time. >> only on al jazeera america. >> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ welcome to the news hour. i'm in doha with the top stories. [ explosion ] >> the gaza ceasefire unravelling. israel says it has resumed attacks after rockets were fired from gaza. after the fall of [ inaudible ] iraq's army has tikrit in its sites as it fights lack against the islamic state.

fighting has reached the separatists city of luhansk, and police in the u.s. town of ferguson say they have come under heavy gunfire. but protesters say they are the ones being mistreated. >> i have been harassed three times by the same officer for standing here handing out roses. that's what people get tired of. that's why people start to riot, because it makes people angry. ♪ a 24-hour ceasefire in gaza has been broken just hours before it was due to expire. the israeli military has been hitting targets in garza. it says it is in response to three rockets fired from the strip into southern israel. peace talks have also broken down with prime minister benjamin netenyahu ordering the israeli delegation to return

home. at least 2,016 people have been killed in gaza since the israeli offensive began on july 8th. most of the dead are civilians. 64 israeli soldiers were killed and 3 civilians including a thai national. in a moment we will be speaking to jackie in west jerusalem, but first let's talk to jane ferguson who joins us live from gaza. now, jane, are you seeing -- or are you witnessing israel's action now? >> reporter: we were witnessing it just about an hour and a half ago. it was about two hours ago that reports came in that three rockets had been fired from gaza into israel. very quickly afterwards about 15

to 20 minutes afterwards the israeli military responded and we saw one air strike actually incredibly close to where we were filming in the very north of the gaza strip. it was only about 500 meters from where we were filming. and ever since then we have been hearing more reports of air attacks by the israelis. so far we can confirm ten across the gaza strip. it would seem at the minute most are hitting open ground. however, the ministry of health is saying two children have been injured so far. we can't literally hear anymore air strikes where we are right now, but more reports are coming in which we are trying to confirm of air attacks. >> earlier on you said while the ceasefire was ongoing, you said that gazans live in limbo as

they await the results of the cairo peace talks. how are they reacting now that the ceasefire is over? >> right now people are really going to be hunkering down to see how this israeli response could escalate, and whether this will continue. hamas have denied any involvement. they said they did not fire those three rockets from gaza. that could be significant. they say they don't know who did. there are other factions that may have fired those rockets. at the minute, i think what will be of concern for many israelis will be the fact that the air strikes that we're hearing so far have been largely in open land sometime in this conflict you'll see as things start to escalate in the beginning, you'll see air strikes in open land, and that means that casualty figures can be kept down, but once those air strikes start getting into heavily populated area, that is of huge

concern for people here. there's no point in sitting up waiting for any break through as they did last night. there should have been six hours from now for those talks to come to some sort of break through. instead people are going to be watching to see any kind of military escalation or whether this can calm overnight. >> let's now go to west jerusalem where jackie rowland joins us live. jackie just explain to us, benjamin netenyahu's decision on -- to strike as he says terror targets in -- in gaza. is that based on the three rockets that were reportedly fired into southern israel? or was it because of the frustration over the talks in cairo? >> reporter: well the -- reason given publicly here is that it was as a result of those three

rockets fired into an area in the near abouts of a town about 50 kilometers from the gaza strip. the israeli prime minister has already indicated a couple of days ago, that if there were to be renewed rocket fire from gaza, if there were to be any violations of that five-day ceasefire at that stage, then those would be met with what he described as a very aggressive response from israel. he said that when he was visiting the israeli navy. he made it very clear that he was going to have zero tolerance if you would like, if there was any ceasefire violation. we got those rocket attacks that were fired into open areas, desert areas near the gaza strip. but it seems from the israeli point of view that it's not a case of whether the rockets

damaged anything or hurt anyone, the important thing is they represented a violation of a ceasefire that was clearly very tenuous anyway. literally being extended by a few days. in this case just extended by 24 hours in order to give negotiators in cairo a chance to address a longer-lasting agreement. now it doesn't look like that will be happening any time soon. >> all right. jackie thank you for that. that's jackry rowland speaking to us from west jerusalem. let's move on to iraq now, and there's a new front in the fight against the islamic state in iraq. tikrit is about 130 kilometers from the capitol of bagdad. iraqi forces they say reached

three locations, one to the north of tikrit, to the south, the birthplace of saadam hussein. now, the iraqi army hadn't been successful in their battle in the south, but now they seem to be making gains. why is that? >> reporter: well like you mentioned, they were not able to advance towards tikrit, really. the capitol, a strong hold of the islamic state groups. the islamic state group may be the dominant force on the ground but sunnis are fighting alongside them. not necessarily because they share the same ideology, but they have a common enemy, the

government in bagdad. they need the support of the sunnis on the ground if the they are able to defeat the islamic state group. but so far we have heard from sunni tribal leaders they said yes, we're ready to cooperate with the new government. a new prime minister has been nominated. if the iraqi sunnis feel that they have a say in governing their country, then they will take arms up against the islamic state group. and much attention has been focused on the islamic state group. but months before june there was a sunny uprising in this country. you need to reach out to them to prevent a sunni shiite war. >> in the north, the iraqi forces were fighting alongside the kurdish forces and that's how they got their success over the mosul dam.

