ncer ] join the millions already enrolled in the only medicare supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. remember, all medicare supplement plans help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay and could really save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. you'll be able to choose your own doctor or hospital as long as they accept medicare patients. and with these plans, there could be low or no copays. you do your push-ups today? prepare to be amazed. [ male announcer ] don't wait. call today to request your free decision guide and find the aarp medicare supplement plan to go the distance with you. go long.

wreckage strewn as far as the eye can see. an unfathomable and grim task in eastern ukraine. it's not just about picking up the pieces. it's about the nearly 300 innocent people now dead. children, renowned scientists, mothers and fathers. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is our special coverage of the downing of malaysia flight 17. i'm hole la gorahole la gorani, london. growing concerns about malaysian

airlines flight 17. analysts say there's no time to wait because getting started on the investigation needs to happen as quickly as possible. cnn correspondents and other journalists at the site say there is little or no security and the bodies of the 298 victims are starting to decompose. this is not just a crash site. it is also a crime scene. and we're learning much more about those who lost their lives so senselessly. a dutch-american teen and business school in the netherlands, a young doctoral candidate who was studying at indiana university and a host of aids researchers headed to an international conference in australia. meanwhile, a group of international monitors say they will try again today to visit the crash site. the team from the organization for security and cooperation in europe, the osce, visited for just over an hour friday. you're seeing footage there of that. and they said they were met with hostility from the pro-russian

rebels who control the area. a team of special investigators from malaysia have arrived in ukraine's capital kiev. they're hoping to get to the site and very importantly right now to begin the process of finding out what happened to that plane. american officials say they are certain it was brought down by a surface-to-air missile. probably, they say, fired by pro-russia separatists. cnn's phil black is the first network correspondent to reach the crash site and he sent us this report. take a look. >> reporter: what remains of malaysian airlines flight 17, its passengers, crew, their belongings and baggage are now spread across a wide area in this region of eastern ukraine. the landscape here is marked dramatically by large pieces of wreckage from the boeing 777. and it is marked very poignantly of the pieces of white ribbon tied to sticks that mark the

location of bodies which are yet to be recovered. and there are many of them. this region, this territory is still controlled by pro-russian militants. they have allowed some emergency workers to come in and begin. a very small scale. quite disorganized recovery operation. but what we do not see here are the many highly qualified people that are required to come in, secure the site, begin an investigation and recover the bodies of the many people who had no direct connection to the violence, the crisis in ukraine, until the moment of their death. i'm phil black in eastern ukraine. >> well, more than half of the 298 people on board malaysia airlines flight 17 were from the netherlands. the flight originated in amsterdam, as we all know now. and people there are leaving flowers and other mementos at the airport. erin mclaughlin is at schipol airport in amsterdam.

she joins me now. the scale of thedisaster, if you are dutch, over half this flight dutch nationals, clearly, i imagine, a lot of grief there in amsterdam today. >> reporter: that's right, hala. the entire country mourning this loss. all morning, as early as 6 a.m., people have been coming here to schipol airport to lay flowers and sign a condolence book at a makeshift memorial just over that way. now, the flights are departing from this airport assist no nor. i just passed by the malaysian airlines check-in desk and there was a pretty long line there. as for the families of the victims, they're being taken care of at a hotel not far from here. the hotel has security here. officials very concerned about the privacy of those families,

hala. >> what about the investigation? what about dutch authorities? i mean, i imagine they are as concerned as many people are around the world that it is appearing extremely difficult for investigators to fully access this site. what are you hearing in amsterdam today? >> reporter: that's right. yesterday the dutch foreign minister arrived in kiev. he says that he's there to personally make sure that investigators have unhindered access to that crash site. they're also sending a national forensic team quickly to the site. the priority there to be able to identify the victims and repatriate them as quickly as possible. something the families say they very much want to see. yesterday i spent quite a bit of time traveling around the country and what struck us most was not only the diversity of the people who were on board

mh17, but also the number of people affected. the families, the friends, entire communities mourning this tremendous loss. this photograph was posted to his facebook account moments before he and his girlfriend boarded mh17 for their summer holiday. he joked, this is what the plane looks like in case it goes missing. a reference to malaysian flight 370. hours later mh17 disappeared from radar and crashed in eastern ukraine. a photograph of them now sits outside her flower shot. >> you're going to miss her? >> yes. >> reporter: the irony not lost on many here that they are now laying flowers at the shop where

they used to buy them. in nearby rotterdam, a similar scene. outside the chinese restaurant asian glories, we are told of the moment he learned three family members weren't coming home. when you came to that realization, you know, what was going through your mind at that time? >> yeah. everything you -- that you lost someone, you never expect, so no words for that. >> reporter: the restaurant was the life work of his cousin, jenny lo and her husband. he says their 30-year-old son is struggling to cope. >> they build up this restaurant in about 15, 20 years. it's very good restaurant. and you see the flowers and, of course, all the -- all the comments on the internet. and always working for the son, for the business. and this was verification. >> reporter: another family was

also upcoming deejay was on his way to vietnam. his close friend and fellow deejay says he could have been one of the greats. >> he was one of the biggest deejay producer. >> that wasn't enough for him. he wanted to give back. >> he said i want to help people. so he was going to city for doctor to help other people. if you think like that it's already a different level of being human being on this planet. >> the florist, the restaurant tours, the deejay, some of the dutch passengers who were killed. this country mourns them all. of course the families say they want answers. they are of course calling for a full investigation.

