. welcome good morning. welcome to "fox and friends first." i'm heather childers. >> i'm heather i am heal an m missile in the ukraine.al an m 23 americans dead. russia and ukraine blaming each other. a second black box was discovered from the wreckage. >> the second story we mentioned israel's military says they are now expanding the ground offensive that is underway in gaza. the goal to target the leaders of the terror group hamas. >> the latest on the investigation as to what brought down that plane. >> doug luzader is live for us in the washington, d.c. bureau just coming in. what can you tell us? >> where are the black boxes?

there is a report out a second one may have been received a second group. the real clues may be on the ground with all of that wreckage. that's why access to the crash site is going to be another issue today. there has been talk about creating a humanitarian corridor an agreement between the ukrainian government and rebel groups. this is in the middle of a war zone. when you tolook at the distancen which it is spread there iss wa of a surface to air missile strike something malaysian officials addressed just a short time ago this morning. >> it is international law. >> while the ukrainian government and rebel forces are

blaming one another for this, the emerging theory seems to be rebels may have launched the missile perhaps thinking the aircraft was a ukrainian jet. they have taken out a number of ukrainian aircraft recently. given all of the volatility in the region this sort of thing was bound to happen. >> many of us in the military analyst business knew something like this was going to happen. you don't give sophisticated toys to thugs over time expect it to turn out well. at the end of the day putin is the guy responsible for what happened today in my opinion. >> there have been questions about the routing of this aircraft, why in the world were they flying over such a volatile region? why would they route themselves directly over the ukraine. a number of carriers have been doing that. the faa warned u.s. carriers about trying to avoid that area. now all carriers are avoiding ukrainian airspace at all costs. heather? >> doug luzader thank you so

much in washington this morning. >> we have new information emerging about the victims and their identities. a total of 298 people were killed on that plane. 23 of them are believed to be american but we still can't confirm that just yet. that is one thing raising a lot of questions this morning. >> david piper joins us live from thailand with how the world is reacting to all of this. david? >> here in asia there is growing anger over what happened. m h370 went missing over a month ago. passengers, loved ones were at the airport today in malaysia. they arrived early this morning local time. the death toll has been updated to 298 people. three infants were on board but not allocated seats. they have been included in those

that were lost. malaysian airlines are still notifying relatives. the manifest will show if any terrorists were on board. as many as 80 children may have been on board. 150 from the netherlands, 43 from malaysia, 27 australians. it han reported at least 23 americans. they may be among the 47 people who's nation-- whose nationalit haven't been identified. they were on their way to a conference in melbourne, australia. it believes they were leading hiv aids researchers. >> international aids society today expresses its profound sadness of receiving news that colleagues and friends on route to the attend the 20th international aids conference taking place here in melbourne, australia were on board the

malaysian airlines flight that crashed over the ukraine. the news grabbed the attention of the world. some also suggest putin and russia are to blame and they will suffer the consequences. israeli's prime minister says the world should be filled with revulsion of what happened. it looks like a crime more than an accident. he also called in the russian ambassad ambassador. the australian prime minister said he wasn't satisfied with the answer. david piper covering from bangkok, thailand. >> finger pointing from both sides. moments after the crash russian rebels claiming responsibility for shooting down a military plane.

they did that on the russian version of facebook. >> there has been a lot of that from the alleged members of the separatist movement. leland vitter was covering the situation not long ago. what can you tell us about this rebel group and what they might be capable of? >> pro russian separatists are commanded by russian pegs sposp forces. they have become proficient in shooting down ukrainian planes about the same time the plane went down he posted this. we are going to translate that for you. quote, we shot down an antog 26 military transport plane near the city of torez near the people's republic. he warns don't fly in our sky.

that post has been deleted. russian separatists posted a photo on twitter bragging about having overtakenç an fa 11 anti-aircraft system from a base in eastern ukraine. that is the same type of missile u.s. intelligence suggested could have taken down the airliner. according to the evidence there is ukrainian intelligence service that put out a tape of intercepted phone call between rebel leaders first bragging about taking down a plane. we have no ability to confirm the authenticity of the tape. the commander goes from excited to bewildered when he informed it was a commercial airliner that they actually shot down. who are the rebels? who are the leaders? are they ukrainians are they russian special forces or intelligence officers who are leading the rebels? as we come up on 24-hours since the shoot down. who actually controlled that surface to air missile battery?