are they getting any help in their push towards tikrit. >> no the iraqi army is not receiving any outside help particularly from the united states. in the north it's a whole different game. at the end of the day the u.s. air strikes were instrumental for the kurdish forces to retake the mosul dam as well as three christian villages. we saw that for yourselves. even the iraqi special forces, just a small number of them without those air strikes they wouldn't wouldn't

[ technical difficulties ] >> after that men like this pushed in with the help of iraqi

counter terrorism units. now it's an unpress dented cooperation between the two groups. the u.s. said it wasn't easy to put together, but in this case, it succeeded after 36 hours of fighting, they managed to take back control of this dam, the largest in iraq. the fighting continues, though, over on that ridge to the west of the dam, there is a long line of vehicles. we're told again it is the counter terrorism units in the lead. you can see them moving on now. but thatry backed by the kurdish forces doing the majority of the fighting on the ground. to the west it's another 60 kilometers or so to a strategic point for the islamic state group the home of the villagers who have been trapped on the mountain and slaughter as well. as iraq intensifies its

fight against the islamic state, the armed group is expanding its reach next door in syria. an op -- human rights organization says more than 6,000 joined bringing the total to about a thousand. a swiss aviation research group says syrian rebels have weapons that pose a threat to low-flying passenger planes. the report follows the shooting down of the malaysian airliner last month. all u.s. commercial flights have been banned over syrian air space. the body overseeing the destruction of syria's chemical weapons says the most crucial part of the operation has been completed. 581 tons of sarin nerve gas has

been destroyed aboard a u.s. vessel, the cape raid. still ahead in the news hour, senegal is racing for its first ebola cases, but is already grappling with another killer disease. i'm nick spicer, police are fighting to stop the flow of crystal meth into germany. and the teenager set to become the youngest-ever formula one driver. ♪ police in the u.s. state of missouri say a minority of violent criminals are responsible for the latest round of fighting. ron johnson says police came under heavy gunfire and 31 people were arrested.

there has been ongoing fighting since police shot dead an unarmed black teenager over a week ago. >> tonight there were numerous reports of shots fired. we had two fires, one at a business, and one at an unoccupied residence. in the area of west force and canfield our officers came under heavy gunfire. our officers confiscated two guns near the media staging area. >> rob reynolds has the report. >> reporter: a tense moment in ferguson monday night. police order protesters to disperse. in the distance clouds of tear gas were available as police took aim at a group of about 100 protesters gathered. a car with an injured man sped

up and was hustled away by onlookers. police made several arrests. community leaders, clergy and volunteers managed to convince most of the protesters to leave the area. for most of the blazing afternoon and the sultry missouri night, groups marched peacefully along the main street where many storefronts are boarded up following out breaks of looting. police order prod ppro -- pro -- protests to keep moving. protesters said their fundamental constitutional rights were being ignored. >> if we do stand still, they -- they -- they try to arrest us. i have been harassed three times by the same officer for standing still handing out roses.

that's what people get tired of. >> there is some law against handing out roses? >> not that i know of. >> reporter: it was a steady flow of people on footholding signs demanding justice for michael brown. missouri national guard troops were deployed with a limited mission. to guard a police command center. protesters say a larger pattern of police mistreatment has worsened amid the protests. >> i was tear gassed me and my niece and nephew, we weren't going anything. i just don't understand it. i just don't understand why do we have to be treated like animals? >> reporter: president barack obama consulted with federal officials about the situation in ferguson. >> let me also be clear that our constitutional rights to speak freely, assemble and report in the press must be vigilantly safeguarded, especially in

moments like these. there's no excuse for excessive force by police or any action that denies people the right to protest peacefully. >> reporter: fbi agents are interviewing witnesses as part of what officials say will be a thorough investigation into whether brown's kills violated federal civil rights laws. to underscore the importance of that investigation, the highest law enforcement officer in the land, eric holder, will visit ferguson personally on wednesday. ukraine's military is stepping up its campaign against pro-russian separatists in the east. there is fighting underway in lieu -- luhansk. let's go to emmy hayward who joins live now from the area.

