Palestinians. The death toll in eight days there up to 137. The secretary of state Hillary Clinton is finishing up those direct talks this morning with the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas. Thats happening in ramallah on the west bank. And netanyahu, the Prime Minister, in jerusalem, another conversation shes having. Now she goes to cairo where shes meeting with the egyptian president mursi. Mrs. Clinton making it clear that she is not interested in a quick fix in gaza. The goal must be a durable outcome that promotes regional stability, and advances the security and legitimate aspirations of israelis and palestinians alike. Cnn reporters flanking the middle east today to bring you the most comprehensive coverage of the crisis in gaza and in jerusalem and in israel. Ben wedeman is in gaza city. Frederick pleitgen is in ashkelon city. We begin with sara sidner at the scene of that bus explosion that happened just a little while ago in tel aviv. Sara first of all describe for me how that looks right now. What has happened right now is the cleanup is under way. There are still tape up around the scene. Were very close to the Defense Department building, and the military headquarters, this is a bus that the number 61 bus, we know that it exploded, glass all around the bus was blown out. However the blast was not Strong Enough to knock out the ability for the bus to operate. And so we saw literally the bus someone in the bus drive the bus away, 15, 20 minutes ago. We know that there are several people injured. They were taken to a hospital. That is very, very nearby where this bus exploded. Right now, police are telling us that they are still looking for potential suspects, we see a helicopter in the sky. Theres been a lot of confusion, a lot of rumors, as to who may have done this. Even rumors about an arrest. There was apparently an arrest made but theyre not saying whether that arrest has anything to do with this particular incident. But police said we did not have any indication that there was going to happen in tel aviv. Theyre always on alert for looking for potential suspects. So far the city after the blast has been quiet. The police are combing the area, looking for who might be responsible. Now, as far as whether or not this was a suicide bomber, or a package left, we have confirmed that they do believe it was a package, some sort of a device or package left on the bus. Just dont know how it got on. If someone got on the bus and left it or whether it was sitting there for some time. Theyre still trying to find out those details. There are people hurt. Three of them who are hurt moderately. We talked to a witness on the scene who said that there are people screaming and crying, and there was a couple of women that had blood all over them. Sara, a couple of things, seeing reports that two people who were talking on israeli radio said that they witnessed the attack and they saw a man throw a bag onto the bus, and then run. Are you able to confirm that at this time from the folks that youre talking to . No. The police are saying look theyre still looking into it. They really dont know if it was thrown onto the bus or whether it was sitting on the bus already. They are trying to figure out just exactly how this happened, and exactly who is behind this. In talking to people here in tel aviv who have unfortunately been through these blasts before, especially in the 90s when some of these blasts went off quite often in places like cafes and buses, this blast was not as strong as the ones that were seen back then. This looked like a smaller blast, which did not completely destroy the bus, for example. It did not kill people immediately, for example. This is a smaller kind of a blast. So theyre really trying to figure out who might be behind this, if it has anything to do with the conflict going on right now between hamas and some of the militants in gaza and israel. But the investigation is under way and theyre watching right now the police tape still very tightly wound around the scene. And the sweepers are actually out trying to get rid of all the glass that was blasted out of this bus. We know hamas has praised the attack but is not at this point claiming responsibility for this attack. Sara sidner in tel aviv. Where that bus explosion has taken place. Appreciate it. Lets get right to the gaza israel border. Fred pleitgen is reporting for us live from ashkelon in israel. Whats the latest where you are . Hi, soledad. Whats going on here is that throughout the course of the day weve had a lot of rocket attacks going on here in the ashkelon area. There were six instances where our crew had to go into a hardened shelter because there were rockets flying overhead. I can show you right behind me, theres some rockets right here that have been raining down on the ashkelon area in the past couple of days. Most of these are kasem rockets collected by explosive Ordnance Disposal crews which are doing their work 24 hours a day. Needless to say that because all this is going on in ashkelon a lot of the people were talking to are not really thrilled about the prospect of this conflict coming to an end very soon. We asked them about what they would think about a possible ceasefire. They say at this point they dont believe that their military has gotten the job done yet they were sent out to do. They believe if the military stops now they might have to deal with Something Like this again maybe in the next couple of months, maybe in the next couple of years. But certainly they say they dont want to continue living in a situation where rockets are raining down on their heads. Doesnt just happen during the conflict. It happens in the best of times, soledad. Frederick pleitgen. Other stories making news, Brooke Baldwin is in for john berman. Thats going to happen in just a few moments. First we want