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 galvanize support to get a

change in the status quo. their game is to free up the borders and get better free of goods and services in to gaza and improve living conditions for this strip of land. >> thank you very much. we will have a report from the israeli side of the border a little bit later on cnn. >> as we get reports of investigators having their work hampered at the crash of mh17 who will take charge of the operation? we are live in kiev after the break.

welcome back. we're live in london there are growing concerns today about the security and integrity of the crash site in eastern ukraine. a team of european investigators is hoping to get access to the area today. they were able to visit for 75 minutes on friday before pro russian rebels forced them to leave. there's confusion over who has the black boxes from the plane. early reports said they had been taken by the rebels and turned over to moscow. however, the ukrainian government official says they are still in ukraine. a team of special investigators from malaysia has arrived in kiev hoping to begin the process of finding out what happened to the plane. senior international correspondent nic robertson is in kiev and is joining us live. there are reports that kiev and

renl rebels in eastern ukraine agreed to a security zone to allow investigators to work at the crash site. but you have been speaking to officials there and they are telling you a different story. what is it? >> the prime minister is telling cnn at the moment there is no deal between the rebels and the ukrainian government to give a safe corridor to allow investigators in and full recovery of the bodies which will be a blow to those 131 malaysian investigators who have arrived here and other investigators coming from other countries, as welt. the fbi sending a forensics expert and general investigation expert, as well. at the moment, the situation is unclear who can get access to the site to thoroughly an properly do an investigation. those 25 international monitors from the organization of security and cooperation in europe yesterday arrived there, as you said, were met with hostility, heavily armed pro

russian rebel and essentially forced off the site after 75 minutes and given access to only 200 meters of that site. what ukrainian officials say is that the whole debris site they want to examine is about 25 square kilometers. they say they have been able to examine 70% of that so far. they say so far they have recovered 186 bodies from that site, or at least identified 186 bodies. however, the prime minister is also told cnn today that people he describes as terrorists, presumably pro russian rebels is what he usually refers to with that term. he says that terrorists had hidden 38 bodies of victims of that crash. we are waiting for a full explanation of precisely what he

means. this gives you an idea of the level of confusion and mistrust that's going on at the moment. this is the atmosphere these investigators are arriving in to hala. >> if there is no deal to access that site no, security zone to allow investigators to make it there, where does that leave the investigation in to this crash? >> it does seem to leave them in a situation where they need to organize and negotiate locally with each group controlling each area of the debris field to get access and it depends on the conversation. at the moment, it seems if they are told no or you can only have limited access they have no power to change that. which means a thorough timely investigation of an already contaminated investigation is further hampered. plus, the harrowing reality that so many bodies or victims cannot be treated with respect. and recovered from the area, put

somewhere safe. and allow forensic experts to make the analysis and identification that can perhaps bring some closure, if you will, to the families of all of those victims. it is a terribly tragic situation and it seems to be getting worse at the moment. >> one can only imagine what it is like to be the relative of someone on that plane. not knowing what's going to happen, knowing they can't access their loved ones. thank you very much, nic robertson, live from kiev. we continue to think and report on the civilians, the ordinary innocent people on the plaechb who lost their lives. who had nothing to do with any part of the conflict in that part of the world and were so unlucky to be on that plane. close to 300 people, in fact, died. they lost their lives on malaysian airlines flight 17 and with each a personal story.

here's a few right now. there is quinn liukas. he loved soccer. he was the kind of guy who stuck up for you and made you laugh when you were hurting. carlene was from indiana university. she was a champion rower and passionate about rowing. she and her boyfriend were traveling together. nick norris from western australia was traveling with his three grandchildren. three of 80 kids on that flight. he was bringing them home for the new school year. his family said nick loved his grandchildren and sailing and looked forward to sailing with them in the waters off perth. and one of the dozens of aids researchers and on board.

