> people in gaza flee for their lives in a desperate ascertain for anywhere safe as israel military offensive goes on. neighbourhoods near the israeli border are under fears bombardment. hello, this is al jazeera live from doha. we'll have the latest from gaz e in a moment. where have the bodies been taken. pro-russian gunman are accused of tampering with evidence. as church services are held with victims, pressure grows on

russia's president who is accused of backing the separatist. >> translation: i have told him time is running out for him to show the world, if he is serious about his offer to help. israel's bombardment of gaza is moving closer to the heavily populated part of the territory - gaza city itself. this was the scene a short while ago. the smoke you can see is a result of explosions after israeli attacks - from tanks or aircraft the the military says a total of 307 have been killed in the 12 days since the offensive began. among the worst hit parts of the territory overnight was east of

gaza city. people in the areas say the shelling was indiscriminate and they were trapped. ambulance say it's been too dangerous to go in to help the injured. this is a live view of gaza. in the last hour there has been large explosions close to where the respondent are reporting from. nicole johnson is there, witnessing the shelling overnight. . >> reporter: the eastern part of gaza was hit hard on saturday night. it was the heaviest tent shelling since israel started the ground operation. flares lit up the skies near the border. tent shells slammed into people's homes. >> translation: wait, wait, we can hear shells and rockets falling on the streets and homes in our neighbourhood.

they are falling everywhere. we have no electricity. everything was cut off. >> for a few hours ambulance vehicles couldn't reach the neighbourhoods. the attack was so intense, it was not safe to go there. the red cross can't reach the area, it's too dangerous. people are stuck at home. some people managed to flee to schools in safer areas. we are stuck. the streets are empty. all you hear is shelling. we are living in fear, terrified. there are 18 of us in one room. it's my whole family. we are stuck, and the kids are crying. >> after a while, some emergency crews started to reach the area, which had been so heavily shelled. among the dead at least two children - a woman and a son of a senior hamas leader. >> translation: there's random shelling and no communication

with israeli forces on when medical personnel can evacuate the injured. >> reporter: it was a long and difficult night. in gaza the shelling is going on. people will be hoping for a break, long enough to pull out anyone injured or killed. well, the people of gaza were facing major shortages of life eessentials even before the israeli result. according to the u.n. humanitarian agency received electricity for four hours a day. it was also said 900,000 people don't have adequate access to water and sanitation, and the u.n.'s relief work agencies says 50,000 have been forced to flee their home. that's higher than the 2008/2009 conflict. this is a doctor in gaza, saying there's a large number of

civilian casualties coming into the hospital. >> we are receiving loads of injured from the area. we were just overflown by two or three f-16 israeli jet fighters firing a large number of air to ground miss eels, directly into the area. we cope with the situations. injuries are severe. and it has been all the time, a large number of civilians - women and children. the problem is the israeli air forces do not allow ambulances to access those people who are trapped. there may be more than 100 and hundred. we don't know the number of injured in the area. but the access of balances is a major problem. she hava hospital managed, but it's under intense pressure. we are operating almost on

amputation ipp jauries and -- injuries, and shrapnel injuries that the israelis are shelling against the local areas. these may cause internal bleedings and other life-threatening situations. it's very disturbing to see the large number of civilians and in particular the children. this father came running with his daughter, screaming that we need blns, we need ambulances. joining me in the studio is a professor of contemporary history at qatar history in doha. thank you for being with us on al jazeera. as the israeli efforts intensify, ban ki-moon is in doha, and the palestinian unity government. do you think anything positive can come out of the diplomatic activity, can there be a ceasefire. >> the efforts now is to stop

this operation which basically led to kill more than 2,500 people, to kill more than 250 people, more than 2,500 people. >> 350. >> basically the whole efforts is to stop the operation. basically it was paying the price of civilians. what we witnessed in the last 48 hours, it seems that the israeli government is facing trouble. there's a lot of efforts from paris, from the united states. to save face. none of the aids have been agreed so far. a lot of diplomatic actors - egypt has been the broker. last week it seemed hamas were, instead, wanting qatar and turkey to be involved in negotiations. qatar and turkey, can they be

good neediators right now? can egypt still have a role? >> i think the focus on this estate is who is capable to end the blockade on gaza. who is capable to stop the suffering of palestinians in gaza. who is capable to hand this matter to the international community. >> we witnessed - the only - now, the only players are turkey and qatar. egypt is not trusted by hamas. of course, both - what is interesting, is the united states - the united states basically are not happy with the egyptian efforts. egyptian efforts have been done without the united states. the egyptian government tried to marginalise the role of the united states, which upset russian, now they are trying --

upset the israelis. >> the palestinians are meeting in doha, hamas and mahmoud abbas. last week when egypt introduced the ceasefire which was rented by hamas, because no one consulted them on it. they welcomed the ceasefire and said hamas should accept it. how divided are the palestinians. they are part of a unity government. they don't seem very united. >> the gegs of palestinian is nothing new. i haven't - when the egyptian government invited to visit cairo, to discuss the effort, the meeting today in doha is trying to bring together all the efforts, trying to bring what is in common between the egyptian - so-called initiative and what the hamas and other groups

wanted, was basically the list of demands as being handed to doha to present it to ban ki-moon. the efforts now is to find what is in common, and try to pass this message to ban ki-moon who has a tour in the region. >> the list of demand by hamas include lifting the siege in gaza. are these demands feasible. are they realistic. will they be accepted. >> the blockade started seven years ago. it is against international law. you have 1.8 million people living there. they are separated from the war. basically everywhere in the world, even non-muslims have a lot of sympathy. >> you say everyone in the arab world. you see the response from arab governments has been somewhat muted this time around.

