Without radar, missile may not have identified jet

LONDON (AP) — If Ukrainian rebels shot down the Malaysian jetliner, killing 298 people, it may have been because they didn't have the right systems in place to distinguish between military and civilian aircraft, experts said Saturday.

American officials said Friday that they believe the Boeing 777 was brought down by an SA-11 missile fired from an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists. U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power said the Russians might have provided technical help to the rebels to operate the systems.

But to function correctly, an SA-11 launcher, also known as a Buk, is supposed to be connected to a central radar command — as opposed to acting alone — to be certain of exactly what kind of aircraft it is shooting at.

From the information that has come to light so far, the rebels don't appear to have such systems, said Pavel Felgenhauer, a respected defense columnist for Novaya Gazeta, a Moscow-based newspaper known for its critical coverage of Russian affairs.

"They could easily make a tragic mistake and shoot down a passenger plane when indeed they wanted to shoot down a Ukrainian transport plane," he said.

On Friday, Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti news agency also quoted Konstantin Sivkov, director of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems, as saying Buk missiles "should be provided with external systems of target identification, that is, radio-location systems. It's an entire system. And the insurgents certainly don't have radio-location."

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Graphic shows a missile launch system.; 2c x 4 inches; 96.3 mm x 101 mm;

Without a backup, a missile can be fired by operators who are not totally sure of what they are aiming at.

"Just seeing a blip on a radar screen was in no away sufficient to make a targeting decision," said Keir Giles, associate fellow for international security and Russia and Eurasia programs at the Royal Institute of International Affairs. "You need an additional radar system to which these weapons systems can be connected for additional information."

Social media postings from the rebels in the immediate aftermath of Thursday's Malaysia Airlines disaster also suggested they had assumed civilian aircraft were avoiding the area and that anything in the air was hostile.

If a missile was fired without attempting to identify the aircraft, the destruction of Malaysia Flight 17 would be an act of criminal negligence, said retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Robert Latiff. He said commercial airliners operate on known communications frequencies and emit signals that identify them and give their altitude and speed.

"It doesn't sound like the separatists were using any of this (information), or tried for that matter," said Latiff, who oversaw advanced weapons research and development for the Air Force and now teaches at the University of Notre Dame.

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FILE - In this Friday, May 9, 2014 file photo, a Russian SA-11 launcher maneuvers along Red Square d …

"My guess is the system's radar saw a return from a big 'cargo' plane flying at 30,000 feet or so and either automatically fired, or some aggressive, itchy operator fired, not wanting to miss an opportunity. It doesn't seem they chose to seek any additional data before pulling the trigger," Latiff said.

A NATO military officer, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make public statements, said a Buk launcher, which is a self-propelled tracked vehicle resembling a tank, is ordinarily under the orders of a separate command post vehicle.

"In a totally textbook way of setting up, the command post vehicle assigns targets and designates the firing units — launcher 1 or launcher 2," the NATO officer said.

Once targeted by such a potent weapon, the Boeing wide-body twinjet would have had little chance. Edward Hunt, a senior consultant for IHS Jane's, which provides news and analysis on defense and geopolitical issues, said a commercial plane is not a difficult target for someone who knows how to operate a surface-to-air missile system.

"Civilian aircraft fly in a straight line," Hunt said. "A civilian aircraft doesn't try to take evasive action. It probably didn't even know it was targeted."

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FILE - In this Friday, July 4, 2014 file photo, Ukrainian government forces maneuver a SA-11 launche …

In her remarks to the U.N. Security Council, Power said that a journalist had reported seeing an SA-11 system early Thursday in separatist-controlled territory near Snizhne, "and separatists were spotted hours before the incident with an SA-11 SAM system close to the site where the plane came down."

Power didn't identify the reporter. But on Thursday, AP journalists saw a rocket launcher near Snizhne.

Rebels also bragged in June 29 report carried by Russia's Itar-Tass news agency that they had gotten hold of some Buk missile systems from Ukrainian stocks, though they did not say how many or describe their condition.

A few weeks later, rebels shot down a Ukrainian Antonov 26, a military transport plane that can fly at altitudes of up to 7,500 meters (24,750 feet).

If Thursday's disaster was due to mistaken identity, it would not be the first.