one friend and colleague said he was a scientist with the heart of an activist. another remembers him as an extraordinary leader, scientist and humanitarian who fought ceaselessly for the sbdignity o the people affected with hiv and aids. >> moscow says that's not the case. we are live with the latest. plus, as loved ones mourn the victims around the world, we will look at the global repercussions. stay with us.

welcome back to the special coverage of the downing of flight 17. you are watching cnn and cnn international. welcome to our viewers in the united states at this hour. russia, as you have probably

heard denied any involvement in bringing down the jet at the united nations on friday. the ambassador questioned why civilian planes were flying over eastern ukraine in the first place and he called on everyone to wait for the facts to come out. >> there's a need for an impartial, open investigation of what happened. pressure should not be brought to bear on the investigation, trying to prejudge its outcome with broad statements and insinuations that are unjustified. >> u.s. president obama had this to say. >> if mr. putin makes a decision that we are not going to allow heavy armorments, and the flow of fighters in to ukraine across the pro russian border than it will stop. if it stops the separatists will

still have the capacity to enter in to negotiations and try to arrive at the political accommodations that mr. putin himself says he wants to see. he has the most control over that situation. so far, at least, he has not exercised it. >> barack obama russia is denying involvement in the jet's downing. we are live with more. how do russians explain that it looks like a surface-to-air missile took down a civilian airliner over eastern ukraine? what are they saying about all of this? >> they are saying the missile, the buk missile defense system must have been a ukrainian system. anatoly outlined a list of ten questions he wants to see kiev answer. first of which is why has the finger been pointed at the self defense groups. self defense groups is the way

that they characterize them. the rebels there, and secondly for kiev to explain what its buk missile defense systems are doing in that area. kiev denied it had any systems operating in that area. we know on june 29th rebels posted pictures of them that had sophisticated system in it and there are reports that a buk system could have come from russia. it is difficult to know at this stage where this weapons came from. as far as the u.s. is concerned, though, russia had some hand in it. it must have provided some of the expertise if it was rebels that shot it down. rebels that told them how to use the system. this is gedenied by moscow. the fundamental premise from the

kremlin is this happened on ukrainian territory and ukraine's responsibility to determine what happened and the up tick in hostilities in the east and the government in ukraine has cracked down has exacerbated the tengs and led to this incident. a lot of fingerpointing. russia as it has done since the beginning said this is not our problem. it has nothing to do with us. >> diana, thank you very much. international outrage is growing over the downing of flight 17. let's discuss the geo political implications of all of. this i'm joined by the director. thank you for joining us. russia is saying we had nothing to do with this. why are you pointing the finger at us. >> that is the position that russia would want to take. it is uncertain what happened. they are finding frustrating that they are in the dark straight away. there is quite a detachment, i should say, between the mo

emollient group. the own state-controlled media put out outlanding claims blaming the ukrainian side. >> how much support do these pro russian separatists get from russia? >> the suspicion is that russian intelligence services are actively involved not only in the country but trying to guide, influence in various directions what kind of steps self-defense forces or rebels are taking. it would be highly unlikely that russia doesn't know what they are up to. whether they control them is another matter all together. their russian citizens were involved. it is very gray. >> no matter how you look at it, it's not good. either mow coe is directly involved in operational matters in eastern ukraine or you have

renegade rebel groups. these aren't slingshots. these are very heavy weapons that can take down civilian airliners. >> we are at the front end of a turning point. you have bodies who knows how many left out in the open, 200, 300 people, many european citizens. the bulk of them dutch. this situation should be allowed to continue. in the sense that russia is trying to make sure there is no sense of its involvement being allowed to be revealed in this pefrd will change the dynamics of where europe stood on the crisis. europe has been a second seat. there will be a coming together as a political level even in germany. >> so far we haven't seen them pressure russia very much. possibly because the economic

relationship is so intertwined. in this case you think this will tip it over the edge. >> i think it will tip the situation. there's a second meeting coming up on tuesday about moving sanctions, a discussion where we get to level three sanctions. we are heading to 2 1/2. i think ultimately the europeans are isolated. the willingness to apply sanctions economically, more actively will start to pick up. >> what is putin's end game? what is he trying to achieve. he got crimea, not too much resistance after that. now eastern ukraine. what's he trying to achieve? >> his first end game, keep moving as things don't work out and he is playing tactically. mutual ukraine that sat between europe and russia. now with the eu having signed

