>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ >> hello from do -- do doha, this is al jazeera. there is reports of a unilateral truce by palestinian factions. however, 100 palestinians have been killed on tuesday in some of the most intense attacks yet. and once again among the dead and injured, are dozens of palestinian children. in other news china launches an

investigation into one of the communist parties most powerful people. and ukraine fighting again prevents investigators from reaching the site of the malaysian airlines crash. ♪ so, some fast-moves developments in gaza. we have had a senior palestinian official who has offered a unilateral truce. so far the key question at this point is who that truce or who that official speaks for. we have got correspondent covering the story on both sides. hello to you both. james let me start with you. what do you know about this one?

>> yes, let me first by saying the basics which is a truce is only a truce if both sides agree to it, and that's not clear at this stage. this came out of a news conference that came from the senior official, and he has said there is this proposal from the palestinian side from the palestinian authority, from islamic jihad, hamas and other political parties. he said that, we have not yet confirmed it with all of those groups, but he says there will be a truce they would like to propose for 24 hours. he also said this is because of an idea that came up from the un for a 72-hour humanitarian pause. now we have spoken to the un in the last few minutes, and they are not confirming this, but i can tell you when i met him some

hours ago he did tell me he was still trying to work with both sides to try to come up with a humanitarian pause. there are two different sorts of ceasefires that have been mentioned in recent days. one is the humanitarian pause for a period to try to top the bloodshed while they continue talking, and the other is the end game which is what the un is l -- calling a durable ceasefire. both sides have things they want to negotiate before signing the final durable fees sire. >> bearing many mind what you said, does the involvement of the palestinian involvement help here? the pa is a group that the un does deal with. but hamas is part of that. does it all mesh together.

>> tell technically there is a unity government of the palestinians, that does help a little bit, but there hasn't been a lot of unity between the various groups. so the fact that this seems to be a point initiative, and we're also hearing from a possible joint trip from both sides, going to cairo to actually speak to the egyptians. what we need to find out is how israel will respond. there are two very important meetings taking place at about the same time, at 7:00 local time, that's three hours from now, israeli's security cabinet will be meeting, then the plo political committee will be meeting. i think we'll have to wait, if this is going to actually stick, we're going to have to wait, i think a couple of hours.

>> james thank you for that, and actually it's probably good for you to stay on board and have a listen to this next guest. sir, can you explain clearly for us and definitively for us this idea of the 24-hour truce and how you speak for hamas and islamic jihad as well. >> well this is an initiative point -- jointly to have a 24-hour truce. both sides will come to cairo and start negotiating about a complete ceasefire -- with all of the sides required. the israeli side has rejected this up to now. instead of saying yes, netenyahu

has said he will continue nothing but acts of genocide against the population of gaza. the proposal is 72-hour expanded ceasefire for humanitarian reasons i think the palestinians are looking for [ inaudible ] but again the israelis are rejecting. now the whole world is watching, and how their claim that they were ready for a ceasefire [ inaudible ] is not true, and the israelis are acting on aggression and insisting on the words of netenyahu to expand the operation, which is becoming really an act of genocide. >> okay. so you have put forward this idea, the palestinian authority and the plo have put forward this idea, and have you heard anything back from israel on this one? >> i know regarding the first

[ inaudible ] israelis rejects it, and up until now they have not said yes to the united nations proposal. and i know one thing, that netenyahu has declared he is expanding his operations, and [ inaudible ] on gaza. >> okay. what do you feel, though a 24 of -- 24-hour truce achieves? >> this will provide the basis to apply the [ inaudible ] and would [ inaudible ] adjustments and finish negotiations in cairo about a long-lasting ceasefire. the idea is not to have -- to stop it for 24 hours, but to have a period during which [ inaudible ] come to cairo, and in cairo they would negotiate a

