a trip yielt today on the lives lost on flight 17. make sure you stay with cnn for more on that story. i'm don lemon, thanks for watching. good night. >> hey there, everyone, thanks for staying with cnn's continuing special coverage. >> i'm errol barnett. >> welcome to our viewers in the u.s. and around the world. ahead this hour, dozens or coffins from marlz flight mh-17 are expected to arrive in the netherlands in theoming day. meanwhile, the site where the plane crashed becomes increasingly compromised. >> plus we're going to take you live to the middle east where diplomats are discussing a cease-fire despite escalating

violence in israel and in gaza. and in the u.s., shocking reports of a botched execution, another one, this time in the state of arizona. why officials say it took a death row inmate more than two hours to die. it's 7:00 a.m. in eastern ukraine where the crash site of malaysia airlines flight 17 is set to be virtually deserted and unsecured. cnn's ivan watson reports there are no investigators and no security on site and a great deal of the debris from the plane has been removed? >> families certainly not happy to hear that news. meantime, u.s. officials say they're investigating whether the missiles that brought down two ukrainian military jets on wednesday were fired from russia. the u.s. source is concerned

about the 12 to 15 russian troops near the border with ukraine. >> another 74 coffins carrying the remains of the victims from the flight 17 tragedy are expected to arrive in the netherlands today. the first 40 coffins were greeted by family, friends, end ing on wednesday. >> this is an emotional time for the people of the netherlands. it's the first time the dutch have held a day of mourning in more than 50 years. the last followed the death of their queen. we have this report. >> reporter: a moment in time when no other plane landed in the netherlands. planes circled the skies buses stopped on roads, trains on their tracks giving those on board flight mh-17 a safe passage towards their final resting spot. they landed to the sound of a

trumpet call as across the count ray day of national mourning cast a shadow of silence. in the silence, resounded an amalgam of emotions -- pain, anguish, confusion, anger, but most of all this silence symbolized the victims' right to dignity and respect. they were given the highest of honors as the dutch monarchy and dutch prime minister alongside dignitaries from all the countries mh-17 passengers came from stood to receive them. flags flying at half-staff. their families and loved ones weren't filmed, given privacy for their unimaginable grief.

an extraordinary moment of calm enveloped what is usually an incredibly busy military base as these planes brought the first of 298 passengers from flight mh-17 on their journey home. a their families looked on not knowing which of their loved ones will be on board. caught in a battle between two countries not one passenger came from, they have finally begun their journey home. one by one they were taking away in hearses. local people turned out to pay their respects some showering the procession with flower petals as they made their try their next destination. where they will finally be given a name, an identity to eventually be layed to rest. >> it's just a first step.

there are many more remains to be returned. there have been develop 789s. the congress patriot voickpit v recorders are being analyzed. the memory intact and there is no sign of tampering so another positive development there. dutch authorities are handing the grim task of examining and identifying the bodies of the victims as they're brought back to the netherlands. >> translator: the difficult part is that every bit of information you get from a relative needs to be verdicted very carefully. also you need to take records from the bodies in ukraine. it's a delicate procedure. for example, take dental records and dna. those need to be matched by software. that takes a long time. >> reporter: how long will it take to i.d. the bodies?

>> translator: it depends. there are a lot of bodies and body parts coming our way. all bits must be examined and it must be very precise. you must be sure you don't give the wrong body to the wrong family. as that heartbreaking work continues, so do the claims and counterclaims by ukraine and russia. >> everyone pointing a suspicious finger at russia. we look at russian president vladimir putin's response over the past few days to the downing of mh-17. >> reporter: just hours after flight 17 was shot down killing all 298 aboard, russian president vladimir putin squarely pointed the blame at ukraine. >> translator: the state over which territory it happened is responsible for this terrible tragedy. >> reporter: putin's lieutenants fanned out, pushing the narrative that ukraine's offensive in eastern ukraine laid the ground work and in russian state media, outlandish theories like this one that