in many cases the line between russian special forces and pro russian separatists is an awfully blurry one. >> i am can llooking at the trajectory path could tell us that. >> president obama is back at home being criticized. he went on two fund raisers in new york city last evening. yesterday afternoon he stopped for a burger in delaware all as the world was in crisis. so let's talk to mary ann rafferty about this. she is here with what people are saying about the administration's lack of a response. >> i think a lot of people feel that way. 298 people are dead malaysian airplane shot out of the sky but the president moving forward with his planned schedule. two fund raisers last night. he was bushipushing for more hi p funding only a brief mention of the downed jet. >> looks like maybe a terrible tragedy. right now we are working to determine whether there were american citizens on board.

that is our first priority. >> word is he heard about the crash from russian president vladmir putin. the white house releasing a photo he has things under control on the phone with. >> how does the white house react to the notion that the president is a by p standard to all of these crises? >> there are a number where you have seen them intervene in a meaningful way that has substantially furthered american interests. >> some arguing that the president has a pattern of zoning out during times of crisis. >> he was in texas and went to a fundraiser at the border. he has a pattern of doing this the day after the benghazi attack he was in las vegas at a fundraiser. the day after they invaded crimea he went to a fundraiser said it was happy hour for the democratic party.

>> what's on the president's agenda today? a trip to camp david. >> he hed henry joining bill o'reilly with his take on the commander-in-chief's decision to go out fundraising in the wake of this disaster. >> i don't think he does care about the criticism. i think he cares about being president. he cares about being commander-in-chief. he doesn't care about the criticism. he thinks the people going oh of on him about fundraising and the like is about immigration reform and all of these other issues. the there are crises popping up day after day after day and when he continues to push off the criticism it looks like maybe he doesn't care. he is closer and closer to being a lame duck. once the mid terms especially if he loses control to the republicans he will be considered a lame duck. >> violence between israel and gaza that is a second major story we are covering this

morning. that erupting as this story the murder in the sky over the ukraine. that is really what it was. why the world is on edge, and what is president obama's next move, a key question. >> what does the attack mean for airport security right here at home. stay with us.

>> important for you to know today in the wake of the disaster the faa now banning all u.s. flights from entering ukrainian airspace until further notice citing the potential for continued hazardous activity. back in april the faa barred american air carriers from flying over part of russia and eastern ukraine over safety concerns. the area where the flight went down that was not included in this restricted airspace.

>> our next guest says the violence also in israel the second major story we are covering those are the latest signals the world is completely on edge. peter brookes at the heritage foundation. the plane says nato one of the target is if a member nation is in trouble what happens now? >> ukraine is not part of nato. it is not part of the nato treaty alliance. this was a big issue a number of years ago. russia wouldn't allow this. russia considers ukraine to be a strategic soft under belly and would not allow georgia, ukraine and some of the other soviet states to enter into europe. this might have bigger problems if it enters into nato. >> they were rejected from that, but there is a time of partnership of sorts.

how does that move into what happened? >> we have serious concerns about what happens in the ukraine. it borders some of our nato states such as poland. this is tcritically important t central europe or eastern europe here about what happens there. we have to look at this very, very closely. we are going to have to track down accountability. it is certainlily going to push russian relations to a thnew lo. when the administration came in they talked about hitting the reset button with russia. my view this relationship has gone from reset to regret. i can't image it getting any worse if russia has some sort of complicity in this tragedy. >> we keep talking about the separatists being responsible for this. the separatists report to moscow. why don't we say moscow is directly responsible for the downing of the plane? >> we certainly might. i understand the administration

wanting to make sure they have all of their facts in a row. it appears the intelligence is not quite conclusive whether the shot came out of the ukraine or out of russia. >> does that really matter if it came directly from russia or if it came from ukraine and if the separatists were reporting to moscow? >> that's another question whether they are actually under moscow's operational control. i don't want to split the hair too much, heather. i understand your point. i do believe russia has accompli complicity in this. remember crimea. i think there is. but i can understand the intelligence committee wants to make sure they are looking at people chatting at this, intelligence that may say where this came from. big thing is separatists were russian armed forces. some saying it could have come