Soviet air defenses in 1983 accidentally shot down Korean Airlines Flight 007, killing 269. In 1988, the USS Vincennes, a guided missile cruiser, brought down Iran Air Flight 655, with 290 people aboard, after mistaking it for an attacking warplane.

In October 2001, Siberian Airlines Flight 1812, traveling from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Novosibirsk, Russia, plunged into the Black Sea, killing all 78 aboard. The Ukrainian military at first denied responsibility, but later admitted its military mistakenly shot down the plane during a training exercise.

___

Dahlburg reported from Brussels. AP correspondent Jim Heintz contributed from Moscow.

Proper tools may have prevented MH17 disaster

If pro-Russia separatists shot down the Malaysia Airlines jet, it could have been because they lacked radar to identify it.
'A tragic mistake'

Ukraine, rebels argue over wreck; Europeans give Putin 'last chance'

CCBS-Newyork

Ukraine Accuses Russia Of Helping Separatists Destroy Evidence In Malaysia Airlines Crash

BS-Newyork

By Anton Zverev and Peter Graff

HRABOVE/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukraine accused Russia and pro-Moscow rebels on Saturday of destroying evidence to cover up their guilt in the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner that has accelerated a showdown between the Kremlin and Western powers.

As militants kept international monitors away from wreckage and scores of bodies festered for a third day, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the rebels to cooperate and insisted that a U.N.-mandated investigation must not leap to conclusions. Moscow denies involvement and has pointed a finger at Kiev's military.

The Dutch government, whose citizens made up most of the 298 aboard MH17 from Amsterdam, said it was "furious" at the manhandling of corpses strewn for miles over open country and asked Ukraine's president for help to bring "our people" home.

After U.S. President Barack Obama said the loss of the Kuala Lumpur-bound flight showed it was time to end the conflict, Germany called it Moscow's last chance to cooperate.

European powers seemed to swing behind Washington's belief Russia's separatist allies were to blame. That might speed new trade sanctions on Moscow, without waiting for definitive proof.

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An armed pro-Russian separatist stands at a site of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane crash in th …

"He has one last chance to show he means to help," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said after a telephone call to Putin.

Britain, which lost 10 citizens, said further sanctions were available for use against Russia. "If Russia is the principal culprit, we can take further action against them and make it clear this kind of sponsored war is completely unacceptable," Defence Minister Michael Fallon told the Mail on Sunday.

Prime Minister David Cameron, writing in The Sunday Times, said European countries should make their power count in dealing with the Ukraine crisis, "yet we sometimes behave as if we need Russia more than Russia needs us."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the most powerful figure in the EU, spoke to Putin on Saturday, urging his cooperation. Merkel's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, told Bild am Sonntag newspaper: "Moscow may have a last chance now to show that it really is seriously interested in a solution."

"Now is the moment for everyone to stop and think to themselves what might happen if we don't stop the escalation."

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Flowers are laid in front of the house of a family who were all killed in Thursday's Malaysia Ai …

Germany, reliant like other EU states on Russian energy and more engaged in Russian trade than the United States, has been reluctant to escalate a confrontation with Moscow that has revived memories of the Cold War. But with military action not seen as an option, economic leverage is a vital instrument.

RUSSIAN RETALIATION

Russia said on Saturday it was retaliating against sanctions imposed by the United States last week, before the air disaster, by barring entry to unnamed Americans and warned of a "boomerang effect" on U.S. business. But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry did agree in a phone call to try to get both sides in Ukraine to reach a consensus on peace, Russia's Foreign Ministry said.

The State Department, however, put the onus on Russia, saying Kerry urged Russia to take "immediate and clear actions to reduce tensions in Ukraine."

Driving home its assertion that the Boeing 777 was hit by a Russian SA-11 radar-guided missile, Ukraine's Western-backed government said it had "compelling evidence" the battery was not just brought in from Russia but manned by three Russian citizens who had now taken the truck-mounted system back over the border.

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A woman looks at flowers placed in front of the house of a family who were all killed in Thursday …

The prime minister, denying Russian suggestions that Kiev's forces had fired a missile, said only a "very professional" crew could have brought down the speeding jetliner from 33,000 feet (10,000 meters) - not "drunken gorillas" among the ill-trained insurgents who want the Russian-speaking east to be annexed by Moscow.

Fighting flared in eastern Ukraine on Saturday. The government said it was pressing its offensive in the east.

