♪ >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello and welcome to the news hour and jane in doha, hopes grow for an end to the blood shed in gaza as israel accepts the proposal for a cease fire. dozens killed in afghanistan following two bomb blasts and we are life in the capitol kabul. russia says nearly half a million people went across the border with ukraine as fighting began this year. >> i am robin with the sport and

champions germany are back home and showing off their newest cup in the capitol berlin. ♪ peace of a sort appears to be an offer with israel's cabinet agreeing to an egyptian plan to a cease fire. this is the scene in gaza right now. there have been no more israeli strikes since 9:00 a.m. local time. what we have continued to hear is the sound of rockets being launched into israel. hamas has to officially respond to the call for a cease fire but say cease fire is by the people and john kerry is expected to speak in the next hour. is he likely to add anything more to what we know at this stage about the cease fire and

his position on it, james? >> reporter: well, i certainly think he is going to give his first camera reaction to the cease fire when he speaks at the podium behind me in just the next few minutes. he already posted comments on twitter so we know the general tone of that reaction and says the cease fire is an opportunity to end the violence and restore calm and he goes on and welcomes the israeli decision to accept it and urges other parties to accept it too. so that is the sort of comment we are going to hear from john kerry when he speaks here in a short period of time, in the next few minutes we are expe expecting him to speak and the reason he is in vienna is the nuclear deal with iran and both subjects will come up in the news conference in the next few minutes. >> we will come back the minute he starts speaking and we go to

john hendron but let's go to bernard and let's talk about what benjamin netanyahu has been saying and believes this is an opportunity to demilitarize gaza and what does he mean by that? >> he wants hamas to stop firing rockets in israel and that is the demand of the israeli population and there has been wide-spread support in israel for this current military action against hamas and palestinian factions in gaza and he, yes, wants to disarm hamas. the problem is that it's going to be very difficult to do. a ground invasion, troops are in place, reservists have been called up in preparation for a ground invasion. i saw yesterday various incumbents in gaza preparing for that because there was only so

much he was able to do from the air and to completely demilitarize how hamas and palestinian factions would necessitate going into gaza, searching almost house to house for weapons that are stored, the thousands of rockets that israelis suspect hamas has got and by doing that would cause many more palestinian lives and cost israeli military lives as well, jane. >> let's go to john hendron in gaza and we are waiting for official comment from hamas and in the meantime there are reports of rocket fire on going into israel, what sort of message is that, john? >> reporter: that is clearly the military weighing of hamas saying this is what we think of your deal, absolutely not. the firing continues. that goes on while hamas continues to deliberate in the cease fire negotiations. it may be a tactic that the political wing is actually a

party to. we know that they have not agreed to any cease fe and therefore from their perspective they are free to continue engaging in the conflict. now israel tells us that their military has not fired back. we have heard here several times this morning rockets coming out of gaza and we have seen the reports from the israeli military and they have landed there and it's a clear message from the military wing anyway that this is an on going conflict, nevertheless, the politicians are doing the negotiating, they are still hoping to get something out of this deal because if the cease fire as proposed goes through, from hamas' perspective what they are getting is nearly 200 dead palestinians, a lot of injuries and not a lot to gain out of this deal. they want to see those border crossings open, they want to be out from under control of israel. this isn't necessarily a free state and end to the occupation entirely but they want to show

some kind of progress out of this deal and so far what they have got on that cease fire agreement doesn't allow them to come back to their people and say look this is why we engaged in the struggle and why your and they want something out of this and have a list of preconditions they are asking for. they are going to try to get at least some of that before they come to an agreement, we will see what happens in the end. >> thank you for that, john. the car bomb killed at least 44 people in eastern afghanistan. more than 50 have been injured. police say a car packed with explosives detonated in a crowded market in the province and in kabul a roadside bomb killed at least two government employees. and we are joined live from kabul. what are you hearing about these explosions? >> well, we have two explosions today in afghanistan. the first one was early morning

here in kabul, a roadside bomb was detonated on a mini van which was carrying a member of the palace. seven people were affected by the attack, two killed, five were injured and among the injuries were also president karzai's personal camera man. in another attack a suicide car bomber detonated himself in eastern afghanistan in patiki district and a suicide bomber detonated himself in the market which government sources confirm at least 44 people were killed and around 50 people were injured. president amid karzai say both of the attacks and called an investigation on a mini van attack at the presidential palace where people were killed

