days after flight 17 was shot out of sky, investigators still can't get to the crash site guarded by the pro russian rebels suspected of firing the missile. all the while many of the bodies of those on board left to decompose in the summer heat. >> and praying for the victims and their families, australians gathered in church today. a memorial for the 298 victims of flight 17. we are continuing our coverage of malaysia flight 17. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm paula new tonl. i'm john vause. this is our special coverage. we want to begin with the crash site there. investigators are still struggling to get access to the

scene. it is just a crime scene, a crash scene. what it is not right now is the scene of an investigation. >> we've been hearing descriptions for quite a while. wreckage. kiev and the rebels blame one another for downing the airline he. the rebels say it is the government's fault that international team can't reach the wreckage. >> translator: we couldn't and we didn't want to shoot it down. we have no anti-aircraft womenry that would allow to us shoot down a plane flying at an altitude of 10,600 meters. our anti-aircraft weaponry only shoots up to 6,000. because of this, the ukrainian air force bombs us at a regular basis hitting the residential areas and population centers. but they do bomb us. >> even as the victim bodies are being recovered in controversial

circumstances, what remains unclear at least for now is what brought the airliner down. the u.s. and ukraine say it was a russian made surface-to-air. >> ukraine released images it says shows three missile launchers heading back to russia. >> russian president vladimir putin is under enormous pressure to step in ander to pro russian separatists to lay down their arms. freelance journalist joins us now from donetsk. apparently there is some kind of agreement? at least it is being reported this way between rebels and the ukrainian government for a 20 kilometer security zone. what more can you tell us about that? >> reporter: i have heard about that agreement as well. yesterday when we were at the crash site, there didn't seem to be any sort of cease fire or agreement to let the monitors come in. we were there when the monitoring team came in. they were sort of guarded, sort

of security area was created by heavily armed separatist rebel that's would not allow them to sort of roam around the area which had previously been accessed by basically everybody, including journalists, locals, and that sort of thing. there were blocks that were set up around the area. it is not what we would consider a thorough investigation that's happening. not only that, we could hear in the distance that there was heavy fighting. we could hear explosions happening in towns that are 20 kilometers, 30 kilometers away. so the situation is really tenuous. and it did begin picking up the bodies yesterday, bagging them and taking them off to mourn. so in that sense, we saw some progress. but getting to the evidence of what could have caused the

accident is still a major question. >> just explain this their to me. when the european officials arrived, when journalists arrived and they stopped people from getting access to the crash site, how do they justify it? what do they say? >> reporter: well, they think that if they let, they think this is part of the western american controlled sort of, they want to prove that the rebels did it and blame them no matter what. so they don't want them to get to the site. they think they're going to falsify whatever they find. it is pretty chaotic there. you know, you have a bunch of guys. some of them are locals holding automatic weapons. some of them appear to be more trained with more sophisticated weapons. and i think the thing is they're accusing -- they consider them

to be completely controlled by the white house. you'll hear them call their prime minister a u.s. appointed prime minister. things like this. so it is just a complete blame game with a lot of disinformation, a lot of confusion and unfortunately the victims of this plane crash are, i'm afraid will not ever see justice. their families will never be able to see justice. >> very quickly, sabra, there is so much outrage. these rebels on the ground are preventing the bodies from being recovered. are they aware of just how angry people are? >> reporter: they are aware. we spoke to one of them yesterday who. of course this is a tragedy. of course this is bad. they shouldn't have done this. they said where was the international community when they were packing up? this ongoing conflict has seen several hundred people killed

including many of what they say are their freedom fighters. so they kind of go back and forthwith that. like i said yesterday, they did begin wrecking workers who are still part of the ukrainian minister of emergency situations is what they call it. they're technically under their pay roll. they were out there finally collecting the bodies and that was a relief to see. the rebels, you know, they see themselves as fighting for their independents. and they think they've done this to make them look bad. they are trying to protect their position. >> okay. we'll leave it there. on the lionel, a freelance journalist from the eastern part of ukraine. thanks. so. >> we certainly hope we hear in the next few hours that 20 kilometer secure zone will be put in place. and part of thought has been ukraine accusing moscow and pro russian rebels of covering up

