middle class. He was
big on social justice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: The World Health Organization says the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is believed to have killed nearly 700 people in just a few months.
Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now.
I want to ask you about the fact that even medical professionals, the people who know best how to take precautions, are dying of this disease.
It seems the world's most terrifying disease. It is spreading. And now even medical professionals aren't safe.
Why are the precautions working?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORREPSONDENT: Well, you know, first of all the precautions are not perfect. There is a human element to these
precautions so they're not always going to be 100 percent perfect.
But I will say that it is typically the doctors and the health care professionals who are most at risk. Why is that? Because the person who
is most likely to transmit the disease is someone who is very sick, typically in a hospital, and the health care workers are taking care of
them.
If they get even a drop of bodily fluid on them containing virus, that could potentially be a source of infection.
You've seen the video. They try and cover themselves up 100 percent, no skin exposed at all, but even a little drop can actually cause an
infection.
MANN: You know, I don't want to be alarmist about this, but people are alarmed. There is a special cabinet committee in the United Kingdom,
British government, has a special committee that deals with all kinds of emergencies. We're used to hearing them talk about terrorism, about
national security, it's called the COBRA. And the COBRA is meeting today not to talk about some of these other more traditional national security
issues, but to talk about Ebola.
We just hear about and American citizen who would have flown from Africa into the United States carrying Ebola if he had lived long enough.
The UK is worried, the U.S. has reason to be concerned. I mean, what should governments be doing? How should the rest of us at some distance
from Africa be thinking about this?
GUPTA: Well, what the science will tell you and then how the governments react is going to be sort of interesting. The science will
show, and I think that this is going to happen, that you will have people showing up in these other countries, including Britain, including the
United States, that have Ebola.
I mean, I was in Conakry, Guinea. It's in sight of an international airport, 2 million population, people have Ebola in that area. It is
possible that someone who has been exposed, but not yet showing symptoms, could fly around the world and be anywhere.
What the real issue is, and this happened with SARS as well. I remember talking about that years ago is that how is everyone going to
respond to that, because that person can be isolated. They are actually unlikely to cause a mini outbreak in many of these other countries. The
United States, Britain, they could control that very quickly, but it's going to strike a lot of fear in people.
And basically how to educate people now in terms of preparing for this as opposed to later, because these are the types of things that can disrupt
entire communities, societies, unless the information is given very clearly.
MANN: Sanjay Gupta, thanks very much. Appreciate it.
We'll have more on the Ebola outbreak. Still to come this hour, a look back at the very first Ebola outbreak, that was 40 years ago. And
what we've learned about the disease since.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: OK, let's start with that--
(EXPLOSION)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: And as another short-term ceasefire comes to a destructive end, we'll go back to the roots of this months' flare-up between Israel and
Hamas.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MANN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN. And this is Connect the World. I'm Jonathan Mann in for Becky Anderson. Thanks for joining us.
Another deadly strike on a UN-run shelter highlights the fragility of life in Gaza. The U.S. and other world powers recognize Israel's right to
defend itself against Hamas rocket fire, but once again more civilians than militants are paying the price. And as the international community
struggles to find a solution, many are again trying to pin down the root of the problem.
As with most conflict, the catalyst for the latest escalation is open to argument and interpretation and depends on where you stand. But one
aspect will be scrutinized long after the dust settles. While Israel's operation targets Gaza, the violence visibly ramped up after events in the
West Bank.
Randi Kaye looks back at the individual attacks the preceded all-out battle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They are abducted in the dark of night while attempting to hitchhike home from religious school in
the West Bank. It's June 12th, when these three Israeli teenagers go missing. Realizing they are in danger, one manages to make this call for
help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello, this is Udi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been abducted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put your head down. Put your head down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put your heard down. Hands down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hello? Hello?