out of russia. >> let me ask you quickly about vladmir putin's long game. being the biggest trat gee for his nation. what's the goal here? oo he wants to make russia a major player on the world stage again. he said in 2005 as you eluded to russia is the greatest geopolitical tragedy with the fall of the soviet union. didn't make my list but tells you what he is thinking. this is going to hurt him nationally. i think it's going to undermine russia's case that it should be a country that is a major player in the international system. it will really hurt moscow. thank you f >> thank you for your expertise. how the crisis could hurt your money. we will explain and what can go on with the stock market later today.

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>> we turn to another fox news alert for you. the israeli military launching an all out assault on the gaza strip. just now israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying they are prepared for quote significant expansion of artillery and gun fire through out gaza city continues this morning. at least 14 hamas militants take an out and israeli soldier killed in action. for more on all of this let's go to david lee miller at the israel gaza border with the latest. good morning, david. >> good morning, heather. we are now about 14 hours into israel's ground incursion into gaza. one israeli soldier and 22 palestinians have been killed since it got underway.

a few moments ago the israeli prime minister addressed the country. the objective is to restore order and quiet. in order to accomplish that the number one priority is to demolish and detect infiltration tunnels. this cannot be accomplished from the air. it koont can't be done during a strikes. in order to accomplish this israel will have to have soldiers on the ground. the prime minister says the military is ready to expand operations if necessary. but as of now, heather, this looks like a very limited incursion. that of course could change. hamas tried to infiltrate 10 feet under the border. hamas released a video propaganda showing off their tunnel technology. you can see in the video how well constructed the tunnels are. you can also see their uniform fighters how well equipped they are. in the video you can see the fighters are carrying with them rpg rocket pro fell -- propelled

grenades. hamas shows no sign of agreeing to a truce. fired at least 65 rockets since the ground incursion got underway. they brokered the truce to begin with and stepped up their efforts to begin with. live for us from the border. >> from israel and the plane being shut down in the ukraine impacted in the markets worldwide. fox business network is here with what it means in the market today. >> news of the downed plane began circulating on wall street 11:00 a.m. eastern on thursday. immediately we saw the markets begin to fall. the dow lost 161 points on the day. that's the biggest one day slide in two months. later in the day israel's announcement it began a ground invasion into the gaza strip.

that accelerated the decline on the markets. now fears that the conflict in ukraine and gaza could further escalate so investors rushed to safer assets such as gold and other precious metals. oil prices also reacting. crude well above $103 a barrel. the sell off is now being seen also across the global markets in asia. the nikkei down more than one percent. in europe markets are lower across the border. by the way, russia's main index has lost more than 2 percent today. obviously the financial markets reacting to everything that is going on. heather and heather back to you. >> the markets do not like incertainty. another day of uncertainty as well. ashley, thank you. >> the time now is 25 minutes after the top of the hour. when we come back live team coverage of the malaysian jet shot down by a missile. >> president obama's response as many would argue was a lack of

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with humira, remission is possible. >> good morning, you are watching "fox & friends first". i am heather nauert in for ainsley earhardt. >> i am heather childers. a plane shot down in missile war torn ukraine. >> we haven't confirmed whether or not americans were on board the plane. that's one of the bizarre questions coming out this morning that we will continue to dig into. another question we are asking this morning who exactly is to blame for bringing down the crane ukraine and russia are both pointing fingers at each other. >> doug luzader is in the dc. >> the plane went down in the middle of a war zone which will

complicate any kind of investigation yet to am could. as far as the actual scene of the debris, we always talk about the integrity of the crash site and maintaining that so investigators can get in here all bets may be off. there are reports this morning rebel groups there which continue to control this area may have gotten their hands on both of the aircraft's black boxes. where those will end up we don't know. there are fears they may wind up in russian hands. in the meantime strong words from the ukraine's prime minister. >> this is a crime against humanity. all lines have been already crossed. >> the ukrainian government says rebels and russian backers are to blame for. this one of the theories is

