our guests. until next time, waj and i will see you online at aljazeera.com/aj aljazeera.com/ajamstream. welcome to al jazeera america, i'm nelson mandela -- del walters. these are the stories we're following for you. >> malaysian flight mh 17 took off from am der dam and was shot down. >> president obama blamed russia separatists and russia itself. and investigators now heading to the crash scene trying to determine what happened to flight 17. and israel saying its ground offensive in gaza could grow

much larger. ♪ just a short while ago the president confirming u.s. intelligence believes malaysian airlines flight 17 was shot down by a surface to air missile, also confirming that mission was launched from the territory in ukraine controlled by pro-russian separatists. the president stopping short of pointing the finger of who actually pulled the trigger. mike viqueira joins us from the white house. >> the president began on a somber note. there was was u.s. citizen -- actually a duel citizen who died in the crash. also the president in the way of nuts and bolts saying the ntsb and fbi now have been invited by the ukrainian government to go

to the crash site and many are on their way. but you are absolutely right the president has a mission, and that is to leave very little doubt about who the united states government think is responsible for this. it was a buk missile manufactured by russia, possessed by russia, and a unit of which that system was taken over by ukrainian rebels just a short time ago. the president also noting that the missile was fired from herrer to held by separatists, those who want to break away from ukraine. but the president's mission was twofold. first the integrity of the crash site. there's no question in anybody's mind here at the white house or throughout the u.s. government of who is responsible for this. the separatists and by extension the russian government. the white house very concerned about the integrity of the crash site after reports that

separatists absconded with the black boxes. but urging that there needs to be an international investigation. and this could be a galvanizing moment against what russia is doing in ukraine. and that is why the president spoke to the long-term goal of pointing to this issue, and bringing the europeans along and others to get tough on russia. >> i think it's important for us to recognize that this outrageous event underscores that it is time for peace and security to be restored in ukraine. for months we have supported a pathway to peace, and the ukrainian government has reached out to all ukrainians, put forward a peace plan, and lived up to a ceasefire despite repeated violations by the separatists. >> the president emphasizing that this should be a wake-up call for europe and the world community, russia has not stopped its aggression.

>> mike as you indicated the president calling for that credible investigation into the crash. but did he say anything about what would happen if russia and the separatists don't cooperate? >> well, more of the same, really, throughout the course of this the president has struggled to bring the eu nations along. the president announcing sanctions on its own in conjunction with the eu, but falling somewhat short of what had been threatened. why? because the europeans are reluc reluctant [ technical difficulties ] >> wide area of wreckage from

the [ technical difficulties ] >> we overheard one saying to the other, as they approached, he said there are too many bodies in there, i don't have

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: just a few hours after the crash the leader of the pro-russian separatists visited the site. >> translator: the bloody war has been going on for a long time. and now unfortunately people from other countries have become the victims. people who are not going to participate at all. >> reporter: the ukrainian prime minister also reached out, 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, international investigators need to get in. both sides have agreed to establish a corridor to allow that, but they have yet to arrive. >> and that's scott hideler arriving from eastern ukraine, and scott was the first international reporter arriving on the scene. several countries now joining in interest in the crash investigation, and the president offering u.s. help from the ntsb and fbi. lisa, first we understand now that ukraine's government is putting out a new video related to the crash? >> that's right, del, of course, the origins of this video need to be confirmed specifically. but the ukraine defense ministry has posted this video on its youtube site. and it shows a book missile system missing one of us

missiles. and the supposition was the one fired at this jet. the missile launcher, the pictures were taken today, and it shows this launch battery on its way back to the russian border, missing one of its missiles. again, we have not been able to independently confirm that this was in fact what the ukrainian defense ministry was saying, but video like this will be part of the investigation, you can be sure as investigate fors finally get a chance to start look going this tragedy. >> and lisa as this international investigation begins into the crash itself, how involved will the rest of the world be in that investigation. >> clearly as the president said this needs to be an international investigation. the un has said that.

and the president said we're going to hold russia to that. an international aviation group has offered to put together an international team. the netherlands has offered help malaysia. it will have to include folks from many, many different countries. >> lisa walk us through the process, once investigators arrive on the scene, what is the first thing they'll do? >> the two most important things are to secure the black boxes, rebels in that area have claimed to have found the boxes, but there is no indication that that is truly the case, and the second most important thing initially, really, del, is to recover the victims of this horrible tragedy and get them back to their loved ones. and after that, investigators can truly get into the wreckage and start looking for any evidence there of a missile

strike. >> lisa thank you very much. also indiana university saying one of its doctoral students was on board flight 17. she was getting her phd in chemistry. he had earned her master's degree at indiana. she also was a member of the university's rowing team. malaysian airlines is accepting up a reception center at the airport in one town. friends and family gathering to wait for information on the investigation in ukraine. many turning to their faith for strength at a mosque nearby. many offering prayers and expressing hope that those responsible for the downed plane would be brought to justice. by the way this is the second fatal crash of malaysian airlines this year. the company's stock dropping 18% today. the airline also expected to take a major slump in ticket

sales. well now to our other top story, we could be just looking at the beginning of the israeli ground assault in gaza. the air strikes continue from the ground and air. hamas continues to fire rockets at israel. >> translator: as it is not possible to deal with the tunnels only from the air, our soldiers are also doing it from the ground. there is no guarantee for 100% success, but we are doing our best to achieve the maximum. >> and the death toll is climbing. one israeli soldier and civilian are said to be dead. 275 palestinians have been killed? what israel is now calling its operation protective edge. most are civilians. nick schifrin is joining us live from gaza. he has been there since day one. nick what have we seen on the ground so far?

