chaos in gaza as israeli tanks shell alaxa hospital. hello, welcome. i'm steven cole, this is al jazeera live from doha. also in the next 30 minutes more civilians are killed as israel continues its offensive. there are reports of new attacks on gaza's eastern neighbourhood shajaiya. ukraine is willing to hand over the investigation of a plane to outside agencies. fighting between pro-russian

separatists and pro-russian troops resume in the east of the country. first, israel's bombardment of the gaza strip by hair and sea goes on. five are dead after 25 shells hit the alaxa hospital. there were scenes of chaos as patients and doctors crowded into the corridor. one of the shells hit the third floor, damaging the operating theatres and the intensive care unit. doctors are struggling to move patients to other hospitals. the director-general at the alaxa hospital joins me on the line. were you at the hospital when the shells started to hit? >> i'm at the hospital to solve a problem, and my hospital was

targeted. >> did the hospital receive any warning? >> no, nothing. not at all. just without any warning. >> and is there - did you see or did any of your staff see any military activity at the hospital or near the hospital? >> no, there was nothing. maybe not far from the hospital, almost a kilometre far. they were attacking the town, all the people have left the camp, escaped and run away to come to my house, and i left the house about 2:00 pm. when they attacked the hospital with heavy artillery bombardment.

three of the ambulance were wounded, destroyed at the same time, destroyed, and later on, one hour later, they have attacked the hospital once again, so a number of the victims - 50 are wounded and five dead. those in the hospitals in the medical department - it was penetrated, the room of the patient, so three of the relatives and one of the patient died in the room. there must be tremendous pressure on resources in the hospital. >> tell us what damage was caused to the infrastructure. >> we were suffering too much before this offensive.

55% of dispose ability [ inaudible ] after the war, what happened is we received more than 3,000 wounded, and more than 500 were killed. all the consumables we are have are being used rapidly and now we are suffering too much. this is coming on top of closure of borders, and it's almost 2-3 hours a day. now, they were not designed to work on this hour, not 24 hours. and without enough fuel to run the generators... >> doctor, i'll just pick you up on that. running out of fuel to run the generators. we must leave it there, thank you for joining us from the alaxa hospital. a senior hamas leader says

palestinians in gaza will resist the israeli attacks. >> translation: we are here today before this new chapter of confrontation against the occupier. we'll record with great pride and dignity our confidence, our proud and our moral and our heroic resistance with our heros. those men who followed what god has talked them. those who died and those who wait and are steadfast. nicole johnson joins me from gaza. tell us more about what has happened in gaza today. we have, as you probably heard,

talked to the doctor from the alaxa hospital. that's the major incident that the world is focussing on at the moment. what is happening? >> there has been heavy shelling along the eastern floonk of the gaza strip. there has been shelling that pretty much hasn't let up, from the north to the neighbourhood that we heard about. it's been heavily shelled all the way down to that whole area. it is being hit hard. from what we see in the position in the hospital, they are coming under heavy attack from the shelling. there are reports, ground combat operations going on between fighters, from groups like the al-kassam brigade and jihad. it appears as though the israeli

tank shelling is going deeper inside gaza. where it was on the eastern flank of shajaiya neighbourhood, it's moving to the central part and in some cases further. because the shaja ear is a huge area. it's a huge neighbourhood. while the eastern part, home have fled, those closer to gaza city, they are a couple of kilometres from here, have stayed put. it seems they are coming under attack as well. it looks as though while the israeli tanks may not advance that much further, the areas that they are striking are much deeper in gaza now. >> is it clear, nicole, what the targets are? >> no, it's not clear. i mean the reports that we are

getting, certainly from the israeli side, is that they are after this so-called city of tonne else under -- tunnels under gaza city, and the other side of things, the palestinian side, the targets that are being hit. if you can call them targets, houses, cars and shots, it's a heavy tank shelling. it's a constant bombardment. the whole area is being hit. whereas a couple of days ago the pupils of smoke are on the further - the further sort of edge of gaza near the israeli border. now we see the black plumes of smoke in the center of shaj jaia. >> thank you nicole johnson. the israeli army says it can't confirm or deny whether a soldier has been captured by

hamas. the palestinian group says it captured the soldier, and a fighter appeared in the video identifying the soldier and citing the army tag number. there are reports that israeli forces are using white foss ferrous in their attacks, according to gaza's health minister. that is used by military to produce smoke, which hides soldiers in battle. it can be used as an insendry wep job, when it comes into contact with skin, it causes intense and persistent burns. in 2009 human rights watch accused israel of war crimes saying it used white phosphorous in heavily residential areas of gaza. here is president obama. >> israel has a right to defend itself against rocket and tunnel attacks by hamas. as a result israel has done significant damage to hamas's