Observers from Europe's OSCE security agency visited part of the crash site near the village of Hrabove for a second day on Saturday and again found their access hampered by armed men from the forces of the self-declared People's Republic of Donetsk. An OSCE official said, however, they saw more than on Friday.

At one point, a Reuters correspondent heard a senior rebel tell the OSCE delegation they could not approach the wreckage and would simply be informed in due course of an investigation conducted by the separatists. However, fighters later let them visit an area where one of the airliner's two engines lay.

"The terrorists, with the help of Russia, are trying to destroy evidence of international crimes," the Ukrainian government said in a statement. "The terrorists have taken 38 bodies to the morgue in Donetsk," it said, accusing people with "strong Russian accents" of threatening to conduct autopsies.

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Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (R) leaves after visiting bereaved families of passengers kille …

Ukraine's prime minister said armed men had barred government experts from collecting evidence.

Kerry told Lavrov the United States is "very concerned" over reports that the remains of victims and debris from the crash site have been removed or tampered with, the State Department said. He said Washington was also concerned over denial of "proper access" for international investigators and OSCE monitors, it said.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko urged the United Nations on Saturday to label rebels fighting his forces in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as belonging to "terrorist organizations".

RETRIEVING REMAINS

In the regional capital Donetsk, the prime minister of the separatist authorities told a news conference that Kiev was holding up the arrival of international experts whose mission to probe the cause - and potentially blame - for the disaster was authorized on Friday by the United Nations Security Council.

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Members of the Australian Ukrainian community hold placards as they hold a rally in Sydney July 19, …

And contrary to earlier statements by the rebels, Alexander Borodai said they had not found the black box flight recorders. He said rebels were avoiding disturbing the area.

"There's a grandmother. A body landed right in her bed. She says 'please take this body away'. But we cannot tamper with the site," Borodai said. "Bodies of innocent people are lying out in the heat. We reserve the right, if the delay continues ... to begin the process of taking away the bodies. We ask the Russian Federation to help us with this problem and send their experts."

Midday temperatures are around 30 Celsius (85 Fahrenheit).

At Hrabove, one armed man from the separatist forces told Reuters that bodies had already been taken away in trucks. Another said that immediately after the crash people had looted valuables. But fighters and local people say they have been doing their best to collect evidence and preserve human remains.

As the stench of death began to pervade the area after Thursday's crash, correspondents watched rescue workers carry bodies across the fields and gather remains in black sacks.

Meeting Ukrainian President Poroshenko in Kiev, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said: "We are already shocked by the news we got today of bodies being dragged around, of the site not being treated properly ... People are angry, furious."

The Ukrainian security council in Kiev said staff of the Emergencies Ministry had found 186 bodies and had checked some 18 sq km (seven square miles) of the scattered 25-sq-km (10-square-mile) crash site. But the workers were not free to conduct a normal investigation.

"The fighters have let the Emergencies Ministry workers in there but they are not allowing them to take anything from the area," security council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said. "The fighters are taking away all that has been found."

Malaysia, whose national airline has been battered by its second major disaster this year, said it was "inhumane" to bar access to the site around the village of Hrabove, but said Russia was doing its "level best" to help.

A team of Malaysian experts flew in to Kiev on Saturday and experts from Interpol are due there on Sunday to help with the identification of victims. Dutch, U.S. and a host of other specialists are being lined up to help in the investigation.

As tales of personal grief unfolded, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak revealed his own family was involved - his 83-year-old step-grandmother had been aboard the flight.

The United Nations said 80 children were aboard. The deadliest attack on a commercial airliner follows the disappearance of flight MH370 in March with 239 passengers.

Malaysia Airlines has defended its use of the route, 1,000 feet (300 meters) above the area closed by Ukraine due to the hostilities. Some airlines had been avoiding the area, though many others were flying over. The issue has raised questions of liability for the deaths and damage and about international supervisors' roles.

The scale of the disaster could prove a turning point for international pressure to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, which has killed hundreds since pro-Western protests toppled the Moscow-backed president in Kiev in February and Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula a month later.