and injured. >> thank you for that. at least ten people have been killed after a subway train derailed in russia. it happened during morning rush hour in the capitol moscow, at least 106 people have been injured and several cars left the track after a power surge triggered an alert and caused the train to stop abruptly and one person was trapped in the wreckage. a half a million people fled the border from ukraine since fighting began earlier this year and according to the federal migration service 30,000 of them applied for asylum and we have been to the region of southern russia where many of the refugees wound up. [singing] crisis and religion have themes in common, suffering and salvation, a presence in both. in this small refugee camp near the border with ukraine russia is showing that it can look after its displaced neighbors,

body and soul. the fresh bus load is told how the camp works and then the day's arrivals step down to the new refugees reality. >> translator: we thought they would shoot for a while and it would calm down but it got heavier and we spent several days in the basement and we packed the car in ten minutes and left. >> translator: here they welcome and feed us and i can be safe with my children and going to my relatives next and see what happens. >> reporter: al jazeera was invited to the camps by russia foreign minister and all in all over 100 journalists were on the trip. when a humanitarian cause is being shown off as obviously as this one is it's often difficult to know what to make of it, clearly there is a pr benefit for the russian government here but that doesn't detract from the fact the inhabitants of this camp had their lives completely up ended. 490,000 people have fled the fighting in ukraine according to

moscow, a small number are in camps like this, most are staying with russian friends or relatives. but most of the governor is predicting disaster if they don't go home soon so i asked him if he sought united nation's help. >> the u.n. should look and if needed i will ask for help but thousands have died and tens of thousands are in a difficult situation, in my opinion this is an obvious humanitarian catastrophe. >> reporter: there is a grass roots effort moving through and this is the foreign minister in exile of the self declared donsk republic and organizes flow of food, clothes and medicine both to the camps and across the border, it's a pro-russian fighters in ukraine. >> translator: we try to do it as safely as possible, and on this side the humanitarian team helps them get through and on the other side they showed them the checks and paths but often

they are shot at. >> reporter: borders are unsafe and russia says shells coming from ukraine killed at least one russian on sunday and this was mortared recently and it was deserted when we visited for a few soldiers and journalists and i'm with al jazeera, southern russia. >> reporter: still ahead on the program, the bricks developing economy prepares to take on the west, analysis of that. the u.n. secretary general heads to haiti for the first time since a cholara out break and killed 8,000 people and in sports it fools on the brazil coach after their world cup failure. ♪ in brazil five leaders of the group of nations known as the

brics are holding a meeting, brazil, india, china and south africa represent the most powerful, emerging economies and expectations are high and they will establish a new financial institution. and we take a look. >> the brics are called the pillars of the modern economy to nothing but a talk shop with a catchy acronym and that acronym stands for brazil, russia, india and china, the original four as well as south africa which joined in 2010. the countries and brics are home to nearly 3 billion people, 43% of the planet's population, together those five nations generate 21% of the world's products, some $16 trillion and trying to turn the economic muscle into political clout. they reportedly closed the launching of development bank to counter the influence of the world bank and international

monetary fund but brics leaders are still arguing over many issue, how much each nation will contribute to the $100 billion starting capitol, who gets more control and where the bank will be headquartered. the organization for economic cooperation and development has warned that brics nation have not been immune to the global slow down and as seen here they recently forecast poor economic growth and this year four of the group's five members the except of course being china. still economists say the establishment of a brics bank will prove they remain a global, economic force. >> reporter: political analyst maria joins me now in moscow and thank you very much for talking to us maria. this brics summit what do you think it's about, is it all about economics or more about politics at play here? >> i think it's more about politics and diplomacy.