rebels got their hands on russian made anti-aircraft missiles and thought they were taking down a ukrainian military plane. this further complicates relations between ukraine and russia. >> we must react, because vladmir putin clearly has been augmenting this situation in eastern ukraine bringing in additional troops and equipment. >> it is not clear what the next move from the administration is going to be. the president did talk about this briefly yesterday. he has been said to be meeting with advisors, but so far that is about it as far as the white house response. heather? >> i have a question for you. i know you were a pilot and the faa issued a warning earlier this week saying carriers should

avoid areas through out the region. the pilot of the malaysian airflight choose to fly close to a dicey region. a pilot can choose to reroute their route essentially. any word why the pilot choose to go through this area? >> a lot of people have been asking that. they have been avoiding this area entirely. international carriers, many have not. malaysia is pushing back on this saying they were following international standards according to them. the pilot always has an impression to do what they need to do. that pilot could have been rerouted. a number of airlines apparently concluded and the flights stopped now. >> as we mentioned a short time ago this specific area even for the united states is not specifically off limits but it is now.

we were choosing not to fly in that area. now specifically do not go there. it is a war zone and it is strictly off limits. >> thank you, doug. appreciate it. >> more p on the missile sha shut down the plane at 30,000 feet. we turn to retired marine sergeant. she was on earlier last hour and she gave us her expertise. at 33,000 feet do you ever think as a pilot operating an aircraft that something like this would happen? >> well, those missile systems have a long range capacity of 72,000 feet. this plane was well within its range. this system was created the soviet union in 1979. it is a self propelled range and has a capacity of air to

surface, so it is very durable high capacity and very effective at taking down targets such as helicopters also drones and anything like crews miuise missr smart bombs. >> this is a new chapter in avenue i didn't gos security. >> we have often worried about shoulder fired missiles you see in video but now we are talking about something so much more substantial. how on earth do we spannrespond something like this? >> the missile has been around for some time. the fa 11 with the missile system. it is similar to f 320 missile. these have been around for a long time. they are packing our commercial aircraft. we have a serious problem. the capacity has been there sometime but the world needs to respond to this but it is a strong response because it can't

be ctolerated. >> did we have any idea that the rebels had captured control when they over ran the military base? >> it is inoperable. the associated press had seen the missile system basically in place. we are realizing that. three downed aircraft aside from the commercial aircraft in the past week. >> do we know if this exact system will take out in the fighter jet or was it another system all together? >> the u.s. intelligence is leaning toward these two systems f11 or the f 20. both are similar. the boot missile system is what the russians do have. it has to be this. they know they are small hat. the special forces people have

trained these separatists. these separatists are some -- ant rebels running around in the jungle. they be long to the russian forces. this system takes two years to learn. it is not something easy you can run around and pick up. >> we are going to have to leave it there. thank you so much. appreciate you joining us. we will talk with you later this morning. >> thank you, heather. >> we have new information this morning about the 298 people killed on that flight. 23 are believed to be american. david piper joins us live from bangkok, thailand with how the world is reacting. good morning, david. >> good morning, heather, yes. anger and revulsion would best describe the reaction in asia. also shock because it involves the malaysian airlines jet four months after the plane went missing. families of the loved one have been gathering where it was supposed to arrive.

the death toll is 398. four infants were on board. they are still contacting relatives but released the manifest on board. the manifest will also be closely looked at to see if any terror suspects were on board. reports suggest as many as 18 children were on the plane. many nationalities were on board including 150 from the netherlands, 43 from malaysia, 23 australiians. it has been reported at least 23 americans. they may be along the 43 people whose nationalities haven't been identified yet. >> they had friends on the plane and they were crying. it was really sad. >> my reks a is nervous. wondering if i don't go in. >> the news of the disasters grabbed the attention of the world newspapers in the u.k. and

australia seem to suggest the plane was hit by a missile. others mourn the dead. some also suggest president put tin and russia are to blame. they will suffer the consequences. australian prime minister tony abbott says the world should be filled with revulsion over what happened. because as it stands it is more like a crime. he called in the russian ambassador today and the russian ambassador told him it was ukraine's fault. abbott said that wasn't satisfactory. >> you referenced babies in nonallocated seats. does that bring now the death toll up to 301? >> no. at the moment i think it's 298. they are included. so at the moment 298. >> david piper. >> i wanted to ask you about the manifest itself. there's a lot of confusion here in the states. why do we not have it fconfirme

