on our broadcast tonight, who's to blame for the shootdown of a commercial jetliner? tonight, who the evidence is starting to point to. also, the people who perished on board including an american, an indiana university student and a team of the world's top aids researchers. plus, the ground invasion moves deeper into gaza now, and the death toll is rising. our richard engel is there. homes burning more than 100 now evacuations underway amid a very dangerous situation. wildfires exploding tonight in the west. and some good news after a tough week our friday night making a difference report. "nightly news" begins now. from nbc news world headquarters in new york this is "nbc nightly news" with brian

williams. good evening. tonight, a veteran u.s. crash investigator says it's an outrage and an insult to the remains of the victims that the crash scene of malaysia airlines flight 17 is not being treated the way it normally would because the carcass of that wide body jet came down in disputed territory in a war zone having been hit by a surface-to-air missile. no one has roped off the wreckage. there was fighting 60 miles from the crash site today, and reports of shots fired at the scene of the wreckage. some of it came down in a field of sunflowers. elsewhere you can find playing cards, comic books, coloring books, ribbons made from torn cotton sheets on stakes mark the location of the bodies. tonight, we know more about the victims, who they were, where they were from. and sadly it will be some time before their loved ones are reunited with their remains. tom costello starts off our coverage tonight from our washington newsroom. tom, good evening. >> reporter: hi, brian.

president obama insisted today the russian-backed rebels preserve the crash scene and allow international investigators access to the area including a very small u.s. team now headed to kiev. across six square miles in a remote area of eastern ukraine, russian-backed rebels have been picking through the scorched wreckage of the malaysian passenger plane shot out of the sky without warning. in a nearby sunflower field, the bodies of passengers, their passports and possessions including tour books for planned vacation. today, president obama said the u.s. has very specific information about what happened to flight 17. >> evidence indicates that the plane was shot down by a surface-to-air missile that was launched from an area that is controlled by russian-backed separatists inside of ukraine. >> reporter: today, this haunting instagram video of passengers aboard the plane moments before departure. on the ground local residents joined firefighters in recovering the victims.

sabrina tavernise is there. >> there were bodies everywhere in the field. you know, personal possessions, passports. it was horrible. >> reporter: late in the day ukrainian rescue teams told nbc news russian-backed separatists ordered them out of the crash scene for tonight. and european observers reported shots fired by rebels. the separatists are thought to have already recovered the plane's black boxes though it's not known what they've done with them. now, a single ntsb investigator and two fbi agents are headed to kiev to assist. should an international team of investigators be allowed in. >> what the ntsb investigators come up with isn't going to be the most relevant piece. far more important is the intelligence piece. what we see from overhead imagery and the like about where this missile came from and who fired it. >> reporter: malaysia flight 17 was flying along designated flight path l-980, a sort of highway in the sky used by airlines flying between europe

and asia. even as war raged below, ukraine kept the air space open though some airlines did avoid the area. in april the faa prohibited u.s. airlines from flying over the nearby crimea region. after the crash, the faa expanded that order to include eastern ukraine. back at the crash site, a disorganized civilian effort to recover the victims fall under constant threat. while veteran investigators say they always like to have the plane's black boxes, but that won't tell them who fired the missile in this case. meanwhile, malaysia airlines is defending its decision to fly over the region saying the route was open and approved by international authorities. 55 planes flew that route yesterday, brian. >> tom costello starting off our coverage in d.c. tonight. tom, thanks. now to the big question, in the u.s. intelligence community tonight there are strong indications about who is to blame for this shootdown. our pentagon correspondent jim miklaszewski working that end of the story. jim, good evening.

>> reporter: good evening, brian. based on american intelligence u.s. officials suspect that the russian military was directly involved in launching the missile that took down the malaysian airliner. the officials suspect that russian trainers and advisors embedded with ukraine forces either fired the missile or at least gave the command to the rebel forces to shoot down the plane. at the same time a video from that very region in ukraine today appears to show the same type of missile launcher on a flatbed truck headed for the russian border. ironically u.s. officials also suspect the missile launcher used in this shootdown actually belonged to the ukrainian military and had been seized by the rebel forces. and all of this, brian, remains under u.s. investigation tonight. >> all right. jim miklaszewski at the pentagon. as we've established while it remains unclear exactly who fired the missile, president obama argued today was a direct result of the fighting in the region and russia's failure to

stop it. we get more on that part of the story tonight from our chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. >> reporter: at the dutch embassies in kiev and moscow, spontaneous memorials as the world reacted in shock to a plane simply blown out of the sky. at the u.n. a call for an immediate investigation, and a reminder from u.s. ambassador samantha power about the victims. >> we saw three of the victims names capital "i." as we now know the letter "i" stands for infant. >> reporter: she went onto russia for training and inciting the separatists. >> russia can end this war. russia must end this war. >> reporter: russia's u.n. ambassador was defiant blaming ukraine for not closing its air space. but ukraine said it has intercepted this conversation between a russian-backed separatist named greek and a russian major not verified by nbc news showing how they first realized they'd screwed up and