(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Elizabeth Piper in Kiev, Peter Graff in Donetsk, Siva Govindasamy and Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah in Kuala Lumpur, Costas Pitas in London, and Eric Beech in Washington; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Sonya Hepinstall and Mohammad Zargham)

s Russia Of Helping Separatists Destroy Evidence In Malaysia Airlines Crash

West toughens calls on Russia to cooperate over downed Malaysian plane

A pro-Russian separatist stands on guard at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region July 19, 2014. REUTERS/Maxim Zmeyev

By Anton Zverev and Peter Graff

HRABOVE/DONETSK Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukraine accused Russia and pro-Moscow rebels on Saturday of destroying evidence to cover up their guilt in the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner that has intensified a showdown between the Kremlin and Western powers.

As militants kept international monitors away from wreckage and scores of bodies festered for a fourth day on Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the rebels to cooperate and insisted that a U.N.-mandated investigation must not leap to conclusions. Moscow denies involvement and has pointed a finger at Kiev's military.

The U.N. Security Council was considering a draft resolution to condemn the attack, demand armed groups allow access to the crash site and call on states in the region to cooperate with an international investigation.

Australia - which lost 28 citizens - circulated a draft text, seen by Reuters, to the 15-member Security Council late on Saturday and diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it could be put to a vote as early as Monday.

The Netherlands, whose citizens made up most of the 298 aboard MH17 from Amsterdam en route to Kuala Lumpur, said it was "furious" about the manhandling of corpses strewn for miles over open country and asked Ukraine's president for help to bring "our people" home.

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Members of the Ukrainian Emergency Ministry carry a body at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flig …

U.S. President Barack Obama said the loss of the Malaysia Airlines flight showed it was time to end the Ukraine conflict and Germany called it Moscow's last chance to cooperate.

European powers seemed to swing behind Washington's belief Russia's separatist allies were to blame. That might speed new trade sanctions on Moscow, without waiting for definitive proof.

"He has one last chance to show he means to help," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said after a telephone call to Putin.

Britain, which lost 10 citizens, said further sanctions were available for use against Russia. Prime Minister David Cameron, writing in The Sunday Times, said European countries should make their power count. "Yet we sometimes behave as if we need Russia more than Russia needs us."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the most powerful figure in the EU, spoke to Putin on Saturday, urging his cooperation. Merkel's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, told Bild am Sonntag newspaper: "Moscow may have a last chance now to show that it really is seriously interested in a solution."

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St Jan Cathedral is filled with people attending the evening vigil for those who were killed in Thur …

"Now is the moment for everyone to stop and think to themselves what might happen if we don't stop the escalation."

Germany, reliant like other EU states on Russian energy and more engaged in Russian trade than the United States, has been reluctant to escalate a confrontation with Moscow that has revived memories of the Cold War. But with military action not seen as an option, economic leverage is a vital instrument.

RUSSIAN RETALIATION

Russia said on Saturday it was retaliating against sanctions imposed by the United States last week, before the air disaster, by barring entry to unidentified Americans and warned of a "boomerang effect" on U.S. business. But Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry agreed in a phone call to try to get both sides in Ukraine to reach a consensus on peace, Russia's Foreign Ministry said.

The U.S. State Department, however, put the onus on Russia, saying Kerry urged Russia to take "immediate and clear actions to reduce tensions in Ukraine".

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A woman poses for a photo with a Malaysian national flag hanging at half-mast at the Kuala Lumpur In …

Driving home its assertion that the Boeing 777 was hit by a Russian SA-11 radar-guided missile, Ukraine's Western-backed government said it had "compelling evidence" the battery was not just brought in from Russia but manned by three Russian citizens who had now taken the truck-mounted system back over the border.

The prime minister, denying Russian suggestions that Kiev's forces had fired a missile, said only a "very professional" crew could have brought down the speeding jetliner from 33,000 feet (10,000 meters) - not "drunken gorillas" among the ill-trained insurgents who want the Russian-speaking east to be annexed by Moscow.

The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. intelligence assessments indicated that Moscow likely provided rebels with sophisticated anti-aircraft systems in recent days.

The Journal cited U.S. officials as saying they now suspect that Russia supplied the rebels with multiple SA-11 systems by smuggling them in with other equipment, including tanks.

Fighting flared in eastern Ukraine on Saturday. The government said it was pressing its offensive in the east.

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Flowers, toys and teddy bears are placed on a bench in front of the house of a family, who were all …

Observers from Europe's OSCE security agency visited part of the crash site near the village of Hrabove for a second day on Saturday and again found their access hampered by armed men from the forces of the self-declared People's Republic of Donetsk. An OSCE official said, however, they saw more than on Friday.