>> the arab governments have these kind of positions when it comes to the - they have their own tone, words of criticising what happened. this is a history of conflict with more than 60 years, they have a position which basically does not reflect the reality, the feelings of many arabs in the streets. >> very good to hear. from qatar university, here in the studio with us. turning to another big story we have been covering, the downing of the malaysia airlines in ukraine. world leaders demand russia put pressure on rebels to give unfettered access to the wreckage of the malaysian airliner shot on thursday. concerns have been raised from where the bodies moved have been held. there are accusations of wreckage being destroyed. international monitors trying to establish a safe corridor were

denied proper access for a second day. they are working in an intimidating environment under the eye of separatists. 298 on board were killed, shot in a separatist held area east of ukraine, 50km from the russian border. the wreckage is strewn across 15 scare kilometres of farm land. al jazeera's nisreen el-shamayleh is at the scene. joins us now live. set the scope for us. tell us where you are, and whether the investigators have managed to get access to the site? >> well, as you mentioned, a huge area of this countryside is strewn and lit ared with pieces of the wreckage. i can show you what is the cockpit of mh17. what remains of the cockpit. you can see the front, the nose of the cockpit has been blown

apart. strewn across this area, the sunflower field. if we can zoom in you can see the control panels. they are manageled with wires and seating. the bod yes of the pilot have been moved. the black boxes are still missing. what is key for the investigators and they still haven't managed to arrive at the scene. what is key when they do get here is to assess and look in detail at the debris, and try to find any remnants or any potential pieces of a missile which appears to have brought down the plane. they will be able to do that if they can get to the scene. at the moment they've been unable to do so. >> the bodies of the victims have been removed from the crash site. a lot of questions, i understand, as to where they've been taken.

that's what we have been trying to investigate here in donetsk and in the site area. most of the bodies have been removed, coal miners, volunteering, searching through the fields to see if more bodies are remaining. we went to the donetsk morgue and found the bodies that have been pleased in a refrigerator lorry have been taken away. we have been trying to get hold of officials to tell us where the bodies have been taken. this is terrible, awful news for the relatives and the families of the victims, but also for the world, that is observing what is happening here. because the bodies need to be identified. there are dutch specialists, interpol specialists in the country and hoping to come here. they have been able to do so. when they do come here at the moment we don't know where the bodies are. >> that's nisreen el-shamayleh

reporting live from grabova at the seen of the malaysia airlines crash. thank you nisreen el-shamayleh. still ahead on the progra e programme... [ ♪ music ] ..in tune with independence, we look at the viability of a separate state for iraq's kurdish population. plus... >> i'm in sri lanka, taking a look at how violence in the country's south affected communal harmony.

welcome back. you're watching al jazeera live from doha, a reminder of the top stories - israel's bombardment of gaza is moving closer to the heavily populated tert territory, gaza city. a total of 370 people have been killed in the 12 days since the offensive began. separatist rebels in ukraine removed all the bodies that workers recovered from the malaysia airlines crash site. world leaders demand russia put pressure on the rebels to give un fettered access to the aircraft. for the latest from gaza, joining stefanie dekker outside shifa hospital. it was app intense might of shelling, the death toll increasing to 370. tell me about the scene at the hospital and the situation there. >> reporter: we were in the hospital a little earlier.

desperate scenes. people scream k, asking why it was happening to them. it's a dead woman, rolled past with horrific injuries, we saw children, shrapnel hands bound from burns, and the elderly. really horrendous scenes, chaos. we have been told a journalist was killed, a local journalist, chose to the area that was intensely hit over night. there's still shelling going on. we can hear it. the people are streaming in the hundreds in their thousands. we were driving in. bringing their children carrying whatever they could. a few of them in cars. this is where they are coming to. they spoke to a doctor, and he said to me this is the worse he can see it. in his eyes it was a massacre.

