children killed in the aircraft. they leave them toys. flowers for their parents. in this village showered in debris where people fell through ceilings and in yards, people say they will never forget july 17. the explosions, fear and bodies were like memories of the second world war. as well as trauma, people here feel relief, even gratitude because no one on the ground was hurt by the bodies or the huge pieces of debris which fell so close to their homes. near the main crash site, residents prayed for mh-17's victims. these people are living through a civil war, but even they never expected to witness death on such an extraordinary scale. phil black, cnn, eastern ukraine.

you're in the cnn newsroom, i'm sara sidner live from jerusal jerusalem. >> and we are tracking three global hot spots. the cease-fire is over and it didn't take long for the violence to erupt once again. u.s. embassy staff have been evacuated from libya. and in ukraine government troops are on the move headed toward the rebel-held city of donesk that's sparking intense new violence and disrupting the crash investigation of malaysia airlines flight 17. but we begin with developing news, the collapse of the middle east cease-fire. sirens are reportedly wailing again in parts of southern israel. hamas is launching rockets from gaza. as we understand six mortars have hit. the temporary truce has dissolved. here's what we know, israel's army said many gaza rent

residents are returning to previously evacuated areas placing themselves at risk. it says israel's defensive position will be maintained. the increasingly bloody conflict has claimed more than 1,000 lives in gaza alone. mostly civilians. there are also 40 israeli soldiers and three civilians in israel. gaza ministry of health spokesman tells cnn plinlians found more than 100 bodies in areas that were previously far too dangerous to enter because of the israeli bombardment. i want to bring in a correspondent who is in gaza city for us. ian, can you give us a sense of how vast the damage is there in gaza? >> reporter: well, sara, we were in the neighborhoods today, and where it's been the front lines, and utter devastation. whole neighborhoods reduced to rubble and 2007 twisted metal. as you said earlier over 100 bodies recovered.

what we just heard from the ministry of health, they put that number at over 150 bodies that have been recovered from the rubble. just from all strewn out all over these neighborhoods. really when you walk in there, you can't make out much of buildings or shops that used to be there. it's all collapsed on itself. this was an important cease-fire for these areas. people were able to return to their homes. get the few possessions that they were able to manage to carry back to their -- to the u.n.-run shelters and these u.n.-run shelters also saw an influx of more people taking refuge in them. that number is over 160,000 people who are trying to find some sort of safety in these areas. other people we are talking today is the world food program, and they're tasked with feeding all these people. i talked to the head of the program, and he told me that one of their main tasks that they would go into these areas, these

communities that were cut off from the fighting, to find out who is there, what kind of food assistance that they need and ultimately to try to help people get out of there. but these neighborhoods are once again the front lines. when we went there, we were right on there, about 100 meters from israeli tanks. we were yelled at by what we believe were hamas militants to get out of there. but definitely very tense. as we know now, the fighting has resumed. >> ian, i want to keep you there for a second because we know that israel had asked to extend and agreed to extend for four hours the cease-fire, hamas has rejected a cease-fire extension at this point. what demands does hamas say are not being met? >> reporter: well, the one thing hamas wants to avoid is going back to the status quo where there's no firing of rockets, there's no violence, nothing

changes on the ground. when i talk to the ministry of foreign affairs earlier, they say the one thing they want is they want the siege as they believe on gaza lifted. and that would mean the opening of borders so goods and services could flow in and flow out, that gazans would be able to leave freely if they wanted to, to other parts of the world, and that is one of the major demands that they have given. and they said that they will continue to fight until those demands are met. and that's something that's going to be very hard for israel to accept. and that's why the -- we see this massive diplomatic effort in the region, also in europe, taking place to try to get these two sides to come together on some sort of deal. but until that happens, it's unlikely that the gazan militants will be able -- will lay down their weapons. >> all right. obviously we know that secretary kerry in france and so far that

