prison cell has more time on his hands. the correct answer to our gps challenge question was "c," approximately 1.8 million. apollo's guidance computer had a memory of just 36 kilobytes. the apple iphone 5s has a memory of 64 million kilobytes. weighing in at 70 pound, the guidance computer was a marvel of innovation in its day helping to command the nearly 240,000-mile journey from cape kennedy, florida, to the surface of the moon. but it couldn't do what an iphone can do. thanks to all of you for being part of my program this week. i will see you next week. good morning and welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm jim sciutto in washington. thank you for joining us for this special coverage of the downing of flight 17. reliable sources has been preempted but brian stelter will

join us later in the hour. he's talking to sara firth, russian television reporter who resigned over how her network is covering the deadly crash in ukraine saying, quote, we're lying every single day and finding sexier ways to do it." we'll get her take on what vladimir putin should do as anger grows over his handling of the downed plane. but first a new potentially critical piece of evidence in the crash of malaysia airlines flight 17. just this morning ukraine's security service release what had they say is an intercepted phone call between two pro-russian rebels in ukraine just following the crash and in this recording which cnn cannot authenticate an alleged rebel commander is heard telling a rebel fighter to find the plane's black boxes quickly because is very interested in them. have a listen to this. [ speaking a foreign language ]

>> that just the late nest a series of videos released by ukrainian security services. also today, reuters news agency distributed video of what appears to be one of the flight recorders being recovered by a rescue worker. the video was shot on friday but it's still unclear where those black boxes are right now. at the crash site search teams have now found the remains of some 233 of the 298 people and children on board flight 17. europeanbservers say many are being load on to refrigerated

train cars at a place near the site. it is still being controlled by pro-russian rebels and negotiations over the handling of the victims' bodies are still happening right now. our own phil black joins us live again now from the crash site. phil, so many questions today. the first about the handling of those bodies. it took days, 24, 48 hours before they were even taken from the field. now they're being removed but to be clear for our viewers they're being removed by pro-russian rebels. s that's right. still negotiations about where they go from there? >> reporter: well, they're being moved to another area that is still very much in the control of pro-russian rebel, jim. it appear has that recovery effort, to get the victims' bodies out of the ukrainian sung, out of the wreckage, out of the fields from where they have been lying for several case where we've seen them, that effort is being led by ukrainian emergency service workers. these are people who answer to the central government in kiev ultimately. they are being moved to some

refrigerated railcars nearby and being kept locally. but those cars, this territory, it is all very much in the control still of those pro-russian militants so still a question mark over what happens to them now. who gets to see them. and ultimately how will they be returned to their loved ones around the world, jim. >> it's amazing. just that basic question of how the remains are being handled, subject to a negotiation. you would think that would be simple, but one of the many questions still hanging over the crash site and another one, of course, phil, the treatment of those black boxes, you have this new recording out now seeming to show that pro-russian rebels took them, what are you hearing on the ground now. what have you seen to corroborate that? >> well, what we've seen on the ground is very clearly the fact that the many impact zones across this very wide debris field are still knot secure. that they have clearly been accessed, they have clearly been

contaminated with -- they have been changed ultimately. we know that either emergency workers trying get the bodies out or some of those pro-russian militants, they have been here everywhere that we have been and altered the landscape. the question is have any of the pro-russian militants been going through this debris deliberately looking for those crucial voice and data recorders and this audio recording, these audio recordings that have been released by the ukrainian government, they support that claim, that's what the ukrainian government believes that the pro-russian rebels have been searching the wreckage and they have removed items, bodies, debris that they believe would support the argument that this was shot down by one of their missiles. they believe that the rebels are trying to engage in a cover-up. covering their tracks effectively and they're not being completely frank and open in that sense. the rebels, their public position is that they had nothing to do with it. they have nothing to hide and they have not altered the landscape or the debris field at

