Cnns cedrick prankins was where air raid sirens went off. One sounded when i was on the air with Cnn International anchor colleen mcedwards. Heres what happened. Reporter the crews working on the ground and that seems to indeed be part of all of the rocket that has handed here. People here spend most of their days indoors there is another attack. Theres another rocket alert going on right now. Weve got to get out of here. Okay, go, fred. There you see it, a strike in ashca lan, just a short time ago, were seeing pictures there, weve got the pictures you up as fred and our camera crew get out of the way. The sirens sounding again in ashcalan, a sign that another strike is coming. Can we listen here . Reporter now we have the impact. Colleen, we can stay on. Were with you. Reporter you still there . Yes, were with you. Go ahead. Reporter okay. Colleen, basically what just happened is the air sirens went off, and we then ran to a sort of a shelter we have right here. This is a residential building that were in right here. Were sort of in the house. We heard one impact just now, which appears to be from a rocket. The alarms seem to have died down. Were going to get up and wait. No, down . Stay down . Okay, were going to stay down, actually, for a little bit. It seems as though some people are getting up again. The alarm sirens seem to have died down and now i see people going back on the street again. But we did hear an impact that seemed to be somewhat in the distance, but certainly here in the caashcalan area. As you can see, these rocket attacks having a big effect on people. One of the big differences between the conflict and the last four between israel and hamas that left 1,400 people dead is israels iron dorm Defense System. Weve heard a lot about it, and its playing a big part in stopping rocket attacks, but the Missile Shield can only do so much. Here again is cnns frederick plightkin. Reporter a kill that possibly saved lives on the ground. This video shows an iron dome missile intercepting a rocket fired from gaza at tel aviv sunday. The Defense System had just been installed at israels largest city a few hours earlier. Several days into the conflict, its already clear, the iron dome is having a big impact, picking off hundreds of rockets. I got a tour of the israel aircraft industrys plant that assembles the air Defense System. This doctor is one of those in charge. One key element is an advanced radar. The radar searches, locates, tracks and intercepts and guides the intercepting missiles within several seconds, few seconds within the launching time. Reporter its extremely hard to shoot down shortdistance rockets like the ones coming out of gaza in part because theyre not in the air long enough for older Radar Systems to lock on to them. The target is moving extremely fast. When you want to intercept it, you have to work you have to move faster with more agility, with more man youvering power relative to your market. Reporter the iron dome was put into service in 2011. With breakthroughs and technology, can it can detect and shoot through targets in mid air. But it isnt perfect, this is the aftermath of a rocket strike in ashcalan. One came here and hit this car port and you can see did substantial damage to the car, as well. The iron dome system has been billed as a gamechanger in this conflict, but as hits like this show, it cannot intercept all of the rockets coming at israel from gaza. Still, israels military says its very happy with the performance of the intercepter system. Rockets are usually down. Usually these rockets, the ones sent from the gaza strip from the terrorist factions towards bigger cities, where you have more people living. We usually down them. But its not a 100 solution, unfortunately. Reporter and so the engineers at the Assembly Plant are working extra hours to assemble more iron dome batteries for immediat immediate deployment. A story about the death of a 4yearold boy in gaza. The childs death got a lot of attention after his body was kissed by egypts Prime Minister during a tour of a gaza hospital. We need to warn you about the video youre about to see. Its heartbreaking and may be considered disturbing to many of our viewers. For our report, cnn visited the childs home that neighbors said had been bombed five hours previously. Neighbors and family members told cnn they heard an aircraft before the explosion. The Israeli Military told cnn today it did not carry out any air strikes at the time of the childs death. The Israeli Defense force says it stopped attacks because of the visit of egypts Prime Minister, raising questions about what cause the fatal blast. Among the other possibilities, the misfire of an hamas rocket intended for israel. Cnns crew in gaza said it saw two rockets passing overhead, apparently fired not far from where the boy lived. Since the air strikes began wednesday, at least 65 palestinians and 3 israelis have been killed and neither side is showing any signs of backing down. Cnns Senior International correspondent sarah sidner is in gaza city right now. Sara, what is the situation like there now where you are . Reporter not sure you can hear that buzzing sound but thats the sound of the drone. Those have been in the sky all day for the past four days. Weve been listening to that sound and after that youll hear the sound of planes flying overhead and air strikes. Were also seeing quite a few rockets coming out of gaza, in particular some areas of gaza city in very densely populated areas, seeing the trail of smoke and sometimes actually hearing those rockets shoot their way towards israel. A lot of concern, obviously, on the ground by people just, you know, kind of trying to go about their daily lives. Most things are closed here. Most of the businesses are shuttered. There are very few people in the streets. In some of the neighborhoods where the air strikes have happened, were seeing more people come