>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello and welcome to the news hour live from our headquarters in doha. i'm stephen cole, two stories dominate the headlines. israel says it may step up its ground invasion of gaza. at least 24 palestinians have been killed since the grand offensive began. ♪ and i'm lauren taylor in london with the latest on the plane crash in ukraine, as the

world demands to know who shot down the jet, separatists promise to let international investigators access the crash site. >> there does seem to be some growing awareness that it probably had to be russian insurgenth -- insurrents. >> the finger of blame is being pointed at russia and moscow. accusations they deny. as we said, we have two major news stories for you at this hour, and they are moves fast. coming up we'll have the latest on the crash of malaysian airlines in eastern ukraine. but we start in gaza, where israel has launched a ground offensive. israel's prime minister says he is prepared to wind the operation that began overnight.

the army sent tanks and soldiers into northern gaza. at least 268 palestinians have been killed since the violence began ten days ago. at least 24 died overnight and this morning. here is our report. downtown gaza city. [ explosion ] >> reporter: the building is used by media companies, one owned by hamas. israel might have declared a ground war, but so far the strikes are still mostly from the air. this was the first strike in downtown gaza city since the ground operation began. the missiles hit all the way up towards the top of the building and down here a large field of debris and windows. this is in the middle of a residential and commercial district, and every one of these buildings shook violently when the missiles struck. just a few hours later this

family was given a two-minute warning to evacuate their home. the father pauses in the ally before seeing what was left of his house. thanks to the warning, everyone survived but his children are terrified. across gaza this morning, hundreds of thousands of children are terrified. a big sister tries to console her brother to no avail. the israelis moved in at 10:00 pm last night. their main objective, cease these tunnels underneath the border. now that these israeli army is inside of gaza, the operation could expand. >> translator: my instructions and those of the defense minister approved by the cabinet are to prepare for the possibility of significantly widening the ground operation and the chief of staff and

military are acting accordingly. >> reporter: as the ground fighting increases casualties will continue to stream in, and families anguished will continue to rise. >> let's take a closer look at where the israeli forces are operating. gaza city is where most people live. and the troops have entered the city on the souther border. with us live from gaza is al jazeera's stephanie decker. stephanie, first of all tell us where you are and what you have seen and heard so far today. >> we're in the center of gaza city, not far from that strike that nick had in his report, and you can hear there is -- we just heard a loud boom there will probably be another one at some point. it has been quite loud during the day. there has been intense shelling

from the east coming across the border, and you can still actually hear air strikes going on. we have also spoken to residents in the north where you mentioned when you showed the graphic. they are further north of that, we're hearing that islamic jihad fighters are engaged in a fire fight with israeli troops. the tanks are in gaza but still in the buffer zone. many have left the area, trying to stay with families inland where they feel safer and for those who do stay they don't have water or electricity. so it's incredibly difficult. people are extremely concerned that these israeli forces will be moving further inland, but at the moment nothing really in their positions have changed since overnight, they are inside gaza but they are along the border suffer zone. >> israel says it's aim is to

hit the infrastructure in gaza, is it achieving that? >> well, israel is targeting the tunnels that hamas have used to infiltrate -- try to infiltrate israel. there has been one attempt yesterday specifically when israel managed to kill what they say 13 of these fighters. they didn't achieve that from the air, it seems, and they say they didn't manage to achieve exactly what they wanted from the air, hence they said the ground invasion was something that was necessary. but they are facing a huge challenge. as i have been saying. people tell you that there is a gaza underneath gaza, what hamas has done over the years, and in 2012 that wasn't the reality. they have an underground network of tunnels. there are tunnels that go into israel, we're told, and this is

what israel is extremely concerned about, so they are trying to figure out how to target them and stop that access, but it is extremely difficult, and many people say that israel doesn't have the full intelligence to deal with it, and a ground invasion, there is a lot of resistance here, the factions have a real cause. they believe they are fighting the occupation. of course gaza is under siege, so they are fighting an enemy that both sides believing very strongly in what their forces -- certainly i think when -- if they do come in further, we will see increasing casualties, because the count here is mounting by the day, but also part of israeli soldiers. there has been one dead so far, but people say if they come closer that will definitely rise. >> stephanie decker in gaza city. thanks stephanie. now let's go to an israeli town on the gaza border.

