Just israeli air strikes against hamas targets in gaza, not just naval strikes from the mediterranean coast into the gaza but now Israeli Ground forces, boots on the ground, thanks, armored personnel carriers can other equipment moving in. A couple sentences from the id ft. Official statement that was just released only moments ago. Following ten days of hamas attacks by land, air and sea, and after repeated rejections of offer to deescalate the situation, the Israel Defense forces has initiated a ground operation within the gaza strip. The idfs objective as defined by the Israeli Government is the to establish a reality in which Israeli Residents can live in safety and security without continued indiskrim tear while striking a significant blow to hamas terror infrastructure. And jake, its significant because the statement then goes on to outline all of the various units of the Israel Defense forces, the Israeli Military that are involved, not just some selected units but it looks like the entire team that they will have including among other things infantry, armored corps, engineer corps, artillery, intelligence combined with aerial and naval support. So this is a pretty significant operation right now. And as you know, the gaza strip is a very vet heavy little populated area, very small area about 1. 8 million palestinians live there. The israelis over past several days have urged palestinians in the northern part specifically to leave their homes, go to some sort of safe area. But as beb weidman and so many other reporter who are there have reported there arent a whole lot of safe areas in the gaza strip right now. So there will be a lot of casualties, presumably hamas insurgents will be killed but a lot of civilian casualties i suspect. There will be israeli casualties, as well. So far one israeli has been killed and over the past ten days of the missile and rocket strikes coming into israel. I suspect Israeli Soldiers will be among those casualties because hamas has been bracing for this. Theyve prepared for it. Theyve got some heavy weapons. So this could be pretty brute. More than 200 palestinians have been killed since this military back and forth started. According to the United Nations, most of them have been civilian. Wolf, has the idf or the Israeli Government said at all whether or not u. S. Im sorry, whether or not israeli troops once they go in, will be coming out . Because obviously, there is a history of Israeli Forces going into gaza and occupying gaza for decades. Are they saying this is a shortterm operation or not saying anything on the subject . Well, over the past week that ive been here, ive been briefed and ive spoken to a lot of Israeli Military analysts and officers. They say that if the order is given by the Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu to go in on the ground and that order has been now given, the Israeli Security cabinet has approved a Ground Invasion of gaza, they say the operation will be limited to destroying hamas military capabilities. The operation will not be designed to reoccupy gaza. Israel with drew from gaza in 2005. It will be designed to cripple hamass military capabilities as much as possible over the next several days. Everyone knows theres going to be enormous pressure for a ceasefire. I suspect the israelis will try to destroy as much of hamass capabilities as they can and retreat and then theyll go back to israel. Thats just my suspicion. I dont know for sure or hauf the government of Prime Minister netanyahu is willing to go. But military planners and others in israel have told me over the past few days if they go in on the ground and all of us anticipated they would, it would be designed to punish hamas, destroy their military capabilities and then get out. All right, wolf blitzer in jerusalem. Later in the hour, we will be going to one of our reporters in gaza. Lets turn back to breaking News Coverage of the tragedy in the air over ukraine. A Malaysia Airlines passenger jet, flight 17, crashing with 295 people on board. All of them now presumed dead. Officials in ukraine where the plane went down a matter of hours ago are claiming that prorussian separatists shot the jet out of the sky. Thats a claim that has so far been denied. Joining us now on the phone is pave low klimkin, the Ukrainian Foreign minister. Sir, it your government selfmaintaining that prorussia separatists are the ones responsible. Is that right . Are you there, sir . Can you hear me . We seem to be having problems with the connection with pablo klimkin. Jim sciutto, lets talk about this incident in ukraine. Although we have no shortage of big stories to talk about worldwide. Is there evidence that the United States government finds credible that prorussian separatists shot down this plane . The answer from the United States government perspective is no. Theyre saying they dont have conclusive evidence yet from the Ukrainian Government perspective, ive been speaking to officials there, they say they have evidence. Ill give you what they give. One is that they believe that it was a russian buk socalled buk system used to shoot down this plane in part because separatists can captured just such a Weapon System in a Ukrainian Military base and bragged about it and russian tv aired pictures of them in possession of this buk Weapon System. Doesnt mean they fired it today but this is the evidence. They have the capability to do so. So they had