FORT SILL, Okla. — Plastered on the walls of an old Army barracks in Oklahoma are childish drawings depicting the American dream.

One crude picture showed a brown building with an American flag flying on top. The building was labeled “high school” in English with “God Bless America” written next to it in an uncertain scrawl. Another featured a school with a big sign that said "Welcome" next to a smiley face. Other children drew pictures of flowers or messages about Jesus.

But the nearly 1,200 teenagers detained on this military base on the dusty plains of southern Oklahoma aren't likely to realize those dreams any time soon. They are awaiting deportation hearings after having crossed the border on their own, unaccompanied by adults, fleeing their violence-torn home countries in Central America. The Obama administration says that most of them will be deported as soon as the backlogged immigration courts get around to hearing their cases.

The children are part of a wave of young unaccompanied immigrants who are showing up illegally in droves at America’s doorstep from violent Central American countries. Just this year, 50,000 kids traveling alone have been apprehended at the border, with at least 90,000 expected before 2015. That’s more than 10 times as many children who were caught by themselves each year before 2012.

The influx has strained the immigration infrastructure for unaccompanied minors, leading the Obama administration to ask three military bases to open their doors and temporarily house the kids until they can be released to a relative or sponsor and await their deportation hearing. A 2008 anti-trafficking law says child migrants from noncontiguous countries must be granted a full hearing before they are sent home.

During a tour of the base, the first time media were given access, reporters were not allowed to ask questions of the young immigrants or of anyone who worked in the facility on Thursday. The 2,700-acre base is dusty and hot, a desolate plains atmosphere very unlike the tropical Central American landscapes the children hail from.

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CLICK IMAGE for slideshow: (Photographs by Michelle Frankfurter)

The children — some of whom look so young it’s hard to imagine how they could have made such a dangerous trip alone — are housed in a part of Fort Sill that formerly was used for basic training. The children sleep in tiny cots, head to toe, 60 to a room, just like a young recruit would in the past. But the barracks are decorated with the kids’ own drawings, and whiteboards are filled with inspirational quotes in Spanish.

The children, ages 12 to 17, are given time to draw between English, math and optional Bible study lessons. They get some downtime, too — a group of young teen girls laid on their cots and danced to “Billie Jean” playing on a small boombox. They knew all the words.

In the meantime, the Obama administration is trying to figure out where to put them. Twenty-seven Spanish-speaking case managers talk to the children individually to determine where they should be placed while they await their deportation trial. A few young girls wearing pink-and-purple sweatshirts clutched phones in the case managers room, calling relatives. (Each child is allowed two 10-minute calls a week.)

A nonprofit group, Catholic Charities, gives 45-minute “know your rights” presentations that explain the children should get a lawyer before they go to trial, because they could qualify to stay legally in the United States under asylum law or other statutes. It’s unclear what percentage of the young people will ultimately be allowed to stay under U.S. law, but the Obama administration claims it will be the minority. Unlike in criminal courts, immigration defendants have no right to an attorney and must find their own if they want one.

“Those who cross our border illegally must know there is no safe passage and no free pass. Within the confines of our laws, our values and our resources, they will be sent back to their home countries,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Thursday in a congressional hearing.

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In this June 19, 2014 photo, a 14-year-old Guatemalan girl traveling alone waits for a northbound fr …

The average stay for the children at Fort Sill will be 15 days before they get transferred to a family member or other sponsor in the United States to await their deportation hearings. More than 550 kids have been transferred out of Fort Sill since it opened in mid-June. But current immigration court backlogs mean the average wait time to see a judge is 587 days.

Oklahoma’s politicians have blamed the crisis on Obama, who’s asked for nearly $4 billion from Congress to process the influx of children and prevent more from coming. Reps. Tom Cole and Jim Bridenstine, both Republicans, say Obama’s deferred action program that offers some protections to youth living long-term and unlawfully in the country has encouraged the children to come. The Obama administration says the escalating gang violence in Central American countries have driven families and children to desperation. Honduras, for example, is now the most dangerous country in the world. Immigrant advocates, meanwhile, say the children should be granted asylum and allowed to stay.

The children are unaware that they’ve become the center of a heated political battle, according to Jonathan Ryan, the executive director of the group Raices, which provides them with legal counsel.

“The kids are not political animals,” he said. Ryan’s group gives the unaccompanied minors “know your rights” presentations on the Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. He’s always peppered with questions once he’s done talking.

“They ask when they’re going to get out of there,” he said. “‘How can I get out? What’s going to happen to me? Am I going to have to go back?’”