ceasefire. this is the idea. and that was right from the beginning and up until now it was rejected from israel. for a very long time, the israeli side has been claiming that hamas in particular is refusing a ceasefire. in reality the world now witnesses how israel is refusing this because they want to expand their aggression on the civilian population, and they have just bombarded the [ inaudible ] in gaza, depriving people -- >> as you pointed out a moment ago -- forgive me for interrupting -- as you pointed out you are part of a unity government. we know israeli's feeling on hamas. so how do you feel that israel will react. they don't recognize the unity government, they don't want hamas has part of that. do you think they will negotiate

with you? >> first of all there is no unity government, we have consensus government. [ inaudible ] and before that israel has negotiated with hamas through the egyptians and the united states. and now it has an offer to negotiate with all palestinians. the whole israeli propaganda so far has been based on two or three lies. the first lie was that the palestinians started this war, while actually israel started this, second, they were claiming that palestinians are divided and cannot agree on a unified position, this again is becoming true. third they were claiming that they want ceasefire but palestinians don't. now everybody in the whole world is seeing that the israeli army is responding to the negotiations by expanding their operations.

90% of the people killed are women, children, and civilians. >> one final thought because i just want to stick with the diplomatic side of things. if this 24-hour truce is accepted by israel then you and a number of other delegates will be traveling to cairo. that is the plan at least? >> it doesn't matter who is traveling to cairo -- >> oh, i think it does. we need to know who is negotiating. >> it will be a presentation of plo, [ inaudible ] and hamas. all palestinian groups together. >> all right. thank you for that. james bayes in west jerusalem who was listening to that, anything you picked out of that which is new information for us? >> well, i think the one bit of information that i have to add which i told you earlier to what he said, i think what he said provides some confirmation of what we have already heard from

the palestinian authority, and it's good to get it from him as a prominent palestinian figure. but he said israel had rejected this latest offer. i don't think it has yet. i think what will be israel's response we'll discover in a few hour's time at the security cabinet meeting which will take place in just under three hours. and really, it's going to be interesting to see how israel responds. israel all along has -- when there has been a ceasefire says it will accept ceasefires, although there was one just over 24 hours ago that hamas announced and israel continued its bombardment. and there was the substantial john kerry proposal which israeli voted against. there are some who believe that now they have started this, they need to finish it. and when i say this, i mean

their military operation. there are some who would like to complete destroy hamas. although there is a big question of whether you can actually do that, because hamas is so much a part of the society in gaza. >> on that point, you heard him use the word consensus government. not a unity government. i'm trying to clear up what that means, and how all of these parties if they were to go to cairo, how they would actually negotiate with each other. >> well, i think it would be tense, because you do have this idea of a unity or consensus government that is there in theory, but in practice, i'm not sure it is there in the same way, so i think there would be intentions and divisions there in cairo, with that palestinian division. but it's certainly a government that all of the palestinian side are prepared to go to cairo at

the same time, and that's clearly why they have always tuthed this 24-hour humanitarian pause to test israel to see if they have anyone on the other side to negotiate with. >> james bayes thank you for that. and to read you from we're receiving from the ap news agency. it is from [ inaudible ] who has bushed aside this proposal, saying directly, quote, it's not serious. and that would give the israeli point of view they want to hare directly from hamas, rather than the consensus government. now we have got to see what is going on the ground, of course. nicole an update on you after all of that very heavy bombardment last night. >> first of all let me tell you

what hamas is saying about these ceasefire proposals, we spoke to one of the hamas spokesmen, and he denied everything that was coming out of ramallah. in fact he actually said that who -- who is he to speak in the name of the resistance. so it's really a very confusing situation. we heard reports of the delegation of hamas and the jihad, and the islamic authority, we thought they would be traveling today after eid. now we have heard that there is nothing happening on the ceasefire ground, and even if it was it would need to have an international commitment to make sure israel abides by it. but we would had a similar situation leading up to every ceasefire, a lot of confusing talk on both sides as they try

