33,000 feet over the war zone in eastern ukraine. flight 17 with 295 people on board crashed near the russian border where pro-russian-ukrainian rebels are battling to break away from ukraine. there are no survivors. just yesterday the rebels claimed responsibility for downing a ukrainian military jet, a ukrainian military transport plane was shot down on monday, but this evening the rebels who are backed by russia insist they had nothing to do with today's crash of the airliner. this video captured the fire just moments after the malaysia airlines boeing 777 fell in pieces from the sky. smoke bill load from a village held by ukrainian rebels, about 25 miles from the russian border. wreckage, body parts and personal belongings were scattered over miles. flight 17 took off from amsterdam at 6:30 eastern time this morning bound for kuala lumpur, malaysia. less than four hours into the flight, it disappeared from radar. the 295 people on board included 280 passengers and a crew of 15. some of their relatives gathered at airports in amsterdam and kuala lumpur where the plane had been scheduled to land about 6:00 eastern time this evening. we have a team of correspondents covering this rapidly-developing story. first to national security correspondent david martin at the pentagon. david? >> reporter: scott, one of the scenarios investigated is the rebels were trying to shoot down a ukrainian military transport plane and hit the airliner by mistake. this is the missile system the ukrainian government says shot down the malaysian airliner. it is a sophisticated weapon composed of radars, command vehicles and missile launchers. not a weapon a rebel army like the separatists in eastern ukraine would be expected to own or be able to operate, but it is listed as being in the inventory of the ukrainian military. it is possible a unit, along with its operators, was seized by the separatists when they overran ukrainian military bases. it could also been fired by russians operating either inside eastern ukraine or from their own territory. it was made by a russian company which has advertised its capabilities with this animation showing how it could shoot down what looks like an american f-35 jet fighter. a much more difficult target than an airliner. just yesterday, president obama included the manufacturer on a list of companies targeted by new sanctions aimed to punish russia for its support of the separatist fighters in eastern ukraine. analysts are still going through a mass of data collected by radars and satellites and expect to be able to pinpoint the exact location from which the missile was fired. >> pelley: david, thank you. the airspace over eastern ukraine was not closed, and numbers of airlines have been using the route. the wreckage is yielding many clues, and bob orr has that. >> reporter: the trail of debris from what was malaysia airlines flight 1 17 provides te first real clue. parts of the wreckage and bodies are spread over several miles along the flight path. strong evidence the boeing 777 started coming apart in midair after some force crippled the aircraft. large sections of the jet have been recovered away from the primary crash site. this section of fuselage shown with a man standing on one of the jet's emergency exit doors, and this part of the plane's tail apparently broke off before the bulk of the jet hit the ground. the impact crater where the wings, engines and central fuselage came down holds badly fragmented debris, the most recognizable, this turban, came from one of the jet's two wing-mounted engines. the pofflized and charred wreckage suggests the plane hit at a high rate of speed and engulfed in fire fed by thousands of pounds of fuel loaded in the wings. but that should not prevent investigators from confirming flight 17 was brought down by a missile. aviation structure and fire experts will examine the wreckage for missile propellant and evidence the skin was punctured by high speed impact. on contrast an on board bomb would cause the skin to buckle outward. experts said everything was normal until it disappeared from radar, similar to a missile strike, a scenario the black boxes should corroborate. >> pelley: how much effort would go into finding the black boxes and determining whether there might be other explanation. >> they have to check every box to come up with a provable conclusion acceptable to the world. they will go over the passenger manifest and recheck intelligence channels to rule out terrorism. they don't think terrorism is involved. they also need to check the aircraft systems and rule out saab tafnlgt this looks much like a missile strike. determining who did it is quite a question. >> pelley: thanks very much. margaret brennan, state department correspondent, has been talking with her witnesses all day. margaret? margaret brennan since the beginning of the conflict six months ago, both sides have accused one another of causing the tension. but the obama administration says there is clear evidence russia is providing the separatists with military support, actions it has warned could have fatal consequences. moments