the weapon that this weapon has the range to hit a plane at that the altitude, and three, another point that the officials made to me, that its their judgment, again this is an early judgment that the plane looks like it broke apart at altitude which would indicate or support the idea of a missile strike. This is not confirmed by u. S. Officials. It is certainly an early assessment from ukrainian officials but for what its worth, ukrainian officials have no doubt that prorussian separatists brought this plane down and say these are weapons they blame the russians, as well. I was speaking to the Deputy Foreign minister a short time ago. He said putin is responsible in his words, the world needs to stop putin because russia supports terrorist actions like this which is what the ukrainian president called this, a terrorist action. In fact, the former United States ambassador to the russian federation, Michael Mcfaul earlier today said that a man named igor gerg condition, who is a former member of russian intelligence, military intelligence and a former member of the fsb who is now a prorussian separatist in ukraine head of the peoples militia, that he admitted and bragged about shooting down the plane although his people later said that was a fake account. What do we know about that . This is another piece of evidence. I was first tipped off to this by ukrainian officials earlier this morning thatting this prorussian separatist bragged about it. Ive seen the tweet. It came around the time that this ma laboreren plane disappeared and the tweet claims granted its in the russian but translated, it says that bragging in effect, ewe took down this plane and some sort of warning like we warned you to stay out of our skies, that kind of thing. Thinking it was perhaps. A Ukrainian Military plane. In fact, he identified andton negative 26, a Ukrainian Military transport, a propeller plane, doesnt look like a boeing triple 7. In that tweet, is he seemed to think he had shot down a Ukrainian Military plane and bragging about it. Thats another piece of evidence the officials cite as a sign this was intentional on the part of the prorussian separatists. Stand by one second, jim. Joining me on the phone is knowal snyder, a freelance journalist at the crash site nest ukraine. Noah, tell us what you are see. Right now, its gotten dark already. Theres rescue teams setting up tents, a flood light. Theres a big field essentially. By sected by a road that all of the debris, the plane, the body, the people inside theyre saying are scattered through. Rescue crews have been local sort of rescue crews and firefighters have been doing their best throughout and now i think theyre trying to figure out what to do overnight. So the victims are still out there, their bodies are still on the ground strapped into their seats, et cetera . Reporter some are strapped into their seats. Some have been sort of blown to bits to the point where you cant tell whether it was a man or a woman. Some are just kind of scattered. People, locals say that the plane exposeded in the air so it was kind of it fell down in pieces, are they said. So bits of the plane, bits of the bodies, bits of peoples possessions. You mentioned investigators on the site. Does it look like theres an orderly process going on right now . I wouldnt say investigators. Local rescue crew screws. Its the ministry of extreme situations. Sort of direct translation. Im not certain it fits the bill. Theyre mostly firefighters and rescue teams. Its orderly in the sense, you know, these guys have a sense of purpose and theyre doing the best they can. Theyve been markeding the bodies with sort of white ribbons on sticks in the field so as you walk through, if you see one of those marks, but its a pretty huge territory. As i said, its almost pitch black now. So i think everyone is a bit uncertain of what comes next. Im told youve spoken to some local rebel fighters. Are they taking any responsibility . What are they telling you . Look, i think its way too early to Start Talking about guilt for this. They of course, are not taking responsibility. Neither are the ukrainians and neither are the russians. None of the three parties who could potentially be involved in this have made any have taken responsibility for it, and i dont think theres any way for anyone at this particular point in time to say whose fault it is. Esimply dont know the enough. Theres too many possible options and frankly, the thing to be focusing on now is what to do with the people who are on the flight and how to be decent. Noah, has the site been secured . Are people picking apart valuables from it . No, people are not looting. I mean its hard to say. Its been secured. I havent walked the entirety perimeter but there are fighters around. Nobody ive talked to has the thought maybe crossed their mind to loot. Everyone is in such shock and is so distraught. Lis, im sorry. Im going to have to get going. Theres a fair amount still happening here. And i appreciate you having me on. Knowal snyder joining us from the site at of the plane crash in ukraine. Hopefully we can talk to you again tomorrow. Cheers. Byebye. Back here in the studio with jim sciutto, you just heard noahs firsthand account. It sounds like a tragic and devastating scene. Were obviously not showing you utmost graphic and extreme images. The Ukrainian Government really doing a fullcourt press talking about how this is the handiwork