vrjts welcome back to our viewers here in the u.s. and around the world. these are your head lymes this hour. isra israel's mim tear says it can now neither confirm nor deny the hamas claim.

>> south ort u.n. and other international commissions have been evacuated from libya. at least five people have died in fighting there. >> now, back to the rapidly developing story in the middle east. the operation in gaza launched thursday specifically targeting those tunnels. the goal now is to strike a significant blow at hamas and restore israel security. a israel spokesman says it's still in its early stages. with the conflict worsening by the day, the un estimates more than 81,000 palestinians are seeking shelter. as you see on your screen now,

he's the spokesman for the unite nation's relief and woorks agency. thank for joining us. >> so tens of thousands of this place in gaza as we speak. but being told that they are full. bring us up to speed with what's happening. >> well, actually, the figure seems to have risen above the 81,000 in t the last few hours. >> the truth is we have over a hundred schools where people can be accommodated. first of all, will're running out of money. we've launched a of 0 million dollar appeal. will're hoping state donors will give generous thrill to that or we will have to stop procuring food and nonfood items.

>> don't for get, hundreds of people have taken direct hits from the israeli army. and until recently, we had to strongly condemn that mill tants scored some rockets there one of our schools. clearly, the warring parties need to respect the valuablety of u.n. property and premises. there's a serious risk that just five years ago, seeking safe sax because that's what they assume the u.n. can offer. and we cannot have that again. >> and what's most troubling here is that out of the estimated more than 500

palestinians killed so far, the u.n. says some 70% are civilians. they say this is a pinpoint operation that they're trying to facilitate. as you say, considering the conditions in gaza, is that even possible? >> i'm not a plisices expert. however, we are humanitarian workers working on the ground to mitigate the terrible price. the unimaginable pain and suffering, which women and children are going through. and those statistics you've just cited, i think, are evidence of that. further evidence of the civilian price is the fact that about 620 installations and we're talking about schools, health clinics, relief offices, microfinance buildings have been damaged because we cannot get engineers out into the field.

given that the missiles are coming in and the rockets are flying out. it's yet another tragic illustration of the fact that civilians are likely to come into harm's way. another horrifying statistic for you. we estimate that over 25,000 children are in control. that's why the $60 million control, we're hoping that people will come forward. they can give through www.unru.org. >> i hope people will respond. >> bombs continue to fall.

we do expected to u.s. secretary of state john cairo to be in egypt to, again, try to negotiate a cease fire. if history is any example, it will be very difficult to actually make that happen and protect civilians, which you're working so hard to do. >> thank you very much for your time. >> thank you, sir, thank you very much. >> israel's prime minister is very aware. he spoke with wol v blitzer earlier about wo is ultimately to blame. >> you've seen these palestinian children and these rev ewe gref ewe ge refugees. >> when i see that, we're sad for every civilian casualty. they're not intended. this is the difference between us.

the hamas deliberately targets civilians. they embed their other weaponry. what other choice do we is have sn. >> the argument that your critics make right now is that you 'overreacting. >> if you look at our response, it's actually very measured and trying to be as pint pointed as we can. i think when people say i

appreciate the support that we receive from president obama and many world leaders for israel's right to seft defense, but others are saying, yeah, you have the right of self defense, as lodge as you don't exercise it. what can a country do? what would the people of the united states do? >> it is brutal there, now. >> it's very difficult.

>> unfortunately, there are casualties that we don't regret and we don't see. >> now, we'll get to the other big story for you after the break. the united states, excuse me, says it has clear proof that separatists shot down malaysia airlines flight 17. we'll take a close look at the evidence. ♪ what if it were more than something to share? what if a photo could build that shelf you've always wanted? or fix a leaky faucet? or even give you your saturday back?

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now, what's false nating is that the finger pointing continues over who downed pa laze ya airlines flight 17. u.s. secretary of state john kerry says the evidence clearly points to the separatists. authentic correspondent barbara star walks us through the evidence. >> unknown to the world, pro-russian rebels secretly moved heavy arsenal of weapons into place days ago. weapons that would lead to the shootdown of malaysia airlines flight 17. according to a u.s. flight analysis. >> there was a convoy several weeks ago about 150 vehicles with armed personnel carrier, mull pl rocket launchers, tanks, artillery, all of which crossed over from russia into the

eastern part of ukraine and was turned over to the spraitists. >> on thursday, the u.s. suspected a shootdown. the dossier to prove it was scowlering highly classified data from spy notes, radars and phone intercepts. first, a surface to air missile system had been turned on in eastern ukraine. a moment later, a satellite captured the mid-air explosion. >> we know that within hours, this particular system passed through two towns right in the vicinity of the shootdown. we foe because we observed it by imagery that at the moment of the shootdown, we detected a

