SANCHEZ: And he said that most news organizations have ignored the possibility that the people who actually broke the ceasefire was not the Palestinians, not Hamas in Gaza. What he said -- in fact, let -- I think we‘ve got it. Dan, play this, and then we‘ll give you some more information on it. Let‘s go ahead and go to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUSTAFA BARGHOUTI, PALESTINIAN LEGISLATOR: The world press community or media community is overwhelmed with the Israeli narrative, which is incorrect. The Israeli spokesperson have been spreading lies all over. The reality and the truth is that the side that broke this truce and this ceasefire was Israel. Two months before it ended, Israel started attacking Rafah, started attacking Hanunis (ph), and never lifted the blockade on Gaza. Gaza remains without fuel, without electricity, with bread, without medications, without any medical equipment for people who are dying in Gaza -- 262 people died, 6 people because of no access to medical care. So Israel broke the ceasefire.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And you know what we did? I‘ve checked with some of the folks here at our international desk, and I went to them and asked, What was he talking about, and do we have any information on that? Which they confirmed, two months ago -- this is back in November -- there was an attack. It was an Israeli raid that took out six people.
Now, let me refer you -- it‘s not just us. We‘ve checked in other periodicals. Johnny (ph), go over my shoulder, if you can. Here we go. "The six-month ceasefire started coming apart at the beginning of November after Israeli commandos killed a team of Hamas fighters during a raid on a tunnel they suspected was being dug for kidnapping of Israeli soldiers. That raid set off more Palestinian rocketing." That‘s "U.S. News and World Report."
I got another one for you, I believe, here. OK, this is "The Guardian" -- questionable, but nonetheless. "A four-month ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza was in jeopardy today" -- this was actually reported when it happened -- "after Israeli troops killed six gunmen in a raid in the territory." That‘s important to report.
And here we go, as well, from the Economist.com, and the point of contention here is this one. Johnny, one more. "The last straw came in November, when Israelis killed six gunmen it said were digging tunnels to launch a raid onto Israel, spurring Hamas to respond with a barrage of rockets."
So the question as to who started this -- and we‘ve been hearing that the Israelis say they had to do this because, suddenly, the ceasefire had been broken in Gaza by the Hamas and the Palestinians. Is this now a little more in question?
CLANCY: You know, that is absolutely true. But just as true is the fact that if Israel hadn‘t started shooting first in this case -- and Israel said, We had security reasons, imminent security reasons. There was no real deal here between Hamas and Israel. Israel still reserved the right to go in to do any attack where there was a primary security interest there. And they said, Our soldiers were going to be kidnapped. We had to do it.
SANCHEZ: But you know, I guess what it is -- Americans, we like our order. We want things delineated for us. We like to see a quid pro quo. They‘re saying this happened. Are they right? And they‘re saying this happened. Are they right? It‘s almost like we‘re left -- when you talk about the Middle East, you‘re left with such subtleties that sometimes everything is a vagary.
Let‘s do this. I want to hold you for just a moment. Ben Wedeman has just become available to us. He‘s live in Jerusalem. He‘s been following the story today.
Ben, first of all, if you would, bring us up to date on what -- yesterday during this hour, you were talking to us about a rocket attack. Have been there more of those rocket attacks today?
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there have been about 40 rocket attacks onto southern Israel so far today. Now, in most cases, causing no casualties and no significant damage, but what we‘ve seen is the significant development over the last 24 to 48 hours is that the range of these rockets is farther than we‘ve seen yet, several hits on the town of Beersheba (ph), which is about 25, 26 miles from Gaza. That sort of range has not been seen before.
And this comes after four days, five days now, of intense Israeli air attacks on Gaza. And we‘ve heard Israeli officials saying they have been successful at destroying all the workshops that make those rockets and at hitting rocket launching squads. But here we see nonetheless, despite this air offensive, these rockets keep on coming.
SANCHEZ: You know, what‘s interesting? And by the way, let‘s go over to MySpace real quick, if we can. Johnny, give me a shot of this MySpace thing. "Just like children -- He started it, No, he started it. Sad. They both need to own up to their actions."
Sometimes it looks this way. In actuality -- and I got to keep you on with this, Ben, and I want to ask you, too, Jim -- is it possible that what‘s going on over there will end up being good in kind of a strange way for both sides? Hamas was down to, like, 17 percent approval among Palestinians. That‘s how little they thought of this organization. That‘s bound to go up as a result of this now. And meanwhile, the political situation there for this particular prime minister is also bound to go up because he comes across as a tough guy. Am I wrong?