of prorussian separatists. Theyve even produced what they claim to be audiotape. Tell us about that. This is a short time ago, the head of the Ukrainian Secret Service went on camera to say theyve intercepted phone calls between prorussian separatists and russian intelligence on the other side of the border inside russia discussing the shootdown of this plane. In fact, a short time afterwards they released a transcript which we translated. We dont have that to put on the air yet. Ill paraphrase. Have you someone saying just now a group of near the mine where the plane went down shot down a plane. It fell near a local town there. The person comes back says where are the pilots. He says our guys went there to take pictures of the plane. He goes on to say its definitely a passenger plane. The russian responds a lot of people there. He says a lot of people. What kind of plane is it . I dont know yet. Ive even parts of seats is, bodies. Anywhere a conversation indicating prorussian separatists did it, admitted to it in a phone call with russian intelligence intercepted by ukrainian intelligence and describing what they found on the ground possibly to the surprise it was a passenger plane and not military transport. This is according to the secret service of ukraine. Theyre in the middle of a war with proRussian Forces perhaps even according to them proxy forces from russia. They have we have not verified the authenticity but it is what a government is saying. Jim, stay right there. Well be right back with more on this breaking news story and the other breaking story, as well is, israel invading gaza. We will go live to gaza next plus new details on what u. S. Intelligence knows about the Malaysia Airlines flight 17 crash today. Well have that, as well. Stay with us. Body. It hugs you. [jeffery] i dont have to think about how to get comfortable anymore. [evie] this zips off so i can wash ityes, please. 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A plane going down with 295 people on board. All pruped dead. We have breaking news for you on that front. Right now, lets turn to gaza. Israel has launched a ground offensive, invading gaza after several days of trading attacks in the air. Karl penhaul and ben wedeman are standing by. They are live in gaza city. Gentlemen, good to see you. Im glad youre safe. Ben then karl, what is happening there . Well, what weve seen is steady bombardment for about three hours, mostly from the north but also to the east of gaza city to the east of the neighborhood, one of those neighborhoods where people receive these socalled robocalls to leave the areas and also leaflets, as well. People have come from those areas but now this evening, i was in my hotel. I finally had a chance to get an early night but that was cut short when somebody banged op my door saying the hotel has received orders that all journalists should evacuate hotels along the coast. So we basically rushed back here. There was a lot of bombardment from israeli ships off the coast. Along the coastline so its been a very noisy night and it was very clear from about three hours ago that this ground incursion was most likely to happen and, of course, now it has happened. Jake . And while ben was seeing that going on, we were here from this Vantage Point and what we see behind us, that is to the east of gaza, the border there with israel, we heard and saw what we understand is artillery fire going out very intense ground artillery bombardment there. We also saw flashes of light coming down from the sky which we believe could have been some kind of missiles from apache attack helicopters. And at some points, as well, we saw flares going up. Also at one point, we saw a very large cloud of white smoke going up. That could be indicative of some kind of smoke curtain being set up to try and disguise troop movements on the other side of the board are. We know there were thanks prepositioned on the other side of the border and now were hearing from cnn sources in east gaza that israeli boots are on the ground there, thanks, more specifically. We understand thanks have come across, but of course, ben, what we dont know the is what the game plan is here. We have heard from some military analysts that perhaps the game plan is not for the israelis to launch a full scale invasion as they did when we were both back here in 2008, 2009 but possibly to come in about a mile, a couple of miles and try to shut down these tunnels that they know hamas militants and Islamic Jihad militants have used over the last 24 thundershowers to stage infillstrations into israel. Weve got a stability from one of the spokesmen for hamas who says hamas is ready for what he calls this confrontation and that hamas also meet israeli troops with a qualitatively different response. And its important to noteing that compared to 2012 when we were here for the last flareup between israel and gaza, weve seen these missiles fired by hamas and Islamic Jihad have increased significantly in range. Weve also seen hamas frogmen trying to make a raid on an israeli base just up the coast inside israel and so the belief is that hamas really has dramatic clot increased its military skills and this is why they havent been particularly eager to sign on to a ceasefire because they want to bloody israeli troops if they invade. So i think were really set for perhaps a far bloodier conflict than weve seen eithering in 2012 or in 2008, 