all because they say they want to leave it untouched for a future investigation. we know that's not true because we've seen them in the debris field. we've seen them moving things. so the truth lies in there somewhere. but it's still not clear, jim. >> and i spoke to ukrainian officials who accuse not just the rebels of trying to engineer a cover-up but also the russian government. i want to ask where you are now, phil and what's behind you? is that part of the cockpit? is that part of the area where maybe those black boxes might have been or might still be? >> reporter: it is or was, i should say the cockpit. it is now a twisted hulk of metal. the damages to it is really quite extraordinary standing in the middle of a sunflower field. all around us very tall, very beautiful sunflowers and then just this patch of flattened earth here where this chunk of the plane literally must have simply fallen from the sky. we've seen some emergency workers in here today cutting in to the electronics, cutting into all that very sensitive equipment that no doubt would

have formed a very important part of an investigation should it be happening here and, of course, crucially it isn't. we know the damage has been done to this. the question is how much. if the emergency workers have been here cutting out bodies, who was here before them? that's a question we can't answer and what we do know the investigators have themselves did not get to look at this in its raw form before any of that took place. we know that it suffered substantial damage and that will no doubt impact any investigations or the possibility of determining with any accuracy really what happened here, jim. >> phil, thanks very much. great to have you there. one of the first reporters to get there on the scene. we just heard from phil how hard it is to gather information at the crash siechlt joining me now cnn aviation analyst mary sh shiavo. rescue workers cutting into the wreckage possibly removing the

black boxes. you and i have talked about this a couple of times already. but this is far, far removed from an ideal situation in terms of investigating the cause of the crash. >> oh, absolutely. and, you know, it was hopeful when we first heard about them they might be in the hands of responsible persons in ukraine, but now it appears there was a search actively for them to get them out of there and get them to moscow. i think it's pretty safe to say based on what happened on the russian shootdown of the korean jetliner and others that if those black boxes go to moscow there are two things you can say for sure, that is, one, it's an admission really by moscow that they were controlling and interested in this, otherwise, why do they want the black boxes and, two, we'll never see the contents. if they go to moscow, that's it so we just have to hope they're still in ukraine and in responsible hands.

>> and there has been a history of this. bob baer made the point even with chernobyl russia denied the facts early on and impeded an investigation. i wonder now what can international investigators do? we know there's an ntsb representative now in kiev. fbi, a team from holland have been sent there waiting to get to the crash scene. they'll come to a crash scene that's been compromised. what can they do once they get there to alleviate some of the damage that's been done so that they can get their work done and answer some of these hard questions? >> well, first and foremost they'll make sure that the remains have been removed and have been treated respectfully to the extent that they can help at this late date. on that front. but then also they'll looking for the key parts. will they be able to find evidence of the missile entry to the plane or rather the missile explodes near and shoots shrapnel into the plane or metal pieces. they will be looking for parts of that. they only need to get a little

to proffer that will happen. the world knows that's what happened but moscow will deny it and other countries have done the same thing. and then they'll also say we've only seen one black box in the video footage. 's want to comb the area to see if the other one was there. looked like the flight data recorder but it's hard to see on the video because the guy is holding it. they'll look for the other one to see if that's there and they will ascertain, they will gather enough to establish those facts and they'd also want to know if the plane was -- if the pilot was -- pilots were cognizant that the plane flew for awhile too but they'll be able to do that with what's left. >> mary schiavo, thanks a lot. you made a great point in the lockerbie crash it was a thumbnail size piece of evidence that made the difference. we have to hope those key meeses of evidence don't get lost in the mix. there is another big story this morning. israel has just extended its cease-fire for a couple of hours

so people in one gaza town can get humanitarian aid or get out. israel's prime minister says his country has to take military action in gaza. >> there are very few examples in history of countries that have been rocketed on this scale. if you hook at our response it's actually very measured and trying to be aspenpointed as we can. >> coming up we'll have more of wolf blitzer's interview with israel's prime minister beng jan netanyahu who is talking about the need to demilitarize gaza after this break. that it's given me time toabout reflect on some of life'seen biggest questions. like, if you could save hundreds on car insurance by making one simple call, why wouldn't you make that call? see, the only thing i can think of is that you can't get any... bars. ah, that's better. it's a beautiful view. i wonder if i can see mt. rushmore from here.

