comcast business gives you more for your money. 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. flights to tel aviv. what this means for ceasefire talks between israel and hamas. >> sniper back there. the dangerous mission in gaza. cnn crews run from sniper fire and explosions as the red cross tries to rescue civilians injured in air strikes there.

[ trumpet ] ♪ >> a trumpet call echoes as the first coffins carrying remains of victims from flight mh17 arrived in the netherlands today. more coffins are expected to make the same grim and sad journey. meanwhile, while all this is going on, politicking continues. eu foreign ministers meet to decide if tougher sanctions will be imposed against russia. hello, everyone, you are watching special coverage on cnn usa and cnn international. welcome to our viewers around the world. i'm hala gorani, we're live from london this hour. first, probably a sigh of relief from israel. american authorities have lifted their ban on american flights in and out of israel's main

airport, ben-gurion. 12 hours early. the ban left thousands scrambling for alternate travel plans. it angered israeli officials. they made that known. they called it unnecessary and a victory for hamas militants. rene marsh has the latest. >> late wednesday night, the faa lifted its ban on u.s. flights going in and out of ben-gurion airport in tel aviv. in a statement, the faa says that it worked with its u.s. counterparts to assess the security situation in israel and carefully review both significant new information, as well as measures the government of israel is taking to mitigate the risks. all of that said, this impacted three u.s. carriers. united, u.s. airways, and delta. we should note, even though the agency lifted its ban, effective

11:45 p.m. eastern time, it's up to the airlines to decide when they will resume flights to and from tel aviv. rene marsh, cnn, washington. >> let's go to john voss, who joins me live from jerusalem. israel very unhappy during the several hours that this ban was in place. and people in israel thinking this was political, even, right? people saying the faa is imposing this ban as a way of isolating israel? was that a prevailing viewpoint? >> there was a lot of talk about that. there was some suggestion that maybe the united states was trying to pressure israel into accepting some kind of ceasefire deal. the thinking being that if the israeli airport was shut down and israel was isolated because of the threat of rockets, maybe they'd be more inclined to end the fighting sooner rather than later. u.s. officials deny that. but what has been interesting, overnight, hala, a dramatic drop

in the number of rockets which hamas has fired from gaza into israel. whether that had something to do with the security decision, it may have. whether that's a forerunner to a ceasefire negotiations, we don't know. what we're told by the idf, there are fewer than five rockets since midnight, fired from gaza into israel. that could be the lowest number overnight since this conflict actually began. the israelis continue with their campaign in gaza. idf operations around the northern part of the gaza strip. the palestinians report air strikes and they say 23 palestinians were killed, including six children. latest numbers we're getting from the gaza health ministry. 715 people have been killed. most of them civilians. 4,500 have been wounded. on the israeli side, 32 soldiers are now today, two israeli

civilians, but it's the number from gaza. just a few days ago, the death toll was bad back then, but was around 200. hala? >> and you were mentioning, we were talking about the federal aviation administration in the united states, but our viewers should be, lufthansa still has that ban in place, and things are not back to normal. let's talk about a potential ceasefire here. u.s. secretary of state john kerry in the region pushing as hard as he can to get a truce agreement in place. how likely is it we'll see something in the coming days, john? >> well, it's a good sign john kerry is still here. he spent the night in cairo. we don't know who he plans to talk to today, but at least they're still talking. these sides are far apart. we know hamas says there will be an end to the fighting temporarily, providing the borders around gaza are open.

the israelis aren't keen on that. they want gaza to be demilitarized. hamas is not keen on that. the u.s. is trying to come up with a formula where they can stop the fighting now and then in the next couple days deal with those complex issues. let's listen to the secretary of state john kerry. >> we had a good conversation today about how we can take further steps, and we're doing this for one simple reason. the people in the palestinian territories, the people in israel, are all living under the threat or reality of immediate violence. and this needs to end. for everybody. we need to find a way forward to works, and it's not violence. >> now, as to your question, will this come in the next

couple days? one israeli minister has said a ceasefire will not happen within the next two to three days. he says the soldiers on the ground need more time to destroy that network of tunnels which has been built by hamas. so far, nine tunnels have been destroyed. 22 to go. hala? >> john voss, thanks very much. we'll continue our coverage from jerusalem and from inside gaza with our team of correspondents there. very dramatic video to bring you. john, thank you. let's talk now about malaysia airlines flight 17. of course it crashed in eastern ukraine, killing 298 people on board. and today, 74 more coffins will be sent to the netherlands. authorities hope all the remains recovered so far will be returned by friday. that this very sad and grim operation will be done by tomorrow. british authorities, and this is also part of the latest, are now