their involvement. >> they say they have removed debris ask bodies from the scene and taken three missile systems out of ukraine. >> reporter: the ukrainian government continues to build a case against the rebels in eastern ukraine that it is battling and against russia which it claims arms and trains and funds those rebels. accusing them of being behind the shooting down of malaysian air flight 17. the prime minister told me he thinks there's a high probability that russia supplied the rebels with the buk missile system which was used to shoot down the fateful fight. >> this is not the russian-led drunk terrorists. this is someone well trained. someone who knows how this russian machine works. someone who has an experience. and we together with the

international community will find out all responsible for this international those who supported them. this is the crime against humanity. and the building of international criminal court is a very big. >> leaders of the separatist rebels as well as the government are denying this. both calling for an independent investigation on the ground of this terrible tragedy. in the meantime, the fighting continues to rage in eastern ukraine. the ukrainian military officials saying at least five ukrainian soldiers were killed in clashes between separatists and the ukrainian armed forces. on friday at least 16 civilians killed in the separatist held eastern city. a grim reminder that this terrible tragedy is taking place

in what is a very active, very deadly war zone. ivan watson, cnn, kiev. >> now prime minister david cameron, the british prime minister is placing the blame squarely at moscow's feet. and he is calling on european countries to take economic action against russia. in a front page opinion piece in the sunday times, he writes, this is a direct result of russia destabilizing a sovereign state. violating its territorial integrity backing thuggish militias and training and arming them. he went on for too long, there has been rae luck answer the on the part of too many countries to face up to the implications of what is happening in eastern ukraine. it is time to make our power, influence and resources count. >> the first part, russia has denied any involvement in the crash. president putin is calling for a thorough and objective

investigation. the russian foreign minister lavrov spoke by phone to john kerry. they agreed all evidence from the plane, including the black boxes, should be made available to investigators and that experts should be allowed full access to the site. on this programming note, secretary of state john kerry will be candy crowley's guest on state of the union at 9:00 eastern. 2:00 p.m. in london. you will see it only on cnn. strong words from australia's prime minister. tony abbott said he summoned russia's trade minister and said that moscow cannot wash their hands of this. ♪ >> 27 of the passengers on the airliner were from australia. this was the scene at saint mary's cathedral in sydney. the memorial service was attended by prime minister abbott and australia's governor general.

we have more on the news story in gaza. the health ministry says at least 13 people were killed in an artillery attack in eastern gaza city. >> another 200 people are reported wounded. hundreds of people fled from the area after several large explosions. the attack come just hours after israel declared it was stepping up its military offensive in gaza. >> we heard ben wedeman saying more than 1,000 people were seen running from the scene. >> and we have heard from many saying they had nowhere to go them didn't know where they could go to find safety. >> this come after the israeli government said they would be stepping up the ground operation inside gaza. which is already this operation overall has left 370 palestinians dead and five israelis dead. >> and we'll continue to follow that story throughout the next

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they are mourning the loss of malaysia flight 17. these two flight attendants at a memorial outside the airport. amid the grief there is growing anger, especially toward russia, the leaders of ukraine, the u.s., germany and britain. pushing moscow to try to reign in pro russian rebels. >> everybody is calling for that. the strongest words so far have come from the netherlands. the home of more than half the victims on board the down

flight. here's dutch prime minister speaking to reporters after his conversation with russian president vladimir putin. >> translator: it is absolutely necessary and the very first priority that the recovery of the victims will take place as soon as possible. everyone that won't fully and directly cooperate now leaves a very serious suspicion upon himself. i am shocked by the images of totally disrespectful behavior at this tragic site. against all rules of careful investigation, it seems that there are people who are rummaging through the personal and recognizable belongings of victims. this is downright disgusting. we want to go now to our breaking news in gaza. we go straight to ben weedman. we are now reporting that at least 13 people have died and 200 wounded in a recent attack