to control the -- the -- the rules of the conflict so to speak. both israel and hamas don't want the other side dictating when there is a ceasefire. every couple of days one side says they want a ceasefire and the other one is against it, and they blame the other with trying to break it. so it is confusing. >> i wonder how the people feel about the ceasefire. it would be a break through to allow people to recover and recuperate, but if it all starts again after 24 hours, you question what the point is? >> yes, people in gaza are really living on a knife edge. they had a ceasefire, then israel announced its own ceasefire, which was rejected by hamas, it was then canceled. a few hours later hamas started

its own ceasefire, to people in gaza really don't know which way to turn, what is going to happen next, they don't know whether there will be a ceasefire or heavy bombardment, it makes it difficult to plan anything. should they buy supplies or stay at home. and everyone says regardless, 24 hours is not enough time for people to do what they want to do. and they want a long-term lasting -- as james was saying, a durable ceasefire that gives the palestinians something. you know, they want to be able to have an easing of the siege a lifting of the borders to travel out of gaza, and they say they won't accept anything until it's a ceasefire that comes with those conditions. >> nicole stay there for a second. i'm going to take a live shot from gaza. the live shot is focused on all of that black smoke which i

assume was the mauer station still on fire, but now two fresh strikes. i don't know if you can see what direction that has come from, but great big plumes of smoke have gone up there. >> well, if they were at the power station -- when we were at the power station, there were strikes going on near the power station. it is near a large empty field of land. constantly there are tanks and shelling in that area, and it's a very dangerous area as we have seen. it's now 100% down. it's a dire situation for the electricity supply in gaza. they are saying that they believe with that power station, it could get to the point where people will only receive a couple of hours of electricity every two days. >> what is like, just to go back

to my original question, because it was very heavy overnight, and now we have a couple of shots. what has been like generally speaking today? the number, level of air strikes? >> we know that more than 100 people have been killed overnight, there have been a number of air strikes in the gaza strip. most of those were in the night. but they were in areas to the south, some of the refugee camps were hit as well, some of the latest reports that we have had include a leader of the democratic front for the liberation of palestine, one of the political leaders in gaza, he was killed with his wife and five children. and a couple of hours ago we had two air strikes in an area right

downtown, very close to al jazeera's office. no one was killed or injured -- we have no reports of that yet, but it created a great deal of panic, of course. and that's the problem now. the attacks are not only happening in this eastern area that has become a no-go zone, 3 kilometers inside of gaza, but all over the gaza strip. >> okay. thank you for that nicole. it really the -- just as we have been speaking, i think i have seen neighbor four explosions come in. and now that's the aftermath of what we have seen. it looks like it is pausing there for now. there it goes again. actually showing the great big plume of black smoke as well. just in the last few minutes,

what you are seeing on screen is the result of israeli air strikes just in the last few minutes. four of them we have counted coming into gaza this afternoon. we have rosemary with us in london, she has been with us all day. and we thank you for your time, rosemary. i think it's worth recapping for our viewers. i have just got a piece of paper, the plo has offered the ceasefire, however, hamas and israel, i have put two crosses there, because both sides have rejected it. it doesn't mean anything if israel and hamas are not on board. >> absolutely not, and i think the key one here is hamas, because all of this maneuvering around getting a ceasefire, whether or not israel has agreed to it, the one that they appear to agree to near the beginning of the war appeared also to leave out completely hamas, and

unless hamas is part of the deal, there is going to be no cease -- cessation of the rockets. as your correspondent in jerusalem has explained, within the cabinet you have those that want to completely smash and end the life of hamas as an organization and as a military operation. and then you have others who have hitherto argued that hamas serves a purpose, it certainly did for a number of years insofar as they could then argue that a deal with the other main palestinian faction fattah, and aabbas, the president who have renounced the violence and was of no used to israel. because hamas wouldn't go along with that.

