migrant crisis continues, we hear from governor bill richardson. check out facebook and goggle plus, and on twitter. welcome to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are the stories we are following for you. israel targets the homes of hamas political leaders, turning those homes into rubble. as americans debate the immigration surge, one mother tell us why she fears her for sons. and a deadly typhoon slamming into the philippines again. ♪

there are fears in israel and gaza over what is coming next. rockets flying from gaza this morning towards tel-aviv, israel carrying out targeted strikes against the homes of hamas leaders. more than 200 people in gaza are dead. yesterday the first israeli died. nick schifrin reports. >> reporter: here on the ground in gaza city there is a lot of fear. you can see one of the main roads here. it's usually full of people and cars, and right now there are very few people leaving their homes because they are scared. it has been a very difficult 24 hours here. we have heard the sound apache jets, helicopters, and heavy caliber machine gun. hamas's leaders might have gone underground, but their homes are in full view, and this morning,

they are rubble. israel vowed to punish hamas for not accepting the ceasefire. this is that pup initialment. the first time that israeli has destroyed political leader's homing. across gaza it was a long and bloody night. another tar, this car. the israeli military says it struck senior fighters, but the strikes are in the middle of residential neighborhoods. this morning thousands sleep on the floor of un schools. israel isn't only using air strikes, tanks are now fire going gaza. >> translator: hamas leave us no choice but to expand and intensify the campaign against it. >> reporter: despite that palestinian fighters still launch a barrage of rockets. every day they release

propaganda video trying to prove their strength. >> hamas is defending its own people. >> reporter: those rockets are flying all the way to tel-aviv, this morning that city woke up to silence. the iron dome intercepted the rockets and the violence continues during a time there was supposed to be a ceasefire. despite the ongoing fighting, there is some progress. palestinian president, abbas is flying to meet with egyptian president sisi. and egypt is a main intermediary for any kind of ceasefire. but hamas which runs gaza does not trust egypt, or sisi, so that's why it will be more difficult today than in the

past. john hendren is also on the ground in gaza. >> reporter: remind me is what remains of the home of a senior leader of hamas, and one of 40 people, all officials, who's homes were targeted overnight. it turns out there is something like 400 homes that have been targeted like this. 4,000 have been partially damaged, 400 of them totally destroyed. and again, one of 40 overnight. you can see that this is what his front porch looked like. and up here this is part of the four-story building that was his home. now his tail a long and winding one, and that's because in 2004, the israelis destroyed his previous home, killing one of his children. one of his children was killed in another offensive against the israelis, and then he and his wife were also injured when his first home was destroyed.

so this is the second time around for this official. it is particularly interesting, because groups like human rights watch say targeting these civilian homes is a violation of international law. they say targeting military sites is acceptable, and israel has been very careful to declare these homes and military operation centers. they are going to have to come up with the same type of justification for these political leaders, because there is some concern this could be a violation of international law. down in -- in gaza city thousands of people are rushing in, because the israelis have dropped leaflets like this. saying they are coming in. and the silent fear is that they will also launch a ground war. so a lot of fear here, and as

you can see a lot of damage. >> each side of the conflict blaming the other. israel's president saying hamas won't win. >> i think hamas itself will meet its end, because nobody in the world is going to pay for killing or for their support. and that will be the best news to the people in gaza itself. and hamas on the other hand saying that israel is to blame. in the middle of it all an american teenager headed home to florida today. his cousin was murdered and another associate beaten. >> reporter: the 15-year-old just spent the last 15 days under house arrest. he is still recuperating from injuries which included a joken jaw and he is mourning the loss

of his 16-year-old cousin who was murdered. the ministry of justice has conducted an investigation and is bringing criminal charges against the officer seen in the video beating him while handcuffed. an uncle says he doesn't have much faith in the investigation. he says the night of his arrest, the father went to the police station, and was told by an officer, i beat your son, what are you going to do about it? in iraq 13 people are dead after two car bombings in bagdad. those blasts going off in a mostly shiite neighborhood. this coming a day after they elected a new speaker for parliament. and there has always been a setback in tikrit. iraq i will forces have been trying to recapture areas now controlled by the islamic state. and syria's president bashar

al-assad starting his third term today, a defiant assad, warning governments that they will pay dearly for backing those who fought against him. much of the international community considers his reelection a farce. and in pakistan, at least 13 people are dead following awes drone strike. that attack happened at the hide out of a suspected rebel. pakistani leaders have been trying to wipe out the bases of pro-taliban leaders. many in pakistan say civilians are the main victims of those drone attacks. the obama administration pressing its case on immigration before the senate today giving details of how they plan to use the money to stop the flow of

children crossing the u.s. border. officials in virginia say they weren't told that some of these children are being housed at a private sentence in prince william county. randall pinkston joins us now live from the white house. randall what is the sla slate -- latest from the sla legislatu legislature? well, they are hearing from the homeland security committee, a panel of experts, among them representatives of the council of the americas and catholic release charities. there are now competing legislative proposals on the floor now. john cornyn robbying for a bipartisan plan. >> we call this the helping unaccompanied minors, or the humane act. it would amekd the act of 2008.