KAYE: It's the last anyone hears from them. Three days later, June 15th, the boys still aren't home. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu publicly blames the terror group Hamas warning of serious consequences.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: This attack should surprise no one because Hamas makes no secret of its agenda. Hamas is
committed to the destruction of Israel and to carrying out terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians, including children.
KAYE: But he offers no proof Hamas is directly involved.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (Through Translator): Netanyahu's comments are stupid comments. The occupation is totally responsible for the escalation
in the West Bank against our people and leadership.
KAYE: June 20th, Operation Brother's Keeper begins in the West Bank. A full-scale effort to find the three Israeli teenagers. More than a thousand
homes are searched, more than 150 Palestinian suspects are detained. Ten days later, June 30th, the bodies of the missing boys are discovered in the
West Bank.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three innocent boys that did nothing, did nothing wrong in their life, they're so holy, they're so pure and this Hamas just
want to kill them.
KAYE: The Israeli prime minister delivers on his threat. With Israel launching airstrikes into Gaza and the West Bank shortly after the bodies
were found. They destroy the homes of two suspects in the kidnapping that Israel calls Hamas terrorists. The abducted teenagers are buried the next
day, July 1st. Hamas always quick to claim credit for acts of terror denies it ordered the killings and questions swirl whether or not they are really
involved.
(on camera): A day later, July 2nd, a 17-year-old Palestinian teen is abducted while heading to a mosque. His body found in a Jerusalem
neighborhood. He was burned alive. Israel condemns it calling it a revenge killing.(voice-over): The next day, July 3rd a cell phone captures this
horrifying video of what appears to be Israeli police beating a Palestinian American teenager, stomping on him and kicking him. He is the cousin of the
Palestinian teen killed the day before.
Israel is investigating questioning whether the teen was an innocent bystander. On July 7th, Israel launches "Operation Protective Edge to stop
rocket fire into Israel. Over 100 air strikes since then, over 1,000 dead, mostly Palestinian civilians.
What began with the death of three young teens, now a full out war and still no proof of how it started.
Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: We've heard repeatedly that this latest escalation is unfolding on a scale we haven't seen for several years. To keep track of the
conflict, CNN.com has produced a by the numbers explainer. Learn how many thousands of tanks and armored vehicles Israel has at its disposal, how
many thousands of rockets Hamas may have left in its arsenal. You'll find that and all the latest on the story online.
Live from CNN Center, this is Connect the World. I'll have all the global headlines and much more in just a few minutes time, but ahead of
that we'll take a Zambia to meet a man who is keeping a roof over his head by putting roofs over the heads of others. African Start-Up is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAMIAN CHANDA, FOUNDE, DT ROOFING LIMITED: Hello. My name is Damian Chanda. I'm the founder of DT Roofing limited and this is what we do.
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Corrugated steel is a popular form of roofing in the Zambian capital Lusaka. It's a cheap and reliable material used mostly
in housing, but it's hard to get hold of.
CHANDA: I decided to go into roofing, because we needed roofing sheets, so I went and bought the roofing sheets from a company that was
making them in Lusaka. And there was like a lot of people there buying. And we were told we could only get our order within seven days. So based
on that, I figured there was an opportunity in that sector.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chanda jumped at the opportunity and soon began looking for an investor. It was a year long process.
CHANDA: The initial problem was to get the funding, but I wrote up a proposal and sent it around. I feared sending the proposal around to local
investors, because if they like it they might as well just do it without me.
This is the raw material that we use. This is galvanized -- imported galvanized steel. It comes in a coil form like this. It weighs about 5
tons. And it's 1,200 meters long. And this is where the process starts. So it unrolls from here and gets profiled in the machine over there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He finally received foreign investment from Zimbabwe, but many challenges remained.
CHANDA: After my investor had invested a certain amount, he decided he won't invest any more. And the equipment at that time was not
functional.
Fortunately at that time, we got a couple of orders from people who were not at the roofing stage yet. So we used that money to fix the
equipment and also deliver when the customer was ready to collect.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: DT Roofing processes the roofing material on site.
