Israels airport. My interview with Michael Bloomberg coming up. Raging war, hamas unleashes new rocket attacks while diplomats work desperately to try to halt the fighting. Are they on the verge of a ceasefire . Im wolf blitzer in jerusalem. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Youre in the situation room. Captions by vitac www. Vitac. Com this is cnn breaking news. Were following two major breaking news stories in the worlds spotlight right now. The war between israel and hamas now in its 16th day and the growing diplomatic pressure to end the fighting that has already claimed more than 700 lives. Also new developments in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight 17 including victims remains return to the netherlands and new intelligence about whats happening on the ground in ukraine and in russia. We have cnns Global Resources on both sore stories our correspondents are standing by and so our guests. Lets begin with barbara starr. Shes working the the flight 17 story for us. You have new information, barbara. What are you learning . Reporter tens of thousands of dutch citizens having the sad honor of standing watch for the fallen of flight 17. Sounding the call known as the the last post, a centuriesold military tradition that a smallen soldiers duty is over, now rest in peace. As if they fell on a battle fee, the dutch rendering full military honors, saluting the victims of Malaysia Airlines flight 17. Like the roads, the people of the netherlands making clear respect will be paid, even the smallest citizens laying flowers. As the solemn tribute continued, the accusations did not stop. The the ukrainian counterintelligence chief telling cnns kyung lau he has no doubt the rebels knew they were firing at a passenger jet. If they possess this kind of weapon like buk automatic missile launcher they should know that the plane was not a military plane. Its a big target. They should analyze and they should knew that it was a civilian plane. The United States laying the blame on russia. Responsibility lays at the feet of president putin not just for this, but for every incident that weve seen throughout this conflict. Vladimir putins intentions on ukraines eastern border with russia are unclear as u. S. Officials question moves by the rebels and their backers in mosc moscow. U. S. Intelligence is looking at whether these two ukrainian su25s shot down wednesday could have been brought down by surface toair missile fire frm the russian side of the border. Cnn has learned the latest u. S. Intelligencendicates, in fact, some Russian Troops have moved right to the border giving them the ability to attack into ukraine without entering the country even as they continue to send tanks and artillery across into rebelheld territory. Intelligence also indicates some rebels have fled from their ukrainian strongholds and gone back into russia. Now the u. S. Calculates that the missile that hit flight 17 perhaps blew for less than 10 seconds before it hit the plane. So where are we if the russians indeed are moving closer to the border which u. S. Intelligence believes they are, that puts their rockets and artillery in range of ukraine territory and, wolf, it puts the region even more on a hair trigger. Wolf . It certainly does. Barbara starr at the pentagon. Lets go to eastern ukraine. Cnns phil black is on the scene for us. Phil, we just heard about those two u ukrainian jets shot down. What do you hear where you are . Reporter what the prorussian militants are telling us that they shot down these two Fighter Aircraft a short distance from flight 17 and they did it using shouldermounted missiles. They show beyond the range of any shouldermounted system. They have preliminary information showing that the weapons may have been fired across the border in russia. Once again in this conflict, one event and two different versions and what it shows is despite the international outrage, really, towards the separatist forces over the downing of mh17. It has not deterred them or their willingness to take on and surface to air attacks in ukraines air power. Wolf . Phil, whats the latest from the Malaysia Flight 17 crash site . Its an eerie sight out well. No investigators, no emergency workers, some journalists and locals trying to get back to their normal lives and really, thats it. No progress, really, in answering the key questions that still need to be answered and crucially, i think, no further searching for more human remains or bodies. International leaders and officials have expressed concern that it is possible that there could still be more passengers bodies out there that have yet to be found and it is certainly possible, it is a wide search area and the search that weve witnessed up until this point has not been particularly thorough, wolf. Phil black on the scene for us in eastern ukraine, thank you very much. Lets get more on the situation from the crash site. Joining us is michael cue, hes spokesman for the organization of security and cooperation in europe, the osce. Explain what the access crash site was if you can describe pieces of interest. You seem to have been able to uncover today for the investigators. Right. Thank you for having us back, wolf. I dont want to contradict your correspondent, but there was activity out there, not from the rebel side, but certainly on our side and we spent the whole day and we combed more area than we had ever before. Yes, we did stop for quite some time at two or three pieces of fuselage which if i can describe it this way, they bore characteristics that were not consistent with Everything Else weve seen. Kind of shrapnel and hoses that were very, very bizarre. The malaysians took interest in that and we documented it carefully and then on the other side, wolf, and we know our hears go out to the victims and their families. We made an intentional effort today to