>> yeah, good afternoon, del, we see a constant barrage of israeli fire from the coast right there. you have gun boats from israeli/gaza border, we had flairs all right, as well as indications of troops coming over, and up north we had tank battles of israeli tanks coming into gaza, and firing towards homes and communities, and that community especially is where a lot of rockets have been fired from. but in the last couple of hours, del, it has been relatively quiet, we haven't heard on scene a lot of violence, and that's given everyone here time to take a look at the toll. 25 have been killed since the ground operation began about 20 hours ago, and those include three siblings up north, as i said, all killed by tank shell that hit their home. we have seen rockets fly from gaza into israel. those have not killed or injured anyone in the last few hours.

they have either landed in open fields or been blocked by the iron dome. president obama came out voicing real support, coming out very strongly for what israel is doing here. >> reaffirm my strong support for israel's right to defending itself. no nation should accept rockets being fired into its borders or terrorists tunnelling into its territory, while i was having the conversation with prime minister netenyahu sirens went off in tel-aviv. >> the question is can this limited so far ground operation get to those rockets. netenyahu giving hinth -- hints that the ground operation could escalate. >> nick, we should point out that one of those israeli

missiles struck a building that housed journalists. how is this affecting you and your safety and the people on the ground? >> yeah, i think the building in question had a few media companies. it's not very far from me. only about 4 or 500 feet. the target was hamas television. and that's what the israelis were targeted, and they have targeted that building and that operation in the past. but these attacks are in residential and commercial neighborhoods, and a lot of the rockets being targets are around houses. the un says more than half of all of those wounds are women and children. about 20% of all of those who are killed are children. and we talked about that -- that operation in the north, especially over my left shoulder, the israelis have said to everyone living there, about 100,000 people, they need to

evacuate. all of them have, and there are now 40,000 people living in about 30 schools here in gaza city. some of those rooms are 200 square feet. one of them i saw had 29 people in it. so you have a real crisis of internally displaced in gaza running away from these israeli attacks. >> that is our nick schifrin in gaza. if you have been watching nick's coverage, you realize he was with us bright and early yesterday morning as the invasion began. he was on late last night, and continues all the way into the evening now in gaza. nick thank you very much. we want to take you live now to admiral john kerby. >> -- it's based on concerns that you have about surface to air missile activity and capabilities. >> reporter: i know you said you

don't what the intent was, but was there any indication there were other planes in the sky at that time? and also is there any concern -- the president keeps saying if putin wants to stop this, he can. is there any concern that this is a situation that has spiralled out of control, and russia doesn't have control over the separatists? >> on your first question, i don't know. this is ukrainian air space controlled by ukrainian authorities. and i would prefer them to speak to that. on your second question, i think the president has been very clear about the responsibilities and obligations of what president putin and moscow are right now, which is to diska late the tension, and cease support for the separatists

activities which in some cases has intensified. >> reporter: even since yesterday's incident? >> i don't know a big delta from yesterday to today, but we haven't seen any sign that it's not -- that it -- that it is stopping, yeah. >> reporter: admiral previous to yesterday's tragedy, there had been two or three, at least ukrainian transport planes shot down, does your intelligence and your knowledge indicate that the system that shot down the plane yesterday was a more powerful, more sophisticated system requiring more training or was it similar to the system that was used to shoot down the ukrainian transport planes? >> it's -- again, we're investigating this right now. it's unclear exactly what brought down the -- the other aircraft you are talking about. i marine, we know they were shot down, but those -- those

incidents are still being looked into. and i don't have any great visibility on what brought them down, but i would like to just kind of bring you back to the larger point here is that these aircraft are being shot down, and while it's unclear exactly who is pulling the trigger here, it's pretty clear that it's doing nothing to de-escalate the tension inside ukraine and to bring to this crisis a peaceful resolution. and now innocent people flying from one city to another have been killed and brought into this. so let's not lose sight of the big picture here. it matters a lot less what system it was, and a lot more that it happened and needs to stop. >> reporter: do you believe that whoever shot this plane down could have mistaken it for a ukrainian transport -- >> i'm not going to get into the motivations, the intent, the