so up to a point it has served a purpose for those who don't want to do a deal, because they don't want to concede, to say we can't do a deal, because we don't have a significant partner for peace. those same elements would have been anxious when fattah and hamas formed a consensus or unity administration, weak, though it was. >> and out there this war it has not been clear whether there is a third position surfacing in the israeli coalition, which says let's not only -- or rely simply on smashing hamas. let us have a ceasefire which requires it to concede political authority to fattah in the gaza strip. that is an agenda which may be playing out in the background. >> rosemary, i just want to

pause and take in these pictures again which we have been watching whilst you have been speaking. you can hear the jets or drones going over. maybe not, but you can certainly hear the noise coming from what would be about five or six strikes i think we have seen since we have been on air, which is only 23 minutes, just now. it's quite a site to see actually when you see that big flair of an explosion and the smoke which billows up over gaza city. it has been going on for so long now. rosemary is still in london, while we're talking about the idea of this stopping at least for a short amount of time. tell me if you think it helps or not having the palestinian authority or the plo involved? they think it's helpful. and we have got what was called a consensus government. does it help in the long run as far as negotiations go? >> well, this was very much the

message of the palestinian people that they were sick of the infighting between the two palestinian factions. and unity serves the palestinians better when they take their case better to the un. and in a sense hamas was supportive of the palestinian authority in taking their case internationally. now what they -- i assume, wish to get out of the current situation is an international involvement in the future administration and rebuilding and security of the gaza strip, and the israelis also looked to international involvement to pick up the tab for rebuilding the gaza strip, but will want some elements of the international community more involved than others, namely those like egypt and saudi

arabia and uae who are anti-hamas. so the political game is riddling not only the horrendous military strategy, but also all of the politics around these on again, off again, maybe, maybe not ceasefires. >> rosemary, the israeli government spokesmen has told the ap news agency, that quote, this proposal is not serious. does that play into what you were telling us before with the divisions within israel on how to deal with hamas. >> oh, it's indicative of the divisions, would it would be a contradiction to the idea that you never deal with terrorists, you just try to kill them, so to say it is not serious, unless they hear from hamas. what do they want to hear, surrender? i suspect so. but hamas has said it is not

going to cairo, which is a hostile environment for them, and you had an israeli guest from the cabinet on al jazeera earlier today who was lambasting the qatar go for what he called supporting a terrorist organization, and wants to depict the way to deal with hamas as part of a broader international effort to stop altall terrorism. now that doesn't quite gel with what you have just heard. >> rosemary thank you for now, for those of you joining us quickly, we're looking at live pictures this gaza. there is a neighbor who has taken some heavy shelling in this the last 20 to 25 minutes or so. we have seen strikes going down on that part of gaza. on the phone from beirut,

though, we will talk to a spokesman from hamas. thank you for joining, us sir. can you say that 100% hamas has rejected the proposal put forward? >> the idea is egyptian [ inaudible ] and the ceasefire was accepted by the pa and the [ inaudible ]. it's clear that the israelis now are concentrating on the civilian targets in order to make the [ inaudible ] they can do against the resistance, which is why they have rejected the humanitarian ceasefire 24 hours yesterday, and i believe they have rejected it today. and now hamas said it appears for all of the [ inaudible ] ceasefire, whenever it happens, also -- so the idea now is that

[ inaudible ] concentrating on [ inaudible ] houses and the civilians. >> do you want the involvement of the palestinian authority and the plo in ramallah? do you want their help? because we heard from another hamas member who was saying that -- well, who is the pa to speak in the name of the consensus. you are part of a consensus government. so do you want their help? >> well, in fact there are [ inaudible ] pa [ inaudible ] and to form a palestinian delegation from the pa and the resistance to -- to [ inaudible ] and to -- to the egyptian and palestinian position about the ceasefire, and we are working on this idea, the formation of this delegation and the [ inaudible ] to visit cairo, so we don't want anything

to disturb that, and when there is any [ inaudible ] about [ inaudible ] ceasefire, it's supposed to be discussed [ inaudible ] until the palestinians [ inaudible ] and then there will be a palestinian position. as an initial position for the palestinians, we welcome the idea of the ceasefire on a humanitarian basis, but you need the guarantee that the israeli side will not [ inaudible ] they have every time violated the humanitarian ceasefire. we need this time and every time a real guarantee, something like [ inaudible ] that they will [ inaudible ] the one [ inaudible ] ceasefire. >> can you stay there on the line for me for one moment? i just want to remind our viewers coming in at half past the hour, live coverage on al jazeera of gaza under fire. you see the flashes going up,