i think what these countries share is frustration over the current global order which they believe is unfair and not granting them enough clout, the clout that they deserve. this much they do share. otherwise i don't think they have the trust needed for a close union of any sort. and it's arguable whether they are actually sharing interest. also, of course, they are of very different weight and chew that aspiring to be the leading nation of the world and at least in the russia and brazil, the economic growth has slowed down, in russia, economists are even talking about a recession. >> and let's talk a little bit more about russia and it has the lowest growth rate among the members, what is the war in ukraine and everything else going on can any of this turn around, any of the talks of b

rshrbrcs help it? >> in the annexation except russia spans from the vote and this was support ready to grant russia and this in itself shows that actually the support is shaky at best. for russia the summit is a chance to demonstrate that even despite it being under sanctions by western countries it is still not isolated. it is in the middle of an important summit. it has its own vision over the global order and it is ready to contribute to shaping this new order in the future. >> and i should imagine she does this as well and needed good will and a bric summit. >> can you hear me there? >> yeah, i lost you for a

second, sorry. >> i was asking about how much they need a good world cup because the economy is so bad and they spent an absolute fortune on it and needs a good break from it. >> actually there is a lot of intentions. and this year will be different for brics because they are launching and expected they will launch financial institutions. however, this is more about decorations right now, about the intent than about i'm -- implementation and it's not clear if the new bank they will launch whether it will indeed even in the future become a rival or a challenge or competitor to the world bank and the international monetary fund. >> good talking to you maria and sorry you couldn't hear us halfway through it. a plane carrying 40 adults and children deported from the u.s. and landed in honduras and a record number of people from honduras and guatemala crossed

in the united states over the past year and we report from the northwest city of san-pedro in honduras. >> a sad home coming for mothers and children arriving back at the city they tried to escape after risking it all to get to the u.s. the first lady greeted the deported mothers and played games with the children. >> translator: she cannot criticize policy. >> reporter: honduras needs aid to battle drug violence and poverty and many of the mothers were angry and saw a 2008 law granting protection to central american child migrants would allow them to live with relatives in the u.s. while their cases were processed. >> translator: i didn't have a right to a lawyer and made us leave at 3:00 a.m. and were not told where we were headed. >> reporter: aside from the plane there is also three buses of migrants arriving today and the united states government has

made i clear they are going to send defortys to honduras and guatemala and el salvadore and they were greeted with joy and relief and cost around $5,000 to smuggling a child, more than the families can afford but at least they returned alive. the month-long journey is increasingly dangerous. 11-year-old roberto was buried after he reportedly died of heat stroke near the u.s./mexico border and they were thrilled to have the nephew back and he left to the u.s. alone to join his parents but was among the deportees. >> translator: i tried to get to u.s. tries and would rather stay in my country where can i move rounds freely and to my parents i love you both and miss you too. >> reporter: they promised to help families but many say they will try again to get back to the u.s., monica with al

jazeera, honduras. let's get the weather with everton and you have been tracking that typhoon making its way to the philippines, how is it looking? >> stronger than we previously thought so from that point of view not so good. at the moment it's on the verge of running to the eastern side of the country and this is a massive cloud and take a look at that, this is the eye of the storm now and that is indicative of the father it is well structured than we were first thinking. we are looking at very heavy rain ahead of the storm, 108 millimeters of rain in nearly 24 hours to the eastern side of the philippines but further west, or southwest of the eye of the storm 158 millimeters away over the last 24 hours, as i said the strength of the storm is more intense than we previously thought, sustained winds 180 kilometers per hour and making it equivalent of a category three storm and could see structural damage as the system comes flew and it will weaken as it moves across the land but

still category two and going to manila at 0200 wednesday and goes up to the highlands and more consideration for the philippines here and now and heavy rain on through wednesday. some of these parts could easily see well over 300 or 400 millimeters of rain through the next 24-36 hours. this is wednesday picture and this is the southern most parts here and you see it making its way across the western side of the area and reintensify across the south china seas. >> let's look at some amazing pictures now, the german team is bringing the world cup home to berlin after their 1-0 victory against argentina on sunday and thousands of people are on the streets and let's talk to paul brennan who is there among the crowd. paul, what is the plan for

today? >> well, the plan is for the german team to eventually make it here at the gate where we have been waiting five hours and nearly two hours over due to be perfectly frank but the people here have not dampened the enthusiasm for the team and the first german team to win the cup since the unification of the country and there are well over 100,000 people here just as when the actual final was relayed to them on big screens here at the fronts of the gate on sunday night. they are being kept going by a steady stream of euro pop and arousing music and various public appearances by pop stars and steady progress on the big screen of watching the team playing first of all and landing at the berlin airport and watching the bus progress very slowly past the throngs of