2009. Thats. Indications speaking to that ben, as we were out earlier on the streets earlier during a brief humanitarian cease fire, a fivehour lull but we were told at one of their independence radio stations on the gaza strip that earlier in the day, the Israeli Military jammed and intercepted their signal and broadcast their own signal to the gazan people telling them to stock up on food and medicine because worse was yet to come. That is what were hearing now, jake. Earlier today the spokesman for the United Nations in the gaza strip reported that 20 gaza rockets were found in an abandoned u. N. School in gaza, seeming to add credibility to the claim by israelis that one of the reasons why there have been so many civilian casualties is because of hamas embedding itself within the population. Ben, quickly if you would because i want to go to wolf blitzer in jerusalem, are you seeing evidence of hamas has they prepare tore in Ground Invasion by the idf, are you seeing evidence of themselves embedding in the population thust guaranteeing there will be more civilian casualties . Well, what weve seen, for instance, jake, is that we went to one house where 18 people were killed in an israeli strike. As we were Walking Around the compound, we found some reinforced tunnels next to a wall, next to a school. An abandoned school. Now we werent able to actually go in those tunnels because they had collapsed but they very well could have gone into the school. Its important to point out its not as if theyre somewhere in gaza that a military organization, hamas or whatever it might it be can go to separate from the civilian population because there isnt a lot of open territory where they can function. So indeed, they are embedded within the local population because theyre part of the local population. Jake . Ben and carl, stay with us. Were going to come back to you in a second. But turning back to our continuing breaking News Coverage of this horrific plane crash in ukraine, 295 people on board. Ukraine, of course, blaming prorussian separatists claiming they shot this plane out of the sky. Lets bring in Senior International correspondent Nick Paton Walsh. What did he tell you . They say theyve been to the site. They have now left the site had. They say they have left militants to take control of the area and remove journalists from it saying it was totally open for anyone to walk around. They say there are now consultations, negotiations he said happening between the separatists and what they refer to as the consultation contact group. Thats a number of proukrainian officials, dignitaries involved in the discussions about the conflict generally understand that mechanism is being used to begin talks. So the separatists about potentially securing a corridor may be having a ceasefire of some description to permit access to the crash site. I should say the man i spoke to clearly himself quite shaken up by what he had seen. Bodies on the road, bodies on the field. Said they were beginning the task of drying to collect some of the bodies that would be brought to some of the morgs in the main city when that task begins. He says right now its pitch black. Little they can do. And he went on to confirm still at this point, as well, they do not have access or control over the black box socalled flight recorder. These negotiations though about potentially allowing that access theyre happening between the osce, russia ukrainian officials, as well. Nick, did your proposalrussian separatist source say whether or not his organization or one of its affiliates was responsible for shooting down its plane as the Ukrainian Government has charged . Clear from the start, jake, this is in their words a ukrainian provocation saying this is something the Ukrainian Military has done to shed a bad light on the separatist movement there. Well see the blame game continue for the days ahead. Everyone keeps saying its. Itch black at the crash site. Is there going to be any evidence investigators mr. To get there . This is an active conflict situation. The separatists say theyre under siege from the Ukrainian Military. There has been fighting there recently, too. The idea of installing a Forensic Investigation Team there for a number of days to try and comb through the site seems a little farfetched no matter how noble the ambitions. People are going to be looking how was consultations between the separatists and authorities can come up with some sort of cease fire everybody trusts given the fact theyre on such opposing sides. The ukrainian president pore shen cole quite clear saying this is a terrorist attack. Nick, thank you so much. To pave low klimkin, the Ukrainian Foreign minister joining us again. Are you there . Yes. Thank you so much. Youve been speaking with the ukrainian president. Whats the latest you can tell us about this tragedy . Of course, its an extremely tragic case and i would like to express once more my condolences of anyone who were involved. We intercepted a number of phone calls between the terrorists talking about shutting down the plane now. And another proof on the terrorist activity and as a result of that, the mane has been shut down and as you know, in the recent days, we had extremely development and two Ukrainian Military planes have been shot down. As we believe also from the russian from the russian territory. And now, we have boeing 777 shot down by the terrorists . Sir, as you know, the