keep a very keen eye out for any sign of human remains. We did only see in one spot some human remains and we noted that and told the rebel escort about it and then also there were reports coming tonight from journalists who hadnt been out in the field that they perhaps have seen more bodies. So as a Monitoring Mission our policy is to follow up those types of reports and we will be doing that tomorrow with the malaysian experts. Do you know how many bodies have actually been recovered and how many still remain at that wreckage site resumablresumably . Wolf, we have no way of independently verifying that. When that train left shortly before it left we were told by the rebels in the vicinity of about 260 or 270, but at the time we are careful to say we have no way to verify that. All that were going by is we put the figures of what we actually saw in body bags that a few dozen, but again, that was a very limited area. Tomorrow, and for as many days as necessary, we will keep our eyes very widely open and travel as much territory, as we can to spot that type of remains because, you know, theres a lot of wolf, theres a lot of heavy debris still out there and not quite sure what could be underneath so we will do our best to document that and im sure you will. Lets not forget, 298 people were aboard that malaysian aircraft. Youve also said that parts of the plane were actually hacked into possibly with saws. Explain the state of the wreckage, what you and your team actually saw. Yeah. Sure. That was about two days ago when we were leaving one of the main impact sites and, wolf, this is where the cockpit and the forward section, the firstclass section came down and kind of pancaked very compactly, but as we were leaving that site the other day there were workers in uniform taking out a power saw and hacking into it quite invasively, and we took note of that. We reported on it and then also, wolf, at the other main site, the site where the earth was really scorched by a lot of fuel that came down, thats where the wings came down, was there big parts of the fuselage that were propped up yesterday. Again, we noted that difference and we reported on it and it will be for others to draw conclusions, but there were marked differences from when we first came here. Do you think that that chaos, that horrible scene you saw will jeopardize the entire investigation . Well, you know, at the beginning there was chaos and as phil black accurately described it, was there calmness all over today and even yesterday. Its like everyone picked up and left. There were no tents there anymore that they were using to manage the whole site. No activity going on except, you know, ourselves. We had about almost 15 people out there today and we had the malaysian experts with us, but, no, we feel somewhat on our own right now. As ive said many times there are people far better placed and trained than we are to do this very specialized type of work. And just quickly, wolf, i will say within our Monitoring Mission, over 40 Different Countries are pressened and we have former military, former Law Enforcement and human rights experts and we will do what we can to help this process as much as possible. Weve spoken several times with the u. S. Ambassador to the osce, daniel barons who has helped us appreciate whats going on and michael, youve helped us as well. Keep up the good work and good luck to you and your entire osce team. Well stay in close touch with all of you. Thank you very, very much. Up next, the faa extends the ban on on u. S. Airlines flying into tel aviv. Why did the former city mayor Michael Bloomberg hop on one of the few remaining flights . Well ask him. Growing talk of a possible ceasefire between israel and hamas, ill get the latest from the spokesman from hamas and also ill speak with the spokesman for the Prime Minister of israel. train horn vo wherever our trains go, the economy comes to life. Norfolk southern. One line, infinite possibilities. [ male announcer ] thats why theres ocuvite to help replenish key eye nutrients. Ocuvite has a unique formula not found in your multivitamin to help protect your eye health. Ocuvite. Help protect your eye health. For over 19 million people. [ susan ] my promotion allowed me to start investing for my retirement. Transamerica made it easy. [ female announcer ] everyone has a moment when tomorrow becomes real. Transamerica. Transform tomorrow. Then boom. What happened . Stress, fun, bad habits kids, now what . Lets build a new, smarter bed using the dualair chambers to sense your movement, heartbeat, breathing. Introducing the sleep number bed with sleepiqtm technology. It tracks your sleep and tells you how to adjust for a good, better and an awesome night. The difference . Try adjusting up or down. Youll know cuz sleep iq™ tells you. Only at a sleep number store, mattresses with sleepiq start at just 999. 98. Know better sleep with sleep number. Were here in jerusalem covering day 16 of the war between israel and hamas and the faa ban on u. S. Airlines flying into and out on of israels main airport. That would be Ben Gurion International airport just outside of tel aviv. Its now been extended to a second day. Cnn aviation correspondent renee mar ssh wosh is working the sto us and shes back in washington. In short, the faa Still Believes the situation on the ground in israel is dangerous and no clear indication tonight as to when the agency will lift the ban on on u. S. Flights there. Sirens in tel aviv near Ben Gurion Airport shortly after the u. S. Extensed its ban on flights and a day after another rocket hit less than a mile away. Todays attack interscented, but u. S. Flights there grounded for another day. The rocket landed very close to the airport and i think if you were a passenger taking off or landing youd be pretty nervous about that. The official reason, hazards created by the Armed