there in gaza. we had heard from you earlier. can you describe what's going on? >> reporter: thousands are fleeing the neighbor where overnight there was intense israeli bombardment. we believe mostly tanks and artillery on that densely crowded part of the city. as you mentioned, 13 people killed and more than 200 wounded according to palestinian medical sources in the overnight fighting. i spoke to people who talk about dead on the ground about house after house being hit in the shelling. the people walking out, look frankly shell shocked. they told me they had a terrifying night. there is no electricity in that area. much of the water in many parts of gaza is no longer functioning. what i saw is people carrying what they could which wasn't

much. many of them carrying small children. some here and there, a plastic bag with their personal possessions. now apparently because of the level of injuries, the hospital, the main hospital here in gaza city, is crammed full of the wounded. the morgue is full of the dead. we're hearing continuous shelling in the direction of shaja'ia. this is what we saw well into the night last night. we saw dark smoke coming from shaja'ia, the neighborhood of gaza city. and we saw fairly heavy pounding. more than one incoming round every minute, it appeared. and it went on for hours and hours. this was an area that the israelis had warned residents to evacuate several days ago and go to gaza city. but many of them will tell you, they have nowhere to go.

and i can tell you that they're more than 60,000 people, according to the u.n., who sought refuge in schools. the closer you get to shaja'ia, entire families here them don't know what to do. they don't know where to go. many of the children appear to be traumatized by their experience overnight. >> and ben, you had mentioned in fact that there had been some type of warning. did they have any explanation? did they understand that perhaps they would be in the line of fire on this particular evening? and that the bombardment would be so heavy? >> reporter: on this particular evening, i don't think they had a specific warning. i'm keeping a very close eye on that sort of thing and there was nothing to warn them that last night would be a night of intense shelling and profound danger.

but what you need to understand is that people have, they want to stay in their homes. one man will me yesterday, we'll die here, we'll die there. it is better to die in your home. it is a more honorable death. people want to stay in their property and they don't want to be refugees staying in these crowded u.n. schools where there is very little in the way of water, food, shelter, mattresses, anything. they don't want to leave their homes. >> the conditions you describe continue to deteriorate. the u.n. has warned the numbers are growing and they cannot keep up with the need. ben, is there any sense from this neighborhood about how many people have actually fled? i know you were saying earlier that you saw hundreds, perhaps

thousands fleeing. >> reporter: it is hard to put a number to it. i think the pace, the no of people out of there, we're talking about five, ten, perhaps even more. a thousand people. a huge number. and they just keep coming and coming. the further away you get from that area, people obviously disperse. they find cars that will take them elsewhere. i know from being here the last ten days, that even though many had fled, probably the majority was remaining behind. >> that certainly tells you something about why the casualty count and those injured, that the count was so high. thank you. we know that you'll stay on top of this for us. ben wedeman from gaza. >> and now on the phone from the

israeli city of ash kellon. rockets. comes under fire by - we are now seeing the and paneleded ground operation playing out in the eastern part. i guess this is what the israelis are talking about. >> reporter: exactly. this is something they have warned they could do. they didn't say when it would happen. it now looks like they're pushing further into the densely populated areas. you mentioned rocket attacks. a few seconds ago sirens went off and it sounds like a rocket handed nearby or it was intercepted very close by. the rockets are still ongoing and they're still coming from gaza into israel. as for the operation on th ground, we saw a lot of tank movement up and down the border here certainly getting into position. also a number of artillery positions. all of these are able to hit just about anywhere in the gaza strip. and it certainly looked like