CHANDA: So the sheet slides in through that side of the machine and these rollers corrugate it into the shape of a roofing sheet. And these
corrugated actually help it reinforce it to make it stronger.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The business is only six months old, so Chanda still has some obstacles to overcome, but he's determined to make his
company succeed.
CHANDA: We definitely hope to expand. We want to increase in production and widen our consumer base basically. That's our plan.
And this is the final product, a green roofing sheet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MANN: This is CONNECT THE WORLD. The top stories this hour. A leading doctor has died in the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Sheik Humarr
Khan fell ill early last week while treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone. He died on Tuesday. According to the World Health Organization, at
least 672 people have died in the current outbreak, the worst in history.
The chief monitor of the European monitoring mission to Ukraine is calling for a cease-fire to allow access to the MH17 crash site. Ongoing
battles between government forces and pro-Russian rebels in the area have kept international experts away for a fourth consecutive day.
Israeli airstrikes and Hamas rockets are flying over Gaza again despite an Israeli declaration of a four-hour humanitarian window. Just
hours before, the UN says an Israeli airstrike hit one of its schools housing Palestinians fleeing the bloodshed. The Palestinian Healthy
Ministry says at least 20 people were killed. Israel says it responded to militant fire in the area but is still investigating.
Let's go, now, to our John Vause, who is on the ground for us in Gaza. John, a day of deadly attacks, and a cease-fire, ultimately, that didn't
last even as long as it was supposed to.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jon, absolutely. Look, the situation we had here is that Israel decided that there would be this four-hour
humanitarian window or pause in their campaign here in Gaza, because it had, in fact, been such a deadly day up until that point.
The numbers we had up until that humanitarian window: more than 70 Palestinians had been killed today alone. That number has now rise,
because that humanitarian window, which was announced by Israel, only lasted about two and a half hours.
They did say if Hamas continued to fire their rockets, continued to target Israeli soldiers inside Gaza, then, essentially, the military
campaign would resume. And that's exactly what happened. About two and a half hours into it, we saw the airstrikes resume.
This building, not far from our bureau here in Gaza, had a knock on the roof, which is a very loud explosion on the roof, warning people to get
out of that building because there could be an airstrike on the way. That hasn't happened at this point, so unclear what the situation is there.
But what was incredibly deadly, at least according to officials with Gaza's Health Ministry, was a strike on a marketplace not far from the
center of Old Gaza City. What we're being told by officials, 15 people -- at least 15 people have been killed by an Israeli airstrike there. Many,
many others have, in fact, been wounded.
Israelis did say that if Hamas continued to fire those rockets -- Hamas refused to accept the cease-fire, saying that it was just essentially
a publicity stunt, they were doing it for the media -- that Israel would resume these airstrikes, and that's what they've been doing.
MANN: And we've seen it live on television while you were reporting. While we have you now, I wonder if you can look at something else we saw on
television: video broadcast by al-Aqsa TV.
And what we're about to show our viewers purports to be Hamas's military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, appearing to emerge from a tunnel
and running towards some kind of facility. Al-Aqsa says the operation took place what it's calling "behind enemy lines" east of Gaza on an Israeli
military tower. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(AUDIO TONE)
(CAMERA RATTLING)
(AUDIO TONE)
(GUNFIRE)
(AUDIO TONES)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Al-Aqsa says the al-Qassam Brigades killed ten Israeli soldiers in the operation. The Israel Defense Forces says five of its soldiers were
killed, as well as one of the attackers. John Vause, it wasn't Israeli television that brought that video to our attention, it was al-Aqsa
television. It was Palestinian, Hamas television
It would seem if they're trying for propaganda, it's the kind of propaganda that's going to maybe harden resolve on the part of Israel even
more than it bolsters the confidence of the fighters for Hamas.
