that's all for now, but the conversation conditions on the website or facebook or google+ or on twitter at aj consider this. thank you for joining us this evening, see you next time. israel's invasion of gaza under way now. what the major turning point means for the mid east crisis, and the crash of malaysia airlines flight mh17. we are covering both stories with our correspondents on the scene, live reports and the latest details. tonight an al jazeera special report. >> good evening, i'm john seigenthaler in new york. it's friday morning, 6am in ukraine and gaza.

two flashpoints the world is watching. israel's invasion of gaza and the downing of malaysia airlines flight 17. the developments are unfolding. the israel-gaza conflict has come to an end after days of air strikes and failed ceasefire talks. the ground offensive has been going on all night. israel said it had thousands of targets to hit and stop palestinian fighters. it's the first time israel has taken troops into gaza since 2009. nick schifrin is in gaza city. what is it like on the ground right now? >> evening or good morning from gaza city. we heard a steady drum beat of israeli troops ask into gadsa, and the -- gaza, and the escalation getting close to where we are that side, which is the mediterranean sea. a steady barr age of gun boat fire. from israel a lot of flares all

night. that is what israeli troops did to illuminate hundreds of miles. and to the north, the focal point of a lot of attacks. a lot of rockets flying in from there. residents reporting the tanks flying in. we have reports, one of ambulances not being able to reach the areas shot, and residents up there towards where they are reporting that they were stop bid israeli forces. a lot of movement on the ground and from the air. >> do you get the impression there was more activity overnight and it will calm down drag daylight, or not? >> yes, i think the operation definitely spiked at night 2, 3,

4am. it's been a little calmer now that the sun is up. israeli forces, like the u.s. forces in, for example, afghanistan, that their advantage comes at night because they have night vision, and hamas fighters, or palestinian fighters do not have night vision. definitely the incursion seemed to have happened at night. that is what the israelis have been focussing on along the border tunnels, that is what they have gone after, that's a big concern, the israeli military releasing video of 12 palestinian fighters trying to get into israel, smuggling weapons, using them to get from gaza to israel. that's what you see the diplomatic efforts, secretary of state john kerry specifically saying that this incursion should be restricted to tunnels, he released a statement, and at the same time the israeli forces are not shy about what their goal is, one of the statements

reads operation protective edge will continue until it reaches its goal restoring quiet to israeli citizens for a prolonged period:. >> that is not what john kerry says the u.s. officials are saying, that kerry is trying to highlight one part of what the israelis are saying in terms of their goals, trying to restrict the israeli goals. now that they are in gaza, who knows how long it will last. and the israeli military do go further. >> how long does that last. are the people of gaza preparing for a matter of days, weeks? >> yes, i think the last time that this kind of operation started, you can hear boom in the distance. that's israeli fire coming into gaza. israeli forces were here for more than eight or nine days.

the people of gaza have no notion that this will be a 24, 48, 72 hour operation. u.s. officials hope that secretary of state john kerry comes here by this weekend or early next week. that's an indication, a hopeful indication that they hope that this is wrapped up by then. if israel is serious about what its intentions are, a miles per hour is saying that their goal is no less than demill tarrizing the gaza strip. that is not something that takes a day or two or three. that is something that takes a deep incursions and ipp face to be able to -- invasion, to be able to take away the capacity of a lot of these fighters to fire rockets into israel. it's not clear whether israel is interested, but the language allows them to send in soldiers for a significant amount of time. >> nick schifrin reporting. thank you. now to ukraine, at the site where the boeing 777 went down,

298 people were killed. al jazeera scott heidler was one of the first journalists to ash at the scene. he joins us. >> over my shoulder you'll see that that is the tail section of the triple 7 boeing aircraft. it is lying on its side, 200 metres up from that, there is the tail section below the section. back where the laboratories are at the back of the aircraft. up the street to the left, appears to be a bit of views lij. it was smouldering a couple of minutes ago. there was a baggage hold there. we could see tourist books. someone on their way to bali for vacation. children's toys, and down the street there's a farmers field, a road going down, and there's