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welcome back. i'm jim sciutto. washington has just extended its cease-fire for a couple of hours so people in one town can get aid or indeed get out. both sides blamed each other for an earlier cease-fire coming to a very quick end. more than 410 palestinians have died so far in the conflict along with five israeli soldiers and two israeli civilians. in israel our wolf blitzer talked to prime minister benjamin netanyahu. he says the israeli people deserve, quote, a sustainable quiet and they are doing what

they have to do to get it. >> quick question. your exit strategy from gaza, what is it? >> sustainable quiet. i mean, we didn't seek this escalation. hamas forced it on us. they started rocketing our cities, steadily increasing the fire. i called for de-escalation. they refused. i accepted an egyptian cease-fire proposal backed up by the arab league and the u.n., they refused. i accepted a humanitarian law proposed by the united nations. they refused. we'll stop our operations when we can bring back quiet to our people. >> some of your cabinet ministers think the only way to do that is to reoccupy gaza, which you evacuated from and gave it up back in 2005. do you support reoccupying gaza? >> well, i support taking whatever action is necessary to stop this insane situation. just imagine, i mean, imagine what israel is going through. imagine that 75% of the u.s.

population is under rocket fire and they have to be in bomb shelters within 60 to 90 seconds. so i'm not just talking about new york, new york, washington, chicago, detroit, san francisco, miami, you name it. that's impossible. you can't live like that. so i think we have to bring back, restore reasonable sustained quiet and security, and we'll take whatever action is necessary to achieve that. >> wolf is joining me live from tlfrl and have karl penhaul in gaza. wolf, we're just getting reports across the line of dozens of israeli soldiers seen wounded in a hospital just outside of gaza. what are you hearing there? >> the israeli defense forces, the idf has not yet made any formal announcements but we're being told by reliable sources is there have been a significant number of israeli casualties and clashes with hamas over the past

several hours in gaza, of course, and a significant number of israeli soldiers have, in fact, been killed. the idf will only announce how many after all of the families are formally notified they have not yet all been normally notified but for israel a small country, significant number and a lot more have been injured and those injured soldiers have been brought to various hospitals in israeli along the border not far away from gaza. this potentially, jim, could be a major, major game changer one way or another as bad as it has been certainly been awful, horrible for the palestinians and gaza. israel suffers significant number of military troops, casualties killed and wounded. that will either among the left in israel they'll say get out of there. get out of gaza. it's a disaster, it's a quagmire, israel should leave and the right will say it only will intensify the need to go in there. reoccupy the place and if you will, do away with hamas and its military infrastructure and put a lot of pressure on the prime

minister to make some major decisions over the next few hours but it's a very significant development. they haven't released 9 number yet. but for a relatively small country it's a significant number and there's a lot of concern among israeli military planners that that number is going to grow as these clashes between israel and hamas and very populated parts of gaza will escalate presumably over the next several hours and day. >> you know, wolf, listening to your interview with the prime minister, he did not seem, i mean he seemed 100% steadfast, did not seem like he was leaning backward but very much leaning forward. is it your sense that an attack like this with heavy israeli casualties, which way would israel go, push forward harder or pull back in light of the increased costs on the israeli side? >> i think if they could come up with some sort of reasonable cease-fire that would -- i think the prime minister would accept that if the egyptians i know are working aggressively. everyone anticipates the secretary of state john kerry

will be here in the region within a matter of a few days, probably coming to not only israel going to egypt maybe some other country, as well. the israelis have developed a pretty good behind-the-scenes relationship with the new government in cairo, the government led by the new egyptian president elder sisi. let's see if hamas is ready to see it. the israelis accepted it earlier on. hamas didn't and what we're seeing is the aftermath of that, but it's going to put a lot of pressure on the prime minister, one way or another, they say they have made extensive progress from their perspective, the israelis in destroying some of those tunnels if not all of the tunnels leading from gaza into israel. they've destroyed a lot of the missiles and rockets and some of the other military infrastructure. but if you listen to the prime minister, what he told me at the defense ministry at tel aviv and now back in jerusalem, he said he wants to see a demilitarized gaza. you could either demilitarize it through military action or

diplomatic action. i think he would prefer to diplomatic action. >> karl, i want to go to you now. you're in the middle there in the casualty certainly extremly high on the palestinian side. i wonder if you get a sense that that has sapped sore for hamas or if, in fact, the people thaw encounter there are pushing back for a more robust response from hamas' side, more rockets, et cetera? >> i don't think we can understate that. it was always going to be an asymmetrical war and they were going to have to meet hamas in a guerrilla-style war. we know gaza is a built-up area. those are the facts that the israeli military had to plan with. those are the facts that hamas fighters are also planning with. but that doesn't mean according to the geneva conventions and the rules of war that civilians should suffer because of the actions of either of these