the smoke, and the sound of jets overhead as well. this has all been going in the last half hour or so. on the line with us is a hamas spokesman telling us about the idea of a humanitarian ceasefire, which you say you welcome, but you want an assurance that it will actually lead somewhere. are you there? >> yes. i -- i didn't hear your question -- >> sorry. that's okay. it was actually just recapping on what you were saying before. let me put something else to you. an israeli spokesman said unless israel hears from hamas directly, then the idea of a truce is not serious. would you take anything directly to him, then, if he wants to hear straight from you? [ dial tone ] >> lost the line there. that was a hah palace spokesperson speaking from

beirut. recap on the pictures that you are seeing, dramatic seens from gaza, escalating certainly in the last 15 to 20 minutes. we have seen a lot more of these air strikes? this area which took such a heavy brunt of the attacks only a few days ago. and as this goes on, there is talk as we have been saying for the last hour or so, talk of a truce. james bayes it really is talk, isn't it? i was saying to rosemary, hamas and israel are saying they don't want it? >> no, it's been a very confusing picture in the last hour, kamal. this originally came from a news conference from a senior if i recall from the palestinian authority who said that all the palestinian side; that is the

palestinian authority, hamas, islamic jihad, all of the political parties had agreed with two things, one they wanted to proposal 24-hour humanitarian pause, and two, they were prepared to go to cairo, a delegation, to negotiate with the egyptians about a much more long-term ceasefire deal. then the egyptians might bring in the israelis. what we have just heard is that he would accept the idea of a pause in principle, but only if israel signs up to it too. it seems this has not been particularly well coordinated as we have seen several times with these proposed truces. it begs the question that the un who are operating behind the scenes and putting forward this idea of a pause to the palestinian groups to hamas, to the palestinian authority, and on the other side, israel,

whether it's time for the un to get ahead of all of this, and ban ki-moon to come out and say i want a truce six hours from now. because it seems when it comes from one side, then you get this great deal of confusion. i think some of the confusion might be solved in the coming hours when we have two important meetings. the only response we have had from the israeli side so far is the comment from the prime minister's spokesman who says they haven't heard from hamas yet so they can't really comment. we have two meetings coming up one at 7:00, one at 7:30, so just two hours from now. one, 7:00 local time is the israeli sewer secure -- security cabinet meeting, and when we see that meeting i think we'll get a more

full response from israel. >> james hang on, i want to take in again the pictures from gaza. we have been talking with rosemary and james about the idea of a truce, and look what is actually happening in gaza right now. big increase in the number of air strikes in the last half an hour i would say, certainly it has ramped up in the last 20 minutes or so. and nicole johnston can you hear me on the ground in gaza? >> yes, i have. >> are you able to tell us more about what is happening right now in gaza? >> yes, we have had the information that attacks are continuing in the neighborhood. this is a very large district in the eastern part of gaza that was heavily hit, more than 60 or 70 people killed in one night. and the attacks to be honest have never really stopped except during those brief periods

during a ceasefire. what you are seeing now is pretty typical. the tense shelling has continued. we're told there has been ground operations going on at various times between fighters from the palestinian side with the israeli soldiers as well as air strikes. most people from the neighborhood have left. and al jazeera has been covering what has been going on there a lot. we know it's really utter devastation in large parts of it. whole neighborhoods wiped out, houses wiped out, and anywhere warehouses are still standing they have been heavily damages. and we now have more than 180,000 people in various places, in united nations schools trying to take shelter. >> 100,000 people killed?

where is that number coming from? >> alling of the information we get comes from the ministry of health. they keep very detailed records about this. we have had a lot of deaths overnight? various parts of the gaza strip from the north to some of the palestinian refugee camps and down in the south as well, and east, just about every place you can name in gaza has been hit at some stage over the last 12, 18 hours. one of the other reports we have had recently is a family that was fit in ruffa, the head of the family was a man who is a leader -- a senior leader in the democratic front for the liberation of palestine, his wife was also killed and their five children. >> that's nicole johnston on the ground.