tell us more about what you have seen and heard where you are on the border? >> well, the booms that stephanie was just mentioning, we are hearing from over here as well from the other side of the border. there are tanks that are based in israeli easter -- territory not too far from where we are standing. we have been hearing the -- this continuous pounding and shelling from these tanks that are not too far away from where i am standing. this kind of shelling has intensified in the last few hours, and we also know from the israeli army, that at least 93 rockets have been fired from gaza at israeli territory since the beginning of the ground operation, and a number of these rockets have been intercepted, so clearly this fighting is still going on, and the rockets are still being fired by

fighters inside gaza at the israeli territory, but no damage or casualties. >> we see that we have a very determined neighbor, an enemy that basically says they are going to do their best to make life in all of israel as unbearable as possible. they are trying to turn our town into a ghost town. we're not going to let them. they are trying to break our spirit. they don't realize that our spirit is invincible and unbreakable. >> mr. netenyahu was talking to the cabinet, and the media this morning, he said the target was the t-- tunnels, but he said it was possible there would be a wider assault. what would necessitate a wider ground invasion, do you think?

>> at this point it's difficult to tell. from the beginning of the military campaign, we have been hearing that netenyahu has ordered the army to prepare for a ground invasion, to be ready for any expansion. now there is a ground invasion. he says it could be expanded if necessary. but the issue of the under ground tunnels is really bothering the israelis. there was an incident on thursday morning when the army said that 13 palestinian fighters attempted to infiltrate into the southern israeli community through an underground tunnel, and that's really alarmed that army. and it realized it is dealing with a new threat at its hands. it is also this attempt to

infiltrate by fighters into the israeli territory, and they said had this attempt not been foiled it could have had disastrous ramifications for israel. and the campaign was to kidnap and murder israeli citizens. and if that happens i think we can see enormous backlash and anger among israelis if fighters in gaza are able to use these tunnels in order to directly attack civilians in israel not only through firing rockets. >> thank you. the invasion and air strikes are having serious impact in gaza. many of the worst-affected people are the vulnerable, the children. these children are sheltering in un refugee agencies come pound. they have to leave -- behind all

of their belongings. >> translator: the children were frightened. what did they do to deserve this? >> this was the scene at the southern end of the gaza strip near egypt. they said 17,000 palestinians are headed to shelters set up in schools. >> translator: where shall we go in israel is bombing us. so where shall we go? every family has 15 members. most of them are children. where shall we go? the women left their homes with only the clothes they had on them. the arab countries should feel shame as they watch what is happening to the people on our streets. >> joining me now is paul heare s -- hershen. is this invasion just on the

border or is the intention to go deeper in to gaza? >> the prime minister of israel has announced a ground operation which is going into gaza, who's goal is to address the ter for network underground. the tunnels. the tunnels are are forming two things. they are the command and control center of the hamas military operation, and the arms which reach into israel through which they are trying to penetrate their troops to reek havoc and want to murder in israel. the government has always said there is a possibility this operation will be widened. we're talking about one of the darkest schools of modern political history. these are the spiritual brothers of isis and boko haram, those wreaking havoc. the way they behave is no way to

behave in the 21st century. [ overlapping speakers ] >> can i just pick you up -- when you said possibility the operation could be widen -- >> hamas is in gaza. >> it certainly is. >> yes. >> what would determine -- what criteria would israel need to widen the operation to go further into gaza? >> so long as hamas refuse to -- to stop targeting our civilians, which -- which -- which they have refused. we didn't want to be here in the first place, and we said that clearly. and they rejected that. we had three ceasefire operations which we abided by, and they rejected both of them. they will stop targeting our civilians, or we'll put a stop to it. they have a significant terror network infrastructure that has been built up over years, and the question is what does it

take to get rid of it -- >> so is that a yes? >> -- we have taken out -- >> is that a yes? you will go further -- >> there's a possibility of -- of -- >> -- destroy the infrastructure, which would include schools, hospitals, water supplies? >> that -- that -- not at all. the -- the israeli military only targets legitimate military targets. >> but that's not true, is it, because you have already destroyed one house, containing -- containing foreign media, and many, many civilians have been killed. >> well -- civilians have been killed. that's the great tragedy of what hamas has brought down on both sides of this conflict. i don't know if you have been in combat, but combat is a terrible place to be. it's uncertain. it's ugly, and civilians do not dragged in there.