putin's presidential plane and the malaysian airliner looked similar so the ukrainians shot it down in an assassination attempt. even as evidence mounted that the pro-russian fighters brought down the plane -- >> what do we want? >> justice! >> reporter: -- and global outrage grew, putin tried to appear pious, photographed praying at an orthodox church. the russian president continuing his drum beat, blaming ukraine and its western backers. >> translator: no one should and no one has the right to use this tragedy to achieve their own selfish political goals. these events should not divide but unite people. >> reporter: but behind the scenes, putin has fueled the divide. a nato military official tells cnn putin has been secretly adding to the arming of the pro-russian rebels. in the days after the plane crash, nato says russian artillery, tanks and military personnel are surging across the

border into ukraine. the u.s. and other western countries are calling for stringent sanctions against russia. perhaps the reason behind a more conciliatory tone from pew anyone his last public statement. >> there are calls for us to influence the militants. we will do everything in our power. >> reporter: but with two military jets just shot down, that influence appears to be anything but for peace. putin's next move, unknown. years of dealing with him, he's proven to be unpredictable and defiant and with this country, ukraine's long hatred of him, this will do nothing but drive a wedge further between them. kyung lah, cnn, kiev, ukraine. coming up in our next half hour, an expert will join us for more contact about vladimir putin's response to this and whether possible new sanctions will encourage russia to

withdraw its support of the rebels. >> looking forward to that. just ahead for you, though, no end in sight between n the fighting between israel and hamas. we'll take you live to jerusalem with the latest. and why did it take two agonizing hours for the state of arizona to execute this convicted murderer? we'll speak to his lawyer live. our new flatbread sandwiches may be flat... the flavors, are anything but. so whether it's taste inspired by the freshness of the mediterranean... or the smoky spice of the southwest... or bold, adventurous thai flavors... ...you always get flavor that's anything but flat. and always with chicken raised without antibiotics. new flatbread sandwiches from panera... ... each 360 calories or less. try one today.

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welcome back, everyone: we want to bring you this breaking development just into cnn. u.s. aviation authorities have now just lifted the ban on all american flights into and out of israel's main airport. now, then, it's up to individual airlines to decide whether or not they are comfortable flying there in light of the gaza rocket threat and, of course, the rocket which hit a mile from the airport. but that faa ban now lifted. and meanwhile, u.s. secretary of state john kerry continues to push for a cease-fire between israel and hamas. he met separately wednesday with the israeli and palestinian authority leaders and u.n. chief ban ki-moon. >> gaza health officials report 695 people dead, mostly civilians, israel says 32 soldiers have been killed in gaza fighting, three civilians killed in rocket fire by hamas. let's get the latest from

jerusalem where it's just after 7:00 in the morning. john voors joins us from there live. john, let's begin with this faa ban now lifted because you have to unique distinction of being on the first flight diverted when this man went into effect. just give us some insight on how the passengers may have reacted because former new york mayor michael bloomberg specifically made a trip last night to make the point that it's completely safe. did some of the passengers think it was an overreaction or a valid safety precaution? >> a lot of people on board the delta flight thought it was a bit of an overreaction and they were pretty unhappy when we were sent back to charles de gaulle airport in paris and that was fairly chaotic scene because once the faa ban went into place, once delta decided it was no longer safe to fly into ben-gurion airport, one airline after the other decided in fact they, too, would be avoiding the main airport there in tel aviv. but this now with this ban

lifted will be a huge relief for the israeli government, prime minister benjamin netanyahu raised the issue with the u.s. secretary of state john kerry. i'll read you in part what the faa has said just a short time ago. they issued a statement. they said that they've worked with u.s. government counterparts to assess the security situation in israel and carefully reviewed both significant new information and measures the government of israel is taking to mitigate potential risks to civil aviation. no word on what that new information may be. this ban had been in place for about a day and a half. it was meant to be still in place for about another 12 hours here. and it was taking a huge toll on the israelis. there was the economic toll, there was the political toll as well. this time of year, normally about 100 foreign carriers, maybe more, would be arriving everyday at ben-gurion airport but with this ban in place, a lot of airlines decided they didn't come and according to the israeli tourism minister yesterday only 22 foreign carriers actually touched down at ben-gurion airport. the israelis said that was al

