overnight sunday. a newly posted video on the website of hamas military wing complete with ominous music shows off their latest long-range rocket. and of course those attacks by hamas was their answer to overnight israeli air strikes that left eight militants dead, including six from hamas. so this tit for tat exchange which has been intensifying since early june has reached a pinnacle. looks like a boiling point. there are reports that the israeli army is mobilizing reserve units. what is going on on that front? that is usually a sign that this powder keg could really explode. we spoke to a senior spokesman for the israeli military today who told us that so far several hundred reservists have been called up, but they are looking to bring in
youth? that s absolutely right. a spokesperson for the israeli military told us a short while ago the intention of the israeli military is to deescalate. the policy as it stands right now is for de-escalation. they don t want to go into a shooting war with hamas or any other militant group right now in gaza. they are saying they ve deployed additional troops, including some reserve units to the southern commune ifts israel. others in harm s way getting some of the rocketfire. they are going there mostly, primarily for defensive reasons, not for any offensive attacks or any imminent attacks. the spokesperson for the israeli military also told us they have been communicating through third parties, open sources and other channels with hamas to try and de-escalate the situation to restore a sense of calm and stability in the south before tomorrow s friday prayers where we are outside the old city and where certainly there s a build-up of troops in anticipation of what could be
sentiment it that they re sick and tired of the political gamesmanship and finger pointing in washington which they see as basically juvenile, one-upsmanship, whether it be in congress or in the white house. they say if this shutdown continues over the next couple of weeks, 5.5 million veterans and their families are going to be adversely affected. listen to what some had to say this morning. millions of men and women who are transitioning or already transitioned from military service will be forced to depend upon charity. unless the stalemate is resolved by the end of october, 4 million members may not receive disability compensation, pension or gib payments. reporter: there are a lot of concerns as well about military readiness. there is a ma green group here, marine reserve group. as we know the u.s. military heavily depends on reserve units right now. they are unable to train even though they re scheduled to deploy to afghanistan in 2014.
israelis do thing and the israelis watching how the americans do thing. one government liken president obama s declining to roosevelt s decision in world war 2. the israeli iron dome system is still on stand by. there are reserve units which have been called up, and you have to look at this in a little bigger picture in the middle east, as the syrian con district the chemical weapons read line laid down by president obama is seen as a bit of a test for an american insurance policy by the israelis on the iranian nuclear issue after president obama reverse evidence course on saturday, one top israeli official says all this proves in the future, when it comes to iran, we have to be ready to go it alone, whether the prime minister of israel agrees with that or not has yet to be seen
now we re learning the reason why they chose that specific target. it might not necessarily be what you think. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. captions by vitac www.vitac.com he s certainly one of the most visible people on the planet that with global media watching his every single move. how did president obama take most of the world by surprise when he showed up in afghanistan. we re learning new details of this rather complex and massive operation. our white house correspondent brianna keilar is joining us. brianna, tell our viewers what you are learning. reporter: there was nothing normal about how this trip was executed and even from the way president obama entered air force one early, early in the morning on tuesday at andrews air force base. instead of taking the normal multi-story set of stairs he takes usually, he went on a smallerest is stairs into almost the belly of the plane, near the front of the plane and in addition, this is a trip th