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1,200 immigrants await their fate at Army base

It is unclear what percentage of the unaccompanied minors will ultimately be allowed to stay under U.S. law.
Barracks filled with signs

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The thousands of Pentagon employees implicated in a child pornography sting operation. That case was mysteriously dropped and never mentioned again.

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Exhibit C:

Addressing a news conference, Benjamin Netanyahu brushed off a question about possible cease-fire efforts, signaling there was no end in sight to the operation.

"I will end it when our goals are realized. And the overriding goal is to restore the peace and quiet," Netanyahu said.

Israel says it launched the offensive on Tuesday in response to weeks of heavy rocket fire out of Gaza. The Israeli military says it has hit more than 1,100 targets, mostly what it identified as rocket-launching sites, bombarding the territory on average every five minutes.

At least 21 Palestinians were killed Friday, pushing the overall death toll to 106, including dozens of civilians, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

Palestinian militants have fired more than 600 rockets at Israel, including one that struck a gas station and set it ablaze earlier Friday in the southern city of Ashdod. Israeli health officials said the blast wounded three people, including one in serious condition.

The army also said the condition of a soldier wounded by rocket shrapnel on Thursday had worsened. But there have been no deaths on the Israeli side, in large part because of a new rocket-defense system that has intercepted at least 128 incoming projectiles.

Netanyahu said he has been in touch with numerous world leaders, including President Barack Obama and the leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Canada.

He said he had "good discussions" with his counterparts, telling them that no other country would tolerate repeated fire on its citizens.

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Smoke rises following an Israeli strike on Gaza, seen from the Israel-Gaza Border, Friday July 11, 2 …

"No international pressure will prevent us from acting with all power," he said.

Israel's allies have backed the country's right to self-defense, but they have called for restraint. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern about the heavy civilian casualties in Gaza, and on Friday, the U.N.'s top human rights official said the air campaign may violate international laws prohibiting the targeting of civilians.

"We have received deeply disturbing reports that many of the civilian casualties, including of children, occurred as a result of strikes on homes," said Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.

"Such reports raise serious doubt about whether the Israeli strikes have been in accordance with international humanitarian law and international human rights law," she said.

Netanyahu brushed aside such criticism, saying Israel's aerial campaign is aimed at military targets.

He blamed Hamas for causing civilian casualties by hiding in residential areas and criticized the group for targeting Israeli population centers.

Israel has massed thousands of troops along the border in preparation for a possible ground invasion. Netanyahu was evasive when asked about the odds of a ground operation, saying only: "We are weighing every possibility."

Rocket fire continued in earnest from Gaza toward various locations in southern and central Israel. The commercial center of Tel Aviv and Ben-Gurion airport, Israel's main international gateway, also heard warning sirens Friday but these rockets were intercepted and there was no disturbance to Israel's air traffic. Hamas says it intends to fire rockets at the airport and warned foreign airlines to stop flying to Israel.

Militants in Lebanon also took aim at northern Israel with rockets for the first time in the conflict. Rocket fire struck near the border between the two countries and the military responded with artillery fire toward the source in southern Lebanon, military spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said.

The Lebanese military said militants there fired three rockets toward Israel and the Israelis retaliated by firing about 25 artillery shells on the area.

Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said that one of the militants firing the rockets was wounded and rushed to a hospital. The Lebanese military said troops found two rocket launchers and dismantled them.

Southern Lebanon is a stronghold of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which has battled Israel numerous times. However, recent fire from Lebanon has been blamed on radical Palestinian factions in the area and Hezbollah has not been involved in the ongoing offensive.

A pair of Lebanon-based al-Qaida-linked groups, the Battalions of Ziad Jarrah and the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, has claimed responsibility in the past for similar rocket attacks on Israel.

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Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut and Najib Jobain in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.

By Natalia Zinets and Maria Tsvetkova

KIEV/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko vowed to "find and destroy" pro-Russian rebels who killed 23 servicemen and wounded nearly 100 in a missile attack on Friday.

Poroshenko issued his angry statement following an emergency meeting of his security chiefs called in response to the early morning strike by Russian-made Grad missiles on an army motorised brigade near the border with Russia.

The attack, which came as government forces seemed to be prevailing in the three-month conflict, appeared to be the deadliest on government troops since the Ukrainian military ended a unilateral ceasefire on June 30.

"All those who used the Grad against the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be found and destroyed," Poroshenko said in a statement on his website.

