and a quick recap of today s top stories. the shootdown of malaysian airlines flight 17 over ukraine. the boeing 777 was carrying 298 passengers and crew. from amsterdam to kuala lumpur. it was shot down by a surface-to air missile by someone aiming at a military aircraft. the ukraine government is blaming pro-russian rebels. and our other top story. the crisis in the middle east. israel says one of its soldiers has been killed in the ground operation against hamas. thousands of israeli tanks have rolled into gaza on a mission to destroy hamas rocket firing operations and take out tunnels used by the militants there. don t miss our updates on facebook at wnnfans.com. and on twitter. coming up, though, more news from abc. stay with us. thanks for joining us for all the news this morning. more news from abc. thanks for joining us for all the news this morning. announcer: this is abc s world news now, informing insomniacs for two decades. .
israeli military says its ground forces are targeting militant tunnels there and rocket firing operations. and this morning, hamas says israel will pay a heavy price. abc s alex marquardt is in gaza city. reporter: overnight israeli forces fired flares into the skies above gaza as they pummeled the strip with artillery. all that before prime minister benjamin netanyahu said he was escalating this ten-day conflict by sending ground forces into gaza. the goal, he says, to take out the extensive network of underground tunnels that lead from gaza into israel. that has been built by hamas, and used, israel says, to carry out attacks. so, in that respect, so far, it s a relatively limited operation. but netanyahu says it could be expanded. the government has just called up 18,000 more reserve troops, bringing the total to now more than 60,000. there had been a window of hope when for five hours israel and hamas agreed to a pause in the fighting for humanitarian
working to determine if any americans were on board. stay with abc news all morning long, as we cover the plane crash investigation. and later this half hour, what we can learn from past incidents like this one and safety in the skies. the other major story we re following this morning, the crisis in the middle east. israel now says that one of its soldiers has died in the ground operation against hamas. thousands of israeli tanks have rolled into gaza. on a mission to destroy hamas rocket firing operations. and to take out tunnels used by militants. here s abc s hamish macdonald. reporter: the blazing night sky above gaza was the giveaway. after hours of heavy shelling, confirmation. israel has begun the ground phase of its operations in gaza. this strip of land is being bombarded from the air, sea and land. artillery units, infantry, the armored corps, all being deployed. another 18,000 reservists are being called up. a total now of more than 60,000. for the past week, we ve seen