another chunk of the views lij. it was smouldering when we arrived. the fire brigade had to go and put it out. they are telling us 10km circumference where the debris landed. it was dark when rescue crews arrived. they are not doing much then or much now. they are waiting for daylight to go in. they told us they have not found the black box or removed the bodies. they said that they'll in straight international bodies to come in. the prime minister, the self-proclaimed prime minister told me that he has not made a decision. they will open this up to international investigators. this is when we get into touchy territory. this is where we are under the

control of armed separatist fighters. the israeli government is not going to be able to come in here. this is where we have serious discussions to be made with the separatist fighters. and allowing organizations to come in, and knowing the aviation industry well, this aircraft was flying through ukranian airspace. to not allow ukranian officials to come and be part of the investigation will probably hamper it. >> that was scott heidler. he is live at the crash site this morning. what is the situation now? >> yes, the sun came up a couple of hours ago, an hour and a half ago. we are in the same pot. we haven't been here. we went down to the debris field and took a look around. the fire department is here. most of them spend the night here. they are getting ready to do

something. they haven't fanned out into the debris fields yet. believe it or not there's some spots of it where it's smouldering, in daylight we can see, since arriving after the sun set. we can see we have the debris field that we talked about. i can see more debris around here. this is a wheat field this side of the road and the other side and goes down half a mile. you can see debris scattered through on both sides. this is the tail section of the plane, obviously. most of the bodies exposed are down in that direction. you can imagine the fire officials, the rescue officials, they'll have their work without out for them, they'll have to vet and take the bodies out as well. >> scott heidler reporting live from the scene. thank you very much. >> vice president biden was the first u.s. officials to say the crash of the malaysian airliner

was no accident. the u.s. is helping with the investigation, and moments ago obama landed in joint base andrews. the president was in dell aware earlier, and mike viqueira is at the white house. >> marine one left joint base andrews and took off. depositing the president. he kept his schedule, going to wilmington delaware to talk about infrastructure spending, keeping pressure on republicans, and continued to new york city for a fundraiser, and along the way the white house was eager to let us know that the president was working the phones, speaking to many individuals, including the leaders of the countries involved. the common theme here is that

the white house is emphasising that the area around the crash site must be kept secure and not tax evered with -- tampered with. the press secretary pout out a statement -- put out a statement emphasising the role of the raigss reiterate -- united nation, reiterating that no evidence be tampered with, offering to send the transportationation safety board and the federal bureau of investigation. there are indications that the ukrainians will accept the offer from the president. the white house not placing blame yet, not confirming any of the details that have been widely reported. it's felt that joe biden, in detroit michigan, he had forceful words in the aftermath of this tragedy. >> a malaysian aircraft heading from western europe, kuala

lumpur, has crossed or was near the border of ukranian russia, apparently - i say apparently, because i don't have the actual - we don't have all the detail yet and i want to be sure of what i say, importantly had been shot down. shot down, not an accident. blown out of the sky. we have seen reports that there may have been american citizens on board. that's the first concern. >> let me ask you a couple of questions. first of all, based on both of these crisis, is this going to change anything for the white house, and the president in the coming days? >> well, to start with gaza, the president does not have a lot of good moves. you heard nick schifrin talking about what the secretary of state wants to emphasise. they are trying to set finite

goals, limiting the infiltration tunnels blamed on terrorists. in this situation, in the largest sense the president struggles over the course of the last several months to build a con sensis to place what were billed as brode sectorial sanction, if it did not reverse course. russia has not reversed course, but you may see a sentiment shifting back in terms of cohesiveness and solidarity with the united states. vladimir putin has really massively exploited any gaps and reluctance on the part of the europeans to inflict the sanctions. >> mike viqueira at the white house. thank you. >> ukraine's president was quick to blame pro-russian separatists. vladimir putin addressed the

nation saying the kremlin had nothing to do with it. >> it was a short televised address from vladimir putin, surrounded by aids and conified ants and after a moment of silence in honour of the dead, he attacked the ukranian government saying ukraine had to bear responsibility for the tragedy because it happened in ukranian airspace and such a thing wouldn't have taken place if there had been peace in the country. he wept went on to -- went on to say the russian government would offer full support into the investigation. you get a feeling that behind closed doors here in moscow there's a lot of worry about what might happen in the days to come. because this whole instant has rouge geopolitical ramifications for russia, if it tran spires that it was the separatists with

