[ explosion ] >> israeli jets continue to pound gaza, 41 people have been killed so far. in israel . . . no deaths, but rockets from gaza are reaching further than ever. ♪ >> and the chief of hamas's political borough has called for an end to the occupation. and also this man leads the

presidential elections in indonesia, but his rival refuses to concede. south sudan, celebrates its independence, but the country remains in bitter conflict. ♪ israeli forces have continued to bomb gaza. at least 40 people have died since the operation began on tuesday. in israel the military says more than 200 rockets have been fired from gaza over the same time period. we start with this report. [ explosion ] >> reporter: for two days, missiles have hit gaza. one of the most densely populated areas in the world. this is the cost of israeli's

offensive, children among the dead and injured. israel says it is acting in defense of its borders and people. striking specific targets on the hamas-run gaza strip. it hasn't ruled out a ground offensive. >> translator: we will not stop. they will first receive a hard blow from both the air and the sea, and if a ground invasion is needed, there will be a ground invasion. >> reporter: speaking from the west bank, fattah's leader says all palestinians are affected by israeli's aggression. >> translator: this is a war against the people, an entire people. we have to have our say on what is happening in the next few days, and it's going to be very difficult days. we know very well that israel is not protecting for itself but fighting for its settlers and settlements. >> reporter: israel has been using unmanned aerial drones to carry out the strikes. this funeral was for members of

a single family in the south. and in northern gaza, crowds mourned another family. the target was a military leader and islamic jihad, five of his family died with him. the attacks from gaza have been far less accurate. no one has been killed inside israel, but they have left people terrified. this was a wedding in this central israel on tuesday night. a flash across the sky disappears, and what appears to be an israeli missile intercepting a palestinian rocket. israel has used its iron dome defense system to intercept most of the rockets, but some have reached further into israeli territory than ever before. but even if hamas keeps fighting back, there's no denying it hands little chance against

israel's superior military might. in the past hour the political leader of hamas has urged the international community to put pressure on israel to end its attacks. >> translator: those who ask us to keep quiet and stop our firing. why don't you ask the other party? if they want to stop the bloodshed they have to take two measures. first pressure netenyahu to stop the assaults on gaza. and pressurize netenyahu to change his policy. our palestinian people cannot bare living under colonization. the people don't like what was done a few days ago in jerusalem. we cannot allow them to touch christian and muslim holy places. our people will not accept to be under occupation. we cannot accept living like this. the time has come for this occupation to end. israel has rejected hamas's

claims as nonsense. they say israel is expanding its operation and considering a ground offensive. >> hamas has been shooting hundreds of missiles from gaza strip on to civilians in israel. the good news israel has very advanced technologies that thwart these attacks. we won't tolerate this. we will hunt hamas terrorist group down until they stop shooting missiles on israeli citizens. we have correspondent covering both sides of the story. nick schifrin is in southern israel. but first let's go live to stephanie decker in gaza. steph let's move to the rhetoric to either side, rather

inflammatory. how is it translating to action on the ground where you are? >> well, both of them haven't done anything -- and i don't know if they can do anything to calm things. or they certainly don't want to. there is a drone overhead, we saw the iron dome intercept a rocket. there has been shelling from the seas. it has been relatively quiet in the last two hours, i say relatively, because the morning has had various air strikes. people are petrified. this is what they are having to deal with. we went to the hospital as well to see how

[ technical difficulties ] >> there is growing anger here. many say this is not just a war against hamas. >> if you fight militants, fine. but you go bombing houses and killing children? i mean this is a war crime. >> reporter: but the bombs keep falling. this has been a long, painful conflict, and these are not equal opponents. israeli's military might gives the people here little chance. >> and on the israeli side of the border with garza we receive

this update. >> reporter: here on the gaza border for the last few hours we have seen a constant barrage of strikes from both sides. huge explosions back in gaza right there where the ground really shakes. you can feel how big those bombs are. and at the same time, a very large number of rockets. at one time, two, three, four, successful rockets being fired into israel. those rockets are beginning to be unprecedented for two reasons. one, they are reaching farther than ever before. one of the rockets targeted haifa. 150 miles north of here. they are also more sophisticated as well, and more numbers. more rockets have been fired here in the past few days since the operation began, than in the nine days of the last time any israelis launched a major operation in to gaza. you talk to a lot of people in this region, there is a lot of fear, of course, even though the

rockets haven't taken any lives and done very little property damage, but there is anger and hatred and most people want the government to be more aggressive, and take away hamas's ability to fire those rockets, in their words, quote, once and for all. iraq's prime minister has complained that the kurds are giving a base for terrorist fighters. >> translator: i will tell you truthfully. we will not be silent about our bill. it's a base for the islamic state organizations, and those who are talking about working for unity -- [ technical difficulties ] >> here is more from erbil. >> reporter: very strong words from prime minister nouri maliki, directed at kurdish politicians here in erbil.

however, the legislatures in the region here, particularly their president reject the claims made by nordy maliki that this is a hub of terrorists or extremism. they say where iraq finds itself now in terms of the sectarian conflict, and the militants that seem to be running riot across several cities, that the reason for the situation is the failure of the prime minister nouri maliki. it was the authoritarian approach that maliki has taken as far as he is concerned that has led to this problem. there was a message directed towards his own people, towards the kurds of iraq, saying it was never his intention to move unilaterally towards independence, and that the decision taken to start

preparing for some sort of proposed referendum was done because he was forced to do so, because, he said, that we're seeing an iraq that is splitting up, and increased violence, and animosity towards parts of society, and it was only then that it became clear as far as the kurds were concerned that they needed to start preparing for their own state. still to come here on the program, the un names its new envoy to syria. we're live on that in new york. and the french government plans to crack down on its nationals traveling to the middle east. ♪