meeting and those meetings with heads of state has not yet been fruitful in this latest conflict here. miguel? >> all right, sara, thank you very much, from jerusalem, and ian in gaza city, keep yourselves safe. chirp caught in the cross fire and families burying their dead. what will it take to stop it? as images continue to pour from israel and gaza will the u.s. be able to do anything to stem the bloodshed? i want to bring in lieutenant colonel rick francona and bob baer. colonel, first to you, is there anything that the secretary of state, secretary kerry, has in hisquiver that he can bring to bear to get the two sides to talk? >> it doesn't seem that there's anything he can give both sides in order to stop. hamas wants almost unreasonable things. they're demanding things the israelis can't give and the israelis would be happy to go back to the status quo but it's

unacceptable to hamas. it's like they are talking past each other. >> and getting the western leaders together and all that pressure on israel and hamas won't help? >> it might be the only thing but i do see that coming yet. we're not there. the israelis have an objective and they don't seem that they are going to stop until they do it. they got to stop firing the rockets but they want to destroy the tunnels and wipe out the rest of the inventory and they won't stop until they achieve some recognizable goal. >> can they take the head off of hamas? >> given enough time and if they're willing to bear the brunt of world opinion, they're using the pr war. i think we all know that. >> bob, i want to bring you in now. look, the hamas argument that they want the economic blockade lifted, that's never going to happen. that's a nonstarter, i think. but what will get hamas to the table? what will get them to start talking and get those two sides, the political wing and the military wing of hamas together, to make a decision? >> well, i agree with rick.

i think, like the israelis, they're not going to stop. i see no clear end to this, or immediate end at least to this conflict. the palestinians do have a point of view and so do hamas, they need to reopen the tunnels, not the tunnels, in fact, the borders into egypt, because they're not getting medicine or food or concrete or anything. so, i think, you know, if there's any out on this, if we can internationalize that border with egypt so that those tunnels that go underneath are closed and yet food and necessities are getting across the border. but as things stand now, rick is absolutely right, the israelis will keep going until they get to the bottom of gaza and destroy the whole thing, because netanyahu cannot have some of these groups come across and kill israeli citizens. he would be destroyed politically. >> and hamas no longer has a friend in egypt, so it's going

to have to be international. >> where does the pressure need to be put? to the arab world or western leaders on israel or the arab world on egypt and on hamas? >> i would go to the gulf myself. to the big money guys. to qatar, saudi arabia, and see what sort of peace we could buy, how much money. let them fork over the money and make sure it's not going into weapons, but to let the palestinians go back to normality. >> you paint a very, very dire picture. thank you very much. stick around. we'll have you back coming up in a little bit. coming up shortly, though, thousands of residents fleeing the city of donesk and moves closer to the crash site of mh-17. ♪ norfolk southern what's your function? ♪

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well, we are very relieved to report that a ukrainian journalist detained by pro-russian forces have been released. he was working as a freelance producer for cnn in rebel controlled donetsk when he was grabbed by armed fighters. he called to confirm his release. his captors accused him of terrorism but later dropped the charges. government troops are on the move in ukraine sparking a mass exodus from donetsk. highways and roads are clogged for miles. the troop advance is causing residents to flee before government forces try to retake the city. as those forces roll, new fighting is reported in areas near the crash site of malaysia airlines flight 17. european investigators actually called off today's trip to the site because of the danger. cnn's kyung lah is standing by for us in had kiev. kyung, is the government saying

anything about this movement of troops toward donetsk? >> reporter: well, the ukrainian government forces are acknowledging that they are getting closer to this stronghold. and we're also hearing that confirmation from a rebel commander telling cnn that they do acknowledge that those forces are getting closer together. essentially what the ukrainian forces are trying to do is strangle this area. this stronghold, where we have seen some fighting over the last month. this is manage that has been ongoing. but in the last 24 hours there has been a marked increase in the amount of shelling and anti-aircraft fire. so, this is having an impact on this town. this is still a town. so, what it's doing for these people is that they're trying to flee. the roads out of the city are completely jammed. trains in and out of the city are shut down. so, that is what it looks like on the ground. and all of this, miguel, happening as investigators are