people lining the street and who have not made it to the gate but still coming out to support their team. we are expecting them here pretty much any minute or in the next half hour but it's difficult for them to get here on time. >> a feeling there with the powerhouse leadership, they got their players on top of the world now, they have a very young team which means they are going to be strong predictably for a long time now. >> reporter: from a sporting point of view there is every reason to believe this german team with the exception of some of the older players for example, closer who will presumably retire i would have thought once the festivities have ended here but the vast majority of the team are early 20s and a product of the german football youth system, they have age and experience on their side. you mentioned the sort of collective sense of achievement. one of the corporate sponsors,

it's a corporate sponsor but the slogan is saying we are all world champions and a quote attributed to the german goal keeper after the match and it caught on and gives you an indication it's not just a team that feels a sense of victory and the german people are very much sharing in the elation the team created. >> this is the biggest party since the fall of the berlin wall, isn't it? >> it certainly feels like that from where i'm standing at the gate and they are supposed to be working today and i don't know what the productivity levels are like in germany. >> maybe the day after tomorrow and lots of coffee, thanks for that, paul. one of the most prominent writers died at the age of 90, a nobel person who worked on the corrupt nature of the society

known around the world. she used her pen to fight the injustice she saw around her in apartheid south africa and won the prize in 1991, three years before the end of white minority rule. she had grown up in a different era, born in 1923 to jewish immigrants, her father from lithiwania and mother from britain and published at 15 and not revealing her age at magazine. >> i have been writing since i was a child and i had a problem and three of my books were band, that is a strange experience for a writer and i was writing in a world language, in english so i was fortunate enough to be published elbow where -- elsewhere but you want to be published where you live and feel like a ghost when they are banned. >> reporter: 1948 and five years later her novel was

published and mirrored some experiences as the daughter of white, middle class parents growing up in a mining, town in south africa and a student involved with young blacks and a member of the african national congress fighting for e wallty in south africa and a friend of an activist who went on to be the first black african president, nelson mandela. >> against apartheid and wanted to see the struggle succeed against it. we came for ourselves and life experience that we were led by mandela in the years. >> reporter: and she had supporters and believed everything would change for the better once they came to power and did not shy away from criticizing the government led by zuma who she viewed as corrupt. in an interview with al jazeera in 2012 she said we all learn from the past. >> the past is in your dna. from way back.

and you simply have to use it. do remember it. and to see, to get some guidance from where it went wrong. >> reporter: she is survived by the legacy of her 15 novels, several volumes of short stories and other works, published around the world in 40 languages. britain's foreign secretary william hague has resigned and he has been closely involved in trying to arrange a cease fire and it's a cabinet reshuffle by prime minister david cameron and we are in london with more on this, was this a surprise, phil? >> reporter: you know, jane it was and wasn't and it was a year away from general election and that was always going to be a case. it was a surprise that hague went and last night he is not foreign secretary and bear in mind this is a man who in some form held the position for a

decade and secretary of conservatives and then the foreign secretary proper when they formed the coalition government after the last election and seen as a confident man, a man who gets his point across and not causing too many problems and he has been through significant world events and the secretary during the libyan up rising and seen it deteriorate and watched developments this ukraine and not short of words to say on the situation between israelis and pill -- palestinians and talking about iran and he spent more time traveling the world and with people who are key decision makers and photographed with the outgoing head of foreign policy in europe and hillary clinton the former u.s. secretary of state and now replaced by john kerry and angelina jolie and

they were talking about using sex as a weapon on war zones around the world and what is significant is he is not just leaving the cabinet but leaving politici politicians and he will be leader of the house of commons but after that, after the general election next year he will no longer be an mp. he had the same position by david cameron and never got to live there but as of the time next year after 26 years he will no longer be an mp. >> i believe he will be focusing on that and thanks for the update, phil, and more to come and iraq's parliament is meeting to form a new government, plus the ti government are talking about cease fire over the years and with the world cup we will find out how officials in rio are preparing for the 2016

