breaking news this morning, major developments. pro-russian rebels handing over mh17 black boxes and the bodies of the victims on board. as investigators move on to the scene, what evidence will they find and will it lead them directly to russian president vladimir putin? we are live with team reporters covering every angel of the story. >> the death toll rises sharply in gaza. more air strikes, more ground assaults killing civilians.

secretary of state, john kerry, hoping to have a cease-fire between israel and gaza. i'm christine romans. >> i'm john berman. 4:00 a.m. in the east. we begin with prorebels in eastern ukraine finally turning over the boxes in mh17. this is critical. it's been stone walled for days. who fired the missile that blew the boeing 777 out of the sky? was it russian rebels? president obama not satisfied investigators are getting what they need. >> the russian backed separatists continue to block the investigation. they have repeatedly prevented international investigators from gaining full access to the

wreckage. as they approached, they fired their weapons into the air. the separatists are removing evidence from the crash site. what are they trying to hide? >> meanwhile, could it be that russian president vladimir putin is trying to distance himself from the rebels? listen to the ambassador from the united nations that the downing of flight mh17 was nothing but a mistake. >> according to them, if the -- there was confusion. there was confusion, not an act of terrorism. >> it keeps up the spin campaign and the fighting keeps raging around the wreckage. i want to bring in ivan watson live from donetsk. the train carrying the victims, when will that arrive in kharkiv

and what is the status of the fighting where you are standing right now? >> reporter: good morning, john. the train with the precious cargo is expected to arrive in approximately two hours. it is crossing front lines from rebel held territory such as the city of donetsk that i'm in now and crossing active front lines because there was shelling overnight residents heard and throughout the day on monday we heard the constant rumble of artillery hitting the northern outskirts of the city from the direction of ukrainian military positions. we saw in what is largely empty city here, some of the residents left here in donetsk. some of them frightened and running away with their children and pets away from the direction of the artillery.

some of it hit residential neighborhoods of the city and killed at least five civilians. that train navigating some treacherous and dangerous territory on the way to kharkiv where it's then expected to be flown via a dutch military cargo flight to amsterdam, the origin point of the doomed flight mh17 where the bodies will then be repatriated to their homes and families. john? >> meanwhile, as for the investigation itself, the cockpit voice recorder turned over in this elaborate ceremony from the leader to representatives to the malaysian government. >> reporter: that's right because malaysia had more than 40 victims aboard the plane. malaysian delegation received those black boxes. the self-declared prime minister

of this separatist region gave a speech, again, denying the rebels had anything to do with bringing down the malaysian airliner and vowing to cooperate with the investigation. worth noting is that the orange boxes, these devices that were handed over have clearly marked on the side of them, flight recorders and this same prime minister, as recently as sunday night was telling cnns chris cuomo, the rebels secured technical objects, but not expert enough to know whether or not they were the flight recorders or black boxes as they are known. it's clearly marked on the side of the devices, as you can see in the video, which will be another blow to the credibility of the rebels that vow they are

trying to cooperate. >> curious would be a nice way to put it. damming might be a more obvious way. thank you ivan. >> let's get more on the trains carrying the remains of the flight mh 17 victims. they should arrive in the ukrainian controlled city of kharkiv within the next couple hours. then the 282 bodies will be flown to the netherlands for families who lost loved ones, the pain and anger is unrelenting. >> i am very angry about the whole situation. i'm not only angry with the ukraine government not to be able to silence -- president obama finds a way to punish the responsible people for this hideous act.