the israeli military has made every effort it can, and i think military experts around the world are looking and acknowledging that israel is taking unprecedented steps -- >> a lot of people are saying you have weapons with the capacity for pinpoint accuracy. but that pinpoint accuracy, unfortunately isn't working and isn't accurate, if you can kill children on beaches, children on roofs. you can damage schools. these are -- these are -- you know, the victims of a -- terrible air strikes. random air strikes in some ways. >> there are no random air strikes. there are terrible tragedies that happen in war. you refer to the deaths of the -- the four boys on -- on the beach yesterday. a tragic event. who cannot be moved by the pictures that we saw there --

>> would events like that stop you from firing further or perhaps to call a ceasefire as the pope has asked israel for a ceasefire? >> we -- we have accepted two ceasefires in the last 48 hours. you know, just last night, the government of egypt put out a statement saying that they lay responsibility for the latest escalation at the doorstep -- fully at the doorstep of hamas. the president of palestine just last night said that israeli's acceptance of the egyptian's proposed ceasefire, and hamas's rejection of that's fire is embarrassing. this is the reality of the situation is that we are the -- the functional liberal democracy, abiding by the rules in a very complex and very difficult situation. let's not pretend it's a pure science up against a non-state

actor who is out of uniform and in civilian -- >> it is never a pure science. paul thanks for joining us. ♪ now to the other big story this hour. pro-russian separatists are saying they will allow international and ukrainian investigators to access the crash site of a malaysian airliner shot down in ukraine. let's get more from that story from lauren taylor. over to you lauren. >> thanks, steven, yes, the plane was carrying 298 people when it crashed in the donetsk region after apparently being shot down by a missile. ukraine's prime minister has described the attack as an international crime. russia's president has urged for

a ceasefire and urged peace talks as soon as possible. it left at midday destine for koala lam pure. it crashed here the village about 50 kilometers from the border with russia. scott, the prime minister, the donetsk people's republic has held a briefing today. what has he been saying? >> lauren he went through a couple of things, and one that there are a lot of rumors that someone has taken the black boxes of this aircraft. he said that that is not in fact true. they have not been found yet. he also said he will allow international investigators to come here, check out the site and do their investigating.

he also said that malaysia and holland has asked his officials not to touch anything until their investigators get here. those are the lines that came out of his press conference just this afternoon. but a lot of things have gone on here. in the dawn hours we took a look around and this is what we saw. as the sun rose, it revealed the scope of just how difficult the recovery and investigation will be for flight mh-17. the debris rests in a vest area around these wheat fields. >> translator: the explosion in the sky above the house. i came out to see what happened. the plane then fell down in many pieces. as it was falling it broke apart. all of the pieces were calling in the sky. >> reporter: emergency workers began the difficult tasks of marking the bodies and body parts of the people on board.

their markers dot the scorched landscape. the workers were identifying hue plan remains and we were close to this debris field as some came up, and we overheard one saying there are too many bodies in there. i don't enough stakes and white flags. minors from a nearby coal plant arrived to help. >> translator: we came here because it's just a tragedy. we want to help find out what happened, and to stop people from thinking there are just terrorists here. >> reporter: a few hours later the leader of the separatists visited the cite. >> translator: now unfortunately people from other countries have become victims in this war. >> reporter: the ukrainian prime minister also reached out to the families of those killed but squarely placed blame. >> everyone is to be accountable

and responsible. i mean everyone who supports these terrorists. including russian federation and russian regime. >> reporter: but to accurately determine who is behind this attack on civilians, international investigators need to get in. both sides have agreed to establish a corridor through the battlefield to allow that, but they have yet to arrive. >> you mentioned the difficulties there. how soon do you think it might be to get some of those international investigators on the ground? >> we know that some are on the way to ukraine, and then it's going to take some time for them to get here, because if you look at this debris field behind me, in that report you saw where a lot of the human remains were. this is more where it appears the major impact of the aircraft was you can see. the two engines from that boeing 777 you can see what looks like

the wing. there is an groove in the ground where it hit the earth. they obviously want to get here as quickly as possible. the organization in europe they have said they have indications that the missile that brought this aircraft down was fired from separatist-controlled areas. so going forward this investigation is going to be very important, obviously, but probably a bit of a challenge, because when you have organizations and nations coming in saying the people who control this area are responsible, there could be some complications getting them in and doing the investigation, but they are on the way and trying to get here as quickly as possible. the separatist leaders said we won't touch this until investigators get here. lauren. >> thank you very much indeed. former u.s. secretary of

state hillary clinton says evidence is growing. >> the ukrainian government has been quick to blame it on terrorists, which is their name for the russian insurgents, and there does seem to be some growing awareness that it probably had to be russian insurgenths. how we determine that will require some forensics, but if there is evidence pointing in that direction, the equipment had to come from russia. a phone call has been intercepted in it men talk about a downed passenger plane.