yesterday the dutch prime minister said they are being careful at the moment to not point fingers. i want to establish the facts first. but it does turn out to have been the result of an attack he says this country will not rest until the perpetrators are found. >> all right. you all hear of the stories when big disasters such as plane crashes happen. people say it could have been me, i missed the flight, i swapped seats. for people feeling loss there are some in that different kind of shock of what might have been and nearly was but for one twist of fate or another. according to the bbc, barry sim and wife and son tried to board but could only get one seat. so they switched to a later flight.

>> i'm shaking. i don't know what to do. i feel physically sick. from hilton to the airport i was just crying. i feel like i have been given a second chance and a hopefully we will get there safely and will see my family again. >> we will have more coverage on the downing of flight 17 just ahead, including how the loss of a prominent hiv experts on the jet could impact finding a cure for the disease. and as a team of special investigators arrive in kiev, we look at the work they will be facing as they try to figure out how the tragedy unfolded and try to get to the site. we'll be right back.

you are seeing images of the passengers of flight mh-17 that never made it home. their bodies in the field where it went down. international monitors say they will try again today to visit the site of the crash. the osce visited the crash site for over an hour on friday but said it wasn't easy. they were met with hostility from the rebels and not given full access. >> it basically looks like one

of the biggest -- or the biggest crime scene in the world right now guard with guys in uniform with heavy fire power who are inhospitable. there didn't seem to be anyone in control for example. one of our top priorities was to find out what happened to the black boxes. no one was there to answer those questions. >> to discuss this further, i'm joined by the former spokesperson for the investigation branch at the transport department in the united kingdom. david, you don't really know where the flight data recorders are even. this will be a big job for investigators because the conditions are much less than ideal. >> they are in a hostile environment. it is a lawless part of the world. very difficult to know who's in charge and who could give the authority for these investigators to savely do the

job they are there to do. >> many people are speculating and some stating with a degree of confidence they believe a surface-to-air missile took down this plane. beyond the question of whether or not the plane should have been flying over hostile territory or war zone. what about trying to protect planes from this in the future? is there a way to have a missile protection system on civilian aircraft? >> it is technically possible but the cost of installing the system worldwide on the long-haul all jet aircraft would be absolutely enormous and the operating cost, just as if you were diverting the aircraft. there are increased costs in fuel, all of this is a balance between weight, fuel load, whether freight or passengers and a it would be the same if you have this equipment, not only has it got to be installed but costs of running the equipment, training the crew to know how to operate it.

but it is feasible and practically extremely expensive. the cost would be passed on to the passenger. >> let's put this in perspective. this flight was most likely shot down with a surface-to-air missile but hundreds if not thousands of flights have gone over ukraine since hostilities began in eastern ukraine. this is extremely unsglushl it is not really. there are about 300 flights a day. hundreds of thousands have gone in complete safety. that's not to say this is any less. there are a lot of parts of the world where there are unstable regimes and things going on, syria. >> what i mean is the notion that this was the one flight that flew over eastern ukraine and taken down. it happens all the time. you might know it and we might be flying over a war zone. >> it is a highway in the sky.

they go down. just as vehicles go down the road. they go one beyond another and fly the most economical route. it can change from time to time because of weather conditions if you get a high tail wind they tend to try to get in to that because it speeds up the aircraft, lowers cost and avoid headwinds which lode slows them down and increases their costs. there are a lot of variables. there is basically a highway in the sky which takes aircraft from europe and the far east. >> i want to bring it back to the investigation. when there is a crash or incident involving a plane like this, usually within hours if not minutes you get investigative man power right. there you haven't had that and it has been two days. >> the site is usually sealed. therefore, you can be confident that evidence is not going to be removed or tampered with or anything else.

now because you are in such a -- nobody knows who's in charge. you are getting one story from one side and another story from another and claim and counter claim and a lot of them for political reasons. and the other difficulty is that traditionally you could control what was said. now you can't. with social media anyone can say anything to anybody at anytime. so it is almost impossible to control the outflow of information. >> we saw some of the first pictures we saw were ordinary residents in eastern ukraine standing on top of a piece of fuselage. that was one picture and another a group of passports bunched together and luggage. it seems as though people are touching evidence. crucial evidence and moving it around. >> there are people who wouldn't understand the importance of tampering with the evidence and if they see something lying on the ground which they might be able to sell for money it means something, precious metal or

anything else they are tempted to take it with them obviously. >> david, thank you very much. appreciate you being with us this morning here in london with more on this story. well, the international aids society has confirmed that at least six people on board flight 17 were delicates traveling to a conference in australia. the conference will go ahead in melbourne this weekend and it will be dedicated to the victims. cnn's dr. sanjay gupta looked at how the loss of these hiv experts will affect research. >> the health community around the world in utter shock. the international aids society says a number of its members were on board malaysia flight mh-17. they were headed to the aids conference in melbourne australia. typically attended by thousands all over the world and among them leading hiv experts. their loss likely to have an impact on research, regarding diagnosing, treating and curing

