>> enormous debris field. far wider than the eye can see. and israel intensifies its attacks, forcing hundreds of palestinians to flee for their lives. hello and welcome to their viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm max austin.

the u.s. and ukraine say it was a russian made ground to service missile. russian president vladimir putin is under enormous pressure to step in and order the pro russian separatists to lay down their arms. bill black joins us now live from ukraine. you're at the crash site, phil? were, yes. and what we're seeing today shows more progress. what we're seeing is more control and more activity. firstly, with the control, there is some restriction to public

access on this site. at the very least, vehicles are being prevented from moving down the road behind me. you can see over my shoulder, a very significant piece of the wreckage. there are others and the main crash site, clearly the greatest impact examine resulting fire. that's a few hundred yards down the road behind me. they're not letting vehicles down there. so some improvement in that sense, if you like, but by no means was this a controlled investigation scene just yet. people still have freedom of movement. people are still accessing it, people are still coming up to it. it is being contaminated, if you were to look ago it in the purist sense, perhaps more so because international media is arriving here in greater numberes by the hour. some progress, as i say.

in terms of the bodies, progress there, as well, because those bodies that we saw here 24 hours ago in great numbers that had still been lying thunder ukrainian sun for something close to three days, they have at least now been collected. we've seen significant change in that regard. the officials here say that they've collected some 196 bodies. that's a big number, but it's still a long way short of the 298 victims. so a significant search effort is still going on. and to try and make progress in that area, they are bringing in volunteers to the local mines. local miners are coming here by the bus load and are being directed to fan out across the wheat fields, this farming territory in the search of those remaining bodies. so as i say, considerable in terms of control and in the search effort and in body recovery, but a long way short of what the international community would expect for an

aviation disaster of this scale. what about these reports that some of the bodies had been removed and taken away altogether? >> there are and there were reports in the early days that the bodies were being removed by those pro russian militants who very much maintain control. this territory is still very much in the control of pro russian militants. there are hundreds of local emergency workers here, local emergency workers who ultimately answer to the ukrainian government. there were reports and some of the russian soldiers have removed bodies themselves. in the event that proper investigators did arrive, there would be no change in that regard. they would not have altered or

damaged the crime scene and ultimately the quality of the investigation. that's what the leadership is saying. we have been told by others here on the ground, though, that bodies were moved. how much? to where? we don't know. what it shows is one of the problems here and that is something of a disparity between the leadership and the militants and how their authority breaks down as it mofves down through the various groups or factions. the authority is not -- not in terms of who they allow on the site and so on and so forth. that is a complicating factor, both for journalists working here on the ground in a security sense, but very importantly for the emergency workers who are coming in here and trying to direct some sort of recovery effort to recover the victims, it is impacting in that sense and you ukrainian government says it is having a significantly negative impact on the operations taking place. >> are the rebels comfortable with this international team of investigators who will be

heading up the search area? >> officially, the leadership of the pro russian rebels says yes, they are. as i say, they maintain strongly, publicly, that they were not touching this scene so that when investigators do come in from the ukrainian deposit, from international sources and agencies, as well, they would be able to do their work properly. that is the official line of the pro russian rebels. but as i say, that authority, that message gets watered down and becomes a lot less unanimous as you move further on to the territory and as you move from area to area depending upon which group and faction happens to occupy that particular piece of territory. so in that sense -- and i guess that's what the ukrainian government is talking about. the emergency workers who are here, they don't have absolute authority, their work is limited to the extent that it is being

permitted by the men with guns who happen to be on any given space of territory at any given time, max. phil, thank you very much, indeed. the british prime minister david cameron is placing the blame for the tragedy squarely at moscow's feet. and he's calling on europe countries to take economic action against russia in a front piece page of the london times, he writes, this is violating its territory integrity, backing militias and training and arming them. he goes on, for too long there's been a reluctance on the part of too much european countries to face up to what is happening in eastern ukraine. it is time to make our resources count, he says. tony abbott says he summoned russia's trade minister who is visiting australia and told him moscow cannot, quote, wash its hands of this.

27 of the passengers on the airliner were from australia. this was the scene at st. mary's cathedral in sydney. most of the passengers on flight 17, 193 of them to be precise, were from the nectarlandk nethe. some are now on the grief and shock being felt by so many. >> a teenager, unable to understand why her friend is gone. >> translator: that's her. >> yes. >> she wanted to talk to me, we'll do it for yinta, her friend said, but she couldn't speak. 15-year-old yinta was on flight mh-17 with her parents, brother and two sisters heading on their summer holiday to kuala lumpur.