>> as we mentioned earlier, russia's president has called for a ceasefire. and promised a thorough and unbiased investigation into the crash, saying moscow will provide all necessary assistance. >> translator: we on behalf of the russian authorities and on behalf of the government of the russian federation express condolences to the bereaved families. i ask you to honor their memory. in this regard i want to emphasize that this tragedy would not have happened if there were peace on that land. and if the military activities were not resumed in the southeast of ukraine. >> let's go rife to rory challands. rory putin calling for a ceasefire, what more can you tell us about that? >> yeah, he's been out -- out of moscow today attending religious

ceremony, an orthodox religious ceremony with the head of the russian orthodox church, and when he was with the leader, he made statements about love and peace and unity, and bringing everyone together. and in that statement he also called for a ceasefire. he said, we must -- we maintain that peace must triumph on the ukrainian land as quickly as possible. all parties to the conflict must immediately end the hostilities, and switch to peace talks. he has called for peace talks and ceasefires before. this one is quite interesting, though. we'll have to see if it has any legs to it. because we don't know what he is directing that towards. is it directing it towards the separatists or the russian -- sorry -- the ukrainian government. i would think he is directing it more towards the ukrainian

government, because following on from that he also said that it was up to poroshenko, the ukrainian president to establish the right grounds, essentially the right conditions for a ceasefire to take place. >> in the meantime some on the ukrainian side essentially blaming russia for perhaps providing the equipment that might have caused this. what kind of response has there been to the blame game? >> yeah, you call it a blame game, that's exactly what it is. and it has been at a fairly high temperature ever since the news broke of this disaster. the ukrainians are saying it was either the pro-russian separatists, or the missile came from russia itself. russia has said absolutely that is not the case, neither of those allegations hold any water. and the defense ministry earlier on today released information that they say they have been monitoring what was happening in

the area at the time when this plane came down in eastern ukraine, and the only radar signatures they could see for surface to air missile systems were of ones owned by the ukrainian army. so they are essentially saying nothing to do with us. the most likely situation was it was the ukrainian army that brought down the plane. >> thanks very much. a news conference was held and it was said that all systems on the boeing 777 were working perfectly. >> other airlines were flying through that area simultaneously with us. obviously with a necessary separation, but were many airlines flying at that time through that air space. it is a tragic incident, and

could have happened to any of us. now the -- this usual flight route commonly used every day by many airlines is being declared safe by the international civil aviation organization, and the crossing was subject according to [ inaudible ] is not subject to any restrictions. just for the record, along with other airlines, we are now flying a different route. >> neve barker is at the airport. what other critical information came out of that news conference? >> well a lot of critical information. i think the malaysia airlines european vice president did his best to answer some of the most challenging questions. and what we just heard is him answering perhaps one of the thornniest questions, which is

why this plane was allowed to fly over this zone. we know other airlines suspended flights over eastern ukraine, the u.s. warned back in april that the -- the height of the crimea crisis that part of ukraine was certainly not safe to fly over. these -- these comments of course raise some serious questions about perhaps the fact that more precautions may have been able to have been taken to avoid such a situation like this. but as we have heard from the malaysia airlines representative, there were other flights in the area. it could have happened to any one of them, his words. but still cold comfort for those people who have lost their relatives on board this flight. we have also from the malaysian airlines representative, the closest thing now to a definitive idea of the number of people on board and the nationalities involved. i think the best thing is for me to go through them one by one. from the netherlands 189 people

reported kills, malaysia, 29, australia 27, indonesia 12, united kingdom, 9, belgium 4, the philippines 3, canada 1. and four individuals have not been linked to any particular nationality. this situation has touched countries around the world. the pressure is now on to allow investigative teams into the crash site zone to work out exactly what happened. there's a tremendous amount of pressure coming from leaders across the -- continent, but the fear is what may have happened to the flight may well perhaps be lost as ukraine and russia remain in a bitter standoff. >> thanks very much indeed.