>> punish the responsible people. erin mclaughlin live this morning. before punishment, they need to have their loved ones back. >> reporter: thank you, christine. to give you a sense of where i am, i'm outside schipol's airport where victims of mh17 checked in. the makeshift memorial is growing by the hour. people stopping to lay flowers, there's a condolence book people have been signing. they are leaving notes, our hearts go out to those who yearn for their loved one who is died so tragically, we share your deep anguish and despair. i spoke to a family that lost two boys to mh17 and their mother and grandmother say the family is struggling to come to

terms with this tragedy. >> everybody is crying. everybody is losing something that belonged to them. but, we feel like we have lost ourselves as well. why didn't they take my life? they still young. they still have a future. why the children? why not me? >> reporter: so many families grieving here in the netherlands. the prime minister saying it's the country's number one priority to identify the victims. we understand the bodies are making their way to the ukrainian city of kharkiv. from there, they will be loaded on to coffins and planes and brought here to the netherlands where they will begin the identification process to return the bodies to their families and they can bury them with dignity and respect. >> that's what they deserve. just an outrageous episode and

heart breaking for families. thank you. >> the question we are facing this morning, what exactly is russian president vladimir putin doing? he's backing the resolution to bring the victims home and allowing investigators complete access to the crash seen. the scene inside russia blames the west and ukraine. listen to the journalist from russia today. >> a story like this is absolutely not russia's fault, it's ukraine's fault or whatever country we are trying to fight against. at that point, you really, really feel the sense that there's no adequate questioning. >> let's bring in diana live from moscow where the russian leader is expected to speak today. he seems to be giving -- he doesn't publicly deny, outright

said it wasn't pro-russian rebels that have done this, yet he hasn't admitted it, either. >> that's right. the defense ministry came out with evidence they say raises questions over kiev's role and they have refuted evidence the u.s. put forward. the audio intercepts the u.s. put out there with separatists and russian intelligence officer, they say they are faked. they say the video of a buk missile launcher going back to russia the day after they were attacked days before, they have evidence they have gathered which shows, first of all a ukrainian fighter jet flying close to the malaysian airliner at the time of the incident and secondly, satellite images of the buk missile launches that

they say belong to the ukrainian military at the time and days before the attack. they said to kiev, what is this? why are we being blamed when all the evidence points to you? the intelligence is sketchy and doesn't add up to one view. the russian position and the position of the people is that kiev is not to be trusted. the pro-russian separatists are fighting a legitimate war on behalf of the people in the east who feel more closely affiliated with russia than not. it is hard to imagine the russian president backing down from that position and changing his story. he is extremely popular right now. the crimea annexation has seen his popularity soar. he's not going to back down and say hey, sorry, maybe we are

culpable. it is the pressure he can bear on the separatists in the u.s. and the west in form of sanctions, trying to bring to bat, to massage the situation so a, we get answers on the plane crash and secondly, the conflict can be resolved. >> he is beginning to apply the pressure. the bodies of the victims are on their way to a mutual setting. diana magny, thank you so much. morning with all the breaking - news. first, secretary of state john kerry trying to broker a cease-fire between hamas and israel as the death toll skyrockets in gaza. is there a chance or room at all for peace? we are live, next. y now and then i get a little bit tempted ♪ ♪ by the chocolate all around ♪ turn around brian! ♪ this bar has protein oh yeah!♪

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to the middle east now and the bloody struggle between israel, hamas and gaza. civilians have been killed along with 29 israelis.

fighter planes bombing the city overnight. secretary of state john kerry in cairo trying to convince them to put down their weapons and accept a cease-fire proposal. >> israel has accepted that cease-fire proposal. so, only hamas, now, needs to make the decision to spare innocent civilians from this violence. >> karl is live from gaza. hamas does not have much trust or respect for leadership in cairo. it certainly does not, christine, because president c.c., the egyptian president has a fight on his hands. hamas is a branch of that. of course no love lost at all between hamas and they believe the united states supports

israel rather than taking a neutral position. we have to see what happens in political terms. if you look at what's happening on the battlefield, why would a cease-fire be a good idea now? when israel started, the aims there would have shot down the tunnels militants were using to borrow into israeli territory to launch attacks and shut down hamas missile launchers that they buried under ground. as the days have gone on, israel has not achieve thad gain. they continue to launch raids into israel proper, inflicting casualties on israeli forces there. 20 minutes ago, we saw a barrage of militant rockets. four of them from a single launch site. if you look on the hamas side, hamas is giving a good account of itself. it has taken a heavy toll on the israeli military. right now, we know from the