At one point, a Reuters correspondent heard a senior rebel tell the OSCE delegation they could not approach the wreckage and would simply be informed in due course of an investigation conducted by the separatists. However, fighters later let them visit an area where one of the airliner's two engines lay.

"The terrorists, with the help of Russia, are trying to destroy evidence of international crimes," the Ukrainian government said in a statement. "The terrorists have taken 38 bodies to the morgue in Donetsk," it said, accusing people with "strong Russian accents" of threatening to conduct autopsies.

Ukraine's prime minister said armed men had barred government experts from collecting evidence.

Kerry told Lavrov the United States was "very concerned" over reports that the remains of victims and debris had been removed or tampered with, the State Department said. He said Washington was also concerned over denial of "proper access" for international investigators and OSCE monitors.

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People hold candles during a candlelight vigil for victims of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH …

"This is unacceptable and an affront to all those who lost loved ones and to the dignity the victims deserve," Kerry's spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said in a statement. "We urge Russia to honor its commitments and to publicly call on the separatists to do the same."

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko urged the United Nations to label rebels fighting his forces in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as belonging to "terrorist organizations".

RETRIEVING REMAINS

In the regional capital Donetsk, the prime minister of the separatist authorities told a news conference that Kiev was holding up the arrival of international experts whose mission to investigate the cause - and potentially blame - for the disaster was authorized on Friday by the U.N. Security Council.

Contrary to earlier statements by the rebels, Alexander Borodai said they had not found the black box flight recorders. He said rebels were avoiding disturbing the area.

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Malaysia's Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai (R) speaks during a news conference at a hotel near …

"There's a grandmother. A body landed right in her bed. She says 'please take this body away'. But we cannot tamper with the site," Borodai said. "Bodies of innocent people are lying out in the heat. We reserve the right, if the delay continues ... to begin the process of taking away the bodies. We ask the Russian Federation to help us with this problem and send their experts."

At Hrabove, one armed man from the separatist forces told Reuters that bodies had already been taken away in trucks. Another said people had looted valuables immediately after the crash. But fighters and local people say they have been doing their best to collect evidence and preserve human remains.

As the stench of death began to pervade the area after Thursday's crash, correspondents watched rescue workers carry bodies across the fields and gather remains in black sacks.

The Ukrainian security council in Kiev said staff of the Emergencies Ministry had found 186 bodies and had checked some 18 sq km (seven square miles) of the scattered 25-sq-km (10-square-mile) crash site. But the workers were not free to conduct a normal investigation.

"The fighters have let the Emergencies Ministry workers in there but they are not allowing them to take anything from the area," security council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said. "The fighters are taking away all that has been found."

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Siti Kartika Abdul Karim holds her mobile phone displaying a picture of her former schoolmate, Malay …

Malaysia, whose national airline has been battered by its second major disaster this year, said it was "inhumane" to bar access to the site around the village of Hrabove, but said Russia was doing its "level best" to help.

A team of Malaysian experts flew in to Kiev on Saturday and experts from Interpol are due there on Sunday to help with the identification of victims. Dutch, U.S. and other specialists are being lined up to help in the investigation.

"Any actions that prevent us from learning the truth about what happened to MH17 cannot be tolerated," Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said on Saturday before leaving for Kiev. "Failure to stop such interference would be a betrayal of the lives that were lost."

The deadliest attack on a commercial airliner follows the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines' Flight MH370 in March with 239 passengers and crew.

The scale of the disaster could prove a turning point for international pressure to resolve the crisis in Ukraine, which has killed hundreds since pro-Western protests toppled the Moscow-backed president in Kiev in February and Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula a month later.

(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Elizabeth Piper in Kiev, Peter Graff in Donetsk, Anuradha Raghu, Trinna Leong and Yantoultra Ngui in Kuala Lumpur, Costas Pitas in London, Eric Beech in Washington and Michelle Nichols in New York; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Sonya Hepinstall, Nick Macfie and Paul Tait)

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - At least 40 Palestinians were killed as Israeli forces pounded northern Gaza Sunday, sending thousands fleeing in terror on day 13 of the deadliest assault on the enclave in five years.

The intensity of the bombardment prevented emergency services from accessing the area and dead bodies lay in the streets as thousands fled in terror, an AFP correspondent reported.