terrorist infrastructure in gaza. i have also said, however, that we have serious concerns about the rising number of palestinian civilian deaths and the loss of israeli lives, and this is why it has to be our focus, and the focus of the international community, to bring about the ceasefire that ends the fighting and can stop the deaths of innocent civilians. that was the president in the last hour. >> also he was talking about the downed malaysian airliner. what is the few in washington d.c. what is the u.s. few of how the investigation should proceed now? >> the u.s. view, in terms of the malaysian airtime, is right now russia is not doing enough to encourage the separatist, but the u.s. says it has been

controlling the crash site to allow for a complete investigation. the u.s. president speaking after the comments about gaza. then going into the comments about the situation, saying that russia can and must do more, to de-escalate this conflict. russia has not done that, it's used to allow access to the wregage. the president is saying there's a number of teams from the international community, ind clueing the united states, looking to conduct an investigation, but right now that was not permitted. quay using the separatist of hiding something, asking what they were hiding. the united states said russia was bearing responsibility, and they were supplying heavy weaponry. this time the united states

needed to do more. >> what would the consequences be if a full investigation in the u.s. view anyway is not allowed. >> i think that was really the point of the president's statement in the last hour or so. already we know the united states imposed stiff economic sanctions towards russian energy terms and banking terms, and there was a sternly awarded cautionary note to russia that if it does not compel for cooperation, there'll be further costs, as the president said, and further isolation, likely in terms of economic and further sanctions. he didn't specify, but said there would be increased cost, and the u.s. would be working at the united nations as it tries to find a diplomatic resolution, but at the same time saying that russia, in the eyes of the united states, must get serious about resolving the conflict.

>> thank you indeed for that. more on the plane the the remains of more than 250 of the passengers from the plane are on board a train now, heading towards carr keef. there a dutch plain -- plane will take them to amsterdam. tell us more about the operation, where the bodies are going, why, and the state of investigation? >> yes, well, the train is leaving probably in these couple of minutes from torez up here to kir keef. this will take between 5-6 hours on the train. 282 bodies, 87 partial parts of victims of this tragedy that happened down south from where i am now in eastern ukraine.

we know there's a c130 hercules cargo plane on the tarmac here that will take the bodies and body parts to the netherlands for analysis, for identification. how and when that will happen - by the time the train gets here it will be well into the middle of the night, midnight, 1 o'clock. will they take them traght to the air -- straight to the airport and put them on the craft and flythem out, we don't know. there's a 31 investigation team here as part of investigation teams from a couple of countries and the european monitoring megs. that is what will be happening over the next couple of hours, and first thing in the morning they'll be loaded on to the cargo aircraft so they can get moving forward with this. this is something that the family members need to see. they need to see progress of what has been happening.

there has been a little progress and a lot of back and forth. this is the first positive sign that the majority of the bodies made their way or are on the way out of ukraine. >> we'll leave it there. scott heidler reporting. thank you very much. >> let's look at the pictures. the train - there it is. torez, eastern ukraine. the train is carrying the remains of more than 250 of the passengers aboard that doomed malaysian jet. it's heading towards kharkiv. not far from the crash site there has been heavying sheing in eastern donetsk. government forces are trying to take the city. there has been heavy fighting near the airport and the railway station. people have been warned to stay inside. nisreen el-shamayleh has this update now from donetsk. >> reporter: what is happening here in donetsk is an indication of just how divided a country

this has become. you can hear shelling in the background. it's been intense in various parts of this city of one million residents, reduced to a few hundred thousand people because of the fighting. it seems the ukrainians, the army is trying to take the sitting back from separatist forces. they seem to be putting up a fight responding to that. we have seen tanks heading to the front line, hery art ill -- heavy artillery, anti-aircraft guns as well. there has been an appeal to the russian president for assistance. what seems to happen now is that the two sides are embedded - the two seeds are fighting and there's little chance of a ceasefire here for now more to come in this half hour, including we'll take you inside one of the most powerful and secretive religious

organizations in the philippines.

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welcome back. top stories on al jazeera - israeli tanks shelled alaxa hospital in gaza, killing five. it's the third hospital the israeli military attack the since it began its latest attack in gaza. 550 palestinians have been killed so far. in the last hour a senior hamas leader said palestinians in gaza are united in their struggle, calling on the palestinians to

resist zionist entities. the remains of 250 passengers aboard the downed malaysian jet are on a train to kharkiv. a dutch plane is waiting to take them to amsterdam after that. let's go back to the top story, gaza, and how we reached this point. this is the fourth time the israeli government launched an offensive in the occupied palestinian territory since hamas won parliamentary elections in 2006. israel immediately rejected the election result and it carried out an incursion to stop what it called hamas rocket fire in gaza. the following year in 2007, israeli imposed a blockade on the strip after hamas took full control of the region.

in 2008, december 2008, israel launched another operation in gaza, a military offensive that killed more than 1,400 palestinians. and the following year, 2012, again israel went in, the stated objective to stop rockets being fired into its territory. at that time 157 palestinians were killed. a member of the executive committee of the palestine liberation organization accuses israel of being a rogue state. >> well, israel is engaged in war crimes. it is engaged in fate terrorism. it is targetting and killing civilians. it has destroyed the very foundations of any meaningful negotiation. also, it has down that earlier with its ongoing settlement activity, land theft, land grab.