to recap our breaking news stories. First out of libya we know from the state news agency there that the gunman, an unknown, unidentified at this point gunman has assassinated colonel faraj al dursi the temporary Security Director for benghazi. That happened on tuesday night according to Security Officials there shot dead by three unidentified gunman who were in a civilian car. He was outside of his home when he was assassinated there and then of course were continuing to follow this bus explosion story happening in tel aviv. But exploded around noon. Israel time, of course, as it passed by the Army Headquarters there, as we mentioned hamas is praising the attack has not yet claimed responsibility not claiming responsibility at least at this point and there have been some reports from a couple of eyewitnesses we heard on israeli radio who said they saw somebody throw a bag onto that bus but as sara sidner reported for us she said police have not confirmed that yet exactly what kind of an explosive device was used and how exactly it made its way on the bus. Were continuing to monitor those breaking news stories for you. Want to get to some of the other stories that are making news. Hi, brooke. Good morning. Lets talk about whats happening here at home. This is the day to get away. Millions of americans are hitting the road, the rails, packing in airports en route to your thanksgiving destination. Heres what were hearing from aaa here. They estimate more than 43 Million People will be traveling at least 50 miles or more this long holiday weekend. So lets check in at one of those airports. Ted rowland is live at busy, busy chicago ohare. How busy is it . Well, good morning, brooke. Not too bad so far. There arent a lot of Early Morning flights here. We have seen some departures already. The big problem, though, is the fog. You can see it out in the distans here. It was white knuckling driving here this morning to the airport. The whole midwest is really covered with fog. That is possibly going to be a major problem today. What looked like a great weather day may be hampered by this fog. I was just talking to a pilot. He says the real issue isnt those initial flights because the planes were all here overnight. Theyre able to take off. Its going to be coming up in the next few hours, when the sun rises, visibility will drop because of this fog and its not just chicago, its milwaukee, st. Louis, and other midwestern cities, what they expect is there will be some delays and of course, chicago is a major hub, specifically ohare, and the delays here happen it will have a Ripple Effect across the country. As they say every time, every day, this is this time of year, bring your patience with you to the airport no matter where you are because there could be some delays. Right now so far so good in chicago. It is so calm and quiet there. What a rarity so far. Ted rowlands, thank you for us this morning in chicago. Also this morning, defense secretary leon panetta spelling out the future against al qaeda, while speaking about the september 11th attacks at a washingtonbased think tank. He praised whats being done but he says theres still a lot of work left to do. We know were going to be smaller. Were going to be leaner. Its a reality of coming out of these wars. But we have to be agile. We have to be deployable. We have to be flexible. And we have to be on the cutting edge of technology. Panetta also talked about investing in cyberspace, Unmanned Systems for the future. Also, former boxing champ hector macho camacho is recovering this morning, after being shot in his face in his native puerto rico. Police say camacho and another man were just sitting in a car when someone opened fire. The second man was killed. The bullet caused damage to two vertebrae in camachos neck. He is in serious condition but expected to survive. A nearriot caught on camera at a City Council Meeting in newark, new jersey last night. Take a look. Listen to this. People there storming the stage after mayor cory booker cast the deciding vote to fill a Vacant Council seat. Police had to use pepper spray to sort of palm the crowd. Police arrested at least one man. Thats it so far. That doesnt even compare to some of the city council that was nothing . Remember the ones weve seen, sometimes i think they come to us from south korea, where you see people throwing chairs. Parliamentary fights weve seen. Youre saying that was nothing . That was like, come on man. I thought the runup were going to see real craziness. Christine romans has a look at the Business Report for us. Good morning. Stock futures are trading flat right now. Fighting in the middle east helping to fuel volatility in stocks and also oil markets. Of course the fear is, the fear is if this were to expand in the region that could disrupt oil supplies. Its really a psychological factor. The price for light, sweet crude up this morning. The hostess story is looking more like hostess will shut down after mediation talks with Union Workers failed yesterday. The Bankruptcy Court hearing scheduled for later today that could determine the future of this company. You know at risk are more than 18,000 jobs. The company then could sell its iconic brand and its recipes to pay off creditors. Wonder bread, ho hoes, ding dongs and twinkies are all hostess brands. It would close 33 bakeries, 565 distribution centers, 5500 delivery routes, and 570 Bakery Stores throughout the u. S. This is a story, you know, people make light of it, youre going to get your twinkies. This is a story about people and their jobs. 18,000 people. For some of those towns where the hostess factory for the wonder bread factory and bakery are really an important part of the economy. So we wish everybody the best. Hopeful theyll be able the people want their jobs. This looks like the people who own the Company Really wanted to