VAUSE: Yes, absolutely. In fact, that's the message which the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been putting out time and
time again. These tunnels are essentially an existential threat to Israel, which is why there are thousands of Israeli troops inside Gaza right now,
finding and destroying this vast tunnel network, which Hamas has spent years to build under Gaza and into Israel.
It could, in fact, harden the resolve of the Israelis to continue push on with this, making it even harder to find some kind of cease-fire.
These images that we saw on Hamas television first last night, here, they were incredible from a propaganda point of view. And we have seen
that over and over and over again. There has been a steady stream of images on Hamas television essentially glorifying their fighters out on the
field, and often inflating their victories as well.
Hamas claims that they've killed more than 100 Israeli soldiers. That number is just over 50. They also say that their rockets managed to hit
Israel -- or rather Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Now, that's just not the case. But this is what the Palestinians here are being told.
And for most people here, Hamas television is one of their main sources of information, when they have electricity, which these days isn't
often. So, that is the steady of diet of information that they're receiving from Hamas.
And from Hamas's point of view, what they're telling the Palestinians here in Gaza, is that they're winning.
MANN: Well, in fact, a video like that would seem to tell Palestinians in Gaza one thing more, which is that there are these tunnels
that presumably could be used to shelter civilians during Israeli attacks. They seem well-constructed, they seem reinforced by cement. The seem like
the safest place you could imagine in a very dangerous part of the world.
To your knowledge, these tunnels no longer being secret, has Hamas invited any civilians into the tunnels to use them to protect civilians
during this conflict?
VAUSE: I think there is a firm distinction here in Gaza between what the Hamas political leadership and what the military wing gets, and what
everybody else gets. And if you are an ordinary civilian here, if you're not part of that top echelon of Hamas political leaders, then you're on
your own.
In fact, these tunnels are so elaborate, we're told they even have elevators that go down. And the senior leader of -- senior leaders of
Hamas have their own tunnels, own dedicated tunnels -- this is according to some Israeli reports -- that can take them out of Gaza and across the
border into Egypt should they need it.
So, there is a distinction here. And the question of whether or not they should be opened up for everyday, ordinary Palestinians to take cover,
no one has even raised that as a possibility.
MANN: John Vause, live in Gaza. Thanks very much. And once again, as we've been reporting, it seems that Hamas never stopped firing rockets
from Gaza into Israel during Israel's announced unilateral cease-fire. Our Sara Sidner saw that firsthand from the Israeli side of the border.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: From our vantage point here on the Israeli-Gaza border, there has been plenty of action, even
after the cease-fire was called. About 15 minutes, the sound of sirens went off here, and everyone had to get out of the way. There was a mortar
round that was coming over from Gaza.
And this is what people have had to do. If they're driving along the street, out in the field, the try to get behind something that can protect
them. A big blast wall has been put in place here. You just basically crouch down, as you know, and try to keep out of the way of any of the fire
coming just from over there.
This is also what is normally a bus stop, but it has been made with strong concrete to try to create some kind of a shelter as well.
Let's go back over. You can just see how close these things are. Gaza is very, very close. You can see buildings, you can see the details
of things. We've also been seeing plumes of smoke. And after that mortar came over, we definitely heard plenty of artillery fire coming from Israel
into Gaza.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: The brave and very busy people risking their lives to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza are facing dangers on two fronts. While Israel
says it does not specifically target UN shelters, another deadly strike occurred this morning. At the same time, yet another stash of Hamas
weapons has been found inside one of the UN's facilities.
We're joined via Skype by UN Relief and Works Agency spokesman Chris Gunness from Jerusalem. Thanks so much for talking with us. Always we are
sorry about the occasion that brings us together once again. Israel has hit one of your schools. Palestinian sources say 20 people were killed, a
great many people were wounded.
Israel says it's investigating, but right now, its soldiers, it says, were responding to active attack coming from that very region. What can
you tell us about what happened?