dem lyingses, theft, demolitions, all indicating that israel is not a peace partner, but is a rogue state that exists outside the law. there is no way we can come to any peace agreement with such a country, unless it abandons terrorism, unless it abandons its policy of intimidation, assault, attack and bombing and destruction, and unless it abides by international law. otherwise, this is going to be a situation where israel insists on holding people in captivity and bashing and killing and bombing them to smither eaches, and we will -- smithereens, and we will say they have to face judicial accountability in all the world courts that are supposed to curb and try war criminals. nisreen el-shamayleh is in ramallah and joins me from there now.

let's talk about the palestinian president, the diplomacy. what is he going to try and reach a ceasefire agreement? >> well, we know that palestinian president mahmoud abbas has just had a meeting with hamas's political leader in doha. the meetingnded an hour -- meeting ended an hour ago, and in the meeting they discussed the ceasefire initiatives on the table, such as the egyptians. in the meeting they reached a common ground acceptable to all parties. the conclusion of the meeting will be delivered by president mahmoud abbas to the egyptian government, which will be key in any ceasefire agreement, because it has a border and border crossing with the gaza strip. we are told by sources at the meeting that there were two different counts, one that

prefers a halt in hostilities to stop the blood shed and discuss the demand of hamas and other factions at a later stage. we are told that this is the preference. and there's another camp that prefers discussing all the details at once, including the details of the ceasefire and the demands of hamas and palestinian factions under an agreement. >> there has been demonstrations. do we expect more solidarity protests, do you think, on the west bank. well, we understand that there was a meeting between representatives from the palestinian security forces, as well as from the president's office and different factions, in the meeting it was decided that palestinian security forces would no longer ban protesters from going out in the streets or reaching friction points.

to a certain degree the palestinian authority tried to curb the protests to prevent an unnecessary loss of life. we heard in a news conference from the secretary-general, that palestinian security forces should not be impeding the protests, and, in fact, they called for protest and we could expect palestinians to take to the streets. we must leave you there, thank you very much instead. nisreen el-shamayleh reporting. libya's government says 47 have been killed in a week of fighting over tripoli's airport. rockets and artillery shells are used by rival armed groups. fighters of the militia are said to be in control and are defending themselves against rivals. ceasefires failed at the

weekend. heavy fighting has been reported. seven people are said to have been killed in the battle. forces loyal to the retired general, who is fighting a campaign against what he calls extremists. bad weather has delayed the salvage operation of the "costa concordia" shipwreck off the italian island of giglio. experts hoped to tow the vessel away. the salvage master said bad weather forced the crew to stop diving. 32 died when the ship went down off giglio in 2012. >> the strongest storm it hit southern china killed 32 people. typhoon rama sen made land fall. it hit the west coast, the tropical island province. the super storm caused havoc earlier in the week, in the

philippines. 77 people died there. a religious organization in the philippines built one of the world's largest indoor arenas to celebrate a 100th anniversary. the group has long been a significant part of the social and political landscape. we explain. >> reporter: this is one of the most powerful and secretive religious organizations in the philippines. the church has been in existence for 100 years. this is how its members celebrate, by building one of the world's biggest indoor arenas. the group is so influential that the philippine government declared a holiday for the centennial celebrations and the president and top politicians are here to attend. recruiting from the middle class, the organization has several million followers, and it's expanded abroad, spread by

the country's large labour workforce, it's the second biggest religion in the philippines, after catholicism. most of the members are former catholics. they are the only group with a roman catholic following. followers are so beholden to the church that they are not allowed to work or marry outside organization. to leave the church is to be an outcast. it is a closed society, expanding behind its membership. >> we do not engage in politics. we do not meddle in government. we want the freedom to continue doing what we have been doing for the past 100 years. >> reporter: over the last few elections the church's endorsement of politicians translated into votes. followers are seen as a solid voting block, and politicians compete for the attention of its

member. many see the situation as a display of politics. >> when they work with industries, within the witnesses of the state, it's known for recruiting people in power, military, police, politicians so that they can have this power beyond the numbers. >> it is seen by some as an organization that functions much like a state within a state. many people here say the church's steady growth may signify the weakness of the government, especially since religion influenced politics in the philippines. five people have been shot and killed in nicaragua, leaving a function to mark the 35th anniversary of the overthrow by

the dictator of leftist rebels. a group has claimed responsibility for the attack. that's our website. aljazeera.com. that is the address to click on to. you'll have the latest on gaza and the downed malaysian jet on the site. hi, i'm lisa fletcher, and you're in "the stream." [ chanting ] reporters on the grouped during the gaza israeli crisis are only able to provide a tiny window into what is really happeningment you'll hear from three close to the action on what they are not getting to tell you. plus, left politician and real talk from those affected the most by the ongoing violence. later... ..what is more