that law had good intentions because it was focused on the victims of human trafficking, and we preserve those protections, but it needs to be impro improve ed so that thousands of children who now make this journey up these smuggling [ technical difficulties ] >> that 2008 law that requires that undocumented minors who are

not from mexico or canada, the so-called non-contiguous countries that they be given immigration hearings to determine if they should be allowed to stay. some democrats including president obama said they are open to changing the law, but some major democratic leaders are pushing back, among them senator harry reid, who says that law was passed to protect children. it was a bipartisan plan, signed by george w. bush, and he does not plan to change it. >> ran del thank you very much. many of those crossing the border are trying to escape poverty and violence that is plaguing central america. monica has the story. >> reporter: in a country with the world's highest murder rate, this woman only feels safe inside the main church.

ever since her husband was killed eight months ago, drug gangs are after her children. they want to recruit the 6 year old, and have him train his baby brother. >> translator: they simply say we will recruit him and take him with us. they don't ask the mother for permission or anything. they come and go as they please. >> reporter: she admits the gangs gave her money. and she's forced to do what they say. they are the de facto authority in their neighborhood, and they know where all of her relatives live. the drug gangs of central america have always been feared, and nay are only becoming more powerful, tattoos and initiation rituals are a thing of the past. the gangs now are more business like. willing to invest in youngsters that they intend to recruit for a life of crime. >> translator: they said to me, we need you to spend the money on your boys. we want these kids to have

everything they need. we don't want them talking around with no proper shoes. they will form part of our group later on. >> reporter: for her risking the long dangerous journey to the united states is better than staying here. she allowed us to film her as she visited the graveyard where her husband was buried. she comes here when she needs to make a big decision. when we got here, we saw the cemetery was empty. but we're told this is where gangs bury their members, and that's why you don't see names on the head stones. her husband's body is among three stacked up inside this mausoleum. and more bodies are likely to be buried here. for her, survival means escape. she does wantinger this children to face this kind of future.

support for our al jazeera colleagues still being held inside the egyptian prison. coming up, a day of action, another call for their release, this time after 200 days behind bars. ♪ krooer

♪ >> al jazeera's peter greste, mohammed fahmy, and baher mohamed, now spending 200 days in prison. today there was a day of action organized across the uk and beyond showing support for our jailed colleagues. peter greste and mohammed fahmy given seven years in prison. baher mohamed receiving ten years. the acting va sectarian sloan gibson testifying before a congressional hearing today. he promised immediate action to fix what he admitted are

unacceptable issues, but he added one of the problems is adequate staffing. >> we don't have the refined capacity to quantify our requirements, because historically we have not built our resources from the bottom up, we have instead managed to a budget number. >> he says they will work to speed up delivery of care. the affordable care act is now six months old. a lot of state governments have opted out of the expansion saying it wasn't affordable. robert ray has the story having to choose between marriage and insurance. robert? >> del, good morning. an extraordinary story and not something that is very common in the state of tennessee although there are over 160,000 people that state to fall into this medicaid coverage gap, but their

story is indeed unbeliefable. larry and linda have been in love but now they are separated and forced to live apart, all in the name of health care. >> i don't like it a bit, neither one of us do. we both want to be together. >> reporter: linda who has life-threatening epilepsy has been living in local shelters. their coverage problems started when larry with his own medical problems at age 62 opted for an early social security payout last year. >> shortly after i started getting retirement, social security called us and say we made way too much money. >> reporter: as a couple their income is too high to qualify for tennessee public insurance programs, and too low to qualify for federal subsidies.