they were mobilizing to and paneled it yesterday. and it looked like they used the resources to push farther in. this is something the idf has been telling us. at the moment they're softening up the positions along the borders. as this operation continues, they will be pushing into more densely populated areas. in order they say to dismantle the hamas infrastructure but more importantly, the tunnels that they use to smuggle weapons in, and store rockets. sometimes even infiltrate into israel. >> so we've had the biggest deadly death toll on saturday. more than 50 palestinians were killed. we've had 13 palestinians killed according to the hamas health officials. i guess clearly as they push on with this expanded military operation, we can expect very high casualty numbers among civilians. >> reporter: i think sadly, yes. we are looking at the possibility that the civilian death toll may spike even further. i should point out that we've seen a number of israeli

soldiers being killed. in fact, four soldiers have been killed since yesterday. two of them were killed in an infiltration. by militants from gaza that tunnelled under the border and they got quite near to a kibbutz here. two of the soldiers were killed in that and one militant. then overnight, another two soldiers were killed. these were both inside the gaza strip when they were engaged by militants there. we are now starting to see israeli soldiers being killed in this conflict. and what is likely, as they continue to push further and further to these densely populated areas, engaging in street battles and going into houses, this is where we will see the death toll higher on both sides. >> you mention that had they've managed to tunnel from gaza into israel. they've done it three or four times in the past day or so. and they've done that despite this massive israeli military operation which is ongoing right now.

is there any concern among the israeli officials saying that hamas has managed to carry out those attacks? >> i think there is a lot of concern that they were able to get, without even being noticed into that area. near the kibbutz. they're about two and a half kilometers away from the community. so that's frightening for the community but also a warning to the military. that they are very expansive and they can allow militants to do a lot more. one of the things they've said, they appear to have israeli uniforms and may have had the intention of sort of coming in uncover and attempting a kidnapping. so this is a major concern for israeli forces and this is why they're so keen on destroying the tunnel network. but of course detecting it is very hard. one indication of why it is so important, they say they're encountering most of the resistance around the tunnel network. this is seriously defended by hamas and other militants and they say goes to show why the

tunnel network is so important to dismantle. >> this is going on get a lot worse before it gets better. from ashkelon. thank you. benjamin netanyahu speaks with wolf blitzer later today. you can see that at 8:00 a.m. eastern in the united states. 1:00 p.m. london time right here on cnn. .

the 15-year-old was on flight 17 with her parents, brother and two sisters heading on their summer holiday to kuala lumpur. >> yes. >> you grew up together.

>> yes. every day we saw our good friend. she was in school with us. she was good. >> reporter: and you wrote this note for her. >> yeah. >> reporter: can you tell us what it says? >> she is, every time right here. >> reporter: throughout the day we saw people from across this community bringing tributes, lighting candles, a group of passing cyclists stopped for a moment to pay their respects. this man tells me, he didn't know the family. he isn't from here but felt compelled to drive here to say a prayer and leave flowers. across the village we saw rows of houses flying their flags at

half-mast. >> the communicate is still in shock. it was a well known family. i think people are still trying to handle the situation. >> reporter: among the tributes, these hearts with the names of all members of the family. six of them. and children at the school where the youngest went. they wrote notes yesterday and stuck to it this tree. this one addressed to brett, the eldest son saying brett, i'll miss you. dear family. you didn't deserve this. this note from one of the friends of one of the girls saying, you will now be a bright star. this message from the teacher saying, i can't believe i won't see you again. and this message is actually from the children's baby sitter. so she has all the names of the children here. and she says no words and then

one simply, why? gone so suddenly, so brutally. untimely deaths for a young family, friends loved so much. >> we cannot understand it. >> we think she come back to here. but can't. >> reporter: cnn., amsterdam. >> 17 million people in the netherlands. there was a headline which said everybody knows somebody. that does seem to be the case. >> it must be an incredibly difficult thing for them to have to endure right now. especially as we continue to talk about the ongoing confusion of the crash site. >> we'll take a short break. as the recovery drags on, talks are