warring sides but what we have seen this morning is precisely that. we need to give a voice to the civilians, they are talking to us. at first light today across there in eastern gaza where you see that plume of smoke going on, that neighborhood is partly on fire as we speak. it was pounded overnight by israeli artillery, by tanks, by air strikes. civilians could not get out, so first light comes, and what we are met with coming down the streets, walking for four, five and six miles is a human tide, a human tide trying to cling to life, few of them brought any possessions, all they were wearing was the clothes on their backs. those were the lucky ones because behind in those neighborhoods people still buried under the rubble, some dead, some wounded. it was only during that brief cease-fire window that paramedics and ambulance crews could get in there and start to pull them out.

the figures well, they speak for themselves a few hours ago the head of gaza's main hospital told me that 60 people, 60 civilians were killed in bombardments overnight and this morning, more than 400 wounded and now according to the united nations, 81,000 gazans have been displaced into u.n. operated schools. many more of the gazans simply being absorbed into their families. people are speaking of one of the worst humanitarian crises here in gaza for at least the last 14 year, jim. >> karl, listen, we know you're in the middle of it yourself. please stay safe. wolf blitzer with rocks coming down, please stay safe. a lot more of wolf's interview with the israeli prime minister throughout the day airing on cnn. when we return, here more of our special coverage of the downing of malaysia airlines flight 17 including the impact it is having on relations between the u.s. and russia. a chilly relationship getting even chillier.

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. >> this is cnn breaking news. we have this breaking news just coming out of gaza, confirmed by the israeli defense forces and that is that overnight 13 israeli soldiers were killed in an operation inside gaza. our own wolf blitzer was telling us a short time ago that cnn had witnessed as well dozens of israeli soldiers wounded in an overnight attack. we're just repeating now we have just got confirmation from the israeli defense forces, the idf of a major deadly operation in gaza, 13 israeli soldiers killed. we're going to have more on that later in this broadcast. moving now to secretary of state john kerry. he says there is an enormous evidence that points to a clear finger at russian separatists as

being involved in the downing of flight mh17. earlier this horng on our own "state of the union" with can ki crowley kerry ran down april laundry list of supporting facts saying they underline why president obama is demanding a full-fledged investigation. >> today we have reports of drunken separatists piling the remains of people into trucks in an unceremonious fashion, actually removing them from the location. they are interfering with the evidence in the location. they have removed, we understand, some airplane parts. and the fact that the separatists are controlling this in a way that is preventing people from getting there even as the site is tampered with makes its own statement about culpability and responsibility. >> in the meantime, senator, diane feinstein piggy-backed on kerry's sentiment and responded

whether u.s./russian relationships are at cold war levels now. >> i would say, putin, you have to man up. you should talk to the world and say if this was a mistake which i hope it was, say it. >> do you believe u.s./russian relations are at cold war levels? >> yes. >> back to cold war level. while russia's president denies any involvement in the disaster some in moscow apparently feel differently. that's where we find cnn's diana magnay. everyone pointing the finger at russia but it's a very different story being told in russia on russian media and from russian officials. isn't it? >> that's right. the view from the kremlin and from russian state media which the majority of people believe is that it's kiev and the u.s. who were to blame for all of this. the line here is that kiev has been waging war against its own people and that it's the one who needs to take the initiative and sit down and try to negotiate

peace with the pro-russian separatists in the east. what john kerry said then was very interesting about the fact that it is the rebels, though, who are stopping people from getting into the site because the argument here that ukraine must have shot down that claim, you know, then the ukrainian military don't have any control over access to this site. so the question of culpability falls once again in the pro-russian separatists hands and, thus, by default into russia's because we do know that russia has been supporting to a greater or lesser extent did you depending upon whether you believe the western or the russian line those separatists. i was just down at the dutch embassy here in moscow, though and there are many, many flowers lying there, people who have come to pay their condolences and what i thought was striking from being there was the fact that many of the notes said, forgive us, we are sorry. we hope that you can forgive us.

so there is an element within russian society that does feel somehow responsible for russia's involvement in the conflict in the eastern ukraine, jim. >> incredible. well, it's great to hear of sympathy on that side of the border, as well. thanks very much to diana magnay in russia. we will have secretary of state kerry's full interview at the top of the hour. and coming up, we also have wolf blitzer, he's going to be giving us details on breaking news. we've just confirmed 13 israeli soldiers killed in an operation in gaza, the deadliest operation so far certainly from the israeli side when we come back. we'll have much more details on that from the scene. really... so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 dollars a month? yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential?