win, a victory for hamas. hamas said it was as well. rare abreemt wean the israelis and hamas. so now the situation is those individual carriers -- delta, u.s. airways as well as united, the three u.s.-based carriers who, in fact, fly to israel, they'll have to make that decision when they will resume flights and the reason why this is so important for israel, 90% of the people who are coming to this country, they do it by the ben-gurion airport, errol. >> so we've talked about some of the economic recent and minor economic impact on the israeli economy. we've got to talk about what's happening in gaza and the massive issue with the mounting death toll approaching 700 and vast majority, according to the u.n., more than 70% of them, being civilians. give us the latest on the idf operation in gaza and, of course, what's happening on that front. >> yeah, well, what we know is that the israeli military has

continued with its targeted operations overnight, this time they've been essentially focussing on the northern part of the gaza strip, that has been sort of an area where they believe there's been a lot of these rocket launches and these tunnels. we think that the palestinian death toll has gone over 700. we also know on the israeli side that three more israeli soldiers were killed. they were killed by an explosive device, that now brings to 32 the number of israeli soldiers who have been killed. three other israeli civilians have -- two israeli civilians have died and one thai guest worker was also killed within the last 24 hours. as they that death toll continues, of course, the pressure mounts on john kerry, the u.s. secretary of state, as well as the israeli prime minister and the hamas leader to try and find some kind of cease-fire. and there is some positive news on that. john kerry remains in the region. he is in cairo. he spent the night in cairo so

we're told those talks will continue. we're not entirely sure who he will be talking to in the next 24 hours but those talks are continuing. and what they're looking at, errol, is they want to get some kind of formula here because we know that hamas will only agree to a cease-fire should the borders are open, should raffa reopen, should, in fact, the israeli border reopen. israel wants a demilitarization of the gaza strip. they're complicated issues. they're trying to get the fighting be stopped first and then they'll work on the issues. that is difficult and take some time. >> indeed, but as you mentioned there, the fighting does continue. we're curious as to what new information the faa has factored in, john vause live in jerusalem that the faa has lifted its ban on u.s. carriers traveling to israel. john, thanks very much. >> glad to see john finally made it to his destination. still to come on cnn, we'll look at the role weather may have played in a deadly plane crash in taiwan.

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the governor of the u.s. state of arizona has ordered a review after a man condemned to die remained alive for almost two hours after his execution had begun. joseph wood was sentenced to death after being convicted of murder and assault. on wednesday, he received the lethal injection which included a formula of drugs his lawyers say was experimental. now, they say wood was left

gasping and struggling. here's a member of the press describing the execution. >> joe wood is dead but it took him two hours to die and to watch a man lay there for an hour and 40 minutes gulping air, i can liken it to if you catch a fish and throw it on the shore the way the fish opens and closes his mouth. so the two drugs worked, he eventually died, but i can't imagine this is what the criminal justice system had hoped for when they came up with this new drug protocol and it was -- it's tough for everybody in that room and at a certain point you wondered if he was ever going to die. >> a tough description there. woods' lawyers filed an emergency motion midway through that execution asking that he be resuscitated. they claimed his rights against cruel and unusual punishment were being violated but the courts rejected that request. i'm joined now by joseph wood's attorney dale baich from phoenix, arizona, on the line. dale baich, appreciate you taking the time. >> sure. thank you.