prorussian separatists are saying the Ukrainian Government was behind this as a provocation. Im not saying i believe them. But who exactly do you hold responsible . Is it igor geirkin or some othe individual who is part of these prorussian militias who you hold responsible . Unfortunately we dont know yet. Weve just created special government permission to investigate the case and weve been talking to the terrorists on the ground bef crash and, of course, about the pocket for the commission to carry out these activities. Its of course, difficult but we will definitely do the job. Just to clarify here, ukraine does not control this ukrainian land. This is in the prorussian separatist territory . Yes, its exactly one piece where the separatists have operational control at the moment. You dont happen to know if there were any americans on board the plane, do you, sir . Yeah, i cant give you any sort of official information on that. We have now the preliminary data, but i would be reluctant to give those at the moment. I certainly can understand that. Ukraine important minister pavlo klimkin. I want to straight to barbara starr. Barbara, youve got new information from the Intelligence Community about this plane crash. What can you tell us . Jake, what everyone has suspected the u. S. Now willing to say is true. A senior u. S. Official telling me that the u. S. Government now has concluded that the plane the civilian airliner was shot down. How did they come to this conclusion . They have a couple of pieces of data that they are looking at. First, they have information from intelligence assets that tells them that a surfacetoair Missile System turned on in the area one of these complex surface to air Missile Systems and that radar was tracking an object. They believe it was the aircraft. So there was a tracking of an aircraft from a surfacetoair missiletom that was turned on. The second piece of data is, they have another asset that gives them a heat signature at essentially the same time as would have been when the plane was being shot down. An infrared heat signature that tells them there was a massive event at that time. They put both of these pieces of information together and they have now concluded that the plane was shot down. What they dont know the still and what they are looking at is working that trajectory backwards, doing the analysis that will help them to understand where the launch point was, was it on the ukraine side of the border . Was it on the russian side of the boarder . They need to figure that out. Find out where the trajectory leads them to, what the launch point was and then try and determine who might have been operating ha system. That remains the big question. Russian forces, of course, have that system. Russian forces have given equipment to the separatists but other officials, u. S. Officials are saying so far, theres no indication that the separatists would have had the ability or the opportunity to use one of these systems. Thats none of this is ironclad. It could have been separatists, it could have been Russian Forces or from either side of the border but this is a pretty sophisticated operation. The question will be, whether any of the separatists had the equipment, had the ability, had the knowledge to operate it and shoot down an airliner. Right now the u. S. Working it all backwards trying to figure out where the launch point was, where this missile came from. Barbara starr at the pentagon. Jim sciutto. U. S. Intelligence officials have concluded the plane was indeed shot down. We should take a moment to note the human tragedy of this, which the reporting has largely not contained because we do not yet know the identities of the victims. We have kept the images showing the bodies and the real human cost, the human toll off the screen for now. But just to make a note, earlier today, i received word about one of the victims. I was able to get on to her face buk page, see pictures of her with her children and this is a tragic and horrific event. And the human toll of this, the cost of this is going to be very difficult for people to bear, especially people in the netherlands, people in malaysia. And who knows . You know, that maybe even the United States. We dont know who was there. And the fact that it was intentional, the fact that this happened that will more people have now died in this plane crash than have died in this horror going on between israel and gaza, that somebody did it on purpose has serious ramifications beyond the human tragedy, but when it comes to world events. No question. Barbara raises the question, u. S. Officials have not established on which side of the border where this missile originated. Neither possibility is good. Right . If it came from the russian side, thats tremendously bad. That could mean Russian Forces possibly or maybe without the russian okay from senior russian leadership but Russian Forces raises the game here, russian involvement attacking a plane, civilians possibly americans on board. Even if it came from the ukrainian side of the border, certainly from the ukrainianen perspective these are prorussian separatists supported by russia. In their ranks are russians. Even if it came from the ukrainian side of the border, u. S. And ukrainian officials would still in many ways hold russia partly responsible for this. No matter which side it came from, there is a russian element to this which has tremendous