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ambush in gaza, the soldiers from the galani brigade and also hearing of dozens of other soldiers wounded in this operation so far israeli forces not confirming details but we have our own wolf blitzer on the ground in tel aviv. wolf, what are you hearing about what led to these deaths of israeli soldiers? >> well, we just did -- i just did speak with the chief spokesman with the forces, lieutenant colonel peter learner and did confirm they were dead. the families have been notified. that's why they released this number and also confirms that dozens of israeli soldiers have been injured, have been wounded in the most recent clashes and as you're right this, is an elite israeli brigade going into gaza. it's very close quarters. they' they're not releasing the specific details of what happened other than it was some sort of clash, some sort of ambush they're suggesting but it

will create an incentive here in israel at least on the right, the israelis will say you have to go in in bigger numbers and get the job done. on the lift they'll say this is a quagmire. this was never going to happen. israel should not get thrust into this kind of, you know, arm-to-arm conflict, if you will. they'll encourage the israelis to start pulling out. 13 may not sound like a huge number but in a relative small country like israel this is a significant number of deaths. remember t. follows five earlier deaths of israeli soldiers, so in terms of the military deaths in israel, it's up to 18 right now and as i say, if you watch israel television, if you see the israeli media, they immediately put the names, the hometowns, the ages of the pictures of these young israeli soldiers who are killed and that puts enormous pressure one way or another on the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu to make some major decisions, the effort is under way. we know behind the scenes to try to revive that cease-fire, jim,

the egyptians are working hard at it. turkey is involved. qatar is involved. the u.s. is involved. everyone anticipates the secretary of state, john kerry, will be here in the region in the next few days probably going to egypt first then heading over to israel, some of the other countries, as well. but it's a brutal, brutal situation and as painful as it may be for the israelis right now you take a look at what's going on for the palestinians in gaza, it's a whole lot worse. so many palestinians civilian, whether young people, children, elderly have died already, many more have been injured, the israelis say they're going after the military targets, the leadership, the terrorists, if you will, but inevitably given that concentration of people, a lot of civilians will die in the process, as well. so this is a very ugly situation villing by all accounts, jim, right now. >> our viewers in israel, virtually everyone serves at a time in the arnold forces so when something like this happen, "people" are connected to the

sacrifice that the soilers make. hamas is claiming and again you always have to take this with a grain of salt but hamas is claiming they lured israeli tanks into a field where there were ieds and i just remember covering the 2006 war against lebanon that israeli tanks took a heavy toll in urban combat and i just wonder, you know, the risk that this must have been to bring tanks again into a very urban situation in gaza. >> yeah, it's a real risk and the israelis have said to me, israel military planners have said to me over the past few date and i've been here now for 11 days they said they're fully aware hamas has been bracing for this kind of israeli ground assault for a long time and they prepared all sorts of ways to try to deal with it. so they were pretty aware that the hamas has some pretty sophisticated capabilities. they went in with their eyes open but at the same time you can see the israeli military suffering significant casualties right now that will have an

impact on the political situation. i'm already hearing some suggestions by the way, some reports, people are sad, obviously, in israel. weddings are already being canceled. all sorts of other activities are being canceled. today earlier there was supposed to be a concert in the next few days, backstreet boys were coming here to israel. that's now been canceled so this country is at a real, real sensitive moment right now and a lot of pressure on the government, the cabinet, the prime minister to do what some people say get even tougher, other people say get out of there. it's a tenuous situation, i'll put it like that. >> and one heavy's been through before, '06, lebanon, 2009 in gaza, 2012, now 2014. it is great to have wolf blitzer there and just reminding our viewers if you missed it, cnn just confirming that 13 israeli soldiers killed in an operation overnight in gaza, dozens more wounded. we'll have more details on that story and, of course the other story we're following closely, the latest? the investigation on the crash