still trying to access what is this crime scene, miguel. >> and obviously the trouble at that crime scene and the ability to secure it is a great black eye for ukraine. is that what is forcing some of these movements right now and can we see a larger effort to try to not only take donetsk but to move to secure that crash site by ukrainian government forces? >> reporter: well, certainly. it's a motivating factor. but what has been happening here has been ongoing for the last month. the ukrainian forces are moving in closer because they want to try to retake this city. this is something that has been ongoing. but certainly the plane crash and this crime scene is a motivating factor. what we are also seeing is that what ukraine wants is for the international community to see that this is what they've been dealing with. they want international help. we've seen a lot of propaganda both from the russians as well as ukrainians, so this is an

international conflict at least the publication of what's happening here at the local level. >> moving at a very, very fast pace, kyung lah, keeping track of it for us. thank you very much. coming up, americans in libya are being warned to get out now. we'll tell you why coming up. you're driving along, having a perfectly nice day, when out of nowhere a pick-up truck slams into your brand new car. one second it wasn't there and the next second... boom! you've had your first accident. now you have to make your first claim.

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good evening and welcome back, i'm sara sidner reporting

live from jerusalem. we're bringing you news out of libya right now where the u.s. embassy was evacuated today. heavy violence among libyan militia groups have the staff asking for help weeks ago. guarded by fighter jets 180 workers were driven across the border to tunisia. leaving the embassy practically empty. a stern warning from the state department for all americans to stay away from libya for the time being. let's bring in rick francona and former cia operative bob baer. rick, i'll start with you. do you think people are paying more attention to this embassy because of what happened in benghazi? it is remarkable what we have seen happen in libya since the revolution. >> well, benghazi is in everybody's mind when you talk about libya, but libya's been a basket case ever since the fall of gadhafi and the failure of a government to coalesce there. the situation in tripoli has just gotten so bad that i think

it's probably a wise idea to get people out of there but benghazi in the back of everybody's mind. nobody wants to repeat what happened there. when they closed the airport i think that sent alarm bells in washington we need to get these people out of here. >> this is quite significant, isn't it? and what does an embassy do? once they leave an area, they obviously have to be somewhere to be representative of that area as well. so, would that be in tunisia? is that how it would normally work? >> they will designate another embassy to pick up the slack for there, but it will be a temporary thing. but, yeah, someone will be our representative there in tripoli. they'll find somebody to do that. it depends on how long it goes on. if it's just a short period of time, they can handle it from offshore but otherwise they'll have to set up an intersection somewhere. >> bob, now to you. john kerry has pledged diplomatic support to help libya reform its government. does the u.s. need to send more boots on the ground even following this -- the situation there where the embassy workers have had to be taken out?

>> sara, i wouldn't spend a penny on libya. there's no faction we can support that is reliable that can take control of the country. it's, in fact, chaos that we didn't bring on. and there's nothing we can do about it, you know, with all americans gone, we should not be engaged in that country. it may take years. what we really have to worry about is it doesn't become a training ground for jihadists. the egyptians already have problems. there are egyptian groups training in libya and armed and they attacked a border post last week, so that's going to be a danger to look at. but if we send drones in there and the rest of it, it's just a can of worms. i don't know what you do about it except wait it out. >> bob, you talk about not spending a penny on libya. but don't you think the u.s. needs to stay quite engaged with libya to thwart some of the things that can happen, like, growing insurgencies that could spread and eventually attack the

west as well? >> you know, it's the same problem we have in iraq and syria. i mean, how do you contain this jih jihadist, it's a virus? i'm not sure. i've spent my entire adult life in the arab world and i'm not sure how you contain it. other than -- other than putting -- protecting the country as you can. but there's not really much we can do there. like i said, there is not a faction that is predominant or one that's entirely reasonable. and i don't see any, you know, general on a white horse that's going to come along. some are fairly reasonable, but do not have the troops to retake control of libya. >> all right, interesting analysis from the both of you. thank you very much for joining us. we appreciate it. i'm tossing it is back to miguel. >> thank you very much to sara sidner for us from jerusalem. the cease-fire has ended and the shelling begins again. so do the heart-wrenching images of the quungest victims caught in the cross fire.