after the tragedy, ukraine's president petro poroshenko said it was not an accident but an act of terrorism. ukraine's government said the airliner had been shot down by a missile and claimed there was evidence of russian military involvement. then pointed to comments made on twitter by separatist leader igor girkin who earlier took credit for shooting down a military aircraft. he warned, do not fly in our skies. later ukraine security agency released recordings of what it claimed were intercepted phone calls between a russian intelligence officer and separatist leader in ukraine. we couldn't verify the recording but a voice is heard saying -- we have just shot down a plane. another separatist leader denied the rebels had a missile capable of bringing down an aircraft, and he blamed the ukrainian armed forces. tonight the kremlin is deflecting blame and president putin pointed the finger back at the ukrainian government, saying it is responsible for what he has called a terrible tragedy. >> pelley: thanks very much. until last year, mike morell was the number two official at the central intelligence agency. he's now a cbs news contributor. mike, what are the chances the iraqian military, not the rebels, fired the missile? >> reporter: scott, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me that the ukrainian military is the responsible party here. i can't imagine what target they would be shooting at. the separatists, the rebels don't have an air force, so i can't imagine that the ukrainian military is looking in the sky as it tries to deal with these rebels. an>> pelley: and if the russian-banged rebels are responsible for this, where does that leave russian president vladimir putin, in your estimation? >> i think there's a follow-on question to if the separatists were the ones to shoot it down, and that follow-on question is did they use the system provided to them by the russians or did they get training from the russians or did the russians actually help them do this, and if there's any russian connection, then i think that puts a tremendous amount of pressure on putin, who you know has claimed he is looking for peace and has claimed he is not providing support to the separatists. so he would be seen as a liar and he would be under a tremendous amount of pressure. >> pelley: mike morell, former deputy director after the c.i.a. thank you very much. let us remind you briefly how ukraine came unglued. ukraine is split down the riddle by dnieper river. most people west of the river wants ties with western europe. many to the east are ethnically russian and want ties to russia. five months ago the pro-russian president of ukraine was overthrown in a popular uprising. russia responded by invading and annexing ukraine's crimea peninsula. since then, pro-russian rebels in the east have been fighting to break away from ukraine. russia is supplying the rebels with weapons and support. president obama, today -- yesterday, i should say, imposed new sanctions against russia. today, he was talking on the phone with president putin, when putin told him about the first reports of the plane crash. a short time later, mr. obama on a trip to delaware, said this -- >> obviously, the world is watching reports of a downed passenger jet near the russian-ukraine border, and it looks like it may be a terrible tragedy. right now we're working to determine whether there were american citizens on board. >> pelley: and we still don't know whether there are americans that were on board this aircraft. this evening, russian president putin said ukraine bears responsibility for the tragedy because to have the continuing civil war. the u.s. supports the ukrainian government in its fight against the rebels. major garrett is covering all of this from the white house tonight. major? >> i was in new york city for a fundraiser and political meeting, president obama telephoned petro poroshenko to offer condolences and assistance with the crash investigation. both presidents said it was crucial evidence at the crash site remain in place so international investigators can determine the facts. other than that, it was business as usual for mr. obama. his remarks in delaware as scheduled focus on improving substandard roads and bridges. this afternoon the president arrived in manhattan for two political meetings. all this less than 24 hours after the united states slapped a third round of economic sanctions against russia, targeting two large russian banks, two large energy firms and eight russian arms manufacturers. >> pelley: major, we understand this evening the president has been meeting with his national security team. what have you heard from that? >> that meeting was by phone. he delivered the national security team one mandate, provide as much u.s. assistance as rapidly as possible, a believable, neutral investigation to determine the facts of the ground in ukraine. >> pelley: major garrett in the white house, thank you. if malaysia flight 17 was shot down, it won't be the first time this type to have thing has happened. in 1983, a soviet fighter shot down korean airlines flight 007 on its way from new york to seoul. the 747 had strayed into soviet airspace. 