launch from that area. and our tra jekt ri shows that it went to the aircraft. >> the conclusion? a russian supply boog surface-to-air missile launcher shot down the flight. the evidence? according to the information posted by the state department, posted by the youtube by the ukraine government, they were in possession of an sa-11 system as early as monday, july 14th. u.s. intelligence match those voices to other separatist recordings. the rebels claim to have shut down a military transport claim. when it became clear it was a passenger jet, social media posts were quickly deleted. then there was this. a quick shot of what is believed to be the missile launcher on its way back to russia. further evidence of a russian

connection, u.s. intelligence has identified a facility in southwest russia where rebel fighters have been trained on surface-to-air systems. more than previously acknowle e acknowledged. could the ukraine yans have shot down the flight? the u.s. says no, ukraine has the same weapons, but none of those weapons were in the region at the time. barbara star, krerks nn, the pent gone. >> meantime, in amsterdam, where the flight originated, crowds of people have been gathering to pay their respects. some of them are the relatives of people killed in the disaster, but, of course, some are strangers. families want to know why flight 17 was downed and when the bodies of their loved ones will be returned home. we'll have mosin live outside the airport in the netherlands after this short break. stay with us here on cnn.

let's get you live to the netherlands now. outside the international airport there in the dutch capitol, just approaching 9:50 in the morning there. all morning, i've been noticing a large crowd of people growing behind you. tell us exactly what's happening there.

>> reporter: over the weekend, it was a steady line of people coming to pay their respects. and this morning, we've seen a lot more people come out in numbers. i want to step aside and let my camera man, alex, show you. families are coming here to siep the book. i saw a little boy that couldn't have been more than five or six earlier. they've been leaving flowers, teddy bears, we've seen people leave candles there, a lot of messages, as well. someone tied a flag there earlier as well. a lot of people coming out here to pay their respects. people saying prayers as well. i know this is a country that doesn't mourn or grieve publicly, so to speak, but we've all seen people come out and we've seen this memorial grow over the weekend and a lot of people, as i say, come out here

this morning. just to point out to you, by the way, that this is the entrance that leads to check-in 29. the check-in where people would have boarded on the day that it crashed. >> i've had an opportunity to speak of some friends of victims on the fateful flight. relatives aren't really sure if they're able to get to crew yan because the situation there is so important. . >> reporter: what we understand today is that all of the 193 dutch passengers on board, that plane, let's not forget, the majority of people on board at age 17 were from here in holland. all the dutch passengers, next of kin, friends, have been

notified and invited to a gathering. it's not being held in a church. it's at a convention center just outside of amsterdam and a couple of hours outside. in particular, most importantly, the dutch prime minister, the king and queen will be there. they're going to speak to the victim's families. we understand there will be some care workers, bereavement counseling. so this is going to be a private gathering. we've been asked to stay away from inside that government. we are allow today go there. we understand the dutch prime minister will speak to us outside that gathering.

and one more thing to tell you. you mentioned there that this is going to be some frustration. they might not be able to travel to the crash site because of the fighting going on. now, of course, malaiysia airlines said right at the outset, history from air crashes show that people do like to go to crash sites because they find some kind of closure. apashtsly, only four passen germ's families have asked to go there so far. but the news that we just got, my producer is telling me, is that we understand a dutch team of investigators. we understand that they're on the ground right now. that's just happened in the last few minutes. we understand that there's been a lot of frustration and wreckage. >> and if the dutch inves dwa

xxs only just arrived, you can imagine how much time it will be until families are able to get there. this is still a region in conflict. thank you. >> we do want to get you this major story out of asia come into cnn. at least 17 deaths reported in china. the strongest storm to hit the southern part of the country in so much four deck kids. the stomp brought high winds and pounding rain, destroying formland and knocking out power at water supplies. this is a region that keeps getting wol lopped. but this seems particularly powerful. >> it was the strongest ever to hit mainland clooi that since we've been keeping records. and the death toll is actually over a hundred now. you have to remember, a lot of

fatalities as i ended up in her here. >> the recovery is going to take a lot longer than the time it took for this thing to traverse across the southern part of the pacific here. this spinning board checks here. it looks like it's headed for taiwan. >> i think we're going to get an eye with this thing really shortly. the last one was doing a little hook like that which i wasn't buying. now i think we're in good shane here as far as the forecast. look at this, 175 kilometer per

hour winds. the next day is when you really need to start getting things prepared for a pretty strong typhoon. so we have this area across the western pacific, as well. >> on that radar, matmo looks huge. let's give you a more hopeful, uplifting one. a sikts-stroke lead wasn't enough to dampben him on sunday at the 143 open championship over in brilt tan. the 25-year-old struggled in the final round, finishing at one under par for the lead. >> and that does it for this hour of cnn news room.

thanks very much for watching. early start is next for those of you in the u.s. for viewers everywhere else, stay suned for cnn news center. q.

happening now. who shot down malaysia airlines flight 17? this morning, new evidence mounting against russian separatists who refused to hand over the crash scene to investigators. russian president vladimir putin breaks his silence as the families of the victims plead for the bodies of their loves ones to be returned. we have live team coverage on the angles of this major, developing story. death and destruction in gaza. sunday marked the