a hand in bringing fun flight mh17. russia will have to make a hard calculation if that evidence comes to light, about whether it want to carry on backing the rebels or cut them loose. that will be something that will be difficult for moscow to do and have huge implications about what will happen in ukraine. >> coming up, the investigation into flight 17 - who is responsible, and what happens now. lisa stark is following that ankle and joins us from washington. and a closer look at the flight paths over ukraine. american airliners were warned to stay away. why was flight 17 on the route. ali velshi joins us next to talk about that. -

welcome back. investigators are going through the rubble of a flight 17 crash, killing 298 people on board. before the malaysian airliner crash, several aviation organisations issued warns. now new restrictions are in

place to make sure it doesn't happen again. lisa stark is in washington with the latest on the investigation. >> air routes over this will disputed section of ukraine have been closed by request for the ukranian government. there were restrictions for planes blofr 32,000 -- below 32,000 feet. that malaysian airliner was at 33,000 feet. the ukranian government requested that the air space over eastern ukraine be entirely closed, and european air traffic control officials instituted that request quickly and diverted all planes from the area. the key focus is who will conduct the investigation into the plane tragedy. there are calls from the u.n., n.a.t.o., the united states and malaysia and other governments for an open and independent

investigation. >> here is the prime minister of malaysia who spoke about that. >> just now i received a call from president obama. he and i both agree that the investigation must not be hindered in any way. an international team must have full access to the crash site. >> a concern is what is happening to the wreckage. it's important that it not be disturbed. the problem is that this area is controlled by the rebels. they, apparently, want the russians to handle the investigation, but the ukranian government, under international law, should be the one heading up the probe. the ukranian government wants a thorough investigation and accepted offers of help from the u.s. in the investigation. all of this is going to depend

on negotiations with those rebels. >> lisa stark, thank you. ukranian officials knew of the risks of ground-air attacks and issued warnings. on july 8th the authority announced the closure of air space blof 32,000 -- below 32,000 feet. it was said that the flight was 1,000 feet above the restrict zone. "real money"s ali velshi was here. the question is why the plane was flying the route. >> it was a question i had. i now know that this is a superhighway. that route is the way to get from western europe to south-east asia, it's the most efficient the the winds and pattern are right and airliners fly above 33,000 up to about 40,000. this triple 7 was capable of doing that. some airlines decided to nigh

around it. because the group had said above 32,000 was open, people assume it was safe. there's a difference - pilots and passengers don't make decisions about a route that an airline takes, the airlines do. >> the pilot can't make the decision? >> in some instances they can, depending on the strength of the pilot within the organization. generally speaking that means unionized pilots. i spoke to a pilot who was a unionized pilot at united airlines and worked as a non-airlines, he said there's lots of good and bad. being unionized you have the authority to say, "i'm not going to do that, it's unsafe", here is what he told me. >> as a u.s. airline pilot, the captain of unit airlines, i have the backing of the union, i was able to say no, i don't feel comfortable going in this

direction. i'm afraid that malaysian captain did not have that luxury. >> that's what he was saying, you know, airlines don't want pilots making the decisions. >> the airlines face financial crisis. it's been a cost. >> everyone has decided not to ply through the airspace. all of them, a lot of them decided they wouldn't. by the way that space is closed off. now you can fly there. if you try to file the flight path, you can't. people will have to fly around it, purposing fuel, it will take longer flights and airlines are got at passing that over to the consumers. >> from a business standpoint, do the airlines have to talk to the consumers. >> i think they have to. when these things happen, it affects the industry. after the disappearance in march, malaysia lost 36,000 bookings. these things have an impact and

by the way, as a result of what happened, the price of oil went up, because the world is worried. airlines will not have a good day today. >> ali velshi on the day all night and all day. thank you. >> former american captain jay raulins is in fort lauderdale. it's good to see you again. >> you too. >> what do you make of this, and what is the role of a pilot when we talk about the warnings? >> well, i was listening to your last speaker there, and i would agree, american airlines is a union pilot situation as well. but i can tell you that the company itself supported a captain, there was never a question if you didn't want to nigh in a particular direction, and you had a better idea, they let the pilot make the final decision. >> in a situation like this obviously there has been a lot of talk in the media, pilots are aware of it, is this a