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but don't worry about that right now. okay. how do i look? ♪ thanks. [ male announcer ] troubleshoot, manage appointments, and bill pay from your phone. introducing the xfinity my account app. ♪ welcome back, here are the top stories, israeli cabinet has given approval to a peace plan for gaza but hamas rejected it, egyptians sponsored initiative calls for immediate deescalation of hostilities from both sides. more than 44 people have been killed in two bomb blasts in afghanistan, a car packed with explosives detonated in a crowded market in a province of pactica, the world cup winning

german team are back on the soil and they will be making their way very, very slowly through the streets of berlin to the gate with thousands waiting to cheer them on. the peace plan for gaza and we are monitoring developments from jerusalem. >> the skies over the gaza strip are quiet but there are reports of rocket fire coming into and out from this palestinian territory. israeli government's decision to accept an egyptian cease fire proposal comes with conditions. the hamas leadership is still in consultation over the cease fire proposal but says it has not been contacted directly by the egyptian government. >> translator: we agreed to the egyptian proposal in order to give an opportunity to the demilitarization of gaza from

missiles and rockets and tunnels and diplomatic means but if hamas does not accept the cease fire proposal which would seem to be the case israel would have all israel legitimacy to achieve the acquired quiet. >> reporter: airforce spend the week pounding targets in gaza, it believes it has weakened the rocket firing capability of hamas and other palestinian factions but that has come at a cost of more than 180 palestinian lives, most of them civilian. >> translator: hamas will not commit to the egyptian initiative because it was not discussed with our movement for consultation. hamas will not stop fighting until all conditions are met to stop the injustice against our people in the gaza strip. >> reporter: tens of thousands of israeli reservists have been called up in preparation for a ground offensive, a move that has support among many israelis. but international pressure for a

cease fire is growing and would mean enters gaza and searching house to house and many more palestinians would likely be killed. and also israeli casualties. bernard smith with al jazeera in jerusalem. let's talk to the diplomatic editor james in vienna where secretary of state john kerry will speak in a few minutes and while waiting for him i want to ask you a few things and particularly about the regional impact of what is going on and how the cease fire reflects what is happening at the moment in the region. >> well, i think the first thing to say is that there are a lot of pieces of the jig saw to get the cease fire in place and might hear more about that from the secretary of state when he arrives here. we know looking at what he is called over the last couple of days who was involved and in touch with prime minister

netanyahu and habas and foreign ministers of egypt, of turkey and jordan and kata and jordan and kata have the same as in 2012 but of course then the president of egypt was president mohamed morsi, a member of the muslim brotherhood and party of hamas. of course so much has changed. he is now in jail and hamas don't have particularly friendly relations. for that reason. and also because the crack down that the egyptian authorities made on those tunnels which are the main route for supplies to come in to gaza, jane. >> john kerry is there because of the talks about iran's nuclear program and what is said about iran's relationship with hamas? it was pretty cool for a couple of years but seems to have gotten a lot stronger recently. >> well, certainly, that is

something you might well hear from secretary of state john kerry because the certainly the position of the u.s. government is that they believe iran supplied hamas with some military hardware which was used in the last few days and on the sidelines of the meetings of nuclear talks that one of the things discussed here, iran support for them and u.s. and western leaders would like to see ended. >> how big a problem is this unity among the palestinians in getting any sort of cease fire to stick? >> well, i think it's a problem and has been a problem in negotiating this cease fire. i think it's a problem in trying to negotiate something longer term as well. remember, the last cease fire was november 2012, 18 months ago and diplomates you seek to here and the normal birth in new york at the u.n. is they don't want

another short-term solution and another flare-up in just 18 months and there is a unity government supposedly in, among the palestinian but palestinian authority and hamas have tensions and looking at hamas you have the leadership outside gaza and leadership inside gaza, that is the political side of hamas and then you have the military commanders of hamas and then you have other military groups in the gaza strip, associated loosely with hamas, so it is a complicated picture. the palestinian side of this equation. >> there is a lot of support where you are for israel and we have been very aware of the muted response about what has been going on there from the international community. what is being said about the breaking of international law that israel has been accused of? the human rights abuses? >> certainly nothing has been said here in vienna certainly by the u.s. administration and

