Bombardment weve seen since israel starting targeting gaza three weeks ago. Gazas only power plant took a major hit. Israel insists it was not a target. You see it over my shoulder. Thick plumes of black smoke, massive flames shooting into the sky for hours. Power as a result is out across much of gaza city and Energy Officials say the plant could be off line for a year. It was just one of many areas damaged in what was a very long night in gaza. The Israel Military has accused hamas of [ bombing ] we do have to hit the ground. Hit the ground very quickly. Weve already taken the windows out of this side of the building. [ bombing ] if you give me two seconds ill look out. And i cant tell you exactly where that was but if any of my colleagues got any information ill let you know. Another huge explosion going on in the vicinity of our offices in central gaza right now. If youve been with us just about a minute earlier, you would have seen the same thing. [ bombing ] okay. Im going to move out of the way. Lets have him move. Folks you can see how incredibly close that blast was to carl. That was at night, all evening and through today in gaza city. Israels target list obviously moving far beyond those border tunnels we focused on. The hamas television station, leaders, mosques were used to store weapons. Let me bring in general mark hurtling. General, welcome back. Beginning with some that carl and i have discussed multiple times its night fall over gaza. Were seeing behind him, you know, the beginnings of the strategy that i would love for you to explain to me because what happens here is israel picks a target, waits for night to fall. You see these illumination flares sent up in the ski and then what happens . Well, then they hit the target. And what has to happen first, brooke, is theres some type of clearance operation that has to go on where the target is cleared. Now most of the time what does that mean . Most of the time it means that the target is ready to be hit. That there has been some kind of emphasis on as little Collateral Damage as possible. What we were seeing last night as carl was reporting they had drones above the area. That becomes the clearance technique because sometimes you dont have someone on the ground who can say hey that target is ready. No potential for civilian casualties. Its not 100 accurate. The other thing i would mention individuals flying those f16s, i had an opportunity to take some training rides you had to make some tough calls yourself . I do. I had to make some tough calls in combat when striking targets. I remember in iraq where we saw a mosque being loaded with weapons, people firing from the roof. In that kind of situation the laws of war dissipate and you say we have to hit that target to protect our soldiers. In other cases when you think you have a cleared target and go in with an f16 strike something may occur. Something happened to me where we saw at the last minute about ready to launch a strike some individuals coming out of the building. We called the strike off. Thats difficult to do at the same time flying an airplane, avoiding missiles thats fired at you. Doing it in the dark. Finding where your wing man is. This is not a video game. This is difficult to do. The Israel Air Force has the mission of destroying the target. They are doing the very best they can to clear those targets before they strike them but thats extremely tough to do in an area the size of gaza which has an immense population and a problem with people not being able to move around. General, lets flip it and talk about hamas because we know they were given the chance for a pause in viles. They reject ad 24 hour ceasefire. Whats their strategy . They are out gunned. Yeah. You know what . You cant apply the rational actor theory in many places in the middle east. I think they want to dont bring israel into their land. Work the strategic messaging campaign that carl has been talking about. And that israel is the bad guy. They continue to strike targets. They continue not to be concerned with civilian casualties. Thats just not the case. Its just difficult to destroy things that are being launched into israel from gaza without civilian casualties. Its unfortunate as they have said but its warfare. One of the things i would like to point out, brooke, i was told before i went to iraq the last time by a mentor of mine, hey you can wayne war by killing a lot of people. There has to be political and economic discussions. I think israel has attempted to do that on several occasions and has been rebuffed. Unfortunately, you got a population thats behind the army and the movement of the israeli government, and its unfortunate built every time they have attempted to cease theres just been more rockets coming their way. Its very difficult to engage between israel and hamas and i think thats the real issue in this problem. Again, senior israeli official telling us they are prepared for a ceasefire as we await hamas and all the brokering and machinations behindthescenes. Some who are friends with hamas, some who are friends with israel. Thank you for coming on. Meantime happening right now lets talk about the other major story. Tougher sanctions slapped against russia over the conflict in ukraine. And more could be dished out in the