discussion that goes on among pilots, not necessarily after something happens, but before. do they talk about whether or not it may be safer to go around some place else are go another route? >> i don't think there's a discussion in the ready room. what usually happens when you get to work is the does patcher has prepared a route that they expect that you will find acceptable. the captain takes that moment to go over it. if he has a reason to change it, he does so, including the field requirements. as i say, we were never questioned about that. to the extent that people have discussions about the safety of going on a particular route or not. that is determined either through f.a.a. warnings about certain areas, or once you are deciding at that moment whether to go forward - sometimes air space has been closed for some

reason, and no one would perceive that direction. in this case it was a grey area, where apparently officials thought it was safe to fly above 32,000 feet, at least that's what malaysia air is saying. if that were the case, one would have to make a decision if they thought that was a high enough safety factor in order to proceed that way. >> do you think airlines or pilots may have a discussion about other hot spots, like iraq or syria, and whether to fly over those countries. >> yes, i can tell you that for a hot place like syria, they have closed the air space. no american carrier was going that way. it's too risky. the ukraine is a different situation. even though they had hostilities, if - there was no one who thought that they had surface to air missiles that reaches that high, anywhere near

33,000. a shoulder-fired missile would not have been a problem. now they have discovered that they, indeed, have missiles that go as high as 72,000 feement. it's not -- feet, it's not safe at all. >> there's discussions about whether airliners could be protected. whether there's the technology. is there, should there be? >> well, there have been discussions about this. when shoulder fire missiles first became the thing, so to speak. there was a great deal of discussion as to whether airliners should be autofitted with antiaircraft missile fire. some aircraft military aircraft have been outfitted with flak, a debris that is kicked off the back of the aircraft to confuse the missile systems, and fighter

jets are able to make abrupt manoeuvres which sometimes can help. they are different techniques. another is jamming, none of that has been introduced on airliners. there was talk about the israelis doing something like that, but it's not in widespread use, that's for sure. >> good to speak to you. thank you for your insight. we appreciate it. next, other major story of the day - israeli tanks roll into gaza, military say they need to take out. a live report from jerusalem. >> and the downing of flight 17. who is responsible. david shuster joins us with that, coming up.

good evening again, i'm sig are in new york, following two wig store yirtion the malaysia airlines crash in ukraine, and israel's enface of gaza -- in

vasion of gaza. first to the middle east. israel's ground offensive has been going on all night of the more on that in a moment. back to the malaysia airlines crash in ukraine. 298 people en route to kuala lumpur were killed, the plane going down in an area controlled by pro-russian separatists. u.s. intelligence officials are certain the commercial airliner was shut down. there has been fast-moving developments. here is a time line of how the day unfolded. 6:15am, taking off from amsterdam head toing kooum pourks on a flight path -- to kuala lumpur, on a flight path taking it over ukraine. it crashed 30 miles from the russian border. the last contact was at 8:11:00am. president obama was on the phone with russian president vladimir putin, at the end of the call obama was told about the crash.

>> as a country our thought and prayers are with all the families and passengers, wherever they call home. >> 11.47am ukraine's president issued this statement: just afternoon mail asia's prime minister released a statement saying:. >> around 4 this afternoon reports flooded in that a missile brought down the plane. ukraine blamed pro-russian rebels, saying they used a buk anti-aircraft missile. there has been no confirmation of that climate. pro-russian rebels denied responsibility. but on facebook, spelt why is was taken for shooting down a plane at about the same time. we don't know if he was

referring to the malaysian snet of the aviation authorities issued warnings about flying in ukraine's air space. airlines say they'll avoid the area. scott heidler was the first reporter at the crash site and shows you what it looked like when he arrived. >> this is the tail section. malaysia airlines flight 17 carrying 295 people. in the two fields, there's a road connecting them. that's where the people lost their lives. this is the tail section after the plane - the back part of the plane. 200m down, deeper into the field is the tail pin with the malaysian airlines logo. if you look down the road - this is a road cutting between the farmers field. down there is a chunk of the fuse limb. in the wreckage you can see the landing gear with the tires. now, this - the rescue workers

are here. they've been here since soon after the plane came down, they are not taking the bodies out. they pitched a tent. they have floodlight. it's very, very dark. it's a rural area, but the most painstaking part is in that field. that is where there are remains of 295 people scattered throughout the field. >> that's scott heidler reporting. the dutch prime minister says it's probably the worst air disaster in the netherlands history. friends and family can be seep consoling one another. 154 passengers were dutch, and in kiev mourners placed flowers and candles on the steps of the embassy. we turn to the victims. every hour we learn about the passengers on the flight. michael sitabay the executive director of the u.n. programme on h.i.v. aides revealed some passengers were on the way to the international aides conference in melbourne and said:.