comments on that came from the u.n. high commission for human rights and she said in her view it was possible the israeli military were breaking international law and not based on the ground monitoring and there are monitoring there but it was looking at the figures of children as the guide on this and looked like there has been excessive use of force and they made it quite clear that if there is any doubt there might be civilians in a building, international law says you shouldn't bomb that building. >> james, there is somebody on the podium and it's not kerry and let's go to jerusalem and what do you think israelis would like to hear from john kerry? >> well, this has been a very politically difficult decision we think for benjamin netanyahu to get his cabinet to back this egyptian cease fire proposal and

we are hearing just now that two right wing members of the cabinet leibermen and bennett will hold a press conference later on this afternoon about this decision they voted against the cease fire. so i think from john kerry, benjamin netanyahu will be hoping for some support because there is a lot of pressure on him domestically over this, domestically there is great support from the israeli public for the actions of the military actions that israel has taken against hamas and palestinian factions in the gaza strip. and there is a lot of complaints on radio talk shows this morning from people ringing in complaining the job had not been done and a lot of support for a ground invasion, 36,000 reservists called up, told to report for duty and in preparation for a ground invasion, all that has been put on hold. so netanyahu hoping for some support for john kerry for his

policies, the international community has been putting the pressure on israel to stop these air strikes after all, jane. >> you see why israelis are frightened and hear about attacks on gaza and over 100 people have been killed in gaza and no one in israel and they have been subjected to rocket fire day in and day out and must be petrified. >> it is, and look we know the u.n. has said 80% of the casualties in gaza have been civilian casualties. in israel nobody has been killed by these rocket attacks coming from gaza because the iron dome has done a very effective job in intercepting rockets that may fall on populated areas, but that is not how israelis see it. they see this threat of rockets coming in everyday and want

their government to stop it and it's frightening and stops life in tel-a-viv and people running to bomb shelters and fed up of disruption and are willing to take, certainly reasonable number of israeli population is willing to accept the casualties that there are in gaza as a price that those people in gaza must pay and see them as having brought this on themselves but supporting hamas so the israeli population a lot of them accepting the price that is being paid by gaza, by palestinians in gaza. >> sure, let's speak to john hendron in gaza and i'm interested to find out, john, how isolated people there are possibly feeling. >> well, i don't think they could feel much more isolated and don't have a particularly warm relationship with the current egyptian dove, at least hamas does not and that of course is the mediator in this

case. palestinians feel largely cutoff from the world. they have complicated relationships with other arab governments in the middle east. there is a lot of support out there. but there isn't the kind of help that people here in palestine are looking for. so the sense is that they are continuing to live under an occupation. they have little control over their lives, their borders, their trade, those tunnels close to egypt not bringing in trade, that sort of thing and therefore they feel isolated in a very real way. you hear people talk about this being an open air prison, in number of gaza people are not allowed to leave the strip because the borders the israelis will not let them. the isolation could hardly be more intent and that is one of the reasons why you don't see the kind of usual effort at diplomacy here that you see with many other nations.

israel for instance has to deal with a lot of other international partners in a way that palestine doesn't because here they don't feel that support from outside groups quite so much. so it's intense. >> excuse me for jumping in here and received quite a bit of support is hamas with pap particularity with rocket attacks against israel and what cost and what sort of pressure is on them from gaza to sign up to the cease fire? >> well, there is two sides to that. i have talked to a number of people here on the gaza strip who have said we hope this cease fire is successful but we hope the hostilities end but some of those same people will say my neighbors house was struck and we have to retaliate and we have to strike back for each strike and it's a complicated view and what people don't want by and large, the people who support hamas is to come out of this and

say we lost nearly 200 people, a thousand or more injured for what? we have this same situation that we began with and that is the way they view this cease fire agreement. they are really looking to gain something more out of it, preconditions that at least allow them to get a sense that there is greater mobility, greater freedom, greater opportunity and after all this is a place where 80% live under the poverty line and 40-50% are unemployed and people want a better life here. and if hamas comes back to them and tells them all we have is an end to hostilities they are going to have some explaining to do for all the rocket attacks and all they have brought on to the gaza strip. >> you say they want to have a better life there but they have been subjected to days of horror. these israeli air strikes. what is the situation as far as the death toll and the human suffering is concerned? >> well, last i looked at the