>> i want to first ask you this, because i understand that you witnessed the execution of your client. so please describe what happened. >> well, after mr. wood gave his last words, the chemicals began to flow and his eyes closed and his breathing appeared to stop and about five minutes into the process a medical team member came in and did a consciousness check and said that mr. wood was sedated. about five minutes after that, his lips began to move and he exhaled and began gasping for air. and that gasping went on for an

hour and 40 minutes. >> your description stands in contrast to a statement that was released by the arizona department of corrections and i want to read you some of what the director, charles ryan, says. and he says "once the inmate was sedated, other than snore rouse respiration or snoring, he did not grimace or make any further movement and throughout this execution i conferred and collaborated wi collabora collaborate with our team members and was assured the inmate was comatose and never in pain or distress." do you agree with that? >> well, we -- no one knows whether mr. wood experienced pain. a medical doctor can't determine that. and we don't know what the level of sedation was. what we do know is that he was

gasping for air, he was struggling to breathe, he was moving up on the restraints and that went on for an hour and 40 minutes and the five media witnesses who were there did not describe it as simply snoring. >> so in your view this was a botched execution. i want to remind our viewers who joseph wood is. he was sentenced to death for the shooting death of his girlfriend and her father for an incident that happened back in 1989. we also heard from a family member, the sister who was also the daughter of those two victims. i want you to listen to what she had to say after this execution. >> so everybody here from what i heard said it was excruciating. you don't know what excruciating is.

what's excruciating is seeing your dad lying there in a pool of blood, seeing your sister lying there in a pool of blood. that's excruciating. this man deserved it. i don't believe he was gasping for air. i don't believe he was suffering. sounded to me as though he was snoring. >> she does have a point where there when she talks about the excruciating pain she and her family have gone through, dale. i want to get your reaction to what this family member just said and what exactly it is that you want. you're calling for a full investigation? >> well, you know, the victims' family certainly did go through a lot of pain. but the execution is not about that. the execution -- when the states have the death penalty and they decide to carry it out they have to do it in compliance with the 8th amendment of the constitution and the

constitution says that death cannot be inflicted in a cruel or unusual manner. >> all right, dale baich, i appreciate you for taking the time and i should mention that arizona is one of the states that refuses to disclose any information about drugs and the drugs manufacturers that are used in these executions. dale, thank you. and now to this. investigators in taiwan are working right now to determine the exact cause of a stormy evening plane crash that killed dozens of people on board. the flight data recorder from the transasia airways turboprop plane has been recovered from the wreckage. the aircraft came down near an airport on one of taiwan's peng grew islands and crashed into houses. we have this report live. this plane was delayed initially by bad weather with the typhoon still pouring heavy rain in the

region. surely it's a possible cause for this crash. >> well, it's too early to tell, errol, but certainly questions will be asked, as you say, about what caused this plane to crash and this plane carrying 58 people, including a crew, made one attempt, according to the aviation authorities in taiwan, to land, then went around, then lost contact with the control tower and then crashed right into a residential area on peng grew island to the west of taiwan main island. it happened in the evening time and, yes, there was an outright ban, i guess, on flights happening during that typhoon which swept do taiwan earlier on wednesday. so questions are being posed a to why they decided to fly but they did say that other planes landed safely. one thing worth mentioning. this atr-72, this twin engine

turboprop is well known in the aviation world as being able to land on short runways in difficult conditions so certain ly there will be questions asked and maybe the flight data recorders will give answers. several people appeared to have survived the crash, some with serious burns taken to the hospital on the island taiwanese officials saying they will investigate and find out what happened but certainly this did happen in the aftereffects of a major typhoon. >> and the ceo has give an tearful apology. surprising to hear there were survivors, people who walked away. what will happen next? we l we see investigators at the scene tomorrow? >> well, this is, you know, not a very -- this is a small island with not necessarily a large scale rescue and recovery operations on it. so the first thing they said they would do as of late is to

send in a military and civilian to help with those efforts. those pictures of this plane and witnesses describing the fireball as it landed or crashed into a series of apartments and houses on the island. it's extraordinary that anyone survived at all. but it appears that several people have survived this crash. it's unclear how serious the injuries are. and also it's unclear how many people were injured on the ground if any. but the ceo of transasia airways giving tearful apologies, bowing in front of reporters apologizing for what happened. again, it's very early days here, errol. it's unclear what exactly caused this crash but certainly the weather conditions may have played a role. >> all right, david mckenzie live in beijing on this plane crash in taiwan. thanks very much. certainly a very nervous time

for anyone taking planes around the world seeing this take place. in fact, the information into the crash of flight 17 is picking up momentum in britain and the netherlands. coming up, we'll see why one observer says the crash site itself looks like everyone picked up and left. ♪ in the nation, the safest feature in your car is you. add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get $100 off for every year of safe driving.