As UN chief Ban Ki-moon was to arrive in the region to add his weight to truce efforts, the Palestinian death spiralled towards 400, with medics warning it could rise further from the ongoing bombardment of areas north and east of Gaza City.

As the scale of the casualties emerged, a Hamas official said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had called for a three-hour humanitarian ceasefire to enable ambulance crews to get in.

The Red Cross refused to confirm or deny it had made such a proposal, although media reports said the Israeli government was also studying a proposal by the international humanitarian agency.

Until now, the Islamist Hamas movement, which is the dominant power in Gaza, had refused to yield in the face of the relentless air, sea and land attacks.

It has pressed on with its own assaults which killed another two Israeli soldiers overnight, the army said.

As the warring sides showed no sign of giving up, diplomatic efforts to end the violence were to intensify Sunday with Hamas's exiled leader Khaled Meshaal to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Qatar to discuss an Egyptian truce proposal.

Gazans mourn victims of strikes that killed childr …Play Video

On the ground, the streets of the northern district of Shejaiya were filled with thousands of civilians fleeing for their lives after heavy shelling left casualties lying in the streets, an AFP correspondent reported.

Footage from the area showed vast clouds of black smoke billowing into the sky as the shelling continued and Gaza's eastern flank burned.

Ambulances were unable to reach much of the area along the border because of heavy fire, and emergency services told AFP there were reports of dead and wounded trapped by the bombardment.

Emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said at least 40 bodies had been retrieved from the eastern Shejaiya district, with another 380 people wounded.

Among the dead were women and children, as well as a Palestinian paramedic and a cameraman who were killed when the ambulance they were in was hit, with the ongoing fire hampering efforts to recover the bodies.

"He wasn't a fighter, he was a fighter for humanity," wailed one relative as the family buried him. "

"He was an ambulance worker, did he deserve to die?"

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Israeli forces' flares light up the night sky in the northern Gaza Strip, early Saturday, July 19, 2 …

- Agony, hysteria at hospital -

At Gaza City's Shifa hospital, Doctor Said Hassan told AFP that ambulances were unable to reach everyone, with many of the wounded walking hours to get treatment.

"This is the worst I've ever seen it," said the doctor, who has worked at the hospital for eight years.

All around him, casualties were being brought in by the minute, some in ambulances, others in cars and trucks. Among them were children screaming in agony, many peppered with shrapnel wounds.

Fights broke out in the emergency room as hysterical parents banged on the walls in fear and sorrow.

"The shelling was non-stop, it was everywhere," Sabah Mamluk, 40, told AFP.

"We ran into the streets and started to walk. It was terrifying," she said.

Israeli army video claims to show tunnels from Gaz …Play Video

"We got split up and found an ambulance that could bring us, but my husband is still there with the rest of the children and I can't reach him by telephone."

Early on Sunday, the army confirmed two more soldiers had been killed overnight, raising to seven the overall Israeli toll.

Four soldiers were killed on Saturday, among them two who died in militant raid inside Israel. Another was killed by an anti-tank missile while the fourth died in a firefight with a militant, the army said.

Israel said its ground operation to destroy the network of tunnels used by militants to stage cross-border attacks was to "expand" later Sunday.

"This evening, the ground phase of Operation Protective Edge expands, as additional forces join the effort to combat terror in the Gaza Strip and establish a reality in which Israeli residents can live in safety and security," the army said.

- Displaced numbers triple -

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put the blame for civilian casualties squarely on Hamas, accusing the group of "using innocent civilians as human shields."

Earlier this week, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees expressed outrage after finding 20 rockets stored in one of its empty schools in Gaza.

So far, UNRWA has opened 55 of its schools to shelter those fleeing the most heavily bombarded areas, with more than 63,000 people taking refuge in them, the agency said.

"The number has tripled in the last three days reflecting the intensity of the conflict and the inordinate threats the fighting is posing to civilians," spokesman Chris Gunness said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Hamas confirmed Meshaal had received an invitation for talks in Cairo on an Egyptian peace initiative. Egyptian officials were unable to confirm or deny the new invitation.

Earlier this week, an Egyptian truce proposal was accepted by Israel, but snubbed by Hamas, which said it had not been consulted.

Abbas and Meshaal were to meet in Doha later Sunday to discuss the Egyptian proposal, an official close to Abbas said.