>> ankle lean miller, a flight attendant. one reads on facebook:. >> in malaira, the sister of a passenger reacts to her loss. the plane was headed to kuala lumpur international airport. relatives have gathered awaiting news. steven chow is in malaysia with the latest on that. >> well, it seems very much a terrible case of deja vu for many in malaysia, because they say that five months ago, malaysian airlines, the national carrier, was involved in another airline tragedy, mm-hmm 370, the

flight from kuala lumpur to beijing. search teams are looking for the wreckage along with the passengers. now they have mh17, shot down over the ukraine, with 295 on board. here at the kuala lumpur international airport. three counsellors gathered at the hotel and have been receiving families of victims, trying to help them make sense of the tragedy. a lot of questions ongoing, specifically who is responsible for shooting the plane and why malaysia airlines chose this route. >> the airline was criticised br after the last plane went down, and there's criticism about this route and why the airline took the route. what is the airline saying about that, if anything?

>> wep heard from the prime minister -- we heard from the prime minister saying it's an approved route. many are plying it. the u.s. government in april of this year told its carriers, american airlines and others to avoid the route because it was a hot spot over the ukraine, and there was a threat that planes could be shot down. one aviation expert in the e.u. said it's a case of saving cost. more direct routes means less fuel and more profits for airlines. we know that due to the first airline tragedy malaysia airlines had been suffering a great deal in terms of profits. they have been making huge losses, if it comes to light that this was a decision based on economy, ut imagine the criticism coming from families, we don't know why malaysian airlines chose this route. we are hearing a great deal of criticism for taking the route over ukraine. >> steve, thank you.

let's bring in retired navy commander. defense department spokesman jd gordon. what impact is this crash having on the crisis in ukraine? >> therebe pressure on vladimir putin, they used an sa-11 missile, reaching higher than 30,000 feet. she -- they had sa-11s that could go up to 70,000. it's irresponsible that some airlines would be flying there. international community will hold vladimir putin accountable. >> what sort of military training do you think the russian separatists have. >> they don't have a lot. ukraine had conscripts.

they have some. if you look at them they are like a rag tag bunch. they have special forces from the russian side. i don't think they are well trained or dismruned. i think it was a mistake. >> you think the pro-russian separatists accidentally shot the plane down. >> yes, i think they shot it because they thought it was a transport plane. a ukranian fighter jet was shot op wednesday, monday a tropt plane reported -- transport plain, reportedly on monday another. this is in the separatist controlled regions close to the border with russia. i think the separatists saw the plane and shot it down. it was reckless, and one na regrets it the most is vladimir putin. >> do you expect n.a.t.o. to make a move as a result of this. >> i think they'll increase

military exercises. a small exercise was postponed. i think n.a.t.o. will do more to send a message to russia that they should be careful in thinking about military manoeuvres. i wouldn't expect military action. >> does the fact that it will matter. >> everyone should be outraged. there'll be a lot of pressure on n.a.t.o. to do things like, fription, except georgia. russia has been doing so much against its neighbours. it's codified in law to annex different parts of former soviet republics where vladimir putin and others feel there are russian speakers. they annexed o law if parts of them petition for membership.