he said they ipp discriminately shelled civilians. it's ongoing. the real fear is how they are going to - once they get in, the border areas, what they find. we'll check more bod yes. that is the u.n. agency. this is what he had to say about what they are doing to cope. >> our teams are stretched. in some areas we'll run out of school buildings. a lot of schools are in areas we no longer consider secure. we are in discussions with the icrc and unicef and other to use government schools they'd manage. we are running out of mattresses, high geep kicks. we are looking at airlifting from dubai, borrowing from the unhcr from their syrian

stockpil stockpiles. wr getting there. today and tomorrow will be active. we have seen people fleeing, bodies littering the streets. no break in the shelling. people who have been fleeing - where are they going? well, thi have not many options. the border is closed. they are not free to go. they are moving inland. what happened before is people moved in with families, with the u.n. schools. there's a lawn behind the hospital. people are sitting there. there was 50,000 that fled yesterday, what they saw was the bodder areas were between shed. many did not want to leave, an area along the border. people don't want to go anywhere, it's their home, they

have kids. how do they take care of them. the intense operation has achieved that objective from the israelis. people are telling us there's hardly anyone left. people are still coming this. as i said earlier, there was a fear. once it lifts, once more people can go in there to see what happened, many more bodies will be brought out. >> the death toll stands at 370, more than 30 killed overnight. a lot of civilian casualties, even though israel says it's targetting the tunnels. c is the number of -- why is the number of civilians killed so high? >> that's right. one person said it's crazy how many civilians are being killed here, and they told me it's war, and israel doesn't value palestinian life. anywhere you go in gaza, the

losses are close together. and the families are huge. to have a family of eight children is normal. it's why we are seeing so many children who have been killed. there are so many children around. so, yes, from what - we have been here since the beginning of the conflict. we have seen in our eyes, in the hospital, it's children, civilian, women that are the majority that are hit. and they are terrified. there's a psychological aspect to the war. no one feels safe in their homes - we had people home, they would have been shelled. they moved in with someone else, got shelled. they had to move again. absolutely horrific stories, we are hearing. >> do we know, stephanie of the casualties among the hamas fighters, and the other groups fighting against the israelis. they keep it secretive as to how

they operate and what's. we hear from the israeli side that they managed to kill a certain number. we can't really get the numbers confirmed to us, because they don't like to talk about it. what is clear that there are casualties on both sides. also the brigade have said that they killed many more soldiers than the israeli army is confirming. difficult to confirm. it is clear that it's a battle that is ongoing. hamas is stronger than it was before. so certainly it is a fight that the israelis knew would be difficult. they have incurred casualties. we'll have to see. there's an issue that israel doesn't know exactly what it's dealing with because of the underground tunnel system. we have the fighters popped up from the ground. it's dangerous and developing situation, and certainly it doesn't seem like it's calming down soon. in fact, the opposite.

>> it doesn't look like it's calming down as we watch the live pictures from gaza, smoke billowing over the sky. the bombing continues after an intense night of shelling, the most intense since the israeli offensive. a total of 31 people were killed in gaza. in the neighbourhoods in the east were the heaviest hit, and ambulance scenes were not able to get into the areas. as we watch the live pictures, we realised that it hasn't been quiet this morning. israel's intensifying its bombing campaign on gaza. stefanie dekker is in gaza city. the upside is the hospital. they were wary, looking at the diplomacy side of things. there's a lot of diplomacy.

the u.n. scenario in doha meeting with hamas leaders. as well as president mahmoud abbas. with israel intensifying the campaign, does it look like we might be seeing perhaps a troos or a ceasefire. >> you know, it's important to remember that diplomacy was on the table last week after the egyptian initiative. the credibility of the initiatives was not accepted because of the relation shared between hamas and the new government in egypt. more important is actually what israelies are facing in last 48 hours. it doesn't seem that they are making any progress. it's clear that they are facing real problems on the ground. let's remember why this operation was, from the beginning. it was, according to the israelis, is to mill tarrize hamas, weakening hamas, to end

the tunnels. none of those goals has been achieved so far. hamas is still strong. hamas is still attracting israelis, trying to target more of the military on the boarder. israelis are suffering cities inside israel. there's a lot of blame to the government of israel for waiting 12 days before starting the serious operation. let's remember. 50 soldiers stand by, 70,000 standing by. the second phase of the operation which the government announced this morning. all of this putting a question mark about why diplomacy is important. israelis are facing a real

challenge on the ground, and international community went to the effort to end the killing of the palestinians. a lot of the united states and european union, all - how they accept this number of casualties for no condemnation. >> okay. >> let's talk about the different players right now involved in the negotiations. you have the egyptian, the traditional brokers. you have qatar, turkey, the united states, obviously. out of all the different mediators, who was seen by both sides as the honest right now. >> for both sides, israeli and hamas have a favourite - israelis, the abdul fatah al-sisi government played a positive role. >> it is surprising, isn't it?

>> absolutely. to the hamas, they believe that it can't represent the palestinians. it's where you look at it yourself as a player. qatar and turkey had the discussion about the role, is about when major issues left, ending the story of the siege. when 1.8 million live a normal life. this is what they want. on the other side, on the egyptian initiative. the discussion about short-term solutions. they will not need to a real solution. thousands of people are killed. casualties. they need education, and they need to live as millions are living. what makes the egyptian initiatives weak is that this initiative is looking at

short-term solution. it's more strong and reliable, the initiatives look at the long-term solution. it does not mean that hamas - it means that those should have a normal life. this is acceptable in the community. >> what about the palestinian unity government which, you know, was agreed just a couple of weeks ago, a couple of months ago. it took seven years on the government between hamas and the break-inian authority. where does the latest offensive leave the idea of palestinian unity. >> politically speaking this put a question mark about the ability of hab -- hamas. >> basically they gi a concession