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welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. >> good to be next to you once again, amarah. i'm errol barnett. here are the stories we're following for you right now. you're watching there as another 74 coffins carrying the remains on those killed on malaysia airlines flight 17 was scheduled to arrive in the netherlands today. you're seeing the previous bodies being -- or at least the remains of victims arriving wednesday. family, friends, dignitaries greeted the first 40 coffins. all the bodies will be examined and identified before being returned to their home countries. >> now, the u.s. is investigating whether the missile that shot down two ukrainian military jets wednesday came from russia pro-russian rebels claimed

responsibility. the u.s. is also expressing concern about the 12 to 15,000 russian troops it says are massed along the boarder with ukraine. >> also, u.s. secretary of state john kerry remains in the middle east still trying to broke err truce deal between israel and hamas. he reported some progress wednesday after talk with israeli and palestinian leaders, but the fighting continues. the death toll is nearly 700 in gaza with 35 israelis killed. >> 48 people are dead and ten injured after the crash of a transasia plane in taiwan. the turboprop aircraft went down just outside the airport on one of taiwan's penghu islands. strong winds from typhoon matmo may have been a factor in the crash. now more information on our top story. british authorities are examining the cockpit voice and flight data reporters from malaysia airlines flight 17 shot

down over eastern ukraine. they say the voice recorder was damaged but its memory intact and the most positive sign is that there's no evidence sign of tampering. meantime, at the crash site in eastern ukraine, it's what our reporters describe as being in a state of disarray. senior international correspondent ivan watson reports. >> nearly a week after malaysian air flight 17 crashed goo into these farm fields in eastern ukraine the bodies of some of the victims have been transported, returned to the netherlands, the country of origin for this doomed flight where they were greeted by a very somber ceremony. the flight data recorders that are on the plane they've been take on the the united kingdom where experts are going through their content, trying to learn more about what exactly happened last thursday. the conflict that nearly everybody agrees directly contributed to the downing of

this commercial plane and the deaths of 298 innocent victims, it continues to rage. rebels -- the rebels who control this area shot down two ukrainian warplanes about a half hour from where i'm standing right now. the rebels say they used shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missile to shoot down those jets and throughout the day we've heard the distant roar of warplanes flying very high overhead. as for the investigation, there's been a united nations security council resolution calling for safe access this-to-this place. we've arrived here and there is no security to speak of, no experts, no investigators watching this plane it's clear that even within the last 48 hours a great deal of the debris that was here has been removed. this so-called crime scene has been contaminated many times

over nearly a week after flight mh-17 crashed here and all those innocent people died, this crash zone feels all but abandoned. ivan watson, cnn, eastern ukraine. whether or not russia had any involvement in the downing of the plane, president vladimir putin is right in the middle of this controversy. i want to bring in cynthia hooper, an associate of soviet and russian history at college of the holy cross in worcester, massachusetts. cynthia, good to have you here in the studio. so my first question to you because i understand that you just returned from russia so i'm curious to know how the russian media has been covering all of this and what the people there are saying about the mh-17 disaster. >> well, since the plane went down on thursday the russian

media has been drawing out one theory after another. but the $10 million question is what is the russian public prepared to believe and a recent poll by a russian institute concluded that only 9% of russians receive any kind of information from the internet and over 90% depend exclusively on russian television for their understanding of the world. so there's this inflammatory information war and a lot of people are buying into that. >> what are they saying? there's been finger pointing and many in the west saying putin has some responsibility in all of this. what are they saying in the media reports? >> in russia they're pointing the fnger of blame towards the ukrainians and to some extent towards the united states.