269 people were killed. in 1988, iran air flight 655 buzz brought down by a missile fired from the u.s.s. ship in the gulf. 290 people were killed. more on the crash later in the broadcast. we'll have the latest developments first thing tomorrow. tonight, israeli troops have launched an invasion of gaza. the 32-mile gaza strip is a homeland for palestinians displaced by the creation of israel. over the last ten days, islamic militants have fired hundreds of unguided rockets killing one civilian and 240 palestinians killed and 1800 wounded, nearly all civilians. holly williams is in gaza tonight. what are you seeing? >> scott, the sky here in gaza has been lit up over and over again, as israel pounds this tiny strip of hand with the air strikes. this is the heaviest bombardment we've seen during this escalation and comes as the israeli media reports that tens of thousands of israeli soldiers have now entered the gaza strip backed by tanks and bulldozers. israel has been threatening a ground offensive for days, calling out nearly 50,000 reservists, amassing troops and leading columns of tanks to the border. looks like initially, this offensive will be quite limited and target tunnels used by palestinian militants to infiltrate israeli territory. israeli said it foiled an attack overnight by militants trying to sneak into israel and that it killed at least one of them with an air strike on the mouth of the tunnel. israel says it is that attack as well as attacks by palestinian militants during what was supposed to be a brief humanitarian cease fire today but it's forced to act to defend its own citizens. officials in gaza say more than 230 palestinians have been killed during these air strikes and we expect to see many, many more casualties tomorrow. during the same period, the militants have fired more than 1,000 of their rockets into southern israel, killing one person. we talked this evening with a spokesman from hamas, the militant group that wants the gaza strip, and he vowed to make israel pay dealer dearly, in mie words, for sending its troops into the gaza strip. >> pelley: thank you, holly. a closer look at the flight path malaysia aerial airlines flight7 has flown many times and what we know about the crash victims when this expanded victim of the "cbs evening news" continues. >> the malaysian prime minister today said the plane's route had been considered safe. after the plane went down today, other aircraft began to avoid the region as seen on this flight radar map. the f.a.a. announced u.s. plane wills stay out of that airspace. no an already in the world has gotten as much scrutiny over the last four months as malaysia airlines. since march, along with the malaysian government, it has been part of an international effort to find its missing jetliner, m.h.370, which disappeared with radar with 239 people on board enroid from beijing to kuala lumpur, believed to have crashed in the southern indian ocean. typically, the investigators try to get to the scene as soon as possible but in this case because it is a war zone, it's unclear if and when a team of investigators will go to the crash site. >> pelley: jeff pegues, thank you, jeff. as it happens, the crash of flight 17 today comes on the anniversary of another air disaster. it was 18 years ago tonight that t.w.a. flight 800 exploded in midair off the south shore of long island, new york, all 230 people on board were killed. there were theories the plane had been shot down but investigators concluded it was a fuel tank explosion cause bid an electrical spark. in a moment, what we know about the passengers and crew aboard the malaysian plane. >> pelley: the 295 people aboard malaysia 17 came from many nations. who were they? here's don dahler with what we know so far. >> reporter: bodies and debris scattered over almost six square miles. people from the nearby village are gathering personal effects. here a tourist guide t to bali, there passports, people from the netherlands, malaysia. the passports don't say who's left blind. loved ones, friends, co-workers, many who gathered at the kuala lumpur and amsterdam airports to find out what they could and grieve together. most passengers were european, but also australians, malaysias, indonesians and filipinos, also a canadian. a father went on social media, the father of shazana mohd salleh. she is me daughter, he said, hoping to get her married soon. she felt this month was special for her. a woman said her 67-year-old sister was on the flight, living in swirtser land, had not been home to malaysia in five years and was returning for a religious holiday. the nationality of 62 passengers is still unclear. the amsterdam to kuala lumpur is popular with europeans going on vacation in the south pacific. >> pelley: no survivors and we don't know yet whether americans were on board. don, thanks very much. the latest on this story coming up in a moment. when i did go see the doctor, and he prescribed lyrica. it helped me. 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