yet. here in the u.s. it has been released by malaysian airlines why are we not able to confirm for a fact the number of americans on board or were on board? that's what a lot of people want to know this morning? >> there's a lot of confusion. it may be because the airport is people flying from america going into transit. the names are put on the manifest and weren't given nationaliti nationalities. that may be one of them. i don't have the complete answer. >> thank you, david. as we learned with malaysian airlines we don't get a lot of information. >> hope it turns out better this time. a lot of people around the world in mourning, but many of us are asking this morning, where is president obama? for him back here at home it seems to be business as usual. the white housen der fire this morning for a lack of response

to the tragedy. >> mary anne rafferty is here with us. >> according to the official schedule they will be meeting with advisors with a planned trip to camp david after a long night of fundraising in new york city. he pushed for more funding for construction and then stopped for a burger. >> looks like a terrible tragedy. we are looking at whether american citizens were on board. that is our first priority. >> the president heard about the crash from have avladmir putin passed along reports during a phone call. the white house release ago photo to show the president has it under control on the phone with ukrainian prime minister afford air force one. not everybody is convinced. >> how does the white house react to the notion that the president is a bystander to all

of these crises? >> there have been a number of situations where you have seen the administration intervene in a meaningful way that has substantially furthered american interests. >> some are comparing the president's reaction to president bush on 9-11. >> if you read the accounts of that day president bush, he was insistent over the objections of the everybody in the security details. i am going to be back in the white house. i want to see the commander-in-chief in the white house leading the country unafra unafraid. the americans have not seen that with this president. >> we have a full investigation. heather? >> mary aianne rafferty, thank . >> who exactly fired the shot. some say the ukrainian separatist group could be behind the murder in the sky. >> one of the dig questions about the attack, why was the plane flying over a war zone? our aviation security analysts on that up next. meatball yelling

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>> russian rebels claiming responsibility for shooting down a military plane on the russian version of facebook. leland vitters knows the group and he has been reporting on the ground in the ukraine in the past. what can you tell us about the organization and some of the media messages that they have sent out? >> that is the best evidence of what this group has been about. long believed they are commanded by shadowing members of the russian special forces and intelligence communities who provided guidance and weapons from moscow. want to show you a deleted message about the same time the plane went down. one posted this equivalent on facebook in russia. we are going to translate. we shot down an antog 26

transport plane near the city of torez. we warned don't fly in our sky. that post has since been deleted. back on june 29th they also posted a photo on twitter bragging about over taking an anti-aircraft launching system from a base in the ukraine. that's the same time they suggested it could haveic at that endown the plane. adding to the evidence intelligence services put out the tape of a intercepted phone call bragging about taking down a plane. growing evidence about this case. whether it is separatists or russian special forces is an awfully blurry line. >> leland vitter covering this for us. thank you. >> expanding the ban on ukrainian airspace after the attack. now all major international carriers doing the same.

the big question is why was malaysian flight 17 flying in that area in the first place? aviation security analyst joins us from denver with hopefully an answer to that question. >> the americans faa fly over crimea. this is another part of the ukraine didn't seem to be part of the threat. there was a threat everyone ignored it. yeah, we have some real answering to do as to why any airplane was allowed to fly over the area. other aircraft had been shot down in the area within recent days. >> absolutely. one of the things is usually with the military aircraft it will be ground support aircraft. at 30,000 feet it wouldn't necessarily be a threat they were fighting each other. i think in this case somebody's badly badly missing

intelligence. the missile capability and they allowed airplanes to fly through. someone fell down at the jo op at the faa and elsewhere. >> i want to ask you about that in terms of the plane itself flying reportedly at 33,000 feet, would that have been visible to the naked eye on the ground or would they have needed radar in order to detect it? >> my understanding with this sophisticated system. there may be a moron there with equipment they might want to shoot at it. my feeling is they probably didn't know this airplane was an airliner they might have aimed at something else. they may have aimed it at something else. they may say i have a better target i am going after the malaysian airplane. we know the airplane shouldn't have been there. >> we know the faa expanded the region of the no-fly zone