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now to israel where that 12-hour cease-fire with hamas has ended. the death toll in gaza jumped after palestinians took advantage of that cease-fire to dig through the ruins. >> they found more than 100 bodies in an area that has been too dangerous to enter in recent days because of the bombardments. that pushes the death toll in gaza to over 1,000 people.

at least 40 israeli soldiers have been killed and 3 civilians. a cnn team visiting one of the hardest-hit areas in northern gaza not far from where these latest bodies were found says entire blocks of buildings have been reduced to rubble and tensions remain heightened follows thursday's attack on a u.n. shelter where 16 were killed in what was supposed to be a safe haven. most of the people killed at the u.n. shelter were women and children and we still don't even know who is responsible for that attack. the palestinians and israelis are blaming one another. and the u.n. says both sides are ultimately responsible because they're both fighting. dan rivers of itv news has more on the incident that has broken palestinian hearts and ignited their rage. >> reporter: they had come here seeking refuge, but today the war came to this school. the playground peppered with

shells the results were devastating. a few minutes later, we watched the first casuallies arrive at the local hospital, child after bloody child. this boy really in shock as doctors lost the battle to save a member of his family. for more than 30 minutes the ambulance crews flooded this tiny hospital with more and more victims. they are running out of room in this triage center as ambulance after ambulance has arrived with dozens of injured people including many children. one of the youngest this 6-month-old baby boy, ahmed has shrapnel in his back. there's no time for anesthetic as doctors pluck out the fragments of metal and make room for the next patient. nearby the baby's father is

hysterical. the father of six tells me his family was waiting in the school playground to be evacuated by the red cross when suddenly the shells rained down. he says his children were blown away like pieces of paper. everywhere we looked faces contorted in pain. terrible news broken. for many it was too much. >> you want to tell me that netanyahu made a responsible thing? this is a responsible thing to kill the children, the old women, the children, us? what? what? >> reporter: the mayhem of this day will never be forgotten by these people. many, their injuries will be life changing. agony, too, for those yet to live theirs. in the end the injured children

were simply treated on the floor so great with their number. and most with the same injuries, shards of metal littering their body. >> multiple shrapnels. >> reporter: how many children have been brought in? >> so much. >> reporter: the price of this war is etched on each and every face here. staring blankley back in shock, the innocent victims of this relentless conflict. >> heartbreaking images there. coming up, how did we get here? and why aren't images like those enough to stop the fighting? we'll explain coming up next. but, first, roughly 30 minutes from now a special edition of "the situation room." wolf blitzer is here. he's been here throughout the crisis. tell me what you're working on. >> in half an hour we'll find out from the israelis will they extend the cease-fire. it's supposed to go to midnight

local time which is coming up in half an hour. we'll see what the israelis do. we'll see what hamas does. we'll speak to lieutenant peter lunger. and we've got marie harf who is the spokeswoman for secretary of state john kerry and she'll be joining us and we'll speak with a hamas spokesman who will be joining us. we'll get the hamas reaction and the israeli reaction and the u.s. reaction. a special two-hour "situation room." that's coming up right after the break.

now israel's fight with hamas goes back decades. world leaders have tried over and over to end the conflict and find a two-state solution between israel and the palestinians but what we're seeing playing out in gaza this past week shows just how far that prospect is away. cnn's michael holmes explains how we got here. >> reporter: question one, what are they fighting over.

a sliver of land between the mediterranean sea and the jordan river about the size of maryland, roughly 10,000 square miles, but that land is some of the most sacred in the world for three religions. christianities, judaism, and islam. why is it so important to them? sacred sites for all three, for christians bethlehem the birthplace of jesus and jerusalem where he was crucified and rose to heaven. for muslims, the third holiest site in all of islam and the mosque sits on the temple mount holiest site in all of judaism. so, who lives there? more than 12.3 million people nearly the same as live in pennsylvania but in a much, much smaller area. just over half that number are jews. and that is one concern for israel.

why is israel's population a concern? well, birthrates stay the same and the area isn't split into two states, some day palestinians will outnumber jews. this represents a potential demographic shift which some believe would threaten the very foundation of the jewish state. how long have arabs and israel been openly fighting? well, basically since israel declared independence in 1948. after declaring independence, it was immediately attacked by arab neighbors including egypt, jordan, syria, lebanon, iraq. israel fought them again in 1967 and 1973. eventually some of those countries like egypt and jordan made peace with israel, but the fate of palestinian refugees is still a source of great tension between israel and the arab world. so, who is hamas? a palestinian organization that rules in gaza.