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good morning, and thank you for joining us for our special coverage of flight 17 as well as frequent updates from the situation in gaza. i want to bring in reliable sources brian stelter now. good morning, brian. >> hey, jim, i was watching you on air yesterday. you used 9 phrase information war. and that's exactly what we're seeing in both of these big international news stories. and i want to turn to ukraine and russia in a moment but first to gaza we're hearing the breaking news from israel right now. i think reporters in the middle east from israel and especially in gaza today are working in such dangerous conditions, to try to tell the world what's going on. but interestingly one veteran reporter was absent for much of this week. snbs's eamon mow he dean but one of his bosses told him to gaza when he witnessed four kids die on the beach. he's the only arab-american

correspondent. some observers say they showed sympathy. maybe too much sympathy for the people he was covering. there were accusations of bias. others say he's one of the best in the business and abc made a big mistake. nbc came pretty close to admitting that and recorpsed his deployment and today he is back in gaza covering all this breaking news. i come away from all of this wondering is it possible for any correspondent, any correspondent covering the israeli/palestinian conflict to avoid controversy, to avoid accusations of unfairness? i want to put that question to a famed cnn correspondent and anchor here, someone with decades of experience covering the region. cnn international anchor jim clancy in atlanta. jim, you know ayman. what happened? >> here's a passionate journalist on the front line and worked with him in the lebanon war between hezbollah and israel in 2006. but, you know, here's a decision

that is made by executives and it's immediately question, why? because he is an arab and an arab reporting on these sensitive kinds of stories is often blamed for being, you know, pro-palestinian on this front. jews don't escape this either as correspondents and there are many of them that are working the middle east stories. one of the hazards that go with it. i think it was tom friedman who once said for myself i'm always suspected by the palestinian side, by the arab side in all of this and among my own people i'm seen as a self-hating jew, the ones who want to be critical. it's very difficult territory on that front, a journalist can only expect if he's really doing a good job, both sides are criticizing his reporting. >> let's broaden this up and out up a twitter message i saw. this is damion cave, a "new york times" correspondent. he wrote "what's interesting about the case is the debate over the role of a journalist expressing sympathy, empathy."

i agree with that. >> the people they're covering it. >> it is a normal human reaction. you have to understand you try to balance things, you try to put in the facts that really matter but at the same time you can't stand before a mother who has lost two of her young children who regrets that they ever went out to play football on the beach seeing them, you know, blown into pieces. in this kind of a situation it's very difficult not to have empathy, not to have a human -- the human emotion, that is part of the story and, unfortunately, both sides try to dehumanize the other's and that's what reporters have to do, bring the humanity back and becomes an >> you know all too well, every word a reporter utters is every scrutinized by all sides. and one example from the "washington post" headline on the front page. two israeli soldiers killed in

gaza clash. then subheadline, death toll tops 330 as hamas militants step up attacks. a palestinian would look at this headline and say it's implying the 330 dead are israeli not palestine. how did you handle that pressure how every word matters? >> every word does matter. everybody is watching you. they're going to weigh it to ensure their point of view gets across. their side of the story comes across. this is an information war. and more today than ever with social media, everything being handled there. the palestinians are today calling for the international community stand up, take a stand against war crimes that are committed by the israelis and they're pointing up now more than 400 people, about 75% of them according to the u.n. who are civilians have been killed in this conflict. there's a lot of women, a lot of children. israel is trying to balance all of this. and they're doing so by issuing warnings. telling people to get out, move

away, stay clear. this is going to be a deadly zone. but the palestinians will come back and ask you, where do we go? there's no place safe. >> the new number is 425. but hamas claims civilian deaths have been inflated. they would say highly inflated. how does the press deal with these death toll reports? >> we have to go with the officials that are on the ground that have proven themselves to be reliable. you can bet that the political bureaus and uninformed politicians are going to get some of the numbers wrong. it's happened in the past, it's happened while i've been reporting. you have to stick with the numbers you know. they may be out of date, but you have to wait until they catch up. there's no other way to do it. you know, this whole process of, you know, the blame game and trying to win sympathy and who has the most casualties. there's something very dehumanizing about that, as well. and specific -- not just to this conflict, but over the years, i