"For every soldier's life, the militants will pay with scores and hundreds of their own. Not a single terrorist will avoid responsibility; each will get what they deserve," he said.

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Ukrainian troops are pictured near Slaviansk July 11, 2014. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko vow …

The pro-Russian separatists launched a volley of Grad missiles at 4:30 a.m. on the border post at Zelenopillya, in Ukraine's easternmost Luhansk region, military sources said.

Ukraine's Defence Ministry said 19 servicemen were killed and the border guard service said four of its number also died. Military spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov said on his Facebook page 93 were injured in the Grad attack.

Authorities had earlier put the death toll at up to 30 but this was later scaled down to 23.

Kiev blames Moscow for fanning the violence and allowing fighters and high-powered weaponry to cross the frontier from Russia to Ukraine.

The attack was a big setback for the government which scored a notable victory last weekend by pushing rebels out of their stronghold in Slaviansk and forcing them back to the industrial city of Donetsk, where they have dug in.

Army recaptures part of eastern Ukraine despite ca …Play Video

Separatists have been battling government forces for three months since they set up 'people's republics' in the Russian-speaking east of the country and said they want to join Russia.

Poroshenko's government has threatened a "nasty surprise" to drive rebels out of Donetsk, the region's industrial hub with a population of 900,000, while pledging to limit civilian casualties.

A WAY OUT

In Donetsk's main railway station, people said they had been waiting in line for two hours to buy tickets to flee the city, which they feared would suffer the same destruction as Slaviansk did during fighting.

Separatist leader Alexander Borodai told journalists on Thursday 70,000 residents had already left the city.

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko addresses Ukrainian troops as he visits their base in Devhenke …

"We decided yesterday to leave the city and immediately got ready," said Nadezhda Avramenko, 55, a housewife sitting on the train platform with her family.

Standing in line for tickets, Irina, 55, a kindergarten teacher, said she was leaving with her family

"We're going to Crimea. We'll return if the Donetsk People's Republic holds out and if the monstrous Ukrainians come, then there will be no return. How can you live with them if they're killing people," she said.

Elsewhere in the Luhansk region, four servicemen were killed when their armoured personnel vehicle detonated a mine, said military spokesman Andriy Lysenko on Friday, while another soldier was killed in the town of Karlovka in Donetsk province. Separately, at least five miners died and another five were injured when their bus came under fire from rebels, Lysenko said. The shelling of the bus forced energy and coal company DTEK, which employed the miners, to suspend operations at four mines in the economically depressed industrial province of Luhansk, Interfax news agency quoted the company as saying.

DIPLOMACY

The missile attack took the gloss off the government's Slaviansk victory and seemed likely to add a new sense of urgency to diplomatic attempts to end the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

With an eye to Donetsk which government forces hope to recapture, German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Poroshenko by telephone on Thursday to use a sense of proportion in actions against separatists and to protect civilians.

A statement said both sides agreed that a meeting was needed of the 'contact group' which had met during Poroshenko's ten-day ceasefire to prepare the way for peace talks.

The chance for peace talks withered after Poroshenko called off the ceasefire on June 30 in the face of rising domestic anger over numerous ceasefire violations by the rebels.

(Writing by Thomas Grove and Richard Balmforth; Editing by Giles Elgood)

BAGHDAD (AP) — Kurdish security forces took over two major oil fields outside the disputed northern city of Kirkuk before dawn Friday and said they would use some of the production for domestic purposes, further widening a split with the central government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The takeover of the Bai Hassan and Kirkuk oil fields were the latest land grabs by Kurds, who have responded to the Sunni militant insurgency that has overrun large parts of Iraq by seizing territory of their own, effectively expanding the Kurdish autonomous zone in the north. Those moves have infuriated al-Maliki's government while stoking independence sentiment among the Kurds.

Kurdish fighters known as peshmerga pushed into the city of Kirkuk, a major hub for the oil industry in the north, and the surrounding area weeks ago in the early days of the Sunni militant blitz. But until now they had not moved into the oil fields in the area. On Friday, however, the fighters took over the Bai Hassan and Kirkuk fields and expelled local workers, the Oil Ministry in Baghdad said.

Oil Ministry spokesman Assem Jihad denounced the move as "a violation to the constitution" and warned that it poses "a threat to national unity."

The Kurdish Regional Government said its forces moved to secure the fields after learning of what it said were orders by officials in the Oil Ministry to sabotage a pipeline linking oil facilities in the area. It said production would continue, and that staff can return but will operate under Kurdish management.

