Face in the News: No resolution in sight for Israel-Gaza conflict, immigration crisis

WASHINGTON (CBS News) - Two major stories are unfolding on opposite sides of the world and we covered it all on "Face The Nation" on Sunday: The Israel-Gaza conflict is spiraling out of control, and the immigration crisis here at home is nearing a critical point.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended his aggressive military response to the barrage of Hamas rockets being fired at Israeli civilians. He wouldn't say whether he plans to order a ground invasion into Gaza, but he suggested that the current conflict might only be in its early stages.

"I think the issue is achieving the mission, and we'll have to see how that is achieved," Netanyahu said as an all-clear siren went off in the background during the interview. "I was asked by someone is this the beginning of the end, and I said, I don't know if it's the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end."

Netanyahu also spoke on the latest diplomatic negotiations over Iran's nuclear program, saying that it was "comical" to think that Tehran isn't interested in securing a nuclear weapon.

The prime minister's comments were covered by Reuters, AFP, the Washington Post, National Review, The Hill, the Washington Examiner, The Fiscal Times, Voice of America, Sky News, BBC, the International Business Times, the New York Post and the New York Daily News.

Later on the program, the Israeli and Palestinian ambassadors to the United States presented their sides of the unraveling crisis, which has killed almost 175 people in Gaza and wounded two dozen Israelis.

Israeli Amb. Ron Dermer accused Hamas of using human shields in Gaza in order to increase civilian casualties caused by Israeli air strikes. Palestinian Amb. Maen Areikat called for an immediate cease-fire and blamed Israeli "occupation" of Palestinian territories as the root cause of the recent clashes. Their appearances were picked up by The Hill, the Washington Free Beacon and Israel's Ynet News.

Switching gears to the immigration crisis here in the homeland, "Face The Nation" host Bob Schieffer interviewed two key players on opposite sides of the issue. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican who met last week with President Barack Obama, slammed the administration's handling of the problem.

"I gave the president a heads up on what was happening with these unaccompanied children," Perry said, referring to the thousands of kids illegally crossing into the US. "It could have been stopped years ago, had the administration listened, had the administration been focused on the border with Texas."

Perry also continued his war of words against Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., saying that the US should not isolate itself and "draw a red line around the shore of America." The two potential 2016 contenders have recently traded barbs in a series of op-eds, publicly hashing out the internal Republican Party conflict over isolationist versus interventionist foreign policy.

Perry's comments on these topics, plus the conflict in Israel, were covered by the Washington Post, The Hill, National Review, the New York Daily News, UK-based The Guardian, and the Huffington Post.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., a staunch supporter of immigration reform, rebutted Perry's comments and condemned some of the more hardline conservative Republican lawmakers for their anti-immigrant stances. He also said the "border is secure" and that undocumented children are escaping violence.

His comments were covered by Politico, The Hill, CNN, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Huffington Post.