just watched as it was really became unbearable to see how people were expecting a death toll to come forward and how it would benefit them. >> and now we're hearing from wolf blitzer, this appears to be the deadliest days of the israeli military in many years with this number 13 that we've seen reported. as we wrap up here, jim. i wonder what you see when you look at the coverage, some people see a pro-israel bias, pro-palestinian bias, what do you see? >> i see -- it depends on the report, on the situation. how it could be interpreted. but i see overall some fairly balanced coverage. you know, this conflict has so many dimensions. and those dimensions are changing. these high casualties are going to be used by hamas. you know, whatever doesn't kill this organization is only going to make it stronger. and hamas, many believe, will come out of this a much stronger entity for israel to have to deal with. how far is israel willing to go? we'll have to wait and see on

that one, too. >> thank you for joining me. online later today on cnn.com, i'll post a story about my new reporting and what really happened at nbc. i think it was bureaucratic infighting more than anything else. we'll be right back in a moment and turn to russia and ukraine. stay tuned. so our business can be on at&t's network for $175 dollars a month? yup. all five of you for $175. our clients need a lot of attention. there's unlimited talk and text. we're working deals all day. you get 10 gigabytes of data to share. what about expansion potential? add a line anytime for 15 bucks a month. low dues... great terms... let's close. introducing at&t mobile share value plans... ...with our best-ever pricing for business. sfx: car unlock beep. vo: david's heart attack didn't come with a warning. today his doctor has him on a bayer aspirin regimen to help reduce the risk of another one. if you've had a heart attack be sure to talk to your doctor before you begin an aspirin regimen.

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why pay more for less? call today for a low price on speeds up to 150mbps. and find out more about our two-year price guarantee. comcast business. built for business. let me tell you about sarah firth who resigned on friday from the russian government owned news channel known as r.t. and you might have it on the cable lineup. i have at home in new york and i was watching this week to see how they spun the shootdown of the malaysia airlines flight. this channel, r.t., was on the defensive. so in doubt about whether russia and pro-russian forces really had a role in the attack. some of the reporters and commentators hinted ukraine should be blamed instead.

and sarah firth wrote this on twitter. rule number one on russia today, always blame ukraine. she's the second person to publicly resign from r.t. this year. i don't think she'll be the last. why did she resign. here's a bit of what she told me. >> and that moment the way that we handled that breaking news story was just a clarifying moment for me, really. i've had many times over the five years i've been at r.t. where it had a similar struggle and you've watched the story handled in that way, and you felt very strongly that right away the narrative is being pitched, a very specific narrative to the detriment to the facts and accuracy in reporting. >> firth told me she tried to do good reporting there and feels her colleagues still do. but they're so constrained by the pressure they're under from moscow. so, jim, tossing it back to you, seems to me what's so complicating about russia today, it's both a news channel but also a tool of russian foreign

policy. >> no question. and russia systematically shut down independent news outlets whether by television or in print over the last several years, which makes it a lot easier for russian propaganda outfits to push a pro-russia line on this story and so many of the other stories we dealt with, brian. it's a great interview. really glad you did it with her. >> thank you. >> if you're just joining us now, breaking news out of gaza. 13 israeli troops killed in an operation overnight. the israeli defense forces now confirming dozens of others injured. these troops were from the one of the most decorated outfits in the israeli military. hamas is claiming it lured tanks into a gaza field where it had hidden improvised explosive devices. in the words of hamas, it says destroyed the force completely. but certainly overnight, a very deadly operation for israeli forces. by far, the deadliest of this operation in gaza. and even the deadliest of previous operations in gaza in

2009 and 2012. we're going to have more throughout the day on that story as well as the latest on the crash in eastern ukraine of mh-17. thank you so much for joining us this morning. "state of the union" with candy crowley is starting right now. as international teams try to recover the dead and protect the evidence, personal tragedy and global consequences unfold on the ground in eye war zone. the downing of malaysia airline flight 17. today, the u.s. secretary of state. >> we know for certain that the separatists have a proficiency that they've gained by training from russians. >> john kerry with the latest intelligence information, and whether he trusts anything vladimir putin has to say. and -- >> this war can be ended. russia can end this war. russia must end this war. >> analyzing the chilliest u.s./russian relationship since