CHRISTOPHER GUNNESS, SPOKESMAN, UNRWA: Well, first of all, we made 17 calls to the Israeli army telling them the precise coordinates of this
school and explaining to them that there were 3,300 people who'd taken refuge there. So, point number one, they knew exactly who was there and
what was happening. They knew that there were large numbers of civilians.
We are responsible for what takes place inside our installations, and the parties to a conflict have an obligation to respect the neutrality of
those installations. Now, if the Israeli army is telling you that it struck our school because there were militants inside the facility, then
there are some serious questions that have to be raised about --
MANN: Now, let me interrupt you just to be absolutely clear, because I do not want to misrepresent what the Israeli authorities have told us.
They have told us that a group of militants fired at Israeli soldiers from the vicinity, and the soldiers responded by firing at the origin of the
fire. Just to be clear to you on what they said.
GUNNESS: So, Jonathan, let me ask you -- I mean, yes, but are they saying therefore that that justifies a strike on a school where women and
children are sleeping on a classroom floor in a UN-designated safe area, of which they've been notified?
Are they suggesting to you that after the UN has given them the precise GPS coordinates, exact information about the thousands of people
who've gathered at this school, are we to understand that a strike is justified, that it's proportionate to kill a militant or two -- and we
don't whether they did or not -- who were in the vicinity, and risk killing so many civilians?
MANN: Well, I'll leave it to the Israeli authorities to answer that question, but let me ask you another one. In the past, we have heard of
occasions where there have been if not negotiations, some effort, at least, on the part of your people or on the part of the Israeli authorities to
arrange evacuations from UN facilities or from civilian areas.
Ahead of this particular strike, was there a request from your agency, was there any kind of offer from the Israelis?
GUNNESS: There was certainly not an offer from the Israelis before this strike took place. And let us not forget that these are people who
have fled their homes, many of whom because they received leaflets dropped from the air and text messages on their mobile phones, telling them to
leave.
So, the Israeli army tells them to leave, they abandon their homes, they then take shelter in a UN-designated safe area with a blue flag on
top, which is notified to the Israeli army, and then there's a direct hit by the very army that's told them to leave their homes. Would you -- let's
think through the logic of that.
MANN: I want to ask you about another site, a very important allegation that we're trying to get to the bottom to, and I suppose you are
as well, the discovery at a UN site of a third weapons stockpile. What can you tell us about that? What was found, and whose weapons were they?
GUNNESS: Well, first of all, it's not -- an allegation. We were proactive about this, and as soon as we found a third cache of rockets in
our school -- by the way, this was a school, like the other two where we discovered rockets, that had been mothballed and closed down for the
summer, like any school anywhere in the world.
The rockets or the weapons were discovered in the course of a regular inspection by us. We immediately made a very strong public condemnation of
the group or groups who had placed them there, because clearly, civilians were going to be put in harm's way.
We notified all the parties that needed to be notified, and we took steps to secure the area to make it safe for civilians. There were schools
in the area, so we had to pull people away. So, we have followed the rules, we've condemned the groups responsible.
But to suggest in any way that because weapons were discovered and proactively reported on by us in schools which are not anywhere near the
school that was hit last night, to suggest that that in any way justifies the striking of a school, a notified school where civilians, 3,300, had
taken place, is a connection which is simply unacceptable. It should not be made.
The fact is that there has been a serious violation of international law by the Israeli army, and that needs to be dealt with.
MANN: And a serious violation of the sanctity of UN facilities by whoever put those weapons there. Your people are so busy --
(CROSSTALK)
GUNNESS: Absolutely.
MANN: -- and facing such serious --
GUNNESS: Couldn't agree more.
MANN: -- trouble, do you have to now put manpower on searching the schools that you've mothballed? How do you find out --
GUNNESS: Well, we do --
MANN: -- how many places have weapons in them?