>> yes. she wants every time, yeah. >> you grew up together.? >> yes. every day we saw her as a good friend. she bikes in school with us to durnan. she was good. and she wrote this note for her? >> yes. >> can you tell me what it says? >> says every time right here -- >> throughout the day, we saw people from across this community bringing tribute, 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 didn't from here, but felt compelled to drive here to say a

prayer and leave flowers. across the village, we found rows of houses flying their flags at half-mast. >> the community is still in shock, indeed a fairley deep level of shock because it was a well-known family. it is -- and i think people are still trying to handle the situation. >> among the tributes, these hearts with the names of all members of the family, six of them, and children at the school where solom went, the youngest of the four children. they wrote notes memorial yesterday and stuck it to their 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 not be a bright star. this message from solon's 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 don't understand it. >> yes. >> he thinks you come back to here, but can't. >> thank you. ahead on "cnn newsroom," violence escalates in gaza. the latest on gaza's latest with hamas. we'll be live in gaza after the break.

hundreds of palestinian ves fled eastern gaza city after palestinians focused the artillery fire a neighborhood there. hamas says at least 13 people have been killed and more than 00 people are reported wounding. the shelling came after israel said it was expanding its military operation in gaza. saturday, gazan officials say 62 flips were killed, the biggest daily death toll so far. at least two israeli soldiers were also killed. ben is marching to gaza city. ben, what did you see unfold today? >> well, what i saw was fairley early in the morning, thousands object not hundreds, thousands of people fleeing from the district east of gaza city,

toward gaza itself. i saw people walking without shoes, carrying their children, carrying very little in the way of possessions. when i spoke to them, they're clearly many of them in can should. they talk about dead bodies in the streets, house after house being destroyed. now, an hour and a half ago, the death toll according to the palestinian ministry of health from this bombardment, the death toll was 13. now it's probably well over that. in fact, we understand that ambulances cannot get inside of that part of gaza because of the heavy shelling. the main hospital here in gaza apparently is full. their people have gone to take refuge there because they think that's the safest spot. the morgues are full to overflowing. their bodies laid out within the hospital as well as the wounded, it's a scene of utter

pandaemonium there. >> ben, thank you. atika, also, rockets coming into israel? >> we have seen rockets coming in this morning. in fact, in ashkalon this morning the sirens went off. i understand the iron dome missile system intercepted there. but since we've been here, we've been hearing a number of artillery rounds being fired into gaza. that's behind me there. we seem to have a bit of a lull right now, but we seem to have smoke rising in eastern gaza. frankly, we saw a lot of activity up and down here, tanks moving around, artillery positions being put into mays. and this seems to be what the artillery has been saying that they're going to step up and move their escalation into the

cities, into those densely packed areas. unfortunately we're likely to see the death toll rise rapidly, not just activelians, but israeli soldiers. >> ben, can you put this into context for us, in the scheme of this latest conflict, how would you place today? >> today is a dark day. it's a grim day. it's still early. yesterday, as you mentioned, 62 people killed in gaza. that was the biggest death toll. but medical sources say the death toll is likely to skyrocket as soon as they can get access to the bodies that are inside shahiya camp the. this appears to be a major heightening ratcheting up of the israeli praugz. and it's not just in this part of gaza, as well. to the south of here, the central gaza strip, we saw heavy, heavy pounding going on now.

up like 2008, 2009 and 2012 when we had similar flare-ups, there appears to be no viable mediation effort to stop the fighting, to reign the sides in. the egyptians put forward a cease-fire proposal, but that didn't really go anywhere. it appears that this operation is going to be going on for -- it's not at all clear. but if it continues like this, it's going to get very bloody, very nasty. what we've seen is that as hamas has increased its ability to fire rockets further and further into israel, it appears their ground fighters in gaza have upped their game in the sense that they seem to be better aimed, better armed.

ifk here many times when there are street battles, coming into the gaza strip. great big explosion over there. and you saw the fighters in the street, the palestinians, the various factions. now in the 11 days, 12 days ooefb here, i haven't seen one man who would fit the description of a fighter. so they're keeping a very low profile. one spokesman for hamas saying they have hundreds of thousands of bombs to give to palestinian toes throw at the israelis when they come in. what we're seeing, unlike previous instances, is that we're gearing up here for a serious ground war between the palestinians and it's not just hamas and the israelis and it's only going to get worse.