continue to make this iconic brand. If investors could buy it maybe they could keep some of those factories running. Some of those factories quite frankly are pretty old and inefficient. So well see. Christine, thank you for the update. Still ahead we continue to follow the breaking news out of tel aviv the bomb blast on that bus this morning. Ruin any chances for a deescalation which is what theyve been talking about. Were going to be chatting with the ambassador Stuart Holliday ahead. Then the republican tradition the iowa straw poll. Why is the states governor saying, eh, kind of useless. Talk about that straight ahead. Oh no, not a migraine now. Try this. Bayer . This isnt just a headache. Trust me, this is new bayer migraine. [ male announcer ] its the power of aspirin plus more in a triple action formula to relieve your tough migraines. New bayer migraine formula. I heard you guys can ship ground for less than the ups store. Thats right. Ive learned the only way to get a holiday deal is to camp out. You know weve been open all night. Is this a trick to get my spot . [ male announcer ] break from the holiday stress. Save on ground shipping at fedex office. [ gordon ] for some this line is a convenience. How you doing today . Im good thanks. How are you . Im good. [ gordon ] but for others, its all they can afford. Every day nearly nine million Older Americans dont have enough to eat. Anything else . No, not today. Join me, aarp, and Aarp Foundation in the drive to end hunger by visiting drivetoendhunger. Org. Since Ameriprise Financial was founded back in 1894, theyve been committed to putting clients first. Helping generations through tough times. Good times. Never taking a bailout. There when you need them. Helping millions of americans over the centuries. The strength of a Global Financial leader. The heart of a onetoone relationship. Together for your future. Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. Were following breaking news out of israel this morning. A bomb explosion on a bus in tel aviv has injured at least ten people. The bus was passing Army Headquarters. Hamas is not claiming responsibility at this point. Has praised the attack, though. This as secretary of state Hillary Clinton is in the region. Shes been attempting to broker some peace, or at least deescalation. Joining us this morning is Stuart Holliday, the president and ceo of the Meridian International center, which is a Public Diplomacy organization that works with the state department. He is formerly the u. S. Ambassador for special Political Affairs to the United Nations. Its nice to have you with us, sir. Good morning, soledad. So yesterday we were reporting at this hour that there were reports that the aggression would stop within hours. Then there reports that there would be a 24hour calm period, that came from a senior hamas official. Then we know that Hillary Clinton was in the region, going from meeting to meeting with netanyahu, and heading eventually to meet with mohamed mursi. Now we have this violence with a bus. Has the window of opportunity, which it seemed like the secretary was trying to exploit, or leverage, has that closed, do you think, with this explosion . First of all, this was a reprehensible terrorist attack. But i dont think it closes the window. Youve got these very serious talks ongoing about a longterm solution to things like, you know, border security, the rocket attacks, and a lot of International Pressure brought to bear by both arab countries, the United States, and the u. N. So, no, i think that this represents an escalation, but i dont think it closes the window to getting some sort of agreement. The real issue will be what happens the day after a ceasefire. Whether it can be enforced. And i think were continually reminded about how hard it is to actually keep these various more radical factions from destabilizing the process. So if youre calling it an escalation and we know Hillary Clinton, one of the words that she keeps reiterating is the word deescalation, which is pretty significant. Shes not calling for a ceasefire, not calling for people to put their weapons down, shes saying deescalation. Heres what she said after her first meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu. President obama asked me to come to israel with a very clear message. Americas commitment to israels security is rock solid, and unwavering. That is why we believe it is essential to deescalate the situation in gaza. So in your estimation what is specifically deescalation . Well, deescalation is creating time and space, again, to get the civilian populations on both sides to feel, again, some sort of confidence that there could be a secure environment, in the short term, while these political talks go on. No rockets, they have to stop firing rockets, no bombs on buses . Absolutely. And of course, originally, before this bomb on the bus, which, again, has been, you know, tactic thats been used in the past but hasnt really been seen for awhile we were really talking about these rocket attacks and the escalation of a more sophisticated rockets, which israel views as a real threat to the civilian population. So then, how do you get to the rocket stopping and the bombs stopping when you, you hear from, for example, a hamas spokesperson who was talking to wolf blitzer, heres what he told wolf. Listen. We have this can happen although it is bombing at this time exactly, and let me say we are also for diplomatic to make an end for this crisis but we are also prepared to do what we are supposed to do in order to protect our people and the future of hes saying listen were open to anything but on the other hand, were going to were going to strike if we feel like we need to strike which is not exactly a first step toward anybody on either side putting down their weapons. Weve heard similar things on the isra