some argued the malaysian plane that disappeared in march is the one that's now been sort of shot down and this is a stunt organize bid the cia. this seems outrageous to us and one of the most depressing things right now is that the russian media is being used as an instrument for political control it's used to spread hatred and fear in its audience. but i have to say that russians who maintain they support president putin and talk a lot about western media conspiracy to discredit russia are not exactly anti-west, either. they are -- they like to vacation in miami. they buy italian furniture, they want to date german lawyers and even putin's daughter is married to a dutchman and lives in the hague. >> i heard that. >> so the world is connected and the question is that if russia's economy begins to suffer, will

the russian people continue to support putin and will they begin to question the stories they're hearing? >> that's a big question. i spoke with a political scientist the other day and he says he is convinced that russia provided the buk missile launcher to the pro-russian separatists. do you share that belief? >> no, actually, i don't. and i think that -- i take inspiration from the dignity and restraint being shown by a number of european leaders, particularly the dutch leaders as we saw when they were receiving the bodies today talking about how there needs to be a very fair investigation of those kinds of details. i think that as both ukrainian and russian media sources acknowledged when i was in russia, these ukrainian separatists were able to stumble upon caches of soviet era weapons outside donetsk that contain all manner of military equipment. and i suspect that the missiles did come from there but what

putin has unquestionably done is created an atmosphere of tacit consent for the continued destabilization of ukraine and he bears responsibility for that and he needs to immediately dissociate himself from the actions of these separatists. >> and the big question is what can the world do now? >> that's the $10 million question. >> cynthia hooper, appreciate you taking the time. thank you for your perspective. updating you on the breaking news now, u.s. aviation authorities have lifted their ban on american flights in and out of tel aviv. the ban left thousands stranded and scrambling for alternate travel plans. it was imposed tuesday after a gaza rocket attack near the airport. israel called the move "unnecessary and unfair." but u.s. officials said passenger safety was their top concern. coming up, ben wedeman brings us a look at recovering the dead and wounded in gaza even as the

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welcome back. the u.n. human rights council is launching an investigation into israel's military operation in gaza for possible war crimes. now, the action came as hundreds of palestinians marched with symbolic coffins in ramallah wednesday demanding action from the united nationss. >> here's how the came about. the council outlined the crisis -- outlined this in the crisis emergency session saying one child had been killed in gaza every hour over the last two days. u.n. rights chief also condemned hamas rocket fire on israel but said israel hasn't done enough to protect civilians in gaza. >> respect for the right to life of civilians, including children, should be a foremost

consideration not attending to these could be considered war crimes. >> the task falls to the red cross and the palestinian red crescent, they face a perilous journey in gaza. ben wedeman went along to see the dangers they have to confront. >> reporter: they i come to look for the living and the dead but had to turn back under fire. as did we. sniper back there. the red cross and the palestinian red crescent entered the battered and embattled gaza city neighborhood. red cross veteran larry maybe cautiously confident they could do their job. >> until now i'm relatively comfortable with the security

situation. i expect it might get a bit more difficult as we progress down this way. >> israeli military has shelled this area almost around the clock for more than four days as part of its offensive against hamas. the rescue workers, well aware they needed to tread carefully. >> obviously it's -- this is making us nervous. we don't want to make them nervous. >> reporter: some residents took advantage of their presence to retrieve possessions. "my brother's house is gone" says this man. "nobody was there there was a fighter and now we're homeless." this man fled before the fighting began. his house is now in ruins. "do you see" he asks. "they're hitting 1i68ians. they didn't hit any of the fighters or any of their so-called military targets. look at what they did. they destroyed the houses, the street and killed civilians."