we're looking at gaza, the smoke starting to clear on the right, but there has been a good seven or eight air strikes that we have seen in the last 30 minutes. as nicole was saying people most have left from there. israel's contention that that is where a lot of the tunnels are that they are targeting. rosemary is still with us in london, she has been listening to all of this. i guess really discussing the diplomatic side with you rosemary, the fact that hamas has told us, yes, they are interested in the idea of a delegation going to cairo, the pa, the plo wants to be involved as well. will it all work together given that this is an israel hamas conflict at the heart of it? >> well, i think actually if you want a serious ceasefire that is

maintained for the duration of getting an agreement, which will end this round of war fire for a couple of years at least, you need both the members of the plo, the leadership of the plo, and hamas, and the israelis in the mix. and the [ inaudible ] that came up when john kerry was leading the mediation a few days ago, about which the israelis revolted and criticized him heavily in a way that irritated the united states because it was done without attribution, john kerry's sin was to say the only way to get a sustainable ceasefire is to return to the political negotiating table about the future of the israeli palestinian relationship. and for the israeli government, they want fattah -- i beg your pardon -- they want gaza and

hamas to be an isolated problem that can only be dealt with in isolation from the larger political picture from their point of view. >> building on there, consensus government or unity government, consensus government was the word used before, hindrance in the end when we're talking about negotiations? does it give israel's position when it comes to dealing with hamas. >> well it's not in the palestinian interest to concede what suits israel. and one explanation of why this war broke out when it did, had to do with the fact that hamas and fattah had agreed on a unity, or consensus administration, and that was behind a plo-lead initiative to take the palestinian case to the un. neither of those two developments suited the israeli

government at all. but for now for the war and the timing of the war was to smash palestinian unity. it's complex, because some in the israeli cabinet would clearly still argue that palestinian unity behind an international initiative in the name of palestinian independence and state hood is not in israel's interest. whereas others would sigh, well, so far we have been able to get abbas to basically handle the palestinians without conceding statehood. maybe we could extend that to the gaza strip. >> two words summed it up, it's complex. it really is. we'll talk to you again, later on as we perhaps get some more information about where this truce could possibly go, but in the meanwhile look at what has been happening in gaza. another air strike on the neighborhood. huge plumes of smoke going up, all of that rubble and dust and

smoke into the air above gaza? the last 40 minutes or so. all of this happening after aer very intensive night of strikes in gaza as well. we'll have you take a look at that with charles statford. >> the poorly equipped fire services in gaza fight yet another blaze. attacks like these come after the heaviest attacks in more than three weeks since the conflict began. [ explosion ] >> reporter: flairs and explosions lit up the night sky. and on a blast more destruction, more deaths in palestine. [ explosion ] >> air strikes like this, one of three targeting a building in the port. in the morning light, fishermen went to inspect he is destruction. there has been a constant bombardment in this area, but it

was very early in the morning that there was a sudden lull. and then there were three air strikes on the building behind me, used by the fishermen to keep their equipment in. the streets were virtually empty as we drove around. this mosque was also targeted. firemen finally arrived to put out the blaze. young men tried to a -- retrieve what they can. >> translator: we heard massive explosion, we couldn't leave the house it was so dangerous. we were terrified. >> reporter: red cross vehicles head towards smoke. various houses have also been hit. this man said he came with as many of his family as he could. >> translator: we fled thinking it might be safer here. there are many of us.