examining, the black boxes, the cockpit flight and data recorders. they say the voice recorder was damaged, but that it's memory was intact. they'll be able to analyze that. the australian and dutch foreign ministers traveled to kiev today to discuss how to secure this crash site. australia wants the site to fall under control of an international police team, including some of its own officers. as we were mentioning, there's this difficult task of identifying the bodies of those killed on board flight mh17. this is what dutch authorities are hoping to achieve in the coming days. the first 40 coffins arrived in the netherlands on wednesday. senior international correspondent nick paton walsh reports from ukraine. >> in many of their hearts, were dreams of beaches, tranquil vacations. 298 lives taken here in a war

they may have known little of. lying in the elements. after days of painful pleading with separatists, this train of five refrigerated wagons brought them closer to a resting place. but behind closed walls began the grim task of working out how many human souls were in the body bags on board. a journey that began so unceremoniously could only grow in dignity. a dutch c-130 taking 16 coffins, four loaded in silence. ukraine's embattled army honoring them as they could. global opinion at one, in sadness. >> we stand together today, united in grief with the families and friends who have lost people they cherish. >> as much dignity as can be afforded these bodies.

>> 40 in total carried out today. the rest they hope by friday. only then can forensic science begin to work out who and how many there were. as they landed in eindhoven arld, the noise of recrimination was drowned out by a more powerful silence of respect, grief. the netherlands planes briefly stopped flights, paused entirely for a minute. they played the last post on the bugle, normally for fallen soldiers. instead for these, perhaps victims of a war crime. the line of hearses, this for only 1/7 of those killed. witness to how mammoth and sickening this loss is to the netherlan netherlands. even when these processions end, the search for bodies may not. some perhaps left in that field in ukraine. their families left with only time to help cope with the loss and forget how mh17 came to end.

>> nick paton walsh joins me now from kharkiv where ukrainian authorities have set up a crash investigation center. first of all, let's all take in the big contrast between what we saw the first few days after the crash, of how those bodies were allowed to sort of scatter, decompose in the sun and how the netherlands paid tribute to them. now we're waiting for 78 more coffins to make their way to the netherlands. when can we expect that to happen, nick? >> we understand that should be happening in the hours ahead. 74 coffins, we understand, these are numbers which are basically aspirational, though. yesterday they said to move 50 coffins. when i say kof inds, that shows you part of the complexity of the task. because within those coffins is the contents of each body bag that they've taken from the

refrigerated wagon of that train that arrived from kharkiv two days ago. we spoke to an investigator who said, they scan them and x-ray them to be sure there's nothing suspicious or dangerous, then place that in a coffin, the coffin then goes to the netherlands. the job begins, the grim and pain-staking task of going through the body bags and trying to work out how many people the remains they have represent. the fear being, it won't amount to 298 because of the sheer devastation of the blast that hit mh17 and how far that would scatter the wreckage across the crash site. but slowly this task is continuing here and it's got a lot of dutch and australian personnel involved and should in the next few hours, involve a c-17, australian cargo plane, a dutch c-130, that are in this job, quite a complicated one in many ways, because of the different moving parts that have

to be in place, but one they hope will be finished by friday, hala. >> and what's happening at the crash site there in eastern ukraine? because let's remind our viewers, there was a u.n. security council resolution adopted unanimously, including by russia, that calls for an investigation, for securing the site, for allowing access to investigators. what's going on there? >> well, as it stands, last we heard parts of yesterday, there were few people to be seen there at all. it's not secured. that's what the australian prime minister wants, willing to send police to do that. the issue, of course, you're negotiating access in a war zone, with the need to have four parties, who are completely at loggerheads over that conflict, agree with when and how you can do that. yes, they want an international

force there, but there are significant dangers of putting international presence in an area quite so volatile. remember, not far from there, two jets were shot down, regular heavy shelling and an information war going on as well. so it would be a dangerous task to possibly achieve and then you have to ask yourself, what can still be salvaged from a wreckage site that has been so heavily interfered with, by locals, separatists. simply in the task of removing the bodies so far. but for the relatives on board the plane, they need a sense of finality and the greatest effort that can be made by international authorities here, hala. >> all right, live from ukraine with the latest on the crash from mh17. >> we'll have a lot more from gaza after a quick break on cnn. thousands of palestinians have been displaced within the gaza strip. we'll show you where children

are trying to take cover, as their neighborhoods are destroyed. and more search for answers after a deadly plane crash in taiwan. why some say the jet never should have been in the air at that time.

