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tv   News  Al Jazeera  July 22, 2014 12:00pm-12:31pm EDT

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>> 66 different entry points, many of which are under homes and schools. no site is off limits for hamas. one site began under a family home that was packed with explosive. hamas is using its extensive tunnel system to carry out a series of deadly attacks. in the past week dozens of heavily armed terrorists have used these exact tunnels to infiltrate israel. what do you expect israel to do when terrorists are as far from [ inaudible ] as this hole is to
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the metropolitan museum? imagine, what it is like for israelis living next to gaza, to know that there are dozens of hidden tunnels leading to the doorstep of their communities. imagine what it is like to fall asleep wondering if a terrorist is tunnelling under your home or to make up and wonder if your children will be safe on their way to school. just yesterday, heavily armed hamas terrorists emerged from a tunnel only 200 yards from a kindergarten. hamas solders fired rocket grenades, killing two soldiers before retreating back under ground. a few hours later two more terroristings entered israel
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using a tunnel. they were on a mission to kidnap israelis. for years the international community criticized israel for restricting the entry of construction material into gaza. now you know who those building materials are being used for. all this time, the international community thought it has been sending money to develop social services or economic structures. in truth, the aid dollars that you sent were only aiding hamas to build its terrorist strong hold. the fact that hamas directs its budget underground rather than above ground proves it is more interested in war fair than the welfare of the palestinian people. hamas sends innocent men, women, and children to stand on the roof of their home, and shield
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the terrorists firing rockets from their living rooms and bedrooms below. it builds bunkers for its leaders but refuses to build bomb shelters for its people. it has set up its headquarter inside a hospital. rather than taking steps to avoid harming civilian casualties, hamas has stepped up its attacks in the hopes of creating even more casualties. hamas's strategy is clear. it sees every palestinian victim as fuel for the propaganda machine. the purpose of this machine is to push the international community into pressuring israel to grant hamas's demands. sadly, many people have fallen for their cynical complaints. all sides that argue that hamas
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has a right to continue, are supporting a terrorist organization. president abbas has a choice to make. he can continue to remain silent and stand in support or hamas, or assume the leadership by dissolving the unity government. the choice is his, be a part of the problem or a part of the solution. mr. president, israel is doing its utmost to avoid harming civilians, because we believe every innocent life lost is a tragedy. we deeply regret the losses, but blames hamas for hiding behind civilians and using them as human shields. it is only operating against terrorist targets and is taking steps that no other nation that any time in history as taken.
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what other nation supplies millions of dollars for humanitarian aid or set up a field hospital to treat the wounded on the other side even as the emny fires indiscriminately. giving the enemy time to set booby traps and deploy snipers. israelis spent four days warning the civilians in gaza that they could uproot hamas. that gave hamas four days to prepare an assault on our troops. every time we drop a leaflet or send a text message, we're endangering our children so that we may keep their children safe. we have said before, israel has no interest in being in gaza. we are fighting in gaza, but we
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are not fighting the people of gaza. the equation is simple. when it is quiet in israel, it will be quiet in gaza. the goal of our operation is to eliminate the rockets, shut down the terror tunnels -- >> you are watching al jazeera, what you are seeing at the moment is an open session at the un security council. at the moment the israeli ambassador to the un is speaking. he has spoken of the fact that no nation is immune to the threat of radical islam. he says the struggle we face is the struggle that the civillized war will face in the future. earlier, of course, we heard from the palestinian ambassador who spoke of the fear and panic gripping the population where a hundred thousand people have displaced. he said -- he gave a list of those who died and the level of destruction that has been caused
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in the strip, and he said we are not numbers. we are human beings. let's bring in now, our correspondent, who has also been with me and watching those goings-on, those proceedings in the un at the moment. and we heard also from ban ki-moon as well. basically all sides effectively laying out beliefs of what is happening at the moment. and as ever the sides differ greatly in what they believe. >> absolutely. there -- the palestinians are appealing to emotion here as you said, saying we are people, we're not numbers. the palestinian ambassador wearing a black ribbon on his lapel. his delegation behind him wrapped in the scarvesing
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leading off the names of the children willed. 600-plus dead on the palestinians dead. 18,000 homes damaged, but the israeli ambassador, again, appealing to the interests of other nations in fighting terrorism, accusing the other side, hamas, in particular, of using the population as human shields, saying we allowed construction materials into gaza, and in return they didn't build schools, they built tunnels, and we will stop the fighting in gaza when the rockets stop in israel. so similar arguments to what we have been hearing, but increasingly an emotional debate in the security council, and the pictures of the palestinian suffering that are getting very
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hard to ignore for the international community and the palestinian ambassador actually held up the pictures of these children and families who are suffering, bloody bodies, bloody children, and -- and that making a very deep impact, i think on -- on members of the security council and people who are watching. they also heard from ban ki-moon, the secretary general, prior to the ambassador speaking. he talked about his efforts to encourage a ceasefire in the region. he said there can't be a return to the status quo here. we need to start a dialogue, and attack the root causes of this conflict. he didn't give a lot of details about his meetings in this the region. he has been to egypt, qatar. he is in israel now. the breached from romala, he