the disease. president clinton is one of the keynote speakers of the conference. he said it is awful, sickening what happened to so many gifted people. >> they were doing so much good. we do this on a regular basis, have international aids conferences. i try to go to all of them because i'm always so inspired by what other people are doing and what we can learn from them. since i left office it's been kind of a regular part of my life thinking about those people being knocked out of the sky is pretty tough. >> one of the victims, prominent dutch scientist jeff lang. i met him in 2004 when he presided over the international aids conference in bangkok. those who knew him said he was a hard-core scientist with the heart of an activist who worked to get medication for those living in poor countries. one example of his work.

he argued if coca-cola could gret get refrigerators beverages to africa we should be able to do the same with hiv medications. >> it will be a huge impact on people who worked closely with him, people in his lab and on the society as a whole. it's an incredible loss. we're all bracing yourselves to arrive and find out who else may have been on that flight. it's just unbelievable. it's not really real yet. >> the world health organization tells cnn their spokesman, glenn thomas was on board that doomed flight. he most recently worked with us on cnn during the coverage of the ebola outbreak in new guinea. a friend says he was a wonderful man doing great work in the world and planning his 50th birthday celebration. his life and so many others cut tragically short. dr. sanjay gupta, cnn, reporting. still to come after the break, russia is denying any

involvement in the downing of the malaysian airlines plane. we will have more on what the kremlin is saying. plus, more violence between israel and ham a mass. now the prime minister of israel benjamin netanyahu says israel may ramp up its ground offensive in gaza. we will have a live report from the region.

now the latest on the gaza ground offensive. israel is pushing ahead with the ground incursion in to the strip of territory where palestinian officials say the death toll is now over 300. it stands at 307. parts of gaza have been reduced to rubble. more than 2200 people have been injured in the fighting. israel is saying that hamas militants continue to fire rockets in to its territory and it has no other choice but to go ahead with this incursion. the military says 160 rockets have been launched from gaza since thursday. prime minister benjamin netanyahu is warning that israel may step up its ground offensive. he did not say, however, what would trigger further escalation. karl is in gaza and is live with his latest reporting.

what's going on and what have you witnessed the last several hours? >> there is a flurry of fighting going on at all points around gaza and the gaza border. we understand from the israeli military overnight a gaza militant sent a donkey bomb toward israeli lines. the israelis detected that, fired shots in to the donkey and that bomb exploded. also going on r50i9 now, we are hearing from the hamas military wing that once again despite the israeli ground invasion they say they have managed to burrow in to israel in a point around the eastern gaza border and they say that they have been trying to attach mines to the bottom of some of the israeli tanks, across the border. the response from the israeli military, they have said that there's some kind of ongoing operation on that section of the

eastern border, but israeli military censorship rules in place. so we will have to wait to see what the response is from the israelis on that. we are getting claims that down in the south they are firing rockets at tanks, as well. of course the civilian population, the ones bearing the biggest brunt of this onslaught and let's take a look at what is happening to them. >> a soft plea, daddy, don't leave m leave me. he has never picked a fight in his life and can't understand why he is being punished. >> >> go ahead and tell the world my son was firing rockets at tel aviv or jerusalem. his father said his words loaded with irony and anger.

mohammad says an israeli missile slammed in to their home in eastern gaza just before dawn. cnn teams saw that neighborhood under heavy bombardment as israel launched its ground invasion. this was the gaza skyline through the night. ablaze with bombs and artillery fire. israeli prime minister netanyahu accuse cans hamas militants of using civilians as human shields. he says his troops don't want to harm, quote, a single innocent person. but the united nations estimates more than 70% of the casualties are innocent civilians. the ground operation is creating the worst situation in gaza from a humanitarian and medical standpoint. we have hundreds of people going to hospitals in the last 24 hours, he says. on thursday afternoon, cnn

cameras recorded this. three youngsters were killed in a strike less than five minutes earlier on that same house. we went to their funerals. this high school student survived. his younger brother and sister died at his side. we met him at the hospital friday. we were playing on the roof and i went to feed the pigeons. they hit the roof. the others were playing while i was feeding the pigeons, he says. back at bedside with mohammad saad, back in daddy's arms. his 1-year-old daughter pop marked by shrapnel. he gives his baby girl a hug. he has the hallowed stare of a father who knows he can no longer protect his family. >> judging by the fighting that is going on around gaza a's borders right now, it seems that hamas militant s are ready to

take on the israeli military by high-tech methods and by low-tech methods including that donkey bomb. they are threatening they have the stamina to fight the israelis. that means things could get worse before they get better. >> karl, i have to ask you this about hamas. what is their rat strategy? militarily they are not going to beat the israeli army. what are they trying to achieve at this stage? >> one might say that is always the nature of asymmetric or guerrilla war where you have the israeli military fighting hamas. so any day that hamas stands, survives to fight another day is in certain terms a political and propaganda victory for hamas. that's what they are trying to do and they are trying to