coming hours as the u. S. Accuses russia of violating a 27yearold missile treaty from the Reagan Gorbachev area. Secretary of state john kerry today specifically condemning russias actions in ukraine, calling on the president , Vladimir Putin and the pro russian rebels to scale back the fighting. President putin can make a huge difference here if he chooses to. And we and our European Partners will take additional measures and impose wider sanctions on key sections of the russian economy if that is what we must do. It was just after kerry stepped off that podium that a European Union official confirmed to us here at cnn that sanctions and mostly economic ones are being expanded against russian individuals and companies. But the conflict in Eastern Ukraine this is not a one sided battle. Weve learned that Ukrainian Forces their military have escalated the firing by firing short range Ballistic Missiles at the rebels. This is the first time a weapon of this magnitude has been used in this conflict. Lets bring in Barbara Starr and our correspondent at the white house, myseichele kocinski. They go about 50 miles but they have a 1,000 pound war head. That makes them the heaviest most lethal weapons used in this conflict to date. Why have the ukraines turned to these weapons. They a number of their aircraft shot down by surface to air missiles. That of course is what brought the mh17 in that area in Eastern Ukraine. In order to stay out of the kill zone of those surface to air missiles they cant fly their aircraft as much as they want against the separatists. They turn to short range Ballistic Missiles. It keeps them out of the air, keeps them on the ground, but escalates the ground combat. Its a signal, perhaps, that the ukrainians are feeling they are pushing back against the separatists and the russians, their reaction so far, they have been quiet about this, but they have been continuing to ship heavy weapons across the border to the separatists. Clearly feeling the pressure of what the ukrainians are doing. By the way the Ukrainian Government officially says it did not launch these Ballistic Missiles but u. S. Intelligence, u. S. Spy satellites were told by several officials saw the whole thing. Just got word, to reiterate your point the foreign minister from ukraine saying absolutely not, they did not deploy these short range missiles. Thats the word coming in to cnn. All the while when we talk about this war zone, michele, and talking to people in Eastern Ukraine. Thats why the dutch and investigators for the third day cant get to the crash site. Its the most lethal form of weaponry the Ukrainian Military has used. What does the white house have to say . They didnt want to say anything specific about this very new reporting. Its clear they wanted to gather more information on what happened as well. But what they did say what i found interesting about it is just that they really called on russia. They said ukraines actions throughout this reflected russias escalation of the conflict. So clearly pinning it on russia seemingly no matter what ukraine is doing at this point, even if it does involve a weapon of this magnitude, and thats a lot different than what the white house take has been today at least on the conflict in the middle east, calling on both sides to deescalate. Both sides to put aside their differences. When it comes to russia and ukraine the onus is on russia. The white house repeatedly has mentioned how much ukraine has done to help the situation. Their ceasefire attempts. Changing the government, et cetera, et cetera. But repeatedly saying russia has done nothing to try to deescalate the swigituation. The white house is firmly on the side of ukraine. Thank you both very much. Just ahead even though we are hearing u. S. Sanctions could come, additional u. S. Sanctions could come as early as today my next guest says theres only one way to punish put and it involves one of his favorite things. Sports. Hear his explanation on that. And as israel launches its biggest attack on hamas yet ill talk live with someone who said john kerry made a big mistake in how he handled the ceasefire talks. And this blunder has both the israelis and palestinians unhappy with the secretary of state. Youre watching cnn special live coverage. Shopping online is as easy as it gets. Wouldnt it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters and even piano tuners were just as simple . Thanks to angies list, now it is. Start shopping online from a list of toprated providers. Visit angieslist. Com today. Lactaid® is 100 real milk . Right. Real milk. But it wont cause me discomfort. Exactly, because its milk without the lactose. And it tastes . Its real milk come on, would i lie about this . [ female announcer ] lactaid. 100 real milk. No discomfort. Come on, would i lie about this . When folks think about wthey think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. 