combined they make about $21,000. their separation, now allows them to keep the care they need. so if tennessee expanded medicaid, then the wife would have continued to be eligible for health insurance, regardless of whether they lived together or apart. >> reporter: the tennessee's governor's office wrote . . . so far only two southern states have opted for the obamacare expansion. why have so many southern states decided not to expand this

program? po policy and politics have taken a drain on this couple. he wrote a letter that said -- >> you have a chance to help a lot of people. >> reporter: their fear, they may spend their golden years in a delima. stay apart, or stay together and risk losing coverage and the medications that doctors say are keeping linda alive? >> i can't let her die. whatever else has to happen, i can't let her die. whatever it takes, i can't let her die. >> reporter: an uncertain future for this couple and thousands of americans who are falling through the gap. so del, literally a life and death situation for the drain family. would the medicines linda would

probably go into an epileptic seizure and got be able to come out of it. the governor we are told is looking for a third path to health care resolution that could help some of these people, these 160,000 people plus in the state of tennessee caught in that coverage gap that we have heard about all across america. del? >> robert thank you very much. there are new allegations in the case against gm. according to documents obtained by the "new york times." the report says general motors refused to acknowledge defects in at least three fatal car crashes despite knowing for years that there were issues. and the detroit institute of art now staking steps to save priceless works of art that could be auctioned off.

$100 million has already been set aside, that money would ease pension cuts. a powerful story ripping through the philippines again. coming up on al jazeera america, the damage from typhoon rammasun.

♪ welcome back to al jazeera america. i'm del walters. these are your headlines at this hour. israel are making targeted strikes on the homes of hamas leaders. meanwhile, european union leaders are meeting in brussels to discuss the situation in gaza. but as the politicians talk, the death toll continues to rise. 213 palestinians, and one israeli are now dead. the israeli military, dropping leaflets over part of gaza urging people to leave the area. senators are discussing the border problem at a homeland security hearing. the president wants local

communities to do more to prepare for climate change. the president also announced new moneys to help rural communities deal with the drought. and helping native american tribes deal with clangs to the environment. and at least ten people are dead in the philippines from typhoon rammasun. >> reporter: typhoon rammasun battled manila for only a few hours, but in that time, it caused considerable damage. strong winds blew down power lines. leafing almost a third of the city without power. schools and offices were shut down. several areas have been flooded and roads closed. the government says it is working overtime to get life back to normal. >> restoration of facilities

would be a priority, plus while waiting and looking at lessons learned here. >> reporter: over 150,000 people have been told to evacuate their homes and businesses, but many are stranded. some people here say the government could have been better prepared and should have learned its lessons a long time ago. rammasun is the biggest storm to hit the country since typhoon haiyan struck late last year. in that storm killed at least 7,000 people. the government says it is improving its disaster-preparedness program. this shanty community is one of the hundreds that continue to live in disaster zones. they are the most vulnerable here in the philippines now that it is typhoon season. this man says he has been through this many times before and always braces for the worst. >> translator: what else can we do in when a typhoon hits we suffer, we endure, when it's

over we just fix our homes again. i guess it's all right like that. >> reporter: people here say help from the government is too slow inment doing, so they just rebuild on their own, doing the best they can, with what little they have. and we want to turn now to nicole mitchell on more on where the storm is headed. that storm is huge. >> it is. it has weakened a little bit as it goes over land as usually happens because it is cut off there that warm water source. and also hits friction as it goes over land. the final rain showers are moving out, but the system is still what we would consider a category 1 storm, down from what was a category 3, but now it's going to be reemerging into an area that has warm water. that adds fuel to all of this, and light winds. and wind sheer will help knock down the storms if the winds at

the upper levels are light, it can help that develop. so two developing factors. it looks like this could reemerge on what would consider a cat 3 hurricane. headed toward vietnam and south part of china. so monitoring this very closely as it could still cause problems yet to come. i also want to get back to the united states and the problems we have had. there were flight delays up and down the east coast. it is vastly improving as this front goes through. that's going to be our focal point for heavier rain today. but as the front clears out, conditions are improving. a lot of the flood watches and warnings have re skieded as

well. but the frontal boundary still causing a couple of problems yet through the rest of the day. the other thick we have seen on the backside of this. this has by our focal point for that much colder air that we had move in. as the air desended we finally started to see a little bit of moderation in this. places in the 60s and places like minnesota are finally starting to nudge up into the 70s now. there is actually some really lo lovely july weather. but there is still muggy stuff out there today, so it just depends on where you live. >> nicole thank you very much. after 73 years today, archie

coming to an end today. in the issue released today, archie is killed trying to protect a friend, a fictional senator who is openly gay. we want to thank you for watching al jazeera america. i'm dell in new york. "inside story" is next. ♪ >> what happens if the kurds seek independence? it's the "inside story." >> hello, i'm libby casey. internal political strife along