let's get more now on the international reaction from al jazeera diplomatic edder to. would the u.s. be likely to know more? >> some people say they will. they say the u.s. has the most sophisticated spy technology. they can look at what is on the ground in any area and see what is going on. they just have to task their satellites to look in the right place. this area is already a flash point, and some are telling me, they think it's highly likely that the u.s. probably already know what has happened. we'll hear from the pentagon in a few hour's time. but the suggestion from some officials is they expect the u.s. probably already flow, and are formulating how to react. >> and on that point, if we do find out, presumably it will be

a huge international -- there will be huge international consequences. >> yes, because right now we have had messages of outrage as a crime, but no one is saying who carried out the crime. once they say they believe they know the separatists fired the missile, i think you will have condemnation of the separatists and also of russia. >> what about -- i mean how do you investigate in a situation like this. because this is a -- you know, a contentious zone with lots of flighters milling around. >> there is actually a document that tell you exactly how you investigate disasters. but the document says it's the country where the crash takes place that needs to lead the investigation. yet they can't go to the place where the crash is taking place. we know the dutch and malaysians are sending a team, and under

international law they are allowed to send a team, but who will lead the investigation in my suspicion is an organization called the international civiloff ration organization based in montreal. >> will they have the security on the ground to be safe? >> and will they be allowed to get there? i think another organization the osce which has already been working in the area, which is an organization that has russia and western nations on it, they, i think could play an important part. interesting in the last few minutes, the president has come out and said he believes definitely that there's no doubt there's responsible -- strong indications who is responsible for the missile from rebel-controlled areas. >> thanks very much indeed for

that. we'll have more on the plane crash later in this news hour. >> we're just devastated. the shock has been incredible. relatives mourn some of the people who were on board malaysian airlines flight 17. ♪ you are. waing the al jazeera news hour. i'm stephen cole. let's just remind you of our top two stories. israeli troops have invaded gaza. 27 people have been killed at least after 10 days of air strikes and shelling of the territory. the israeli government is trying to stop palestinian fighters fighting rockets from gaza. and relatives of the passengers killed in the malaysian airlines will be flown to kiev.

more now on israel's ground offensive in gaza. on thursday u.s. secretary of state john kerry spoke to benjamin netenyahu to discuss the israeli operation. the state department reported that kerry confirmed strong support for the ground offensive against hamas's tunnels, but encouraged israel to restore the 2012 ceasefire quickly in order to prevent any civilian casualties. randall pinkston joins me live from washington, d.c. randall we have heard from john kerry of what he said, and we heard earlier from hilary clinton. what is the president saying and doing in washington? >> the president is keeping close tabs on not only what is going on in gaza, but also ukraine through his intelligence and military, and national security officials. the u.s. remains strongly

supportive of israeli's right to defending itself while encouraging israel to return to the 2012 ceasefire according, that depending, of course, on hamas's agreement. kerry also stressed that innocent civilians be protected. >> thank you very much for joining us. al jazeera's senior political analyst joins us now. i want to explore possible motivation for this offensive. is there an element of domestic politics involved for benjamin netenyahu? i'm thinking about mr. lieberman's threat to the -- they could block the alliance unless a ground offensive was carried out. >> yes, over the last few weeks,

monks, indeed years there has been a system of equallization leading to the right-wing radicallization that we have now. they are unhappy with the way the situation is, the instability, the threat to the settlers and the settlements, the indifference of washington, and netenyahu imposing his conditions on the palestinians. notably the fact that abbas would go to the international community and form a unity government with hamas. that is leading to the cracks, which takes netenyahu to take an even more extreme position on the palestinians, basically paving the way to a military campaign of sort to show his robust response, if you will to

palestinian insuragain -- insur. >> most people can't understand when a country is attacked by rockets every day, they would have the right to retaliate. but increasingly people are being concerned about the deaths of women and children and being injured in sophisticated air strikes and from tank shells. how much does israel, if any, listen to world opinion and calls like the one the pope made in the last 24 hours for a lasting ceasefire? >> you know, this is an important question, because it is the sort of question that is usually asked and answered in the same breath by israelis who say will americans or would the french and the british allow for