GUNNESS: We do regular inspections, and we've always done regular inspections, there's nothing new about this. Even in a conflict zone, we
are doing these regular inspections to safeguard the neutrality of our installations. We've had five members of staff killed, and in spite of
that, we're continuing with this neutrality work.
And also don't forget, Jonathan, there've been occasions when the Israeli army itself will say to us, get away from that building, evacuate
all your staff, because it's about to come in harm's way. Surely you would accept that in that situation, it is wholly unreasonable of people to
expect us, without any staff there because they've been evacuated because of a conflict, to stop militants putting rockets in our schools.
MANN: Chris Gunness of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Thanks so much for talking with us.
GUNNESS: My pleasure, Jonathan, thank you.
MANN: Live from CNN Center, you're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Up next, Europe is stepping up efforts to combat the spread of Ebola in
Africa, but where did the virus come from? We will trace its history and bring you the latest on the fight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MANN: Welcome back. The European Union is allocating an extra $2.7 million to help the fight against Ebola. It brings the total EU
contribution to more than $5 million, but the fight continues.
Britain's foreign secretary said the Ebola outbreak in West Africa poses a very serious threat to Britain. Philip Hammond said he's holding a
high-level crisis meeting to begin coordinating a response to the disease if it reaches the UK.
The Ebola virus first appeared almost 40 years ago in Africa, and still there is no cure. Isa Soares takes us back to that initial outbreak
to see how it all began and what scientists have learned so far about a very deadly disease.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID HEYMANN, LONDON SCHOOL OF HYGIENE AND TROPICAL MEDICINE: The villages around Yambuku --
ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was here in the Democratic Republic of Congo, then Zaire, and in Southern Sudan,
that the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976.
HEYMANN: We use this register was early on to look through it in the periods when the outbreak was occurring, to see if we could find any
patients with a diagnosis that might be compatible with a diagnosis of Ebola.
SOARES: Professor David Heymann was part of a team that investigated the first outbreak, and he said it all began with a school master who may
have gotten infected after butchering an animal that he bought from a local market.
HEYMANN: He was treated in the outpatient department with nosebleed and dysentery, with an injection. And in that outpatient department, there
were only four needles and syringes. And those four needles and syringes were not sterilized between use, and in addition, they were taken into the
maternity.
SOARES: So, the first outbreak occurred in the hospital, where he says poor hygiene was commonplace. Within three months, the hospital
closed down, 280 people had died, including many of its health workers.
HEYMANN: Health workers then began to get infected because they didn't know what the disease was. They became infected, and they were the
source of the virus to their family members, and then out into the community.
So, this was an outbreak that shouldn't have occurred, and wouldn't have occurred if hospital practices had been the way they should have been.
SOARES: Since then, there have been some ten outbreaks of Ebola, 3,140 reported cases and more than 2,000 deaths. Throughout, the symptoms
have remained the same: silent, but when it hits, it's swift and usually deadly.
SOARES (on camera): Four decades on since that first virus was discovered of Ebola, why no cure?
HEYMANN: There are no drugs that are known to be effective against Ebola, but there's much research going on. So, we understand a lot about
the disease. We understand how it can be stopped. The mystery still remains as to where exactly it comes from in nature and how it gets from
nature into humans.
SOARES (voice-over): It's critical, then, among other things to maintain a clean and disinfected environment. Quarantines and vigilance --
experts say they're key to containing a killer virus.
Isa Soares, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MANN: Coming up after this short break on CONNECT THE WORLD, California fights flooding and drought at the same time. We'll explain,
next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MANN: Welcome back. A corner of Los Angeles is cleaning up after a massive water main break. A 93-year-old pipe burst under Sunset Boulevard
-- maybe they should call it Seaside Boulevard. It sent 30 to 40 million liters of water gushing through the streets Tuesday. At least three
motorists actually had to be rescued from underground parking garages.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE MOORE, SPOKESMAN, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: This is extremely dangerous, and this is exactly what we're afraid of. We've
actually had somebody who was in the -- were in the water, they got swept off their feet, and with a current that was pushing, they got trapped
underneath their car.