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says this is a highly sensitive time as we are seeing play out before the cameras here. but he ended by saying this is his emergency trip to gaza since he has been secretary general and that children have grown up facing three wars, essentially, and left that as a reminder, as they plow forward and try to come up with some international consensus or support for a way forward. >> kristin thanks very much indeed. and we have just been watching the israeli ambassador to the un speaking. let's hear what the palestinian ambassador has to say in the last hour. >> we urgently appeal for efforts to address the immense humanitarian needs over the palestinian civilians in gaza, including through donor support. with no regard for human life,
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israel's occupying power continues to slaughter families. >> before that un security council meeting there was activity in the middle east itself. benjamin netenyahu saying the international community must hold hamas accountable for rejecting multiple ceasefire offers. he made those comments with a joint conference with the un secretary general ban ki-moon. and he reasserted his nation's right to defending itself. >> i think the people of gaza, and that's become absolutely clear to the world are the victims of the brutal hamas regime. it is the right of every state to defending itself, and israel will continue to do what it needs to do to defend it's people. this is not only our right, this is our duty. >> ban ki-moon called for the
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rocket fire toengd immediately. but he said israel must exercise maximum constraint as the death toll has soared to more than 600. >> military actions will not increase israel's stability and security in the longer term. i fully share and appreciate the security concern and right to defend your country and citizens. israel is a democratic strong country, and i urge you to demonstra demonstrate fortitude. >> let's speak to james bayes in west jerusalem for us. while that press conference was taking place in tel-aviv there was another conference taking place in cairo. what happened there? >> yes, that was john kerry and
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his egyptian counter part speaking about the plan. because there is a plan in place that both ban ki-moon and john kerry have referred to. a two-step plan that you would come up with a ceasefire first, based on the egyptian proposals, the egyptian text that i'm told exists, which is pretty similar to the one that was around early on, matter of days ago. and then the second stage is to deal with the underlying problems. what i think is interesting is to watch some of the language over the last couple of hours, because clearly a lot of efforts in diplomacy has been going on. ban ki-moon, you heard him speaking there, next to netenyahu, that was about two hours ago, and it didn't look very optimistic. ban ki-moon about 40 minutes ago was addressed the security council by video link. he made it from tel-aviv to r a
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romala. it is my hope and belief that these talks will lead to results and an end to the fighting in the very near future. a prediction from ban ki-moon that a ceasefire could be in place in the very near future. that's the most optimistic comment we have heard from any international figure in more than two weeks. so i think what he said, in his prepared speech that he delivered from the un base in romala, i think significant. >> yes, but as far as we know, hamas has not been involved in any of these negotiations because it has demands it wants met before it talks about a ceasefire. >> yeah, it wants an end to the siege, for example. that is one of those underlying
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causes that under the kerry ban ki-moon plan they would have the ceasefire first and then negotiations. there are other players involved here. we know the turks are involved and that qatar is involved. and we know they don't have good relations with egypt, in some ways ban ki-moon and john kerry are having to immediate among the mediators. but i think that comment from ban ki-moon it will be judged in the coming days where he was right or not. he said we could see piece in the very near future. >> james thanks. an israeli soldier earlier reported missing in the gaza strip is presumed dead. ham mass claimed to have captured him on tuesday. 3,752 people have been injured.
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at least 28 israeli solders have died, as have two civilians. delta airlines has indefinitely canceled all flights into israel. a plane was on its way from israel to new york but was diverted to paris on tuesday. . the airline said the decision was made to ensure the safety and security of its passengers and employees. 290 people were on board. al jazeera's offense in gaza city was hit by two bombs on tuesday. another international media outlet was using the office at the same time. and was safely evacuated along with al jazeera's teams. israel's foreign minister saying his government is seeking to ban al jazeera from operating
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inside israel. he said he had already begun reviewing the status of the channel. he went on to say, al jazeera has become a pillar of hamas's propaganda efforts. al jazeera considers his comments to be very serious. israel is accountable for al jazeera teams working in both israel and the palestinian territories. i'm hoping right now that we might actually be able to return to gaza city itself and speak to our correspondent nicole johnston. yes, there she is. nicole amid all of the diplomatic effort that we have just been talking about, the violence, the fighting continues on the ground. tell us the latest of what you know of what is happening. >> reporter: that's right. however, it hasn't been quite as heavy as we have seen over the last couple of days. from the palestinian side they have fired somewhere between 50
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and 100 rockets. from the israeli side the tank shelling is still continuing in the eastern flank of gaza. earlier in the morning, we had some very heavy hits in the central part of gaza city, buildings. apartment buildings were be it. and the death toll has been around 60 palestinians. >> nicole i'm pausing slightly, because i'm seeing something coming on twitter, coming from the united states relief works agency, saying that he is hearing reports coming in of a united nations girl's school in gaza, housing those displaced people taking a direct hit by israeli shelling. that has just come in to us, i'm sure you will try to find out a