Conflict in israel and gaza. The danger, evident to passengers. I came to fly and my flight is delayed and then it was canceled, and then there was a bomb alarm. The whole airport rushed into the bomb shelters. The majority of European Airlines also suspending flights. Hamas calls it a victory saying, quote, the resistance success in stopping the air traffic and isolating israel from the world is a great victory for the resistance and a destruction of the enemys dignity. But israel insists the airport is safe and has lobbied to reverse the faas ban on flights. I think this decision only rewards the Hamas Terrorists for nothing. Reporter not all flights are canceled. El al still flying from the u. S. Onboard one flight in a show of solidarity, former new york mayor Michael Bloomberg. El al, unlike any american passenger plane is prepared for missile attack with defensive systems. Even if the faa lifted the ban today, some airlines like delta would not necessarily resume flights. Were going to need concrete information from our government that lets us draw an independent conclusion and keeping with our much higher duty of care that it is going to be safe. One Italian Airline shows there could be another option. Using a different airport like uvda 150 miles to the south. Today, 14 air flights shifted there from tel aviv. We are still trying to find out if landing at a different airport in israel is something that the faa would allow. We have asked the agency what it would take to lift the ban, no clear answer to that tonight. It would only say that it is monitoring the situation. Wolf . All rate. Well see what happens. That other airport just north of israel, the Southern City of eliat. Thank you, remay. In doha, qatar, the leader of hamas emphatically rejected a full ceasefire unless israel lifted its blockade of gaza. Osama hamdan was there and hes joining me live from qatar. Mr. Hamdan, thanks very much for joining us. Are you ready to accept a humanitarian ceasefire right now with no strings attached, deal with some of the other demands down the road . If its clear that hamas declared from the first day that we are ready to deal with the ceasefire for humanitarian reasons and that happened twice and on both times israelis violated that at the end of the time. Six hours they violated that after five hours and the second time it was three hours and they violated it after 12 hours, but we are ready for that. There is an israeli attack, killing the palestinians by bombs and killing the palestinians by siege. We want to make a complete end on this attack on both levels and this is the idea of the ceasefire including the lift of the siege. If there is a humanitarian ceasefire agreement will you stop launching rockets and missiles into israel . Well, in both times before, the United Nations talked to hamas directly and we accepted their offer and i want to remind you, the first time i told you that we have some questions, and there were answers and we said yes. On the same conditions and terms we said yes directly for the second time. If there was a direct contact with hamas and they are under the same conditions i dont think that there would be any problem for hamas to say yes. So where does the egyptian proposal for an immediate ceasefire stand right now . As you know, the egyptians put forward a plan. The israeli say they accept it. Do you accept that egyptian proposal . Weve said clearly and weve informed the egyptians that this proposal is not accepted by all of the Palestinian Resistance movements and that was informed also to abu mazen. Yesterday there was a meeting for the palestinian Political Leadership for the plo leadership and they declared the position insisting to lift the siege at the same time of the ceasefire which means now we are talking about a united palestinian position. We have to have both together. If that had been, regardless to who may offer that, they will accept it it and it is clear that we are not against the egyptian rule. Weve rejected some ideas, but that doesnt mean there were good ideas from egypt we will accept it. We will accept any gooded whys if it comes from egypt or any other place. Do you have a commitment from the new Egyptian Government from president al sissy and his top leadership that egypt, in your words, would lift the siege. As you know, theyve blockaded an entrance from gaza into egypt and into the sinai. Well, there is no commitment from the Egyptian Government and leadership and what we have heard from them all the time that the israelis are responsible and in charge, if they have crossed a crossing point they will do that, but must be a commitment from the International Community and the israelis have to accept that so there will be no excuse to close this point or any other closing point surrounding gaza. We are not only talking about hafa. And we have gaza and the other side. We want them all open for the needs of the Palestinian People and their daily needs. I guess the bottom line question right now, given the concern that obviously israelis have about Ben Gurion International airport outside of tel aviv is this, is hamas deliberately trying to target Ben Gurion Airport with rockets and missiles . Well, its clearly that the troops declared a warning for the airlines to stop flying to the Ben Gurion Airport in order to prevent any civilian casualties and i believe what had happened the last two days was a good sign for protectioning tprotectiong the civilians from being harmed by whats going on. It is clear that israelis now may understand what is the meaning of putting the Palestinian People under the siege. What is the meaning of preventing the people to go in and out. I hope that it can be a good message for netanyahu to understand the meaning of the situation in gaza under his siege and he can think logically and in a practical way. So, i guess the question is are you