itself. what does it mean for people who are flying around the world and here in the u.s. what will the backup mean? >> what it means right now is any place where there is any kind of a conflict. i don't care if it is iraq or libya. the fact of the matter is we won't have airplanes flying over this. we are going to be safer if you will but the point of the matter is it is a situation that if somebo somebody fell down on the job in terms of intel. >> thank you for joining us. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> ukraine not the only part of the world in crisis. they are announcing they are going to expand their ground attack in gaza. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu live up next.

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welcome back to "fox & friends first" . israel prime minister benjamin netanyahu gave the go ahead for israel's invasion of gaza, this after gaza rejected the cease-fire deal that israel itself had accepted. so what is the very latest that's coming out of the israel gaza crisis? joining us from jerusalem is the chief spokesman for prime minister netanyahu. thank you so much for joining us. >> my pleasure. good morning. >> i want to begin with the latest and that is that the prime minister is now saying that israel is prepared for, quote, significant expansion of the offensive. that is different than what we heard yesterday. at that time we heard this offensive would be, quote, limited in scope. so what is meant by significant expansion? >> i'll explain that if you'll allow me. obviously when hamas rejected the cease-fire

proposal that was put on the table by the egyptians, a proposal supported by the arab league, we had no choice but to act mill tailor against those terrorists in gaza who were shooting rockets at civilians, 1,500 rockets have been shot from gaza at israeli cities. they're trying to kill our people and we have to put an end to it. the prime minister ordered a ground incursion specifically in the border areas to deal with the terrorist tunnels. the command in gaza tunneled under the ground and they want to have the ability to pop out at the frontier and cause death and mayhem. we caught a terror squad planning to do that exactly yesterday and we can only deal with the tunnel issue by being on the ground on their side of the frontier. of course it is a difficult decision that has to be weighed putting boots on the ground. we're putting our own young fighting men into harm's way but this is necessary, we believe, to protect our

people. as to what will happen in the future, we are prepared for any contingency. >> i apologize for interrupted you but we have limited time. you're prepared for unlimited contingency, i believe you just said. do you have eap sort -- any sort of time frame at all or will this continue until you destroy all of these tunnels that you believe hamas militants are trying to enter israel through? >> we will try to destroy those tunnels. it is a systematic network of tunnels, a big operation. our overriding goal is very simple. our goal is to protect our poem. our goal is to bring about a sustained period of quiet for the people so they don't have to live in fear of those terrorist lawdges

lawdges -- launches still being shot from gaza. >> still a chance for diplomatic solution or do you feel you're beyond that? >> now hamas i the price. >> thank you. >> thank you. we will be right back. if you suffer from constipation, you will likely also suffer from gas. introducing new dulcogas, which starts working to eliminate gas bubbles in minutes for effective relief. dulcogas, from the makers of dulcolax- nothing relieves gas faster.

>> breaking news coming in. a brand-new video of that site where the malasian airline flight 17 went down after it was hit by a surface to air missile over eastern ukraine yesterday afternoon. 298 people are dead this morning. 23 of them are believed to be american. but what is so bizarre about this is that the state department is not confirming this number at this hour. other countries have confirmed their citizens have died. >> the question is why. russia and ukraine now blaming each other amid reports a second black box was just recovered from the

wreckage. the first black box reportedly in the hands of prorussian rebels who claim they are taking the critical data to moscow for investigation. >> we're going to have to leave it there. "fox & friends" will continue right now with more coverage throughout the day. >> see you back here at 9:00 a.m. bye. good morning. it is friday, july 18. we begin with a fox news alert. major developments overnight on two breaking news stories. first new evidence on who may have fired a missile that blew this passenger jet right out of the sky. and just moments ago israel announcing plans to expand its military offensive in gaza. >> we'll have more on that in just a moment. "fox & friends first" on for two hours because of the extraordinary circumstances. john, good to see you on the couch. wish there were better circumstances but two huge stories breaking now. >> israeli defense