this fireman tells me "i've never seen destruction like this." they tried but failed to retrieve either the living or the dead. the shooting, it's not clear from whom, was too intense the small arms fire is increasing in intensity and directed at us. the problem is there are too many people here. too many civilians. if it was just us it might be different so we're coming back. there are two people trapped in rubble wounded. i want to try to go in on foot to get those two before we get back. >> reporter: did you find anybody? >> no. there's the front line there d and -- >> it seems that given the risk here with explosions up the street and perhaps sniper fire

the risks for the red cross and the palestinian red crescent are simply too much. they're now pulling out of the neighborhood. ben wedeman, cnn, gaza. >> ben wedeman reporting from the ground there. now, u.s. secretary of state john kerry is still in cairo trying to broker a truce deal between israel and hamas kerry reported "some progress" wednesday during a day of shuttle diplomacy. as you see here, he met with prime minister netanyahu in tel aviv and visited ramallah for talks with palestinian authority president mahmoud abbas. but despite talk in egypt of a weekend humanitarian truce for the eid holiday, hamas insists there will be no cease-fire until israel meets its key demands. paula hancock shows us why both sides for now are holding out. >> reporter: hamas shows off its military muscle. a promotional video boasting of

its fighters, rockets and tunnels. israel's military releases footage of it destroying the enemy, a show of strength against a group it and much of the west considers a terrorist organization. both sides have a clear aim -- to cripple or destroy the other. but it's a goal neither can currently achieve. so the question is, what will it take to silence the guns this time? shst clear about what it wants. the leader said wednesday "we want a cease-fire today but israel must end the black cade now as a guarantee then we can negotiate." israel withdrew troops in settlements from gaza in 2005 but has controlled gaza's waters, airspace, and most borders ever since claiming they are protecting themselves against a more militarized hamas. human rights groups have called gaza the world's largest open air prison and also say the black aid should be lifted. >> the israelis may have to ease

their restrictions on imports and exports. hamas salaries may have to be paid perhaps by the qataris, anything more, release of prisoners or a complete end to both egyptian and israeli control of the border strikes me, frankly, as a bridge too far. >> hamas's tunnel network has surprised many. its scope and sophistication. not only for smuggling weapons from egypt but also its tunnels into israel, giving it immediate access to israel's civilian population. the israeli military referring to this new background as lower gaza. >> the terrorists operating in these tunnels are taking with them equipment not only to try and kill israelis but also to kidnap israelis. they're taking tranquilizers with them, handcuffs, et cetera, so they can bring back some israelis as hostages. >> reporter: israel wants to destroy this network before

pulling out, a move the israeli public supports. israel also wants to weaken hamas much as it can. it's suffered more military casualties in the past two weeks than in the previous five years. hamas and other militant groups have lost over 100 fighters while more than 30 israeli soldiers have been killed. however, more children than fighters have lost their lives so far in gaza, making calls for a campaign finance reform all the more urgent. paula hancocks, cnn, new york. still to come for you here on cnn, yet more tragedy in nigeria. prominent citizen there is targeted in attacks that kill dozens of people. we'll walk you through what happened after the break. imagine if everything you learned led to the one job you always wanted. at university of phoenix, we believe every education-

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hailed him as a national hero for his work treating dozens of ebola victims. the world health organization estimates the latest outbreak of the disease has killed more than 600 people across west africa. in northern nigeria, two more deadly attacks. police say two suicide blasts there killed at least 40 people. one targeted a prominent muslim cleric who has spoken out against the violent militant group boko haram. the other was an attempted assassination of an opposition politician. that attack happened in a marketplace jammed with shoppers. both men escaped unharmed. it's not clear if boko haram or another group carried out these bombings. but boko haram's terror was deeply felt on wednesday in nigeria's capital abuja. ♪ all we are saying, bring back our girls ♪ >> you're listening there as families some of the girls boko

