>> announcer: this is al jazeera. ♪ hello and welcome to the news hour live from doha. i have your top stories. hope for peace in gaza, hamas says it has agreed to a long-time ceasefire with israel in a deal mediated by egypt. an awkward meeting. ukraine and russian leaders shake hands while russian soldiers remain captured inside ukraine. president obama has ordered surveillance flights ore syria

looking for islamic state targets. >> the leading new york city ballet company is trying to attract more african-americans to an art form traditionally dominated by white dancers. ♪ hello, we begin with breaking news on the conflict between israel and hamas. hamas says it has reached a deal mediated in cairo that will lead to a long-term ceasefire with israel. andrew simil andrew simmons joins us. any details on this reported ceasefire that hamas is announcing? >> doreen it would appear as far as hamas is concerned it's a done deal. as far as the palestinian officials it's a done deal. it would appear that really all that is left now is choreography, and a final statement from israel.

israel has said nothing about this. to give you an idea of how tense things are, as all of the talks were going on about this ground breaking deal, there was an ire strike in the gaza strip, and one of the palestinian factions senior leader's home was attacked. we can hear bangs and dracrashe right now. more than ten ceasefires we have had activity right to the wire. but what we're hearing is that there is a deal. it isn't been signed yet, but the palestinian factions are in agreement that effectively the embargo will be lifted. the embargo that has been in existence since 2007. it will be lifted in effect. all five border crossings will have major changes. and then we get to get some details on that, and then the

egyptian border post will be opened up and palestinian authority, presidential guard troops will be deployed there along with the egyptians obviously on their side of the border, the reason for that that being that they want to satisfy israel's demands that there will be a monitoring of all of the teals and the people coming through this border post, so hamas will not be engaged in that. the two key areas are the humanitarian crisis, which is clol sal, we're talking about 300 trucks a day, goes up to 600 overnight. as far as the it ine gritty goes, the first point up here is the fishing rights demanded by the palestinian factions, which at the moment are 3 nautical

miles limit will be going up in stages from 3 to 6 to 9 then to 12. there will be an agreement on a buffer zone immediately. that the buffer zone will come down from 700 to 300 meters, but there will be also an immediate engagement in this rebuilding program, and a massive change to the humanitarian aid involved, but the key issues, the main ones, which are the hole issue of a sea port and an airport, they are issued that will be put effectively on hold, and it's expected that this whole ceasefire could at least last a month. now that's what we're hearing so far. >> okay. andrew thank you. andrew simmons reporting to us from gaza. let's find out the reaction from

west jerusalem where jackie rowland is joining us from. it appears to be a done deal for hamas. the palestinian factions even the palestinian authority in ramallah. are there any official israeli comments on this? >> none at all. the israelis have been quite tight lipped about this. they are saying at the moment it is just reports and they have no official statements to make. we have been hearing some of the details about what apparently this agreement contains. there has been quite a bit of skepticism from people in israel, particularly those two live close to the gaza strip those regions and desert areas close to the strip which have really born the brunt of the rocket fire. the council said what he had heard from the deal it sounded

very similar to the agreement that was set to end the last hostilities back in 2012, and he didn't see that that kind of agreement would bring a long-lasting peace to people in his region. >> all right. jackie for the time being thank you. jackie reporting from west jerusalem. while hostilities started exactly seven weeks ago on july 8th, israel began operation protective edge by launching air strikes on the strip and ten days later israel launched its ground offensive into gaza. on july 20th it began major assault on one district. more than 140 palestinians were killed. four days later a u.n. school was hit sparking condemnation from the international community. then a three-day truce. attempts to extend a ceasefire

broke down days later, and further efforts to reach a peace deal failed. now there are reports that the two sides have reached a permanent truce. we're bringing jackie back in, because six days ago in the cairo negotiations, the israeli team had in fact pulled out. the prime minister, benjamin netenyahu, brought them back to tel-aviv. so do we know whether there were israeli officials still in cairo now? >> reporter: all we know from speaking to israeli officials was that there had been contacts, again, very coy, very tight lipped in terms of giving absolute details about what had been going on. contact, they said with egypt throughout. as they say the official delegation was withdrawn after

the ceasefire collapsed just a week ago. but i should make the point now that even as the palestinian factions have announced this ceasefire as we have seen in the past, and an intense indication of rocket and mortar fire in the last hour before the ceasefire is supposed to come into effect. in the last hour or so, heavy mortar fire. we're told that three israelis have been seriously injured. so that ends to underline the skepticism expressed by some in the region, and there is a feeling from the sketchy details that we have been hearing here in israel from what the palestinians say is in the deal, it does not appear to address the longer-termi issues. for the israelis it's more how their long-term security would be achieved.