considered a terrorist group by many countries including the u.s. and israel, its political wing holds a majority in the palestinian legislature. with most of the other seats held by its political rival fatah which rules the other palestinian territory, the west bank. hamas' charter pledges the group to the destruction of israel. and it's never given up that fight. it uses its weapons, including rockets, to attack israeli towns. so, how does this end? the international community encourages a so-called two-state solution, an independent palestine and israel, living in peace, side by side. but the two sides can't even agree on the borders to say nothing of the other issues. such as whether palestine should have a military or israel's controversial blockade of gaza or what happens to those jewish settlements on the west bank an area which holds increasingly precious water resources.

right now they seem stuck as uneasy neighbors with an uncertain future. now, coming up an air algerie flight that crashed, and seemed to disintegrate. shopping online is as easy as it gets. wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters and even piano tuners were just as simple? thanks to angie's list, now it is. we've made hiring anyone from a handyman to a dog walker as simple as a few clicks. buy their services directly at angieslist.com no more calling around. no more hassles. start shopping from a list of top-rated providers today. angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. visit angieslist.com today.

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stuart! stuart! ♪ check it out. this my account thing. we can tweet directly toa comcast expert for help. or we can select a time for them to call us back. the future, right? ♪ this doesn't do it for you? [ doorbell rings, dog barks ] oh, that's what blows your mind -- the advanced technology of a doorbell.. [ male announcer ] tweet an expert and schedule a callback from any device. introducing the xfinity my account app. for anyone with a fear of flying, the past ten days it may have pushed your panic button. july 17th that's the day malaysia airlines flight 17 was shot from the sky over ukraine killing all 298 people on board.

investigating this site made the more dangerous by renewed fighting. listen to what this european investigator told cnn last hour. >> i can tell you at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning very, very loud shelling from the distance and it was sustained. it wasn't just for five or ten minutes. it was sustained. and i know that a lot of foreign journalists staying here and our colleagues were woken up by that. it's not the first night it has happened. so, of course, everyone has their contingency plans in case things escalate. but i'm quite confident that tomorrow we can go ahead with our plan and get out to that crash site. >> jump forward five days. july 23rd, trans-asia airways flight crashed while trying to land on a taiwanese island. 58 people on board, 48 of them died. then there's july 24th. two days ago. that's when an air algerie flight with 118 people on board crashed in a rainstorm over

northern mali. everyone on that flight died. so, what brought down that air algerie flight 5017 two days ago? it was headed from africa to algiers but crashed less than an hour into the flight. officials aren't ruling anything out yet, but weather they are saying is likely a factor. bad weather near the earth's equator can be especially devastating. >> reporter: flying into any storm can be a bumpy, white-knuckling experience. but flying into bad weather near the equator can be a nightmare known as the intertropical convergence zone a band of unsettled weather around the earth's equator where some of the most ferocious storms can develop. you've flown in a lot of storms? >> i've flown in more storms than i'd like to. >> reporter: what does it feel like to fly into a serious thunderstorm? >> well, it can be anything from, you know, mr. toad's wild ride to the most harrowing

experience that you can imagine that you don't think you're going to get through it. >> reporter: saharan africa, powerful stand storms a product of the intertropical convergence zone, a challenge for any pilot. this aircraft coming in for a landing goes directly into the storm, hear the engines rev as the plane catches the sandstorm. the sky turns red. visibility zero. weather is suspected as the cause or a contributing factor in the crash of air algerie flight 5017. there was trouble on the radar. a massive thunderstorm moving right through 5017's flight path. the 18-year-old mcdonald douglas aircraft departed burkina faso on the way to algeria's capital, it had to cross the band of unpredictable weather around the world's equator where terrible weather can develop. at 1:38 a.m. flight 5017 asked