another entity to be firing rockets at them at their own civilians? israel does have a right to protect its citizens, it does not have the same right to protect its occupation, settlement, and it's own repression of the palestinians. the problem is that palestinians are in their words resisting and taking desperate measures because they are and have been under occupation for decades. so this dozen ter everyone involved in the cycle of violence, in fact it's a despicable and -- and, you know, ill lodgeable if you will cycle of violence, because it leads to more of the same. eventually they'll have to go back to some sort of ceasefire after so many people have died including children and civilians. so yes, alas there's less and less solidarity if you will in

the world with israeli's contention that it remains an occupying power and it will have to do whatever it needs to do to protect that. but in israel itself the moto is simple, the world can speak whatever the world wants to, but israel will do what israel must. >> let's talk about hamas. we have talked about the voices around the world who don't want to see the pictures of children being killed, and you just answered the question about israel and possible international pressure and the reaction to that. but what about hamas. would the world also like to see hamas destroyed? does hamas have any friends left apart from perhaps a few in tehran. >> it's a funny way when we speak about the world or slash the international community, because what we really mean are those are west powers,

especially western powers that are able to affect, influence, or project some sort of leverage in the area, and that usually would be europe and the united states. so when we talk about the international community, we are talking about them. but does hamas have support in let's say indonesia, pakistan or in europe. hamas unpopular among western elite, especially the establishments in europe. and at the end of the day everyone needs to be reminded that hamas did not exist until 40 years after palestinians dispossession, and 20 years of israeli occupation. at the end of the day, hamas

will continue to resist until the occupation ends. before hamas there was the plo. and everyone hated plo, because they were terrorists at the time. and now abbas is not liked around the world for showing weakness. so at the end of the day, really it's not a question about factions and characters and leaders, it's about a system of occupation that needs to end, and when that happens probably you will see palestinian leaders are far more moderate, and i would expect israeli leaders that are far more moderate when the occupation ends. >> that's a very big when, isn't it? thank you. just seeing a line from reuters, president putin has agreed with iran's president on

the need for a swift end to the conflict in gaza. let's go back to lauren taylor for more. >> yes, steven malaysia's national carrier is reeling over its second disaster in just three months. a plane disappeared route to beijing. and now there are more tough questions for the malaysian government. let's go to florence. what was the transport ministers response to some of those questions or criticisms of malaysia airlines for flying that route? >> that's right. he had to deal with some very tough questions in a press conference earlier on friday. he was asked why malaysia airlines chose to fly that route, and why it was negligent in choosing to fly that route

considering aviation bodies in the u.s. had advised not to take that route because it was deemed risky. they said it was an approved route, approved by the international aviation organization, and a route used by 15 out of 16 countries. he defended the position and said there was nothing wrong with it, and just a few hours before the incident, he said there were other carriers from other countries using that route. the prime minister of malaysia is also expected to make another, his second in 24 hours since the incident. he will perhaps be touching on this as well. as you said this will also have an impact because this is the second incident, major aviation disaster involving malaysia airlines, and it comes really close together. the first was in march of this year. the plane is still missing. there is still a search operation underway. we have spoken to come travel

ash enth -- agents who are requesting that bookings be transferred to other airlines. and the share price of the malaysia airlines closed lower on friday the airline may need to be bailed out by the government. >> thank you. more than 100 of the planes passengers were heading to an aid's conference in australia. world health organization spokesmen was killed on the plane. >> glen will be remembered for his ready laugh and passion for public health. he will be greatly missed by those who had an opportunity to know him and work with him. >> telecrash also claimed the

lives of 28 trailian -- australians. >> this is the worst aviation disaster that australia has ever been affected by. the death toll is creeping up into the high 20s. among them a grandfather traveling with three of his grandchildren. and there is a family who has been hit by both malaysian airlines travel this year. they were still mourning the disappearance of their son and wife. and now their step granddaughter and her husband were killed on ml-17, and that is having a huge impact on the entire country. >> phil lavel joins us to talk about the plane's route. >> i'll give you some graphics.