ramifications for u. S. Russian relations, europeanrussian relations. This is an end to 20 years of warm post cold war relations between the u. S. And russia. We should note its not just suspicions from the ukrainians when it comes to the involvement of russia in these prorussian militants. Igor girkin or igor strel cough who reportedly took credit when he thought this was a different plane earlier, the head of the dom bast peoples militia is former kgb. Hes former gru, military intelligence in rauchia. The idea he has no relationship whatsoever to the russians is hard for ukrainians to believe. Absolutely. U. S. Intelligence officials have documented this. Its not just the ukrainians who say there are russian nationals fighting hip inside ukraine. Some are volunteers, guys who cross the border and said im going to fight for this cause, but theres been previous documentation of communication between commanders on the eastern side of the border and russian intelligence, et cetera. So we know that there is u. S. Officials no, sir there is a connection there, theres a nexus there. And this is this has tremendous ramifications going forward. To some degree, its been a reminder theres been a low level war going on for weeks. You almost forget for a moment about ukraine. S in not the first plane shot down over eastern ukraine. Tlps earlier this week, there were two others, a ukrainian transport plane on monday and a Ukrainian Military jet shot down by prorussian separatists. Lets go to the sound bite moments ago in detroit, Vice President joe viden spoke about the disaster, the malaysian Airlines Passenger jet is that just crashed. It was shot down u. S. Intelligence officials now say. Lets listen to the Vice President. Apparently had been shot down, shot down not an accident. Blown out of the sky. Weve seen reportsing that there may have been american citizens on board. And obviously, thats our first concern. Were now working of every minute to try to the confirm those reports as i speak. This is truly a grave situation. Nearly 300 souls have been lost. The families need consolation. And lets be clear, Vice President joe viden would not say the that there are reports of americans on board if it were not likely if not a certificatitude that there were americans on board. So now we have not just ukraine ian officials but the u. S. Government saying this plane was shot down. The question who did it is up for debate. The ukrainian say it was a buk, be surfacetoair Missile System. Is that possible . Tom foreman, how does this buk Missile System work . Could it hit a plane traveling 30,000 feet in the air, 500 miles an hour . Lets bring in the map and talk about the lay of the land here. Thats part of the answer to your question. The plane took off from amsterdam and headed to cue oo al lal lumpur. It passes right over the ukraine space. All indications were this plane was about 32,000 feet in the air. Is that in the range of some surfacetoair missiles . Yes, it absolutely is. There are some that can. It was about 30 miles from the russian border. Were not saying it came from russia but saying this is what you should know about the lay of the land. So if someone wanted to strike this plane from russia or from here in the areas where the prorussian separatists are or from over in ukraine, could they do it, yes, this he could with one of these systems. The buk antiMissile System that were showing here is about half the size it is in real life. This is a stateoftheart system operated by four people, it comes with four ready to launch missiles. It is highly mobile. It can move around from the time its rolling, it can stop and fire in five minutes. Acquiring a target and shooting in just 22 seconds. Heres a little bit about those missiles up on top there. Each one is about 16 feet long. Each one weighs about 1500 pounds, carries a warhead of 154 pounds of high explosive. Doesnt have to hit the target. Simply has to get close. But these are all guided throughout their flight to get very close and do tremendous damage. And look at this last number. The speed, 2,684 miles per hour. Top speed for these missiles. That makes shem supersonic. Somewhere around more than three times the speed of sound. By comparison, a passenger jet like this would be traveling, 500, 600 miles an hour. What that means is even if you fired one of these from 30 miles away, in about 40 seconds, it would be on that plane. So fast that people on board including the crew likely could never see it will coming before they were hit. We dont know the where they were fired from if in fact it was fired on, jake. But thats the capability of the buk system and one of the reasons people are looking at it so closely. We have no dale who fired this rocket but u. S. Officials now say that it was a rocket that or a missile that brought the plane down. Could testimony have come from is there any way right now to ascertain whether its more likely that it came from ukraine, came from prorussian space in ukraine, the territory taken over by militias or it came from russia . Is it possible it came from any of it . It is physically possible it could have come from any of them. Youre talking about a really robust Missile System. In some ways the idea its in the hand of rebel groups out there is probably one of the most alarming things because this is really stateoftheart bigtime military hardware. Yeah, the russians have it. They have had troops along