out in those neighborhoods looking around and trying to assess the damage, maybe pull things out of some of the homes that have been hit. But certainly, this is not the kind of city to be completely quiet and lately it has been eerily quiet. Very few people in the streets at night. If there are cars, speeding to get to their destination. No one wants to be out at night in particular. Don . You can absolutely bet that. Sara, take us to the streets and whats happening there. People are interested in whats going on in gaza. And we keep saying people are being injured, people are dying. And we should say, its not just israelis, obviously. Palestinians are dying as well. And im hearing a lot of people saying we want to hear more about these people and what exactly whats happening to them. Reporter sure. Men, women, children, certainly some militants have been taken out and there have been a few commanders of the hamas military wing. And isra and israel saying theyre looking for top brass of the hamas government, as well. And thats why you hear those drones. Theyre trying to do these targeted strikes. In some cases they have. In other cases, people on the ground are saying they have either missed or targeted an area where there are so many people that there are a lot of people getting hurt, a lot of people getting killed. We do know that the hospitals have been dealing with men, women and children. And weve seen for ourselves children coming in with things like shrapnel wounds, many children have also been killed, as well. We also know, though, there are quite a few militants who have also been killed, especially those from hamas military wing. So, of course, theres concern on the ground whenever they hear the sound of the drones, they hear the sound of the air strikes, anywhere near their neighborhood, it really does rattle you quite a bit. There has also been a lot of activity and a lolot of action the past 48 hours from the sea, something that seems to be ratcheted up over the past 48 hours. Were hearing a lot of bangs and booms, and artillery fire coming in from the israeli navy thats off the coast of gaza. Sara sidner reporting. Thank you for your reporting. It has been nearly three weeks since Hurricane Sandy. Many are still without electricity, water and heat. The federal response to the disaster is being heavily criticized. Straight ahead, well talk live with the head of femas Recovery Efforts about what, if anything, could have been done differently. As station about once a month. Last time i was at a gas station was about. I would say. Two months ago. I very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. I go to the gas station such a small amount that i forget how to put gas in my car. [ male announcer ] and its not just these owners giving the volt high praise. Volt received the j. D. Power and associates appeal award two years in a row. Bp has paid overthe people of bp twentythreeitment to the gulf. Billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. Today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. And bps also committed to america. We support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. Were working to fuel america for generations to come. It has been nearly three differently. Our [ thunder crashes ] [ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood could never happen to them. And that their Homeowners Insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesnt. Stop pretending. Only Flood Insurance covers floods. It has been nearly three differently. Earn your ri. Vice President Joe Biden is in new jersey, visiting areas destroyed by superstorm sandy. Biden visited a Volunteer Fire Department in sea side heights, meeting First Responders who lost their homes. He talked about his personal connection to the region and pledged longterm help. Nearly three weeks after the storm, only about 2,000 people are still without power in new york and new jersey. More than 900 of those are on long island. Meanwhile, the red cross continues to see an outpouring of support. As of friday morning, the Relief Agency raised 145 million. Many communities are still reeling from the aftermath of sandy, but the most difficult time may be to come. Joining me now from new york, federal coordinating officer mike burn. He is in charge of femas Recovery Efforts. Youre a native new yorker, former new york firefighter, worked on the Recovery Team after 9 11. I mean, this has to be a tough time for you. How is this recovery from this disaster different . Well, its just the sheer enormality in terms of egravy. 9 11, most of the impact was confined to lower manhattan. This is taking up the greater part of three states. We all remember, you know, after hurricane katrina, the fema trailers. Do you think fema is doing a better job this time around, and its just, as you said, because of the normality of the situation that there may be some criticism of the job that fema is doing . Its not my job my job is to think we always need to do more. And thats what im focused on. I think theres some things that have gone incredibly well. For example, the dewatering of the tunnels and the subways. Over 475 million gallons of water were removed. I dont think anybody predicted it would be done this fast, given the sheer scale of it. The fema assistance that weve gotten on the ground, we have over half a billion dollars in the hands of survivors. And new york alone. But thats not enough. We know weve got to do more. Theres a huge challenge for housing, because of the just the lack of available rental and hotel space. Yeah. Mr. Burn, our deborah ferric talked to residents on Staten Island on thursday. Lets listen. No Government Agency has shown up here to do anything to help us. So these people from the goodness of their heart have come here to help me. Reporter if you ask people who is helping, who is it . Is it the official people . No. Its the everyday people