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♪ hello again. the top stories this hour here on al jazeera. at least 40 people have been killed by israeli air strikes on gaza in the past 48 hours. 40,000 israeli army reservists are on stand by. 1500 troops are already deployed near the border of the ga sa trip. the political heard of hamas has urged the international community to pressure israeli to end the attacks. and iraq's prime minister says the kurdish controlled northern region is becoming a base for what he calls terrorists. meanwhile the iraqi military says nine soldiers were killed on an attack in an army base.

we have an al jazeera journalist who has written extensively on the israeli situation. great to have you with us. we have been hearing from the hamas leader and the leader in this netenyahu's cabinet. what do you make of their rhetoric? in >> well, they have both dug in their heels as they would. the logic of violence creates its own momentum. both sides now have their back against the wall. both sides have to show some kind of victory or a lack of throwing their hands in the air. [ technical difficulties ] the last time in 2012 that we saw this kind of escalation. so it certainly seems that it can strengthen its own political

base by portraying some kind of victory in this attack. >> do you think it's those voices that will lead this conflict, or the more moderate voices that will dictate where we move from here. >> netenyahu is not showing signs of wanting to rapidly escalate this conflict, and more significantly neither is the israeli army. they have shown reluctance for a ground attack, because the costs would be too high, not just in terms of lives but also in international credibility. and none of this is going to achieve this supposed goal of eliminating hamas. it hasn't in the past, it won't now, because this kind of approach is not the political approach that will bring an tend to this conflict. >> and how much support does the conflict within the two

populations? >> well, this is where you get into the tit-for-tat of who started what. once israeli launches a declared military offensive, then obviously palestinians are going to respond in kind. and we saw what happened in israel when the missing israeli teenagers were found dead. we saw a lot of anger around that, and lot of [ technical difficulties ] israel creating this kind of climate. israeli officials were calling for revenge, which almost inevitably created chaos amongst the population. >> thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you. rebel fighters in yemen have taken control of the city 50

miles from the capitol. fighting has increased in the area in the past few weeks, thousands have fled the violence. this latest rebel push is significant as this report explains. >> reporter: a strategic city north of the capitol is now in the hands of houthi rebels. they overran all government buildings, seized weapons, tanks, and arrested officers. the top military officer was killed in this the attack. the houthis now control --

[ technical difficulties ] >> the capture has been condemned by the un [ technical difficulties ]

[ technical difficulties ] >> false rumors over his ethnicity and religion helped his popularity. the 51-year-old is seen as a clean leader without a history of corruption. the rival is a formal general and son-in-law of the late president. he was fired from the military

because of alleged human rights abuses. here is our report. >> reporter: the governor is celebrating victory of the presidential election held in indonesia today. the man was called the man of the people, has said he has won this election based on early results that have been proven very reliable in past elections. but meanwhile, his contender, the formal general says it is too close to call and we should wait until the official results come out. it is very important that this election victory is going to be accepted in the next few days for these people.

in northeast pakistan, a military disdefensive has displaced nearly 800,000 people. >> reporter: these internally displaced people who are now here in this town are breaking their fast along with the old, young, and even their children. most of these people were forced to leave the area, because they say for the past 12 years their area was taken over by foreign fighters. but there are also people who have concerns that because they have left all of their life savings at home, they have not been able to secure their houses, and have even had to leave their livestock behind. they are worried that once the school is open, where will they go? they are also worried that the government should make

arrangements to repatriate these people as soon as possible. the military forces should restore security so they can go back. right now the priority for these mountain people is to be able to return home soon because the conditions here are very difficult. most of their children are sick, and they also have memories of some of their children being lost while they were escaping. in afghanistan, election results are being disputed with both candidates claiming victory in the runoff. preliminary results were ashraf ghani ahmadzai won around 60% of the vote, his opponent, abdullah, abdullah says the election was fraudulent. the world's newest nation is celebrating three years since claiming independence. but the people have little to celebrate.

here is more from the capitol. >> reporter: it would be impossible to call an independence celebration day in south sudan low-key, but when compared to previous years there is a difference, the crowd is smaller, the security is tighter. and they were expecting heads of states from the region to come. in fact the only person that did come was south sudan's next-door neighbor, you ghana, the president was here. he has forces in this country, forces that south sudan's president acknowledged without which they would have seen much more bloodshed. they have just been listed on the index of number one of the most fragile states in the world. the country still has internal fighting in some of the more northernly provinces. the peace talks are supposed to

be continuing, but that process has stalled. and there is a looming hunger crisis as crisis as

[ technical difficulties ] >> if approved the bill will ban suspects from international travel. in some cases pass ports would be confiscated. and it would also ban websites aimed at recruiting fighters. the say it will stop young people from taking the wrong path. >> translator: there are european citizens everywhere who enroll in the field of gee ha disoperations. when they come back they are a danger to the security of european countries. the bill has three goals, to prevent these departures from taking place, to protect those who are about to go, because it's a one way ticket to death and violence and to protect our citizens. messi is fit and on form, but they will be without their

midfielder. it is their first appearance since 1990 when they eventually lost to germany in the finals. van persie is suffering from a s stomach bug and is in doubt for the finals. for the latest, check out our website, aljazeera.com.