if it could change routes. a storm had developed over its intended course. the plane made its way east, then north again. last contact, 17 minutes later. near gao, mali. an eerie similarity to air france flight 447, 228 people on board en route from rio to paris on june 1st, 2009. pilots on the airbus 330 were flying through an enormous storm spawned by the intertropical convergence zone. >> if you fly underneath that, that can be some of the most dangerous parts of the thunderstorm. >> reporter: intense winds coming down at you and from different directions. >> and hail. >> reporter: flight 447 was more than 30,000 feet over the atlantic. the storm shot up to more than 50,000 feet. the pilot added power and climbed until the plane stalled and slammed into the ocean. the crash found to be pilot error. what caused flight 5017 to crash now, under intense

investigation. now, france has declared a three-day mourning period beginning monday to honor the victims of flight 5017. i want to bring in cnn aviation analyst miles o'brien and rick francona and air safety analyst david sousi, i want to ask you first, david, about the plane and the crash site. we know that it's a very specific crash site unlike mh-17, it's all in one place. what does that tell us? >> from what i've seen here, i can't see anything other than an initial impact point and what we call the scatter point. this is very similar to me to the colorado spring accident in which the aircraft went straight into the ground as well and that's what this looks like to me, is it did not skim. it didn't skip. there was an an in-flight break-up, it looks to me pretty solid all the way down to the ground. >> with that level of destruction i take it, it would have come down from a very high altitude? >> high rate of speed certainly. >> and a high rate of speed.

colonel, there are factions in mali, there is fighting there. is there any indication that if this flight is up above 20,000 feet, probably in the 30,000 feet range, that they could have brought this thing down? >> it doesn't appear so. the rebels fighting in this area don't have that capability. we don't have the type of heavy equipment like we saw in the ukraine. they do have the shoulder fired but this was way above that so we're not thinking that. >> you are talking about two miles up. 12,000 feet? >> some may go up to 15. some of the higher end ones as high as 17 but it tops out right about there, 15 is what we say. >> you would have to have been flying very low. >> and slow enough that they can track you. jets are going pretty quick at that altitude. >> miles, you're the first one to have raised this idea of this band of weather around the equator and these terrible storms that can develop out of there. is there anything that pilots can do to minimize the risks when they are flying around this

area? clearly weather is everything in flying. >> the simple answer, miguel, is not to fly through those giant cells and that's easier said than done when you have a huge cell that is perhaps 100 miles in diameter as this one was. with tops at 49,000 feet. you're not going to go over it. you really need to go around it. now, on this flight it just so happens that those two city pairs were just about the range of that md-83, and so i'm going to guess that if they had gone all the way around that storm, they probably wouldn't have had enough fuel to get to their destination. they would have had to stop at an intermediate location, all kinds of explaining to the bosses on that. all kinds of paperworks. delays. you name it. but the bottom line is a crew shouldn't feel that kind of pressure. they should be able to make that decision. >> well, it does appear that they tried to go right around that storm but maybe that storm was moving too fast and it caught them too quickly, if it went up that high to 49,000 feet certainly the winds coming off

of that storm would have been intense. this was a flight, miles, that was operated by a charter company from spain. it was -- it was on lease from air algerie. the maintenance standards, how are those maintained when you have these various entities leasing and operating planes? >> well, in this case the company that owns it would have taken responsibility for the a minute nantiomaintenance, would been under the european maintenance guidelines, i don't think we should be too worried about maintenance. obviously it's something investigators check. i always tell people don't put the blinders on at this point and david soucie will say amen to that one. on the top of the list we'll have to look at weather. was their weather radar working, which would be a maintenance issue and perhaps is a go, no-go decision on the part of the crew flying at night over the desert with all those storms, without the weather radar they are

pretty blind. there was limited radar coverage there so they really would have been on their own and in the dark without weather radar. >> david, the pilot i spoke to says when you have to go around a storm, you try to stay around 20 miles away from it or so but if it shoots up too high and you have massive winds -- >> you can end up with downdrafts as it is comes back down on the other tied and we've lost several aircraft with that as well, when you are coming in to land you have times when you are trying to maintain the attitude of the aircraft and if you have to lift up to get through it, if you're past it, you've stalled and get into real trouble on the other end of it. >> the investigation, colonel, it appears to be going the way these things are supposed to go despite it being in mali. >> because they've been able to get french forces on the ground there to secure that site. so, nobody's there that shouldn't be. and the investigators will have all the tools they need when they need them as opposed to what we saw in the ukraine. >> thank you all. colonel, david, and miles, thank you all.

coming up, the parents, one of the victims on flight 15, aren't letting a war zone keep them from visiting the crash site and paying their final respects to their daughter. we caught up with them in ukraine. their story coming right up.