where do we go next? when is this going to end? >> reporter: the israeli military hassern waed people to leave their homes. it says it will expand its campaign for hunting and destroying hamas tunnels and weapons supplies. that mission it seems is now targeting officials. this home was hit but no one was hit. rockets was fired from gaza into israeli territory too. but they were intercepted by the iron dome or fell on empty ground. the israeli government says it is trying its hardest to avoid civilians. but it's high-tech drones keep guiding its missiles in and the innocent continue to die. now this is what is happening right now. we have got the live shot of gaza showing the smoke up over

the gaza strip. sort of thinned out a little bit now, we would have to say. but certainly there have been a lot of strikes over the last 40 to 45 minutes or so. here a slightly different perspective. i want to show you some video we're seeing for the first time ourselves here. israeli army video. they say they are targeting a tunnel slot, and a booby trapped house. they say they are tacking these tunnels because this is where hamas fighters are going underground and into israel. so that is that tunnel route. this is a cockpit video, obviously. and the next shot, i believe this is the attack on the deposed palestinian prime minister. senior member.

his house was attacked. and that's what this video pur ports to show. this and the bombing of the tv station as well. this is what the israeli army releases. and this is what it looks like underground in israel real life in real time. live on al jazeera, we have been watching these air strikes ongoing through the last 40 minutes. and while that has been going on, there has been talk of a trust as well. jam james bayes doing his best to keep track of this complicated situation. can you explain where we are now? >> well, as you say it is complicated, kamal, but this was an offer that came a couple of hours ago now, from the a senior member of the palestinian authority, announced this at a

news conference, and said all sides would sign up to the idea of a trust. since then, you have had on this program, hamas on the idea, and they say they support the idea of a humanitarian pause but will only sign up if they get a commitment from israel too, to commit to a 24-hour truce. from the israeli side we have heard from a spoke man who said they have not heard anything formally from hamas, and until they do, they are not taking this seriously. but once again we have the idea of a humanitarian pause coming from one side. i can tell you behind the scenes, the un is, woe -- working very hard trying to

get this pause. when john kerry the u.s. secretary of state and ban ki-moon the united nations secretary general left the region, they left a dutch diplomat in charge of the negotiations on the ground, and he has been working very, very hard to try to get this sort of pause in place, and i think one thing worth mentioning there is when i spoke to him, he said he felt it was very important that not just hamas but the palestinian authority were involved in then the negotiations beyond the pause for a durable long-term ceasefire, and that's because he said if they are going to solve the issues of'sing the restrictions of the people in gaza, and solve the issue of israel's concern about security and the rockets coming from gaza, then they needed the palestinian authority, its policeman, its border guards to

reassume their positions so that israel could work with those -- those officials and those officers rather than work with hamas who israel obviously doesn't deal with. >> diplomatically james what does a 24-hour truce -- if it comes into effect, what does it actually achieve? we know on a humanitarian level it gives the people on the ground a breather. diplomatically, how does it help? does it help? >> well, it does help in this way. there has been a plan, and it has been a plan from the beginning coming from ban ki-moon and u.s. secretary of state john kerry. the plan was get an immediate pause in place, 24 hours perhaps, and then extend it for, and extend it for sometime, and at the same time as that pause is taking place, you get both sides to travel to cairo, and you start the negotiations, but you start the negotiations when there's no fighting, because if

you have the fighting there is constantly going to be something that is going to anger one side or the other, so they think it's important diplomatically that there's no fighting taking place while people are talking, so that's the idea, a pause then talks pretty soon after that in cairo, aiming towards something different, which isn't just a pause. it's a full durable ceasefire, negotiated by both sides and taking into account the concerns of both sides. >> and it's all [ inaudible ] thank you james. as james talks about this idea of a truce, a lull, we see another strike on gaza liver or everyone to see. the shot tightens up there as you see the smoke coming up in the east of the gaza strip. another air strike going into double figures, i would say in the last 40 to 5 minutes or so. it has definitely increase interested in that time.

rosemary is in london and has stayed with us all day. we appreciate your time and continued analysis. building on what we were talking to james about there. if we get a little break we all go to cairo -- we, the phurricane sandyo, hamas, the pa, they all go to cairo. is all of these parties coming together and actually -- i don't want to say finding some sort of consensus, because it's not that easy, but at least sitting down and talking. >> i think what is shocking to ban ki-moon in particular, in his pleas ophumanitarian and moral grounds to stop the fighting and then start the talking, is the fact that almost all of the players are still hanging on for some kind of

conditions will be jeopardize or punish or diminish the role of the others and favor them rather than stop the killing. and that's what we're witnessing here. and there is a level of brinksmanship that the palestinians as well as the israelis are party, which is we are so determined that somebody else is going to have to stop us, hold us back, because we can't see anymore. we're blind now to the death of children and innocence, is sort of the message. >> so everyone wants something -- sorry to interrupt you, rosemary -- everyone wants something from everyone else and is willing to let the fighting and killing go on just to gain even the tiniest bit of upper ground sometimes.