the border for quite a number of weeks and built them back up. Certainly they would be capable of doing it if they had the right people commanding such a thing in this region right here, they could do it. Its worth noting, jake, that central to the Russian Missile program for many, many years have been many technicians and facilities in ukraine. So certainly ukraine has a lot of, as well. I hate to interrupt you but the malaysian Prime Minister is giving a press conference. The next of kin are the passengers and cell. All possible care will be provided to the next of kin. The government of malaysia is dispatching a special flight to kiev carrying a special malaysia Disaster Assistance and rescue team as well as a medical team. According to information provided by kiev air traffic control, the location of the planes emergency locator beacon is 48 degrees seven minutes and 23 seconds north and 38 degrees 31 minutes and 33 seconds east. The ukrainian authorities believe that the plane was shot down. At this stage, however, malaysia is unable to verify the cause of this tragedy. But we must and we will find out precisely what happened to this flight. Nor stone will be left unturned. If it tran pires that the plane was indeed shot down, we insist that the perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice. Emergency Operation Centers have been established in the last few hours, malaysian officials have been. Constant contact with their counterparts in ukraine and elsewhere. And i will be speaking to a number of World Leaders over the coming hours. Ive had several conversations with the Prime Minister of the netherlands. I have also spoken to the president of ukraine. He has pledged that there will be a full, thorough and independent investigation, and malaysian officials will be invited to take part. The ukraine also confirmed that his government will negotiate with rebels in the east of the country in order to establish a humanitarian corridor to the crash site. Just now, i received a call from president obama. He and i both agreed that the investigation must not be hindered in any way. An International Team must have full access to the crash site and no one should interfere with the area or more any debris including the black box. This is a tragic day in what has already been a tragic year for malaysia. As we work to understand what happened, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those on board the flight. I cannot imagine what will they must be going through at there the painful time. The flight passengers and crew came from almost different countries. But today, regardless of nationalnality, we are all united in grief. Thank you. That was najib razak, the Prime Minister of malaysia giving comments about another airplane that has gone down, another Malaysia Airlines flight. This one we have more information about, obviously. Lets go straight to cnns miles obrien and Richard Quest for reaction to what the Prime Minister said. Miles, lets start with you. We know a lot more about this plane than we did about flight 370,ing no less tragic, but there is information at that crash site where we can find out what happened exactly. Yeah, watching the day unfold, it was amazing how quickly we were able to fill in a lot of blanks that are still blank when it comes to the mh370 story. It was quite evident early on this was an inflight breakup. The question is, was there something on board that would have caused that or did something happen . Was there a shootdown from the ground . U. S. Intelligence sources now confirming that. There were plenty of assets that were trained on this region from already. We talked about that during the mh370 how the assets were pointed in this part of the world which would detect the heat signature of a rocket launch like that. So them have the data there, very specifically on exactly where this rocket began and where it ended. So this information is all going to come together very quickly. Any party in this conflict has the ability to do this. The ukrainians shot down mistakenly an airliner, a Siberian Airlines airliner in 2001 over the black sea. This capability exists on both sides. Now the investigation moves in that direction. Richard quest, one hopes that the International Community will be a little bit more on the ball when it comes to making sure that the information at this crash site is investigated thorl rowley and properly. Thats going to be the first major operation of nep investigation. Theyve got to the secure the site. Theyve got to find the black boxes. Theyve got to get the debris, which they can then use to actually find out what happened. This is not going to be that difficult. There will be plenty of residue, plenty of traces, plenty of evidence if you like of what took place. The question of course, is who bears the responsibility of that the investigation. And what seems to be already from the ukrainian president , hes already said ukraine will do the investigation. Its the state of occurrence. Now weve got to make sure that the cease fire or the proposed cease fire by the rebels in that area is brought into the being so that they can get the debris and, of course, most crucially they can get the bodies away from the site. So theres a lot of oh logistics that need to be put in place, lots of negotiation and whats interesting is the Prime Minister said that hes getting assurances from all parts that they will be allowed to proceed. Richard quest, miles obrien, stay where you are. Much more on this breaking news story in a moment including new information on the area in which the plane was flying and the warning the federal government issued to u. S. Airlines about this very same region. Just months ago. Of course, we are continuing to monitor the situation in gaza where an Israeli Ground offensive has begun. Stay with us. Well be right back. [ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality for over 19 million people. 