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now, more than a week after malaysia airlines flight 17 went down in eastern ukraine, malaysian investigators still have not been able to access the entire crash site, but for the parents of one victim, the wait too much. we caught up with one couple after they embark on a harrowing journey to the crash site. >> go, go, go. >> reporter: george and angela can almost feel their daughter, they're that close but they can't get there. >> a couple of minutes. >> reporter: these men are local ukrainian government officials. urging these parents to not

enter the pro-russian rebel-held territory of donetsk. they flew by themselves to ukraine from australia with nothing other than shock and grief. >> there are metal around. >> we have to go. there's no other way. >> reporter: their 25-year-old daughter fatima was aboard flight 17 flying to australia to see them. >> we go because -- we go because -- >> reporter: with an outrageous disregard of the crash scene from the very beginning and only black bags and unmarked coffins coming out, they have chosen to grieve with denial. >> and we believe she's alive every second counts. every second. >> and our purpose is to find fatima. >> exactly. >> it helps to go. >> i need to see the real fact so that's why we came. besides that our daughter promised we will find her as mom

and dad, so this is mom and dad. >> reporter: they poured their lives into their only child. she was an aerospace engineer who dreamed of being an astronaut. she believed space exploration could help bring stability to earth. >> the experience of space flight is a life-changing event. >> reporter: how can you let a child like that go? >> there is an urgency because my -- my belief that she is alive cannot be sustained if this takes 30 days. >> reporter: frustration mounting as the minutes tick by. >> no chance to come, we come back. >> reporter: and these government reps get embassies on the phone to talk to them. >> you have not sorted this out. please do not contact me any more. >> and our daughter is there. we are running out of time. >> so, the risk we know. no worries. can go. >> reporter: finally they're told to go at their own risk.

this private car promises to drive them through the battle lines of rebel-held territory and where a parent's love has no boundaries. >> kyung, i'm dumbfounded by this, the love and the hope that these people have. what is next for them? >> reporter: well, we did hear from them. they made it to the crash site. and i want to explain how difficult this task is. they had to drive three hours on the ukrainian side before they got to the border separating ukraine from the rebel-held territory. and then they had to go through a number of checkpoints but they finally got to the crash site. they were able to walk through one part of the crash scene. and they were also able to lay flowers, but miguel, as to whether or not this is closure for them, it's not. they're still hoping that their child is alive, although all the evidence is to the contrary.

>> still hoping that she is alive. they want some proof. clearly the first identification has been made today of the 298 by dutch officials. is there a concern among ukrainian officials that more parents are going to come? >> reporter: there is a concern by a lot of international investigators. a lot of times when there are these crash scenes, these investigations, what does happen is the parents -- or the family members show up. there is that natural urge to go to the disaster. but what investigators are saying and what they are urging is, do not come. this is a conflict zone. it is extraordinarily dangerous. it is extremely difficult. they say that parents, relatives, they need to stay out of this area. they need to let the professionals try to access it. and remember, miguel, they're having trouble getting to it themselves so they're asking them to please stay away for their own safety. >> that is what is extraordinary

about this amazing story, incredible grit on their behalf. thank you for bringing it to us. kyung lah in kiev, thanks. i'm miguel marquez in new york and i'll see you back here at 7:00 p.m. eastern time. a special edition of "situation room" with wolf blitzer live in jerusalem begins, right now. happening now, "the situation room" special report, breaking news. the israeli cabinet has just approved a 24-hour extension of the humanitarian cease-fire. this after the earlier humanitarian cease-fire was broken as hamas fired rockets ending that initial 12-hour cease-fire, so what happens next? stand by. new information coming in. embassy evacuated, some 150 americans ordered to flee the u.s. embassy in libya as militant battles rage on in tripoli. first victim identified. forensic experts determine the identity of the first of almost 300 people killed in the downing of malaysia flight