would the pa forces return in any significant numbers? and would hamas continue to be able to rearm itself? these are the longer-standing issues which ordinary israelis are concerned about, and any deal that doesn't include those is something that people will be skeptical about. >> all right. thank you. since israel begun its assault in july, 64 israeli soldiers and three civilians have been killed. a thai national was also killed in israel. more than 11,000 palestinians have been injured. the united nations says that almost three quarters of the dead are civilians. we're going to speak to our senior political analyst. he is joining us from berlin. we have been here before. there have been talked of a reported ceasefire and

humanitarian ceasefires that have broken down as you know. what do you make of this announcement by hamas that a ceasefire has been reached? >> clearly this is a truce of necessity for both sides. clearly, already from the 40th day it was clear that -- that this war is over; that both sides at least the israeli side that struck it, could not finish it. as they say in israel, they are coming close to the school time, kids are coming back from vacation, and they just could not withstand the idea that 250,000 children would not be able to go to school because of the insecurity around the border of gaza. so gaza was destroyed in so many ways. on the other hand, israeli's deterrence has been violated in a major way, and clearly

netenyahu could not reach any of his objectives, at least none of the ones that have been declared. and clearly he has been negotiating under fire, and talking to what he calls the terrorists indirectly through egypt, so all of that comes together, means that we are yet another truce like we were in 2008 and 2012, and until we hear from president abbas, and the israeli leadership, it is not clear to me yet how is this ceasefire any different from the last two? because the problem in those ceasefires is twofolded. one is that we don't know how these are going to be respected and who is going to make sure that once they are violated they are respected one again? because the last two to my own recollection is that israel violated them without any third-party being able to impose

on it the ceasefire conditions that it signed to. these are at the end of the day a truce between an occupier, and occupied. unless there is real progress in gaza rebuilding itself, and israel committing to further withdrawals from occupied palestine this will remain fragile. >> all right we'll leave it there for you. thank you. well despite all of the violence in eastern ukraine the presidents of ukraine and russia are meeting. they briefly shook hands and posed for a photo opportunity before a trade summit. the meeting especially awkward, because in the past few hours kiev had been showing off the russian soldiered captured inside ukraine. russia says the men strayed into ukraine by mistake while on patrol near the border.

ukraine's defense minister says they were involved in military aggression. neve barker has this report. >> reporter: interrogated on camera, ten men ukraine claims are russian paratroopers. the ukrainian military says the men were on a special mission when they were captured. the men say they are soldiers from the russian city. moscow says the men were patrolling a section of the border when they accidentally strayed into ukraine. kiev insists that this is the strongest evidence yet of russia's hand in the ongoing conflict. elsewhere in the region, the aftermath of fierce fighting in the border town. kiev said an armored column has crossed into ukraine sparking more clashes. four border guards were reportedly killed by fire from

russian helicopters. the battlefield has changed rapidly. kiev accuses moscow of helping the separatists to open up a new front in the south of the region, the fight for control of the east has taken a new turn. neve barker, al jazeera, in ukraine's donetsk region. >> let's find out what we know about neating that took place between the two presidents. and bring in rory challands. rory? >> reporter: yeah, well, the two presidents have come face-to-face for the first time since earlier on in the beginning of the summer when they met very briefly in normandy. this is the first time they have actually sat down in the same room and had a conversation with each other. there was the briefest of handshakes and then the negotiations began. also there were the presidents of belarus and also the

president of kazakhstan, and katherine ashton, the eu foreign acheers chief and a couple of other eu representatives as well. poroshenko has come with the 12-point peace plan that he outlined in june, in which he is trying to establish a kind of framework for negotiation at the start. the 15-point peace plan essentially includes the disarming and disbandment of all militias. it involves setting up a buffer zone along the border, and kick starting, restarting local government in the area of eastern ukraine where it's mostly russian speaking. but these aren't peace talks. it's a customs union meeting, and essentially these negotiations have been sort of tacked on to that, so i don't