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With medcare, i dont have to they deliver everything i need right to my door with Free Shipping plus, medcare takes private policies, medicaid, even my medicare sleep apnea machines, nebulizers, medcare has all the finest medical supplies. The best part. Medcare saves us money medcare allows us the time to do the things we love. Medcare. We deliver a better life. Welcome back to the lead. We are following breaking news on two major stories at this hour, israel launching a ground offensive against Palestinian Militants in gaza, and of course, the crash of another Malaysia Airlines flight. This one flying over ukraine and crashing with 2g 95 people on board. A senior u. S. Official telling cnn that a missile did indeed shoot that plane out of the air. The question now the mystery of course, who fired that missile. Lets bring in our aviation correspondent renee marsh. We just heard from the malaysian Prime Minister saying that there was no distress call from the plane. What else do you know . Well, jake, we just saw that wonderful report from the tom foreman and it would just suggest that perhaps whatever happened it happened so quickly, that there was no time for that distress call. We can be also tell that you both the faa and the United Nations organization that coordinates International Aviation entities, they put out a warning to airliners saying there was an unsafe situation along the border of ukraine and russia within this air space. But we now nope today that the area where this crash happened was outside of the area in which these two agencies gave airliners this warning. That will information we know also, jake, if youre getting on a flight today and flying internationally, you may want to hear this. The faa does tell cnn that u. S. Carriers have all voluntarily said that they will no longer be flying in this area while this is all unraveling or unfolding as there investigation gets under way because obviously there is still a security issue here. Were going to break into a press conference going on right now in amsterdam. Lets listen in. No, its not a question of denying. I dont know. What do you know . I dont know. I think they would then fall within the 47th. Thats what i would imagine. I dont have any mention of any french passengers at this point in time. But on the list of passengers, do you have french passengers on this list . I dont know yet. Obviously, we know the names but you go through a very careful verification process to make sure that you do not mix up names or nationalities [ inaudible question ] there is a team and were hoping to partner with klm. Youre watching a press conference, these are executives with Malaysian Airlines. Lets listen in. I apologize. The family of the passengers are accommodated here at location t and we are looking forward to the help from klm and our manpower senior dedicateded to helping them. That was a press conference or is it continuing now . These officials were told executives with Malaysian Airlines talking in amsterdam about what happened. [ speaking Foreign Language ] we lost the aircraft. Were going go to Nick Paton Walsh in london who may have more information about this crash. U. S. Officials have said they do believe that this plane was shot down. A missile took it down. You also heard the malaysian Prime Minister announce there was no distress call from the plane indicating what happened happened very quickly. What else do we know . We just heard the first comments from really i think the one figure in russia whose opinion counts in this matter. Thats vladimir putin. According to the state news agency, early comments, we havent got them in full. But the two things is that stand out, ukraine should have responsibility for what happened with the malaysian airliner and he says the tragedy with would not have happened had the Ukrainian Military not renewed its military operations in the east of the country. We dont have all that he said, but these early comments certainly dont necessarily. Get into much detail on the blame game. Hes parking responsibility for ukraines government and this happened in ukrainian territory and he makes the comment about had there been military operations there, had there not have been military operations there, this wouldnt have happened. No specific finger pointing in terms of what happened. Im jake tapper. I turn you over to wolf blitzer covering a big story in jerusalem. Happening now, a situation room special report. Breaking news. The crash of the Malaysia Airlines jumbo jet. U. S. Sources say the plane was shot from the sky by the a surfacetoair missile, sparking an international crisis. A scene of carnage. Bodies and debris scattered over miles. Were live on the ground where the wreckage is now smoldering. More breaking news. Israeli forces have now invaded gaza launching a ground war, opening a new chapter in the de