the association, it is lost from the big plans that putin had. his next step was to say hold on we need a federal ukraine where those in the east can control the foreign policy of an overall ukraine. he is at risk of losing that as well. he is militarizing that battle, right. >> it is part of showing kiev doesn't control the country. as long as he can do that he has leverage. >> thank you for being with us and for your analysis on this important story. still ahead, as the death toll continues to rise, israel says it's ready to step up its ground offensive in gaza. we're live from the israeli side of the border next.

>> let's check the latest developments. netanyahu says the military is prepared to expand its offensive in gaza. he didn't say what would trigger another escalation in its campaign against hamas militants. the ground offensive in gaza is in the third day. the military says it is targeting sites by hamas to hit

tunnels used to smuggle weapons. palestinian officials say that more than 300 people have been killed. the majority of them, according to the u.n., are civilians. our reporter is at the israel-gaza border and is joining us live. what's the situation where you are right now? >> reporter: well, of course, that ground incursion continuing. in fact, while on the border we can hear the booms of the artillery being fired. as you can see behind me, there's a tank unit here, seems to be positioned, waiting to for any further orders about moving in. now basically what's been happening is they have been clearing a lot of areas in the northern part of the gaza strip. last night, we saw a tremendous amount of activity, similar to the first day of the incursion and according to the idf, this is preparation, clearing staging areas for the possibility of expanding that ground incursion which of course it means going

in to urban area a's. that is the next phase, if it happens, if that's what the prime minister orders. in the meantime, the idf says they are focused on dismantling the tunnel network that hamas and militants use to try to get under the border in to israel and they use for rocket, to launch rocket attacks. they dismantled 13 of these tunnels but there are dozens more and reports that hamas militants may have been able to use one of those tunnels ino to infiltrate under the border that is something we are trying to confirm but it shows what the idf are trying to counter when they try to dismantle the tunnels. >> >> all right. what would expanded ground incursion look like? first of all, tell us what the ground incursion currently involves in terms of troops, of weaponry, and what it might

expand to. >> what they are focusing on now is that no man's land buffer zone between the israeli side and before you get in to the urban areas inside of gaza. they are trying to clear these areas as staging areas. once they have that, then there is a possibility of expanding to the urban setting. this of course is where it gets particularly grim, particularly brutal. what we are talking about is urban combat in enclosed areas. obviously the possibility of many more casualties, even on top of the 300 or so we are already seeing. so there's a lot of concern here that if it is expanded that's what it could mean. it hasn't happened yet. as far as we know the order hasn't bb given but the they tell us that this what they are preparing for. >> thank you very much. a quick update on the

downing of malaysia airlines flight 17. there are growing concerns about not just security but the integrity of the crash site in eastern ukraine. the see the images of the aftermath there. a team of investigators is hoping to get access to the area today. they were visit to able 75 minutes yesterday, friday, before pro russia rebels force ed them to leave. american officials are saying they are certain the jet was brought down by a surface-to-air missile probably fired by pro rugg russia separatists. russia is denying involvement. it is so difficult to imagine what is going through the minds of the victims' loved ones right now drew's brother in sister-in-law were on the flight and found a place in his heart to forgive. >> our faith is important to us. part of that tradition says with

we should forgive those that wronged us. in this case we know that there was some terrible things that were done. we don't know who was responsible. it's not important for us to come after those people. if anything, we want to forgive them for some things they have done here that they shouldn't have done. >> drew ryder lost two of his relatives on mh17. that's going to do it for this hour of special coverage of the mh17 disaster. thank you for watching. "new day" is coming up next on cnn.

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behind me is just part of what is left of malaysia airlines flight 17. >> you just hope that none of the children -- your children go before you. >> we saw next to three of the passengers name capital i. as we now