The UN chief was also due in the Qatari capital.

Gaza tolls soars as Israel pounds north

Thousand flee Israel’s overnight bombardments and its expanded ground assault.
Hospital: At least 40 killed in district

WINTHROP, Wash. (AP) — A massive wildfire that has forced the evacuation of towns, destroyed numerous homes and blackened scenic hillsides in north-central Washington has been burning into new areas, fueled by dry conditions and gusty winds.

The lightning-caused fire by Saturday had scorched nearly 340 square miles in the scenic Methow Valley. The fire was measured at 260 square miles Friday.

Road closures and evacuations were changing regularly, as hot weather and winds with gusts up to 30 mph were pushing the fire over ridge tops and toward a cluster of small towns northeast of Seattle.

"This is a very active and fluid situation," fire spokesman Chuck Turey said.

People living between Carlton and Pateros have been told to leave their homes. The fire has downed power lines and many towns were without electrical power or phone service Saturday.

There were no reports of serious injuries. Minor burns and bruises had been reported, but Turey called that "a pretty amazing safety record."

AP Top Stories July 18 PPlay Video

On Saturday, officials said that only one more structure was destroyed overnight by the blaze.

Airplanes and helicopters were dropping water and fire retardant on all parts of the fire, with no one area more of a concern than another, Turey said.

"We're seeing some wind shifts so that the fire is going to be pushed in some directions it hasn't been pushed to date," he said, adding that the good news is that in some places the wind is pushing the first back on itself.

Rancher Vic Stokes, 60, went to bed Friday thinking the fires had calmed down and his ranch outside of Twist was safe.

He and his family have been fighting brush fires since Thursday, getting little sleep.

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An American Flag waves in the breeze as a wildfire approaches on Friday, July 18, 2014, in Malott, W …

By Saturday, a fire had jumped to a nearby creek bed. Stokes, his son and his daughter-in-law spent the morning clearing brush. "Anything that hasn't burned has a chance of burning yet," Stokes said.

So far, his home is intact, but he's lost hay and a barn and is worried for livestock he had grazing in an area that's now scorched.

"We need to get up there and see what we can find that's alive. We know we lost cattle," he said.

As the fire got closer to Carlton, rancher Pete Scott brought 60 cattle to his property in town from the range land. His home, a green oasis, is serving a meeting point for some of the displaced residents. "We're trying to survive," Scott said.

The fire has calmed down near Pateros, where it destroyed about 100 homes Thursday and Friday, Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said. "It's just starting to run out of places to burn," he said.

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A DC-10 air tanker drops fire retardant over a wildfire Saturday, July 19, 2014, near Carlton, Wash. …

The fire has picked up on its north side closer to Winthrop, but winds have been erratic and were blowing the fire in different directions.

The blaze was burning in a sparsely populated area, with homes scattered throughout the woods and along the highway.

Fire officials said the Chiwaukum Creek Fire west of Leavenworth has grown to more than 10,000 acres by Saturday evening.

The blaze closed U.S. Highway 2 from Coles Corner to Leavenworth. The fire was burning north of the highway but a spot fire flared up to the south on Saturday that was quickly put out, officials said.

KING-TV in Seattle reported that there are no reports of structures being burned, but residents in the area near Leavenworth are under an evacuation order, according to the Washington Department of Natural Resources.

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The Watermelon Hill fire consumes trees after crossing Pine Springs Road near Fish Trap, Wash., Satu …

Gov. Jay Inslee said about 50 fires were burning in Washington, which has been wracked by hot, dry weather, gusting winds and lightning. Some 2,000 firefighters were working in the eastern part of the state, with about a dozen helicopters from the Department of Natural Resources and the National Guard, along with a Washington State Patrol spotter plane.

Karina Shagren, spokeswoman for the state's Military Department, said 100 National Guard troops were on standby, and up to 1,000 more in Yakima could receive additional fire training. Active duty military could be called in as well, Inslee said.

The Washington state Department of Natural Resources announced Saturday evening that firefighters from New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are coming to the state to help battle the blazes.

Early Saturday, authorities announced that they are bringing in two military air tankers from Wyoming to help fight wildfires in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere. Officials at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, say the tankers were activated to ensure that firefighters had adequate air tanker capability in the region.

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Blankinship reported from Seattle. Associated Press writer Rachel La Corte contributed to this report from Olympia.