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When you cant wind downd. It helps you fall asleep quickly and wake refreshed. New unisom liquid. A stressful day deserves a restful night. Just in to us here at cnn. A body found in the wheel well of an American Air Force jet that landed in germany. Were told this is an apparent stow away. The body discovered during an inspection. The plane stopped in a couple of places in africa before germany. The pentagon says the body has been tested and theres no indication of any kind of communicable diseases. Updates as we get them. Let me take you back to the war in gaza and some pictures. This is the evening sky right here over gaza city which last night rumbled under furious bombing by israel. Some of the heaviest bombing thus far. So much for john kerry, so much for the ceasefire plea he issued one hour before. No two ways about it, john kerry taking his lumps. He acknowledged as much today. Welcome. Look, ive taken hits before in politics, im not worried about that. This is not about me. This is about israel and israels right to defend itself. And our strong support for israels right to defend itself. But about whether or not there is a way forward that could avoid loss of soldiers for israel and the loss of civilians in every where. Talk about taking his political hits. Hes hearing it from u. S. Ally israel. The direct quote, kerry ruined everything. This is an israeli columnist writing about the secretarys ceasefire plan which unidentified officials in jerusalem derided as a strategic terrorist attack. Thats what israelis called kerrys peace plan a strategic terrorist attack. David ignatius knows this area. Welcome to you. We want to begin with this piece in the post. John kerrys big blunder in seeking an israel gaza ceasefire. Question to you what is the big blunder . The mistake that secretary kerry made when he began his effort to get a ceasefire ten days ago roughly was that after meeting initial resistance with this idea of mediating through egypt, rather than double down on that, he instead turned to two countries that really are allies of hamas, turkey and qatar, and began working with them to try to get the ceasefire. In the end he didnt get the ceasefire. It fell apart very quickly last friday and over the weekend as we know with the horrific war continuing. But in some ways more damaging, he in the process undercut not simply israel, which is furious with him as you said in your introduction, but also moderate palestinians who hoped that egypt approach would work, and other key friends of the United States in the middle east such as saudi arabia, such as jordan, such as the united arab emirates. Ive been talking to diplomats and i hear real unhappiness. Its tissue of is going to hamas friends, turkey and qatar and solidifying the role of hamas. Also in your piece here you make multiple points saying that secretary kerry has erred in seeking a quick ceasefire. They want an end to the violence. I guess my question would be how much time is there . How long, david, for example, before hamas is all but wiped out because thats really as so many have suggested, that is the ultimate goal from israel. Well, israel has to to stay whether its prepared, as i say in a column for a campaign that takes months not the weeks that its taken that effectively means israeli reoccupation of gaza. I dont think theres much appetite for that. What i said in the column i think secretary kerry understands that the key here is to move to a new situation, not back to the old status quo where israel doesnt have to fight a war every two years, Palestinian Civilians are not subject to the kind of bombing and difficulty that is their daily routine during this war. And the way to do that is to empower moderate palestinians and make them the center of this negotiation. Last april hamas agreed that the moderate Palestinian Authority headed by abbas should come in as the governing authority in gaza and thats the way secretary kerry might have tried to negotiate this. Secretary kerry, president obama, when theyve come out publicly, made statements both essentially called on israel to inflict fewer deaths on gaza. But the thrust of their statements and its three weeks weve been catching this fighting, the u. S. Friend, being israel absolutely has the right to defend itself and that really seems to be what they are emphasizing. If your a palestinian, whether youre in gaza, whether youre in the west bank, wherever, does it seem as though the deck is stacked when the mediator being the United States happen to be your enemys biggest ally. Your following me there . If you listen to the commentary from israel the last several days, you would not think that john kerry and the United States is israels best friends and protectors. They are accusing kerry of betrayal and siding with hamas and hamas friends against israel. I think palestinians are right to demand a change from a situation they have been living in. The reality is that can only happen if gaza is effectively demilitarized of heavy weapons and the question is how do you use u. S. Diplomacy to move in that direction. Thats the opportunity secretary kerry had. I hope he takes it up again because honestly that way this nightmare will end. David ignatius from the washington post. Find out why terror experts say it could make the situation worse if the militant group does go away, if they do disappear. My next guest says Vladimir Putin uses money and sports as weapons and the only way to punish putin is to take away the world cup in a couple of years. Would that really work . Thats next. 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