>> atika, what is the israeli mission? >> well, according to the israeli defense forces, they say they are essentially trying to dismantle the tunnel network built by hamas and other mill at that points that allow them to launch rockets, smuggle in weapons and infiltrate into israel. but i think more broadly, it's about dismantling hamas as an organization. what we're seeing is not only targeting of tunnels, but basically anywhere where that hamas structure is, which is bangly right in the middle of the cities. what we're starting to see now is not just this bombardment of the area bordering the cities, but actually going in at a street level. and this, as ben was saying, is where it gets particularly grim and brutal. we're going to start seeing street combat. those tanks we saw moving into position are likely now in the border and possibly going to be moving into the streets. so this now looks like a much more prolonged operation by the

israeli forces to try and dismantle as much of hamas has possible. now, with the absence of a cease-fire, we just don't know how long this is going to go on. even though diplomacy is in the works, u.n. secretary general ban ki-moon is here. pressure is being applied, but the fact is, there's been a breakdown in diplomacy. it doesn't look like a cease-fire is coming anytime soon. without that, the israeli forces continue to push deeper into the cities of gaza and unfortunately we'll see injuries escalate on both sides. >> you can see an interview with benjamin netanyahu today in the united states at 8:00 eastern. 11300 in london.

the downing of mh-17 is a double tragedy for many in malaysia. the disappearance of flight mh-470 is still a mystery. now the shooting down of mh-17 is another staggering blow to the national airline.

>> one by one, the full names of 298 passengers, the manifest released by the airline. they are grandparents, children, students, malaysian mourning the souls aboard flight 17. it is an all-too familiar feeling. >> now here we are again, you know, going through a series of tragic incidents. this is something which i think that a lot of our crew members are unable to accept. >> disbelief, says the head of the union representing air flight attendants in malaysia, just four months after the disappearance of mh-370 over the ocean. malaysian crew members say they were just beginning to step away from flight 370's ugliness. the question? why them again? >> we cannot believe in this incident can happen over such a short period.

and it happens to malaysia airlines itself.again. >> but this time there is a difference. with flight 17, there is debris, there is evidence of what may have caused the crash. with flight 370, no answer, no debris, no proof your loved one is gone. rage and grief followed the missing airliner as families screamed their frustration on international television. but with flight 17, the rage is directed not internally, but at an outside force. malaysia this time is not a budgeteling country grappling with the history, but a victim demanding absences. >> this outreach cannot go unpunished. malaysia calls for those responsible to be found and to face the full force of justice without delay. >> the clarity of what happened in this crash doesn't make it any easier, say grieving friends

and family. they say it is simply different. cnn, kuala lumpur. >> you're watching a special edition of "cnn newsroom" live from london. ahead, i speak to an avenuation expert and how the treatment of the mh-17's crash sight is furious. you're on to the next thing. neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair has the fastest retinol formula to visibly reduce fine lines and wrinkles in just one week. neutrogena®.

ewe containan government searchers now say they've found 196 bounds at the site of mh-17.

there's several groups of pro russian rebels were in control of the crash area. they say a number of bodies have already been removed, although it's now clear who moved them. it's still not known what exactly downed the airline he, either. it was a russian-made surface to air missile. russia has denied any movement. there's been a lot of discussion about why malaysian flight 17 flew over a combat zone. the pro russian rebels in eastern ukraine had downed ukrainian military airplanes, so why wouldn't a pilot avoid the area? richard quest considers that question. >> reporter: the questions not surprisingly go to the very core of why the plane was flying there. it must immediately be sail that the air route that mh-17 was taking was a legal, legitimate, open air route. and while some airlines, like

qantas and ianna decided not to fly over ukraine, there were many airlines that were still flying over ukraine, malaysia being one of them. should the airline be criticized? the airline flies a flight plane. if the air route is closed, it's rejected. if it's open, then they're allowed to fly. that's what happens here. looking over the last 48 hours before the flight, there were many long haul flights from singapore, from bangkok, from malaysia that were all going off this route and around this area. the question that really needs to be asked is to the authorities. why, when they knew that the capable of the separatists to bring planes down has had in recent days, why they didn't realize having reached that level of capability they didn't close ukrainian air space. to put it