death toll it was something like 190, the injury rate goes up so quickly it's hard for me to keep track, it's well over 1,000. we went to a hospital yesterday that was absolutely chalk fill and all they took was bombing victims and pushed everybody else out of the hospital. everybody here seems to know somebody who has been hurt and the general sense is here that civilians have been, targets whether intentional or not and suffering is intense and everyone wants it to end but there are hopeful signs despite we have seen two rockets attacks behind me in the last half hour, the u.n. centers where people moved in from the border and expecting a ground invasion heard about the cease fire and thousands of people have gone back to their homes at the border and may be problematic if the cease fire falls through and especially if israel goes forward with operations where

they are targeting rocket launchers in the border areas and even going into a ground war. however, for now, it is a sign that many palestinians feel that this is coming to an end despite the conversation of hamas and the military wing and brigades and have seen it happen before and the answer from the palestinian negotiators on this side is no, no, no, yes and i think people sense that something positive may be happening here. >> but john we are going to go to john kerry now in vienna and he just walks to the podium, u.s. secretary of state and expected to talk about the cease fire that has been proposed, the unilateral cease fire by israel on gaza and let's listen in and hear what he has to say. >> good morning, everyone, i want to first thank the extraordinary team of diplomates and experts who have been on the ground here for weeks and who

have been working tirelessly actually for many months in these negotiations. and i'm talking about both our american team as well as our colleagues from the united kingdom, france, germany, russia, china and iran. and particularly i would like to thank kathy ashton of the european union and her team whose stewardship of the negotiations has been suburb and in this world it's hard to say diplomacy is difficult but diplomacy is our preference for meeting the challenges that we do face all over the world. knowing even as we do that solutions are rarely perfect and nor do they all come at once. but that has never deterred us from pursuing the diplomatic course and that is exactly what we are committed to doing and doing now.

president obama has made it a top priority to pursue a diplomatic effort, to see if we can reach an agreement that assures that the iranian nuclear program is exclusively peaceful. in that effort we have built a broad coalition of countries including our p 5 plus 1 colleagues to ensure that the international community is speaking with one voice. despite the difficulties of these negotiations, i am confident that the united states and our partners, in the p 5 plus 1 remain as squarely focused as ever on testing, whether or not, we can find a negotiated solution to this most pressing international security imperative. over the past few days i have had lengthy conversations with foreign minister about what iran is willing to do and what it needs to do.

to not only assure the community of nations, but to adhere to what foreign minister himself has said repeatedly are iran's own limited objectives. not just to declare that they will not obtain a nuclear weapon but to demonstrate in the actions they take beyond any reasonable doubt that any iranian nuclear program now and going forward is exclusively for peaceful purposes. in these conversations and indeed over the last almost six months since the joint plan of action took effect, we have made progress. we have all kept the commitments made in the joint plan and all lived up to our obligations. we have all continued to negotiate in good faith. but after my conversations here with both iran and with our p 5

plus 1 partners in particular, it is clear that we still have more work to do. our team will continue working very hard to try to reach a comprehensive agreement that resolves the international community's concerns. i am returning to washington today to consult with president obama and with leaders in congress over the coming days about the prospects for a comprehensive agreement as well as a path forward if we do not achieve one by the 20th of july. including the question of whether or not more time is warranted based on the progress we have made and how things are going. as i have said, and i repeat, there has been tangible progress on key issues. and we had extensive conversations in which we moved on to certain things. however, there are also very

real gaps on other key issues. and what we are trying to do is find a way for iran to have an exclusively peaceful nuclear program while giving the world all the assurances required to know that iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon. i want to underscore, these goals are not incompatible. in fact, they are realistic. but we have not yet found the right combination or arrived at the workable formula. there are more issues to work through and more provisions to nail down to ensure that iran's program will always remain exclusively peaceful, so we are going to continue to work and we are going to continue to work with the belief that there is a way forward. but, and this is a critical point, while there is a path forward, iran needs to choose to