it took off from amsterdam, and was headed to kwaul lam pure. it was not far off leaving ukrainian air space when it came down. we can see close up just how the plain was doing. it was traveling along a pathway known as l980. it is quite common pathway, but as we zoom out we can see the area as a whole. crimea had a flight restriction over it. the red line was brought in by the u.s. and the blue line was brought in my euro control. so that had been like that for a while now. a lot of planes had been traveling around the area, not through it. zoom in to where the plane came down. this is the rebel-controlled area in eastern ukraine. these are areas where there has been conflict recently. you can see the crash site is

actually right in the middle. i have been looking at twitter at what people have been saying. a lot of people have been pointing to what is happening in the skies right now. we have a website we can show you. you can see where planes are at any one time. across europe there are thousands and thousands of planes. and yet the area, there is a blank area, this is where the plane came down, planes obviously avoiding this area. nobody going through. we're also going to look at what else has been said on twitter. there are a few things that are really noticeable. a lot of people were pointing to a comment made by a man that is a leader of the donetsk people's republic. he said, and i quote we just

downed a plane. that message was very, very quickly taken down, but of course because of the way twitter works, people were tweeting it immediately. also we're going to show you a photograph from a dutch man who took a photograph of this plane. and this is the plane that crashed, and he said on the tweet that he wrote, this is the plane that i'm traveling on, if it comes down, here is what it looks like. >> phil thank you very much indeed. well in the last few minutes we have heard around 30 staff in europe have arrived at the crash site in ukraine by helicopter. we'll bring you more on that as we get more details. but let's talk with the investigation with lisa stark live in washington, d.c. >> there have been reports that u.s. intelligence believe the

separatists were behind this. what more do we know about this? >> the u.s. did indicate that a missile brought down this plane based on u.s. intelligence sources and probably what they are seeing on satellites. we have no official confirmation yet that the u.s. believes it was the separatists. clearly they believe it was either the separatists or the russians. we are being told that president obama will make a statement on ukraine later this morning, and we are also expected to hear from the pentagon. so hopefully we'll get some more clarity as to whether all of the u.s. intelligence information has pinpointed a more exact source of where this missile did come from, lauren. >> and alongside might there be other information on what sort of help the u.s. can offer in the investigation. >> the president has made it clear that the u.s. will offer any help that the ukrainians need. we are now told by a senior

official that at least one fbi technician will be traveling from virginia to kiev to assist in the investigation. there may be additional fbi people as well. it's unclear yet whether that person will be going to the actual crash site or will be based in this kiev. and we're expected to hear momentarily about where the national transportation safety board will also be sending investigators. they'll certainly be assisting from washington. we don't know where the plane's black boxes will end up, but i'm told that the lab here in washington, d.c. at the ntsb is the best place to read out flight recorders. whether the recorder will end up here we don't know at this point. >> thank you very much indeed. and that's it from here in europe, let's go back now to stephen in doe -- doha.

>> thanks very much. we're going to take a look at the world cup winner who has decided to quit while he is ahead. ♪

america mobile app, available for your apple and android mobile device. download it now ♪ time for sport now. here is andy. >> thank you so much, stephen. rory mcelroy and tiger woods are both back out on the course for round two of the championship. the northern irishman has just dropped a shot. he is looking to end his recent

habits of following good first rounds with less than inspired rounds. that man dropped another shot on the second, and he slid back to level par. here is the lineup for now. >> i played just what i thought was probably [ inaudible ] need a couple of [ inaudible ] to try to make the cut the next day if the wind is going to blow. but we'll see how the day pans out. if the wind drops down i think we might be on the rough side. the 30-year-old defender is to retire from the national team. he made 113 appearances for his

country, making him the fourth most capped player in german history. loui van hall described himself as democratic not autocratic. saying this was a job he just couldn't turn down. >> all over the world people were talking about manchester united states when i was the coach of the dutch team. so that is the difference. there is a lot of expectations also. and day two of the second test. and alex cooke's disastrous run has continued. have a quick look at the scorecard. india 295, india 91-3 in reply.

the first test of this series finishing in a draw. and south africa are in a good position at the close of day 3 in their first test sens sri lanka. still trailing south africa by 172 runs. plenty more on our website. philip's requirement from international football our top story. check it out, aljazeera.com/sport. also details on how to get in touch with us using twitter and facebook. there will more sport for me later on. >> thank you, andy. but stay with us on al jazeera, because we'll have the very latest on the ukrainian crash, and who may have shot it down, and the latest from gaza. david foster will be with you in just a moment. ♪

>> a plea from former president jimmy carter. to end world violence against women. he'll join us. >> and extraordinary kids. in the present. why won't congress allow the cdc to conduct a study on gun violence. a members of congress and of -- a member of congress and a spokeman joins us. i'm antonio mora, here's more of what's ahead.