>> in some ways vladimir putin blazed kiev because he said they were launching attacks on the pro-russian separatists and they had to respond. how much longer can vladimir putin condition to take that sort of position, or will international pressure force him to do something else? >> well, it's all a matter of - i think the pockets of billionaires in russia. they pull the strigs. vladimir putin is trying to reconstitute the greater russia. it's been in his plan. he said the greatestgeo political catastrophe was the dispollution. investors are nerve ours, people are are not investing in russia, i think vladimir putin could be rained in by the billionaires and oligarchs in moscow. >> thank you very much.

back to the ongoing crisis in the middle east. israeli troops rolled into gaza today. the last time israel's military crossed into gaza, since then battles have been fought from above with air strikes and rockets. the crisis intensified in recent weeks. >> the crisis, the latest face was a little more than six hours. operation protective edge was entering a new phase. it's about more than the cycle of revenge sparked by the kidnapping and muvereders of thrive israeli teenagers or the death of palestinian teenagers in may. it's about the worsening situation and the rocket attacks. >> on uni-28th, the first rockets are launched from gaza into israel. israel responds with air

strikes. in a tweet the israeli military announces operation protective edge, calling up 40,000 reservists. analysts say it's part of their strategy of periodically mowing the grass to keep hamas in check. over the past weekend hamas raents a ceasefire-- rejects a ceasefire crafted by israel. israel knocks a drone flown from gaza. tuesday the first fatality announced. the death count nears 200. yesterday, four palestinian children on a beach in gaza are killed by israeli shelling, yards from hotels where foreign journalists are staying. the military says it was targetting hamas fighters. >> we are hearing now that much of the focus of the israelis is on the tup else. >> that's right -- tunnels. >> they are saying they couldn't hit it from the air.

they are trying to take it out from the grouped. it's a life line for supplies. a group of gunman tried to get into southern israel, through a tunnel into israel from gaza. israelis say they killed some in an air strike. one of the primary goals of the invasion is to destroy what it calls the terror tunnels. paul beban, thank you very much. john hendren is in israel now, and he is live there covering the situation. what can you tell us about the israeli operation? >> well, we have heard two different stories. as paul discussed there, we've been told that israel is after the tunnels, ones across the border others through to egypt, and where a lot of material

where rockets have been smuggled. it's those tunnels, and the israeli military wants to strike all of them. israel went after gaza with air strikes. it did not work. they negotiated a ceasefire, hamas didn't accept that. the rockets flew out. they are trying the ground invasion. it's looking like a limited incursion. they haven't got into gaza city. will they focus on the rocket launching and tunnels. if as some suggested, they are

trying to demill ittarise gaza, it will be a house to house search and fight, the high casualties that we saw in fallujah and elsewhere. that would be ropinger and much blood -- longer and much bloodied. >> are civilians being warned about possible retaliation from hamas? >> in israel there has been a threat not just from the rockets fired further than in the past, more than 100km, but also from the infiltration that we saw. we were talking about 13 guys in tonne 'ems, coming out in a cab utes in the area, and they were bombed by an israeli air strike. i watched the video on that. there were the cases of

palestinian froing progress men going by see, that intensified pressure europe on binyamin netanyahu, and may have helped press the trigger for the ground invasion. >> the obama administration commented and mike viqueira is at the white house. >> president obama appeared in the white house briefing room on thursday and said he redouble efforts to broker a ceasefire between hamas and gaza. 24 hours after that israel acted moving into the gaza strip. no comments from the secretary of state or the president until late thursday. secretary of state john kerry spoke with israeli prime minister binyamin netanyahu and it is clear that the united states now pressuring israel to

put forward clear goals for the incursion and a clear ending emphasising the tup else, the mission surrounding the tunnels that the israeli view as an infiltration point of terrorists. they mentioned it self times, including this quote - t. >> meanwhile, the congress is foursquare behind israel in support of what they are doing, a symbolic but important vote in of the senate, virtually no opposition supporting what israel was doing. the president upped time pressure, supporting israel and secretary kerry and the president warning time and time again that israel must be more cautious about civilian casualties. >> mike viqueira at the white house. ahead - the science behind

anti-aircraft records. jake ward explains why whoever fired at flight 17 may not have known what they were shooting at.