>> well, there's a lot of belief in their own rhetoric on the israeli side, they are depicting this as an existential thing. there's no way that hamas could ever destroy israel. the fact that that is their objective does not make them an all-powerful enemy. however, this has been about who's story is more powerful thanan the other? who is more deserving than the ore? who is more guilty of terrorism and violence than the other? i'm not trying to say the two sides are equal. i would basically argue in the 21st century the story of the palestinians is the story of being on the losing side. in regional politics not just in the battle with israel. but classically they have adopted the gorilla pa

pack -- tactics of the weaker party, and the israelis are looking for a way to smash this story, and are discovering that there is a legitimate story, it can't be eliminated. >> what is your view, rosemary and you may have heard me ask james a little bit earlier -- but what is your view on how helpful a 24-hour truce actually is in the long run? it helps the people on the ground, and gives them a break, but what do you think it [ inaudible ]? >> well, i think what ban ki-moon wanted it to achieve was a pause for people to just consider the humanitarian c consequences of what they were doing. and saying there are limits of

what we are doing in achieving our goals. he wants reflection on who does that make us? whoever's false it is. but with the u.s. secretary of state was saying a 24 hour pause is better than no pause, and during that 24 hours we try to get it extended and during the extended pause we get some real political peace negotiations back on track. >> rosemary, let's look at the 24 hours through the prism of the palestinians and the two sides. we had a pal stin -- the plo talking about the idea of a ceasefire and saying he spoke on

behalf -- i'm reading here, with the bothers and islamic jihad then we get the response from hamas and he said . . . rosemary, that doesn't work, does it? the two sides talking like this and rushing against -- sort of what you were saying of all of these different sides wanting to get something for themselves. before you know it, you have hamas coming out and saying no, we're not part of that. >> well, i think it's important also to remember we are in a very serious war, and in war, you do not get coordination of messages, and it's very dangerous indeed for members of

hamas inside the gaza strip to raise their heads above the parrapit. his house was obliterated overnight. they are targeted. so how they are supposed to safely communicate with israelis, they have reason not to trust the israelis, and the israelis have reason to take advantage of every break they get, given by hamas. so, you know -- i -- i -- i think it should be no surprise that there are people trying to make a ceasefire work, trying to deliver message which would calm the fighting at the same time as there is confusion and lack of communication. >> rosemary thank you for your analysis. the live shot you are seeing on the right-hand side of your screen is gaza city.

and whilst it likes clearish at the moment, you can see on the right-hand side of the screen the remnants of smoke there. over the last hour, what we have seen a number of air strikes, a good ten or 12 of them in one neighborhood. nicole johnston was pointing out that that is an area has the been hit a lot in the last few days, and also it is an area that is largely empty now. people have gotten out of there because they know it is a targeted area, it is in the east of the gaza strip and it is where israel says it is targeting the tunnels that ostensibly go underneath gaza into israel. there has been a lot of air strikes over the last hour in gaza after a very, very heavy night in which infrastructure was hit, including a power station as well. continuing live coverage here on al jazeera of gaza under fire,

i'll be back with you in just a few moments time.

the humanitarian ceasefire blows up in a flurry of rocket fire and air strikes. the u.s. and u.n. seem helpless in slowing the fighting between israel and gaza. i'm antonio mora, welcome to "consider this". that and more straight ahead. >> israelis were told to prepare hamas. >> earlier a hospital clinic in gaza came under fire. >> we hope to find the magic formula in which the violence can cease.