Our swift water rescue team pulled them out and rescued them. So, this isn't something where you want to go and play and have a good time in
the water. There's a lot of debris there, the ground has been undermined, it's very, very dangerous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MANN: Think about that -- underground parking garage, water rushing at you with no explanation. You don't want to be there. It turns out that
the campus of UCLA, the university there, was hardest hit. Flooding covered the basketball court, we saw it a moment ago. The facility had a
multimillion-dollar renovation just two years ago.
The loss of so much water, in fact, couldn't come at a worse time. California is in a severe drought. They need every drop. Meteorologist
Samantha Mohr has the latest on that. What can you tell us? A lot of water gone to waste, then.
SAMANTHA MOHR, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Ah!
MANN: I guess people are being careful watering their lawns, I suppose.
MOHR: Oh, I know. And this new slogan, Jon, is "Brown is the New Green." In fact, Governor Jerry Brown coming up with that slogan, along
with his team to help get the word out that it is mandatory now to conserve water. It was voluntary, and that didn't work. They actually were using
more water. They did a study in the month of May.
So, Brown is the New Green, because of the drought, with 100 percent of the state now in severe drought or worse, and 36 percent of the state,
now, an exceptional drought. They do need the water, and what a shame to see it wasted like that.
And think of the insurance bills. It's going to be pretty incredible for the campus there at UCLA. Thank goodness there were no fatalities in
that flood event, how bizarre is that?
So, high pressure in charge the next few days will keep things very hot here, so the drought situation just getting worse. You may remember
the lightning fatality we had over the weekend, as thunderstorms came out of the monsoon.
Well, that shifted a bit, back to the east, like it tends to do. The Arizona monsoon tends to go the west and then to the east again. So, no
rain in the forecast at all for the Los Angeles area that would benefit the drought there, or in Central California, for that matter.
Look at these storm clouds, though, over France, as a storm system moved through. Those are mammatus clouds, you can tell because they almost
look like a cow's udders here, that's where that comes from, mammary, mammatus clouds. And they're indicative of severe weather, and boy, have
we seen a torrential rainfall.
And now, it is moving again towards Romania, where they've already had incredible amounts of rain on Tuesday, 152 millimeters. So, look at the
floodwaters here. This is in Romania, where they had all of this torrential rain, and one of the wettest summers on record. No place for it
to go, it just can't soak into the soil fast enough, and we get the runoff, incredible runoff.
And homes being destroyed. We've also had reports of people being evacuated from this area as well to try to be rescued from this floodwater.
Many cars being swept in. There's one of those homes that have been damaged as a result of this incredible flooding they have had, and more
rain is on the way. How terrifying would it be to be swept away in a car, and then to end up in this type of flood?
And you can see here on the estimates as far as rainfall, this is since the beginning of July, we've been well above average for this time of
year, at 150 millimeters so far. So, some of these spots have seen as much as a month's worth of rain in a short period of time, and more rain -- more
heavy rain on its way in, at least through Thursday.
And then, we'll likely see a little bit of a break as high pressure is building in behind this system, so we should get a bit of a break once this
moves through. But in the meantime, they need to be on the lookout for heavy rain, hail, strong gusty wind.
And this orange and red zone is the area of concern, Jonathan, where we could see more severe weather and more severe flooding the next 24 to 48
hours.
MANN: Samantha Mohr, watching it for us. Thanks very much.
MOHR: You bet.
MANN: The team at CONNECT THE WORLD wants to hear from you. Go to facebook.com/CNNconnect, have your say. Tell us what you liked on the
program, tell us your questions, your concerns, the stories you want us to follow.
For now, I'm Jonathan Mann. You've been watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Thanks for being with us.
END