that are coming out. But its not the government. Let me tell you. Weve heard that over and over and over from people. There are six Fema Disaster Recovery Centers on Staten Island, mr. Burn. Yet you heard the residents there what they were saying. How do you respond to that . You know, first of all, im encouraged to know that theres other agencies out there, other voluntary groups, because were really all one team, the city, state and federal government. But i do know that we have over 200 Community Relations folks going door to door. But its the sheer scope of this disaster. Its hard to hit everybody. But were trying. Were working hard, and were going to keep at it every day until we reach everybody. Where could you have done better . You know, i always think that we could do things faster. I always think that theres a possibility that, you know, we could get into a neighborhood quicker, that there is this place im always im comfortable with what i know. What makes me worry is what i dont know, which is why i blanketed the new york area with over 1,000 Community Relations, and thats just a forced multiplier to the local fire departments, police departments, other First Responders and were here to support them also. Lets talk about preparation. I remember being on the air two nights before the storm hit, and then the night before the storm hit. Telling everyone to get out. Everyone to prepare. Talking to all of the officials in new york, new jersey, all along the eastern seaboard. And the critics of your response and recovery effort say the region had plenty of time to prepare for sandy. We knew it was coming. Why werent we better prepared . You know, we moved a lot of commodities, we had a lot of commodities we moved up to our staging areas. But we can only bring it so close. You dont want to bring everything into the impacted area before the storm. We were on the ground. I was on the ground days before the storm hit. And in preparation, bringing fema into the management teams in place, coordinating with our state officials and city officials. You know but again, this was a really enormous storm. It lasted a long time. It had a surge that was catastrophic in nature. So, you know, i think we were prepared. We can always do better, but i think we really did move heaven and earth to get in place before the storm. Mike burn, thank you. Thank you. Is the u. S. Doing enough when it comes to helping in the bloody israelipalestinian conflict . Many say no. What else could be and should be done . Were going to weigh the options, next. Again . Its embarrassing its embarrassing we can see you carl. We can totally see you. Come on youre better than this. All that prowling around. Yeah, youre the king of the jungle. Have you thought about going vegan carl . Hahaha you know folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. How happy are they jimmy . Happier than antelope with nightvision goggles. Nice get happy. Get geico. Fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. Try running four. Ning a restaurant is hard, fortunately weve got ink. It gives us 5x the rewards on our internet, phone charges and cable, plus at Office Supply stores. Rewards we put right back into our business. This is the only thing weve ever wanted to do and ink helps us do it. Make your mark with ink from chase. Its real israel and hamas on the brink of war. Is the u. S. Doing enough . What is the appropriate role for the u. S. , if any, at this point . Today presidt obama said he is actively working with all parties involved to try to stop the missile attacks. He also said he fully supports israels right to defend itself. Some said the president has been indifferent. I spoke with a senior fellow last night. Cant afford to ignore this conflict. Because we look back on the last four years, and the indifference, if you will, of the Obama Administration to whats happening on the west bank in gaza. And is i think we are there will there be pressure from jipts, there will be pressure from turkey, there will be pressure from qatar, the three countries most sympathetic to ham hamas. There will be pressure to produce some kind of settlement. Lets bring in cnn contributorses, will cain, elzy granderson. Elzy, youre first. Is president obama being indifferent . Does the white house need to do more . I dont understand how someone can consider the white house being indifferent when this administration has given more money to israel than any other administration before it. I dont understand how you can consider this president to be indifferent when its because of the president they had the technology and military equipment necessary to protect themselves from the bombs coming into the country. I dont want to see us go to another war. I know quite a few americans feel the same way. And i talked to some sources in d. C. This weekend and a lot of the congressional staffs also feel the same way. We dont want to see the American People dragged into another war. And so i think what the president is doing is exactly what needs to be done, which is finding a diplomatic solution, using our friends as well as our, you know, allies in the area to try to find a resolution that we dont have to get more involved than just talking. Will, what is the appropriate role for the u. S. , if any, at this point . I mean, can can we really do anything effective in the israel Hamas Conflict right now . Yeah, don, im not going to pretend to be an expert on this. But i would say that our measure of influence is somewhat limited. That being said, we can to one thing clearly and thats to have israels back, right . Israel is surrounded by an everincreasing unstable and dangerous world. And this conflict could spill over in so many in so many ways we couldnt fully talk about them, we couldnt encompass them all. I have a Great Respect for few add ajami who you just played a clip from. And when he said the United States is indiffere