well, in the train quility of space, a german astronaut

said he's taken his saddest photo yet. he shared the picture on twitter, of gaza as seen from orbit. he tweeted, we can actually see explosions and rockets flying over gaza and israel. the photo has been retweeted and just on this page now, over 16,000 times. as the bombs fall on gaza, many palestinians have been forced to run for their lives or die in their homes. more than 100,000 are taking shelter in united nations schools across gaza. our reporter on the ground takes a look at one of the make shift safe houses. >> these people fled for their lives when their neighborhood came under heavy bombardment, even now as i'm speaking, their neighborhoods are still being attacked. over 120,000 people have fled to

u.n.-run schools like this one, seeking relative safety. the desks are piled here on the outside. that's just to make as much room as they can inside the classrooms. let's take a look. come tonight, this classroom will have 50 people sleeping in it. and you can see, there's just few possessions, some bedding and some clothing. and that just highlights the little time they had to flee their neighborhood. when you come to these u.n. schools, you're instantly mobbed by children. they ask you, what's your name, and how are you. but there's a figure that sticks in my mind, that's from the u.n. they say over the past two days, every hour, a child has died. if that trend continues, that means this hour, next hour, and the following hour, a child will die. >> this is the cool's water supply. it's run out for now. but when there is water, there's not much. this is as much water as each person gets per day, for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. as you can see, it ain't much.

this war will end. the guns will fall silent. these people know they won't be here forever. but when they do return home, how many of these people will find their houses reduced to rubble? ian lee, gaza city. taiwan is investigating a deadly plane crash. bad weather may have played a role. we'll bring you the latest on that and a lot more on cnn. stay with us.

a man in arizona in the united states who was sentenced to die remained alive for almost two hours after his execution began. now a review of exactly what went on in arizona is under way. joseph wood was sentenced to death after being convicted of murder and assault. on wednesday he received a lethal injection. his lawyers say the drugs used were experimental and made him suffer. here's the account of wood's attorney who witnessed the execution. >> 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. >> now, wood's lawyers claims he was being subjected while all this was going on, to cruel and unusual punishment. they, in fact, appealed to have him resuscitated midway through the procedure. the supreme court rejected the motion. by the way, the relatives of the victims of joseph wood say, this was not cruel and unusual punishment, and he got what he deserved. investigators are searching the site of a plane crash in taiwan, it killed 48 people. the flight crashed into residential homes while trying to land on penghu island. the flight data recorder has

been recovered. there's been a lot of talk about the weather and whether or not this plane should have been flying at all. >> well, that's a good question, hala. certainly that's early speculation, but it's too early to tell definitively, of course. because this plane flew from southern taiwan into the penghu island area, right after a typhoon had swept through taiwan and it had been already delayed by the bad weather. according to authorities, there were thunderstorms. the plane attempted to land. this turboprop plane attempted to land and then came around for a second attempt, and then crashed into a residential area. there's talk that the heavy rain and the dark conditions were hampering the rescue effort. today they have the cold reality of what happened. 750 firefighters and rescue workers were deployed to try to

rescue any survivors. the death toll has been somewhat conflicting, hala. around 40 dead, we believe. and miraculously, some ten survivors who were taken to hospitals in the area. >> and you're talking about survivors. not everyone on that plane died, thankfully. are they saying anything about what went on? could they provide information and clues in this case? >> i think they will. but at this stage, they're just dealing with the shock of what happened. you know, they do describe a terrible scene when they first arrived on this crash, since it was all mangled right inside this residential area. there are stories emerging of amazing survival. of a woman who crawled out of the wreckage and called her home, which was just a couple of hundred feet away and alerted rescue authorities. there was at least one story of a family of six, hala, who were on that flight. all of them perished. at least two foreign nationals

were traveling to penghu island, according to taiwanese media, they were french exchange students, or foreign students to go to this area for vacation. so certainly as the investigation continues, questions will be asked, why this plane left despite the bad weather. but it must be said, they were cleared for takeoff by the authorities. and this is a region that this airline has a lot of experience operating. hala? >> all right, david mckenzie live in beijing, thank you very much. what will it take to get a ceasefire between israel and hamas? regular middle east watchers might remember a resolution in 2006 that ended the israel-hezbollah war. could a similar model be used for gaza? we'll discuss after a quick break. [ male announcer ] identity theft ... it's one of the fastest growing crimes in america. in fact, there's a new victim of identity theft

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welcome to our special coverage of what's going on in gaza and the crash of flight mh17. welcome to our viewers in the united states this hours. we're live in london. another 74 coffins carrying the remains of those killed on

malaysia airlines