apparently shot down a passenger plane by mistake. the major says, in short sure as hell it's a civilian plane. the greek asks, many people? the major replies, a screw up, debris fell into people's backyards. today, president obama added to the case against russia. >> over the last several weeks russian-backed separatists have shot down a ukrainian transport plane and a ukrainian helicopter. and they claimed responsibility for shooting down a ukrainian fighter jet. >> reporter: but vladimir putin after repeatedly breaking promises to de-escalate surrounded himself with clergy today brazenly calling for peace talks while showing off air power and military exercises even in the wake of the air tragedy. will all this change russian behavior? president obama today threatened more u.s. sanctions if putin doesn't pull back. >> we have the capacity to increase the costs that we impose on them. >> reporter: and now the question is if putin does not change, is this the turning point that will finally help the u.s. rally europe and the rest

of the world against him? brian. >> andrea mitchell in our d.c. newsroom. thanks. as we've said we've learned much more tonight about who was on the plane. they came from all walks of life. it turns out that some of the 298 people on board were dedicated to saving lives in fact. we have reports from malaysia and the netherlands tonight. and we begin with nbc's katy tur in amsterdam. katy, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. more than 24 hours after the crash and the number of dutch on board continues to rise. so much so in fact that in terms of loss of life compared to population size this is now a tragedy for this country on a similar scale to 9/11. the numbers now stand at at least 189 dutch out of 298 on board. this is a nation in mourning. in one small community shock and disbelief.

neil and cor ran a flower shop here. they were headed for vacation. before takeoff they posted a picture of the plane on facebook saying, should it disappear, this is what it looks like. the couple's shop now a memorial. >> it's a young funny couple. always laughing and always together. >> reporter: neighbors mourned an entire family. one man telling us of a grieving grandmother of four who cried, i'm not a grandmother anymore. the victims were from around the world. quinn schansman was a u.s. citizen raised in the netherlands. his grandfather spoke about him today. >> very sad, yes indeed. couldn't believe it. >> reporter: mo, evi and otis vacationing in amsterdam flying home from australia with their grandfather. their parents booked on a later flight. another australian lost her stepdaughter and stepdaughter's husband on mh-17 after losing

her brother and sister-in-law four months ago on mh-370. 25-year-old carline kaiser was a student at indiana university going for her ph.d. in chemistry. also on board several aids experts headed to a major international conference in melbourne including a father of five and one of the top aids researchers in the world. >> this is an aviseration of sorts of a community dedicated its life to hiv/aids. >> reporter: at the airport here today memories of a catastrophe made up of almost 300 individual tragedies. katy tur, nbc news, amsterdam. >> reporter: this is miguel almaguer in kuala lumpur. heartbreak and tears filled the arrival hall. flight mh-17 was still on the board when family members first rushed here. nur was part of the 15-member

crew. clutching her picture, her family says her childhood dream was to be a flight attendant. her colleague wasn't scheduled to fly but he covered a shift for a friend. his parents, in their 70s, are in disbelief. with family and loved ones escorted into a malaysian airlines holding room, it seems the unimaginable is happened here again. just four months ago at the same airport grieving families demanded answers from the same airline when flight 370 vanished. danica weeks' husband, paul, is one of the 239 still missing. >> i just hope malaysia is more forthcoming with the families on this than, you know, they have been with us. >> reporter: tonight in more than ten countries prayers and vigils for the victims while for the airline an uncertain future

as it continues to notify next of kin. >> malaysia airlines is not a bad airline, unfortunately for malaysia airlines it has two high profile incidents that makes the flying public question whether or not these guys can do a good job day in and day out. >> reporter: time will tell what the future holds for this airline. but for these grieving families the pain has just begun. the prime minister calls this a day of mourning for this entire region. he asks that flags everywhere be flown at half staff. brian. >> miguel almaguer, katy tur before that in amsterdam. thanks to you both. a lot more ahead still. up next we'll go live to richard engel in gaza. a deepening ground invasion tonight amid warnings it's about to get bigger. invasion tonight amid warnings it's about to get bigger.