haram kidnapped some 100 days ago now marked the anniversary with heavy hearts and determination. many held a commemoration with members of the bring back our girls campaign. they've been meeting daily at the city's unity fountain since the more than 00 gi200 girls we kidnapped in april. the parents' say they'll keep pushing for the girls' rescue. investigators in taiwan are trying to determine whether high winds and heavy rain played a role in the crash of a transasia plane. >> 48 people were killed when the flight went down on one of the penghu islands. the remaining ten people on board were injured. the aircraft came down into some houses, it's been reported, but authorities say no one on the ground was hurt. investigators have found the flight data recorder so that investigation begins. >> as we just told you, the role of the weather is being examined in the crash of the plane. our meteorologist joining us now with more on the conditions experienced during that crash. >> guys, the more i look at the

data coming in from penghu island, the island where the incident occurred here the more i'm baffled by an aircraft being allowed to fly during these conditions because the weather conditions certainly far from ideal. i'll just show you the perspective of typhoon matmo as it approached taiwan from tuesday night to wednesday morning. around midnight wednesday morning is when it made landfall. category two equivalent type of a storm system when it came ashore. several hours late interwednesday afternoon, 3:30 in the afternoon, it made another landfall across eastern china. two hours after that, around 5:30 in the afternoon, this aircraft, a turboprop engine there allowed to take off from taiwan and moved in towards penghu island indicated right here. the weather conditions at this point you would assume the pilots thought conditions here going to improve because the storm system moved into china. but the weather conditions still went down nil this region. so i want to show you video as the storm system moved through this region. of course we know winds were upwards of 100 miles per hour, 160 kilometers per hour.

rainfall absolutely torrential. again, this is a ground-level, of course, with the video, then you get up a few hundred meters, a few hundred feet into the atmosphere and you're talking about conditions with less friction aloft being a lot more severe. i want to show you the radar imagery at the time this occurred as far as the crash of the aircraft. there's penghu island. thunderstorms again in place even though the storm system has moved on over china. you're seeing what we call training. essentially think of boxcars on a train. they move one after another. storm systems here, again, one pushes out, another one pushes in, a third one develops behind it. that's what we call training here and that's exactly what transpired during the time of the incident. here's the perspective. winds were gusting at 60 kilometers per hour on the ground which means about 40 miles per hour. visibility down to about one and a half to two kilometers so roughly a little over one mile. the rainfall is what was staggering. 100 mill meeters in three hours is four inches of rainfall in just three hours coming down across this region. far from ideal when it comes to being on an aircraft at this point.

take a look. the storm system still fizzling other this region. still seeing thunderstorms all over the place with remnants of the storm left over around penghu islands so the weather, again, going to be examined very carefully and it looks like it may have had something to do with it as well. >> the flight was delayed for a short while before it took off. why did they decide to take that flight? >> it looks like the conditions were rougher. >> and the sun had set the second go around when the pilot came around so visibility hampered by that as well. >> that's being investigated. thank you so much. thanks to you all for joining us. i'm errol barnett. and i'm amara walker. we'll be back with the top stories right after the break. ups is a global company, but most of our employees

live in the same communities that we serve. people here know that our operations have an impact locally. we're using more natural gas vehicles than ever before. the trucks are reliable, that's good for business. but they also reduce emissions, and that's good for everyone. it makes me feel very good about the future of our company. ♪ in the nation, the safest feature in your car is you. add vanishing deductible from nationwide insurance and get $100 off for every year of safe driving. which for you, shouldn't be a problem.

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hello, everyone, i'm amara walker. >> i'm errol barnett. thanks for staying with us. welcome to those of you in the u.s. and around the world. the remains of more victims of malaysia flight 17 are returning to the netherlands today. we'll look into what's next in this grim process. >> one child has been killed each hour in gaza over the past two days. more innocent victims in the gaza conflict. we're live with details about where efforts stand to broker a cease-fire between israel and hamas. >> and in the u.s. state of arizona, an execution of a convicted murderer was supposed to take a few minutes but instead it took nearly two hours. we'll have details on what happened after the man was given a lethal injection. >> it may be hard to believe, but it was one week ago now that a malaysia airlines flight, flight 17, crash