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bit more about that for us. talk about hamas and the demands that it wants to see happen before it says it will take part in any negotiations for a ceasefire. >> the demands of hamas have been very consistent out there this conflict. two days after it started hamas said it wanted a return the 2012 ceasefire agreement. the main part of that is the opening of the borders, the'sing of the tight siege on gaza, this includes fisherman to go out and fish. they are restricted -- they should be allowed to go 20 not call miles out. they are only allowed 3. hamas would also like to see an easing of the israeli border restrictions to allow exports to move out of gaza, and most
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importantly for the crossing into egypt to be open. that would give people in gaza some kind of breathing space. it would allow them to get out of gaza into egypt, and be able to travel to the rest of the world. the other demand of hamas which it has been very strong about, is it wants to see the freedom of the palestinian prisoners who have been rearrested over the last few weeks. these were prisoners who were originally freed. some of the demands are much more ambitious. they said they want to see the port in gaza opened, and they want to see an international airport in gaza. there was one many years ago, it has been bombed to smithereens, highly unlikely hamas will see those demands met, but it gives them some sort of position, if it doesn't get that, maybe we'll
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get a easing of the border restrictions. even though this 2012 agreement held for a while, eventually the restrictions were tightened again. >> thanks very much indeed. much more on developments from the middle when they happen. and still to come, european ministers take steps against russia, but stop short of naming new sanctions. ♪
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♪ hello again, a reminder of the headlines here on al
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jazeera. the un security council is holding an open debate on the situation in gaza. un secretary general has met the israeli prime minister in tel-aviv. ban ki-moon cam -- calls for both sides to start talking. and as the talking continues so too does the bloodshed. over 600 palestinians have died. two israeli civilians have died as well, along with 28 socialed -- soldiers. the dutch prime minister says the first bodice of downed flight mh 17 could be back in this the netherlands by
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thursday. right now the victim's bodies are in eastern ukraine, they were taken there from the crash site aboard a refrigerated train. formerly identifying those passengers who perished on board could take months. scott heidler has the update. >> reporter: the train carrying 282 bodies arrived here at 11:00 in the morning, and almost immediately began processing these bags that contain bodies and body parts. each one, they say is going to take approximately 30 minutes. as soon as they are ready they will be put on an airport and flown to the netherlands. they will probably be done in batches. meanwhile at the krach site investigators are combing through, trying to get other cluesover the material to try to
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stitch together exactly what happened. there are the european monitors also down at the scene. they say they are going to continue to go to make sure things are going well. but they also realized that even though they have both sides agreement, they will stay safe down there, but they also know this is a tense situation and it will be a long and difficult process. in the eastern city of donetsk more fighten has broken out on monday. pro-russian rebels said ukrainian forces tried to take back the city. but kiev insists the clashes were with small proukrainian groups. the european union has threatening harsher sanctions over russia, but has failed to announce immediate action. there is increasing pressure
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from both the us and uk to step up the measures against russia. let's take you live to brussels. what exactly did they agree to? >> well, after several hours of tricky discussions, they have come out now, and said that they have agreed to draw up a list or rather to come up with a -- with new names of individuals and companies to be added to the list of existing sanctions. now that's going to be presented on thursday. they also agreed to start looking at measures hitting russia's energy sector. russia's defense sector, and it's financial services. that could come out on thursday as well, but that could be way down the line. that's a further stage in the sanctions if you would like.
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but they are determined to add new individuals and entities as they -- as they call it over what they see as the continued russian supply of weapons and fighters into eastern ukraine. now many of the foreign ministers ahead of the talks said that they believe that that was creating the -- the environment in which that passenger plane was shot down as they -- as they are keen to stress, and that was something that katherine ashton, the eu's foreign policy chief addressed just after the talks finished. >> we in particular call on russia to actually use its influence over the armed groups to achieve access to the site. and we urge russia to stop the increasing flow of weapons, equipment, and militants across the border, so we can achieve rapid deescalation, and we ask it to withdraw its additional
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troops from the border area. >> what happened to the calls for an arms embargo made by several countries? >> well, felicity for the time being there is just not enough consensus, many states, including the baltic states are very keen for that to be discussed. but on the other hand, france, a country deeply involved in supplying military equipment to russia, it has got a contract worth around 1.2 billion euros. the french president has said the delivery of a second could be made conditional. but at the moment that's as far as he is willing to go, so really it's not going anywhere for the moment. the talk of an arms embargo as you put it. >> thanks very much. indonesia has a new president who campaigned heavily
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on his common man image, won 53% of the vote. the governor of the capitol city beat the former military general who is contesting the results. ♪ employees say they did. muse, how two small towns in new york are leading the fight against fracking. successfully banning the practice with other cities poised to follow suit, what's the impact on local economies. and later, we speak with a man behind the nation's first county wide fracking ban, the energy alternative working on