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tonight. israel now says its goals in this offensive are limited, but there are growing indications things could quickly escalate. our chief foreign correspondent richard engel is in gaza tonight. richard, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. this ground offensive has been underway for just about 24 hours now, and based on how israel is positioning its troops and comments from israeli leaders, we could be just seeing the first phase. israel is building up even more troops outside gaza, thousands of reinforcements. and israel's prime minister said today the ground offensive could be significantly expanded. these israeli soldiers seem ready to go. >> want to fight. want to finish hamas. >> reporter: but destroying hamas is not the official mission. instead, israel says it's using tanks, artillery and bulldozers to eliminate tunnels hamas uses to sneak into israel and attack israelis.

hamas is under heavy fire in gaza now. but today it was still firing rockets into israel. and taunting israel, airing pictures on palestinian television of the very tunnels israel wants to destroy. israel so far hasn't gone into major paleinian cities, mostly shelling from afar. but it is driving palestinians from their homes. the israeli military continues its offensive. it's telling palestinians to leave conflict areas and find safer places. but the gaza strip is cut off. people here have nowhere to go. so many like these children are now living in schools like this one, turned into makeshift refugee centers. gaza has a young population. the growing number of victims here are young too. including this deaf boy injured today now at a gaza hospital. 12-year-old shiima on a nearby bed peppered with shrapnel.

and her cousin. when israel fired on an apartment building, she was badly injured. she's still awake, and she said she's angry. we are small, but we are not scared of the israelis, she said. they are cowards. and we will win. israel says it will continue the offensive until the tunnels are destroyed and the rockets stop flying. hamas says it will make israel pay. so far it seems young palestinians are paying the highest price. and tonight, brian, once again we are hearing israeli drones over gaza city and seeing explosions over the skyline. and this conflict could get a lot worse. >> richard engel on the gaza strip for us tonight. richard, thanks for your reporting. another break. we're back in a moment with a massive fight underway in this country as homes are burning in the west. massive fight underway in this country as homes are burning in the west. ♪

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in parts of washington state where several wildfires continue burning out of control including one that has prompted evacuations and already burned about 100 homes in its path. nbc's jacob rascon is in pateros, washington in the northern part of the state. >> reporter: this is a ghost town torn by the fiercest wildfire officials have ever seen. down the road several teachers, a local pastor and others lost homes as well as the fire itself is only growing. fueled by whipping winds, soaring temperatures and bone dry conditions, the so-called carlton complex fire started with lightning and overnight exploded from 28 square miles to nearly 300 square miles. 1,000 households were ordered to evacuate including the entire town of pateros. we know at least 100 homes burned, major highways into the area are still shut down, thousands are without power and water. and, brian, this is just one of dozens of fires burning in the

west right now. >> jacob rascon in the northern part of washington state. with that we want to welcome jacob to our team. the folks at the u.s. geological survey are the ones who monitor the shaking of the earth. they are now out with their new seismic risk map of our country. it adds some new areas to be on the look out for earthquakes. while predicting them is an inexact business, they say 42 of our 50 states have "a reasonable chance of experiencing damaging ground shaking from an earthquake in the next 50 years." matching the map to where you live, the 16 states with the highest risk include alaska, arkansas, california no surprise, hawaii, idaho, illinois, kentucky, missouri, montana, nevada, oregon, south carolina, tennessee, utah, washington and wyoming. they admit the 5.8 magnitude that hit virginia and shook the east coast back in 2011 was a wakeup call and changed the map.

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would blame you if you felt right about now as if the world was falling apart. and because so much of the news is so bad from ukraine to the middle east, we thought we'd end the week by highlighting some of the good things that go on. tonight's case and point a 12-year-old in suburban detroit who has answered a calling to feed the homeless in inner city detroit. his name is robbie imers and he started out spending his own allowance on food. his effort has grown and gathered the support of folks like the detroit red wings and walmart. they hand out food, water and clothing. and they are making a difference. so tonight to take us off the air we asked robbie to tell us his story. >> one week we'll just do like peanutbutter and jelly and maybe another week we'll do bologna. when i saw how many homeless people there were i thought we got to start doing this.

now we go every single saturday. we'll drive down there, we'll unpack, put the tables up, get the grill out and then we'll start cooking and passing out food. i do this because i see these people need help. and they're my friends. how would you feel if like you were in their shoes? like if you were them? you'd want somebody to help you. would you like beans? makes me feel good and happy that i'm seeing all these people to get involved to start helping. i started out like just ten hats, ten coats, i thought that was helping. and it was. i want to be a baseball player for the tigers. and then i want to be the president when i grow up. >> i want you to be the mayor of detroit or something. or the president. >> okay. stay in school. >> okay. >> god bless.

>> the only reason baseball first because you need to be like 35 to be president. so that's why. i'll try to end homelessness. it doesn't seem like you feed several hundred people, but you do. >> in these days anything can happen. so open up your heart like that young boy did. >> if everybody in the world donated like a dollar, then we'd have billions of dollars and then we could end homelessness. would you guys like any sausages or cookies? after going every week and seeing how my friends help and stuff, i just don't think i'll ever stop. >> there you go. 12-year-old robbie imers making a difference in his hometown of detroit. that's it for this broadcast for friday night and this week. thank you for being here with us. i'm brian williams. lester holt will be here with you this weekend. we of course hope to see you back here on monday night. in the meantime please have a good weekend.

good night.

no i didn't, listen! >> did you push her buttons on purpose? what is the status of that lawsuit? the dance mom slap in the face. first t