there are reports of heavy fighting in the area. what more can you tell us? >> yes, we are hearing that there was heavy fighting throughout the day in donetsk. reports that separatists gunmen were seen chasing through the streets in cars, and an area close to there was also shelled. that would obviously put pressure on the civilians who have had to deal with the fighting for weeks. and heavy fighting in the city center which would seem to suggest that ukrainian forces are trying to push into the center. we have come back from an area 10 to 20 kilometers from the center of the city. and we would hear fire overhead. we were told that the front line is very fluid. we also spoke to doctors working

at the hospital there, who said they are treating the injured. they are treated everybody whether it's separatists, civilians or ukrainian force. they say they don't distinguish between any of those people. they just want to help them. >> and as you say civilian lives have been affected. you described a little bit about the humanitarian situation. what are people saying to you about the fighting, and how they have been caught up? >> reporter: people say it is terrible in those cities like luhansk and donetsk and have tried to get away. and yesterday we heard from the ukrainian forces about that convoy of people who were trying to leave and then apparently came under fire from a missile. both sides are blaming each other for that attack, but the latest is that ukrainian forces say that 17 people were killed, and six were injured, but it goes to show if that did happen,

that people are very, very desperate to leave and will get out of the city anyway they can. >> all right. emma thank you. and one other thing to note on this story, ukrainian president is set to take part in talks with russian president vladimir putin along with top european union officials. they are expected to meet next week >> now to pakistan and the heavily guarded parliament district has been sealed with shipping containers and is packed with soldiers. the move is to control thousands of protesters. supporters of the leaders are calling for the prime minister's resignation. they are accusing him of rigging last year's election. the death toll from the oboe la outbreak across west africa

has s now at 1,200. and all 17 patients who fled a quarantined center over the weekend have now been found. guinea's neighbor, senegal hasn't had any ebola cases but is on high alert, but it is also scrambling to deal with another killer disease. here is our report. >> reporter: doctors can't tell what is wrong with this woman's daughter. she is in pain. this hospital ward is hundreds of kilometers away from the ebola outbreak, still she fears the worst. but this is not bole la. it's like to be a different virus. one that kills more people in west africa, hepatitis e. the chief doctor believes it's an epidemic going unnoticed.

>> translator: the outbreak started at the same time as we found out about ebola, but they are equally dangerous. >> reporter: samples are sent to labs in the capitol to confirm if it's hepatitis. for some the results come too late. 19 pregnant women have died so far in this hospital. hundreds or even thousands could be infected. doctors simply don't know. it is called africas silent killer. 1.4 million people died from the disease last year. so what is it about hepatitis that makes it so deadly? there's no vaccine and the virus can stay in the body undetected for years. it's found mostly in unclean water or badly cooked meat. here water from the river is

used for drinking. villages upstream use it for sewage. >> translator: it's a problem with sanitation. if we can be careful with what we eat and drink, we can control the virus. >> reporter: it's the world's most is deadly infection disease. some overcome the virus naturally. al jazeera is demanding the release of its three journalists who have been imprisoned in egypt for 234 days. they were faultily ak -- faulsly accused of helping the muslim brotherhood. germany has a growing drug problem. crystal methamphetamine. police are struggling to stop

the flow of the drug, much of which comes from neighboring czech republic. >> reporter: the target doesn't .know the police are closing in. it will be a spot check. all the authorities are allowed. this inspection finds nothing, but the police regularly catch people hiding small amounts of crystal meth on this road leading out of the czech republic, and they are worried. >> translator: crystal meth is the fastest-growing drug at the moment. we are here right at the border where it's being produced and sold. >> reporter: over the border is a czech market where cameras aren't welcome. there are counterfeit goods, clothes, and electronics, but

also meth. you just need to ask the right person. this man knows this scene too well. he has been off meth for a year now. >> translator: nothing worked would that stuff. it was all about getting more. it would keep me awake for days and days, and then it all went downhill. i stopped paying rent, lost the lease on my apartment, and squandered my inheritance. >> reporter: used as a party drug, but also by people who want to perform better at work. police think much of it comes from the czech republic, where an estimated 7 tons is produced each year now. this border check point hasn't been used since 2007.

the situation of course has made the work of the drug smugglers all the easier. they try again, another spot check on a czech car driving in germany. marijuana seeds, also illegal. the police say they conducted the search on a hunch. they just wish they had as much luck with meth. still to come, yemen's houthi rebels gain popular support in their struggle against the government. in mandalay, an effort to ensure last month's violence never happens again. >> hard core! hard core! [ cheers ] >> and in sport, the man who spent $2 billion to buy a basketball team rallies his new supporters. ♪

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