take it and our goal now is to determine the precise contours of that path and i believe we can. with that i would be happy to take a few questions. >> the first question, make sure this is on, the first question is from joe of the achl -- afc, go ahead. >> thank you, thank you very much mr. secretary and you said you are returning to washington for further consultation with president obama but you did say the july 20th deadline is still on the table. how confident are you to get the agreement by july 20 and if we are talking about extension do you have any idea how long that could be? i want to talk about the reports today quoting the foreign minister that the iranians have a freeze on a nuclear program for a few years in return for being later treated as a country with a peaceful nuclear energy. >> that was garbled and hold the

mic away. >> there was a report in "new york times" today with an interview with the foreign minister and talked about freezing the nuclear program for a few years in return for being treated later as a country with a peaceful nuclear civilian energy program. does this meet any u.s. demands or is this one of the real gaps you are still talking about? and, if i may, can i just ask you about the crisis in gaza as well? did you talk with foreign minister zarif about this, are you asking uranians and what can the u.s. do to have an implementation of cease fire which they have rejected? thank you very much. >> well, with respect to the issue of july 20th, yes, it's obviously still on the table and we are still working and we are going to continue to work. the team will be here, they will continue to meet and i will, as

i said, go back to washington to talk to the president and also our team back there in order to assess where we think we are with respect to the progress that we have made. as i said, we have made progress and there is work still to do and we believe there is a path forward, so let's see what happens in the next hours and days. obviously prepared to come back here if we have the seem say to me that there is a reason to do so but i have for plans to do so as i leave to go back to washington to consult with the president. with respect to the issue of the what was in the "new york times," the question of a gap or no gap, i am definitively not going to negotiate in public. i'm not going to comment on any stories with respect to substance one way or the other.

the real negotiation is not going to be done in the public eye. it's going to be done in the private meetings we are having and it's being done there. and i might add that these are tough negotiations. the iranians are strong in their positions and they understand what their needs are, we understand what ours are. both are working in good faith to try to find a way forward and, as i said, i think we have made some progress. obviously there is more work to do. we will assess where we are in the next few days and make judgments at that point in time and we don't do this obviously exclusively and we are part of a team, p 5 plus 1, our partners and all of them weighing equally in this decision and we need to be consulting as we go forward. with respect to gaza, i mean, let me say a few words. i cannot condemn strongly enough the actions of hamas in so

brazeningly firing rockets in multiple numbers in the face of a good-will effort to offer a cease fire in which egypt and israel joined together and the international community strongly supports the idea of a cease fire, the need, the compelling need to have a cease fire. at the same time there are great risks in what is happening there and in the potential of even greater escalation of violence. we don't want to see that. nobody does. nor does israel. but israel has a right to defend itself. and it is important for hamas not to be provoking and purposefully trying to play politics in order to gain greater followers for its opposition and use the innocent lives of civilians who may hide in buildings and use shields and put in danger. that is against the laws of war. and that's why they are a terrorist organization. so we need to remember what is

at stake here. and we will continue to work for a cease fire. now, at the moment one of the reasons i'm going to washington and not to egypt is to answer possibly another question ahead of time is because there was this offer on the table and we believe that it was important to give this offer an opportunity. and i still think perhaps reason could prevail if the political wing can deal with military wing and egypt can have some leverage and let's see what happens. but we are prepared as the united states is always prepared, and president obama said this again and again to do everything in our power to help the parties come together to work, to create a climate for genuine negotiations to be able to deal with the issues that truly separate these parties. and we stand prepared to do that. i am prepared to fly back to the region tomorrow if i have to or the next day or the next in order to pursue the prospects if

this doesn't work. but they deserve, the egyptians deserve the time and space to try to make the initiative work and hope it will. we urge all parties to support this cease fire and we support and we ask all the members of the arab community as they did yesterday at the arab league meeting in cairo to press to try to get hamas to do the right thing here, which is cease the violence, engage in a legitimate negotiation and protect the lives of people that they seem all too willing to put the risk. >> our next question is from lou of reuters. >> thank you. mr. secretary, i wanted to turn to the issue of iran first. the supreme leader talked about

needing as many as 190,000 ♪

>> for continuing coverage of the israeli - palestinian conflict, stay with al jazeera america your global news leader. >> a ceasefire plan is on the table after a week of air strikes between israel and gaza. streeisrael is onboard, now it'm to hamas. >> congress is taking step to say make it easier to send undocumented immigrants home. >> rebel attacks shuting down the main airport in libya, 90% of the planes have b