Production from the fields will be used to fill the shortage of refined products in the domestic market, it said, in a reference to a fuel crunch in the Kurdish region. It also said the Kurdish Regional Government will claim its "constitutional share" of revenues from the fields to compensate for Baghdad's cutting off the 17 percent of the state budget — some $20 billion in this year's projected budget — that is supposed to be given to the Kurdish region.

The central government withheld the funds after the Kurds began moving oil from fields inside the autonomous zone to Turkey independently against Baghdad's wishes.

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Iraqi security forces stand guard at the entrance to Basra on July 10, 2014 (AFP Photo/Haidar Mohamm …

The Kurds have said their earlier moves into disputed lands were intended to protect the areas from Sunni militants after the collapse of the Iraqi military in the face of the insurgency the past month. But the territory they seized has large Kurdish communities and has long been claimed by the autonomy zone.

In past weeks, the president of the Kurdish zone has said the areas won't be returned — including the highly disputed, flashpoint city of Kirkuk — and he called for Kurdish lawmakers to prepare to hold an independence referendum in the area, a move strongly opposed by Baghdad and the United States. Sunni Arabs and ethnic Turkmens who also claim Kirkuk as theirs have warned of a backlash if Kurds try to monopolize the oil in the region.

The Kurds and Baghdad have feuded for years over oil resources, disputed territory and a host of other issues. Yet, they have also found room for compromise, and the Kurds have provided critical backing to help al-Maliki become prime minister.

But their ties are rapidly unraveling as the country fragments in the face of the Sunni militant blitz, led by the Islamic State extremist group. The country is effectively being cleaved along ethnic and sectarian lines — the swath of militant-held Sunni areas, the Shiite-majority south and center ruled by the Shiite-led government in Baghdad and the Kurdish north.

The conflict has also fueled fears of sectarian bloodshed between Shiites and Sunnis. On Friday, Human Rights Watch said Iraqi security forces and government-affiliated militias appear to have killed at least 255 prisoners in six cities and villages since June 9. It said five of the mass killings took place as the security forces were fleeing as militants advanced, and that the vast the prisoners killed were Sunni. Most members of the security forces and militias are Shiite.

The six incidents appear to be aimed at avenging the deaths of Shiites captured and killed by the Islamic State group.

Underage Fighters Drawn Into Iraq Sectarian WarPlay Video

The Kurds also find themselves fighting the Sunni militants across the northern front. On Friday, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a peshmerga checkpoint outside Kirkuk, killing 13 people and wounding 23, police and hospital officials said on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief the media.

In recent days, the political divisions between Baghdad and the Kurds have grown increasingly bitter. On Wednesday, al-Maliki accused the Kurds of harboring Sunni militants.

The Kurds responded by declaring their politicians will boycott Cabinet meetings, renewing demands that al-Maliki step down.

Baghdad, in turn, suspended all cargo flights to the Kurdish region's two main airports. And on Friday, al-Maliki appointed temporary replacements for all five Kurdish ministers in his Cabinet, said Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani.

Al-Shahristani said he himself was appointed acting foreign minister to stand in for Hoshyar Zebari, who was one of the most prominent Kurds in the government and has been Iraq's top diplomat for more than a decade.

The dispute comes as al-Maliki is struggling to fend off an attempt to remove him from his post by political factions — including the Kurds but also from former Shiite allies who blame him for the failures to confront the Sunni militant offensive and have long accused him of monopolizing power.

In Baghdad, national lawmakers are struggling broker an agreement on a new government and leadership, including the posts of prime minister, president and speaker of parliament, after April elections.

The legislature is scheduled to meet Sunday for its second session amid calls for the quick formation of a new government that can confront the militants and hold the country together. Al-Maliki, whose State of Law bloc won the most seats in the elections, has shrugged off calls to step aside.

The United States and other world powers, as well as Iraq's top Shiite cleric, have pressed for a more inclusive government that Iraqis of all stripes can rally around.

On Friday, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani again urged lawmakers to move swiftly toward a compromise, calling on them to "rise above selfish aims."

"The challenges ... threaten civil peace and the unity of the social fabric and forecast a divided and disputed future for Iraq," Abdul-Mahdi al-Karbalaie, a cleric who represents the reclusive al-Sistani, told worshippers in a sermon Friday in the holy city of Karbala.

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Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Ryan Lucas in Baghdad, and Maamoun Youssef and Mariam Rizk in Cairo contributed to this report.