reasoning that went into this. that's for the investigators to figure out. we simply don't have that level of detail at this point. ma'am? >> reporter: are there friend or foe measures [ inaudible ] like this? and if it was an accident, would that reveal a dangerous lack of training? >> i don't know. i'm not an expert on that system. investigators will figure that stuff out. >> reporter: who are these investigators -- >> it's international -- >> does it include dod -- cia -- >> there's no plans right now for a dod representative on this. i won't speak for other federal agencies, but i believe there will be some other entities from the federal government going over to participate in it, and i don't have the makeup of the

team. >> reporter: do you anticipate -- >> i have no expectation right now there will be a dod representative on this team. dave? >> reporter: the president said he saw no role for the u.s. military in responding to this, but whatever happened to that list of requests for equipment that the ukrainians sent at the beginning of this? >> yeah, we continue to review requests for ukrainian -- or ukrainian requests for military assistance. the focus of that remains on the non-lethal side right now, and the -- some $33 million that the president has authorized of -- of material has been getting to ukrainian -- the ukrainian armed forces and border services, so the support continues to flow. we continue to -- to take a look at -- at their needs, and addressing each in turn. >> reporter: last i remember, it

was mre's. is there any -- do you have -- a more complete list? >> yeah. there's been -- there's been more. >> reporter: [ inaudible ]? >> the recent deliveries include radios, body armor, first aid kits, sleeping mats. uniform items. additional items will start moving through the procurement process to include night-vision goggles, kevlar helmets, robots and additional radios. and there has been barbed wire, alarm systems, excavators, trucks, generators, that kind of thing. communications gear.

and again, all of this is a part of a package of more than $33 million now that the president has -- has approved. >> reporter: -- haven't gotten there yet, and it has been a long time since they requested that -- >> they are working through the procurement process. it's working through there and they will get there soon. >> reporter: is the concern that this will evolve into a proxy war between the u.s. and russians if the u.s. were to provide lethal aid. >> the concern is the territorial integrity of ukraine continues to be violated by its neighbor in russia and that needs to stop. >> who has the black box? in >> i don't know. >> reporter: is that a concern that evidence may be tampered with? this >> i said at the outset that we

want safe and unimpeded access to the site so the investigators can do what they need to do including recovery of the black box. >> you have been listening to admiral john kerby, he is the pentagon's spokesperson talking about any information that the pentagon may have provided to the white house. the president confirming today that it is now the belief of the united states government that that plane was brought down by a surface to air missile and fired by pro-russian separatists. we want to turn now on the investigation into the crash. it follows international pressure for a ceasefire. phil ittner has been tracking the diplomatic developments. he is in london. phil what came out of that meeting today? >> yeah, del that was an

interesting session today at the unsecurity council. we saw the russians basically pointing their finger at the ukrainians, and -- and also the west, saying all of this is your fault. you created the instability in -- in the east of the country. we saw the ukrainians speaking out and saying, you know, these are russian forces, russian assets, russian trained, that's why they were able to do this, that's where these military assets came from. and in the middle, of course, are all of these nations who now have lost citizens in this tragedy in the skies over ukraine, including of course the dutch and of course the united states. this is what the united states envoy to the un samantha powers had to say during that session today. >> early thursday an sa 11 sam system was reported by a western reporter and separatists were spotted hours before the

incident with an sa 11 system at a location close to the site where the plane came down. separatists initially claimed responsibility for shooting down a military transport plane and posted videos that are now being connected to the malaysian air lines crash. separatists leaders also boasted on social media about shooting down a plane, but later deleted these messages. >> now, we have heard, del, today, in the later part of today, that the organization for security and cooperation in europe, the osce does have represents on the ground at that site, about 30 who are already there doing a variety of things, but they are not experts on this, and the imspar sheealty and full investigation is now what international leaders are calling for. del. >> fill thank you very much. we turn now to tim freye the direction of russian studies at

columbia university. who controls the crash site at this point in time. the rebels say it is their territories, ukraine says it's theres, and russia says it's there. who is in control? >> legally the ukrainian government is the sole country that has control over the investigation. but the rebels have de facto control over the area. >> if the ukrainian troops try to engage the rebels, would russian troops surge? >> i doubt that. right now the situation is very volatile and the use of russian forces in the ukraine would be a very bellicose act that would exacerbate an around dangerous situation. >> will this crash somehow be a

catalyst for the end to the conflict in ukraine? >> well, there will be tremendous pressure on russia from europe to do more to de-escalate and end the crisis. at the end of the day, russia s ukraine are still going to be neighbors, and russia is still going to have an interest in keeping ukraine weak and divided. and russia and europe will still be dependant on each other economically. >> and briefly, i have about 15 seconds left. vladimir putin what should his next move be? >> i think he is going to reassess his relations with the separatists rebels and calculate whether they are more of a liability rather than around asset. of course he has other tools to use. >> tim fry thank you very much for being with us. and thank you for watching al jazeera america.

i'm del walters in new york. "techknow" is next. and you can always check us out 24 hours a day by going to aljazeera.com. where we'll have the latest on the plane crash and the invasion in gaza. ♪

meet troy, the dog who may have saved his master's life >> numbers ling up against me zzling up against me. researchers put them to the test