here is the latest on malaysia airlines 17 in the crash killing 298 people. u.s. intelligence officials have evidence that a surface to air missile took down the aircraft. it's not clear who fired the missile. ukraine and the rebels denied responsibility. there's a global investigation trying to determine who shot down flight 17. david shuster is here with that. >> u.s. intelligence officials have proof that the malaysian airliner was shot down of the officials say the evidence about the location and origin of the missile launchers were not conclusive. that's why they say it was a missile attack. no one in the obama

administration is pointing a finger. according to congress, it involves electronic intercepts, and the lawmakers say there are strong indications that separatist rebels fired the missile. at the end of june, multiple newsagency sis gloated about a missile system, capable of shooting down an aircraft flying at 30,000 feet. there has been questions about whether the russian military provided the separatists with training or gave them russian soldiers to help use them. >> the credit or firing down a plane, on wen separatists -- wednesday separatists took credit for bringing down a military jet. the separatists claimed on facebook:

here is a video. it was posted showing the plumes of smoke from the debris filmed from the crashed airliner. there's another piece to the puzzle. listen. ukranian intelligence officials say it is a rebel phone call intercepted. the fighters pictured by ukranian intelligence for a yeahedia release can be heard talking about shooting an aircaf, going to the scene and discovering it was a jetliner. one sounds exasperated as he learns it was not a plane, saying they must have been lied to about the type of plane coming their way. >> thank you.

today is not the first time a commercial aircraft was shot out of the sky, there has been cases of civilian planes being attacked. allen schauffler has more. >> this is extremely unusual, especially if you consider the tens of thousands of airplanes in the air at any given time. we have seen it happen. in this region, in 2001 a plane owned by sign earia airlines went down in the black sea, killing everybody on board. 78 passengers and crew killed. the ukranian military didn't admit it but it is one of their missiles like willing fired through a training exercise that brought it down. in 1998 a u.s. s missile cruise area targeted and shot a ukraine passenger plane, 290. president raying expressed

regret call having a human tragedy. >> in 1983. a korean airlines plane was shot, it was well off its course, near or in russian air space. 269 crew members and passengers died in the shoot down, including a u.s. congressman, larry mcdonald. the white house called it a massacre. and the kremlin accusing the u.s. of master finding the event as a provocation. >> unusual, but it has happened as people look to find out what happened. looks like once again we have a commercial airliner shot down. >> more on the top story. it's not clear if the civilian airliner was intended to be the target. let's go to jacob ward for more on that. is it possible to tell different

types of aircraft apart when you are on the ground? >> absolutely. it's the mainstay of the air traffic control system that we have. the radar signature that comes off a sleek, small fighter jet is very different. it may not be that someone operating a mobile missile platform will know that difference. an experienced operator would know that a plane at 33,000 feet, that is not diverting its path and moving along an airline will not be a military plane. if all else fails. all aircraft monitors. 125 megahertz, the emergency frequency, and can be hailed on that frequency by anyone on the ground. that's how they get in touch. there are many ways to tell the difference and confirm though radio communication, if they needed to.

it didn't happen ep. >> sounds like human error is the most likely matter. >> it does seem to be the case. the missile platform is networked together in a big group of these individual units, and can be fired as a single missile unit. you can turn on an autodetection and targetting system that almost takes humans out of the group. it acquires targets. the human is a veto in that case. this is a trend in a lot of downings that aljp mentioned. the automate if systems that can track a plane and hitting faster than a human can make a did you suggest. it reduces humans to a voting message. the buk is capable of doing that. we'll look at automated weapons

systems in the days ahead. >> we had a military expert talking about the possibility that this may be a mistake. if it was pro-russian separatists, that maybe they mistook the airliner for a transport plane. given your information about how you can tell what airplane it is, you'd think they'd be able to tell that. >> i think any serious military force would understand all its options for identifying the difference between civilian and military flights, and certainly a plane that is flying above what had been established as an international open zone, above 32,000 feet should be recognised as a civilian aircraft. the other haunting factor is if they had called up an all-air transit. they speak english, there's a way for everyone to speak the rudimentary english to say "where are you going, who are

you?" and get a response back. that didn't happen in this case. >> jake ward in san francisco, thank you very much. there'll be continuing coverage on aljazeera.com, and on this tv news network. al jazeera america. joie chen and "america tonight" is next. see you back here tomorrow night. that make a difference... that open your world... >> this is what we do... >> america tonight next only on al jazeera america

>> tech know. >> we're here in the vortex. only on al jazeera america. tonight an america tonight special report, two breaking news stories this hour. >> israel invades gaza, underway, at this hour. israel launches a devastating ground assault on gaza. going down deep, to flood the tunnels where they say hamas threats are hiding. it is the heaviest show against hamas in years. a jet with fearly 300 people onboard blown out of the sky. al jazeera is the