israeli military, 27 israeli soldiers died in this fight so far. that is more than double the number of israeli soldiers killed during the confrontation of 2008, 2009. hamas is still very much in this fight. as they talk there in cairo, here on the ground in gaza, well, again, it's been a morning of pounding artillery we have heard at naval gun boats in action off gaza's coast. we have seen air strikes and heavy artillery pounding positions across in eastern gaza as well and as you say, civilians continue to pay a heavy toll. now, according to palestinian health ministry, around 600 palestinians dead. more than three and a half thousand wounded. >> karl penhaul for us in gaza, thank you. blood spilling in libya.

47 people killed in the last week. rival militia's fighting for control in the capito city, tripoli. this is the worst in three years. dna matches the body of a fugitive billionaire who owns the ferry that sank in april. he disappeared after the ferry disaster in which 292 people were killed, many of them high school students. his body was found last month. he was wanted for questioning. prosecutors say it could have contributed to the ferry tragedy. texas sending 1,000 troops to the scene as congress gridlocks what to do with thousands of children crossing into this country illegally. what's happening today? that's coming up next.

all right, russian president, vladimir putin is declaring his support calling for a full investigation of the downing of flight 17. they continue to blame ukraine and the west for the attack. the world will be watching when putin delivers a speech later on. meanwhile, the bodies are being taken to kharkiv. from there, flown to the

netherlands to their loved ones. rick perry calling 1,000 national guard troops. he says the price of inaction by the federal government is too high. >> i will not stand idly by while our citizens are under assault and little children from central america are detained and squandered. we are too good a country for that to occur. >> now, the administration says the number of unaccompanied minors dropped in half from june to july. meantime, the deal in congress to address this is fading fast with two weeks left until lawmakers go on vacation. >> multibillion dollar business for the traffickers. it's thousands of dollars they pay to get the kids over the border. >> time for an "early start" on your money.

european shares moving higher. asian shares are up as well. u.s. futures pointing higher at the moment. rebel leaders handing over two black boxes and a cease-fire that's easing investor concerns. now, the focus shifts to a meeting. leaders could put more pressure on vladimir putin. expanding the list of people and companies with their assets frozen. the question is, how far is europe willing to go to hurt their own economy. they have a deal to sell ships for over a billion dollars. they have to decide if they want to sacrifice the exports. any interference with that could derail a fragile situation there. it's unprecedented making this difficult. has the last week been a game changer for the finance ministers in the european union? that's what we need to see.

>> up to this point, they are not willing to sacrifice much. the pro-russian rebels stepping aside and handing over the black boxes. will investigators find evidence at the crash scene of mh17 that hasn't been tampered with? we'll have live team coverage after the break. we do? i took the trash out. i know. and thank you so much for that. i think we should get a medicare supplement insurance plan. right now? [ male announcer ] whether you're new to medicare or not, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. it's up to you to pay the difference. so think about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. like all standardized medicare supplement insurance plans, they help cover some of what medicare doesn't pay and could really save you in out-of-pocket medical costs. call now. with a medicare supplement plan,

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breaking news this morning. block boxes and bodies of victims handed over from malaysian flight 17 crash scene. prorussian rebels cooperating but days after the tragedy, has there been a cover up at the crime scene and will evidence lead investigators to russian president, vladimir putin? we have live team coverage on the angles of this story. a push for peace in gaza as the death toll skyrockets from air strikes and stepped up ground invision. john kerry hopes to broker a deal. is that possible? we are live. welcome back to "early start." a lot going on. i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. it's 30 minute past the our. we welcome our viewers from the u.s. and around the world. ac