think that we can really say that this is the culmination of any kind of talk. this is merely the beginning, the first step for any kind of settlement to start. >> thank you, rory challands joining us. let's speak to a former russian diplomat and chairman of the russian chairman society with arab countries. our reporter saying that this might be the beginning of negotiations, because at the end of the day, the official reason for that meeting is a meeting of the customs union, but what can you tell us about your reaction to the meeting taking place between putin and poroshenko? >> of course, really it is the first meeting, because in normandy it was very short, shake hands and not more. now they have opportunity to meet face-to-face and to talk on

all the issues that now are very hot issues between russia and ukraine. i think that the presence of european union, belarus president, and the kazakhstan president, that helps to create certain atmosphere for negotiation because poroshenko plan that he proposed in june is not acceptable absolutely for the people in the south and east regions of ukraine that are fighting him. now it is obvious that poroshenko should regard its -- his offers to -- to them according to the geneva agreement, that was reached in presence of foreign minister of the united states, and of course

polish foreign minister -- >> and that plan you talk about, of course, is that 15-point peace plan that was put forward in june, but let me ask you about russia, because the ukraine is saying that ten russian soldiers -- they captured ten russian soldiers in his territory, and they were in fact on a special mission. so there is the argument that in fact vladimir putin is trying to escalate the conflict. >> russian side minister of defense in russian federation denied its special mission because they considered it as 10 -- 10 people patrolling borders, borders undisturbed. you know, maybe that from ukrainian side there are quite a lot of times we watch when -- as a car -- military car entered

russian territory, some people from mill -- from army of ukraine came to russian territory. it's occurred all the time. and even mines are falling on russian villages and cities. they even killed one old woman in her house because it is a war is going on in territory. >> right. >> and russia understands that. and they don't react -- >> we -- all right. thank you very much. we have to leave it now, but thank you for joining us from moscow. >> thank you. >> you are with the al jazeera news hour, and here is what is coming up. egypt denies its jets bombed libya. plus france awaits a new cabinet after the shock resignation of the government over economic policy. and coming up in sport we'll have all of the buzz from new york as a bee interrupts the u.s. open.

♪ but first the u.s. president has reportedly authorized plans to fly spy planes over syria to gather intelligence on the islamic state group. i.s. fighters continue to take ground there. on monday they said they had taken over the entire province. while syria has said it will work with the international community to fight the islamic state group, it says damascus must be asked permission first. let's talk to the former deputy director of operations for coalition forces in iraq during depreciation iraqi freedom. he is joining us live from washington, d.c. so to what extent is the u.s. planning to work with the syrian government and bashar al-assad? >> i'm not sure there's any

linkage between what we are seeing in the air and any work between the united states and syria. the united states has a clear and present danger from isil, and i don't think it will sneak nor negotiate permission from the assad regime? >> so you think the united states will go at it themselves, even though it has been said that they must ask permission first? >> even though we're working against isil directly, there would be collateral benefit to the syrian regime to us taking out some of those isil targets, but i think that's a far stretch from a warming of the relations between our two countries. >> i'm just asking to what

extent do you think the u.s. is willing to go to work with the syrian government in combatting isil? >> i don't think it is willing at this point to work hand in hand with the syrian government at all in terms of battling isil. the fact that the united states has gone into syrian air space without seeking permission tells me that there is no linkage between the syrian government and u.s. government on this point. >> mark, the secretary -- the u.s. secretary chuck hagel, and the chairman martin dempsey have both said a military solution is not going to be enough to combat isil. so do you think any potential u.s. strikes will make any difference to halt the group's expansion and threat? >> let's be clear, what the chairman and secretary of defense said is there would be and necessarily must be strikes

on isil inside of syria if we're going to try to take actions. those are necessary but not sufficient conditions to defeat them in the long run. not simply defeating the forces, but also going against those elements, those contextual elements that created isil in the first place. >> so how much support does obama have for any sort of potential military action, u.s. air strikes, u.s. flights flying it's a planes over syria when it comes to congress? >> well, i think you are seeing a tremendous support in congress for the necessary actions, not only to protect our allies, but also to protect the united states, but there still seems to be some indifference and lack of clarity on the part of the u.s. population. it's important to understand that this is a president that listens very closely to the public opinion polls and my view

is that if he does not see strong public opinion for supporting air strikes, he may in fact back down. >> all right. we'll leave it there. thank you mark for joining us from washington. >> sure. meanwhile kurdish forces are continuing to battle fighters from the islamic state group in iraq. the i.s. group's advances have trapped civilians without food and water. iraqi forces have rescued a group of women and children from a town that has been under siege for months. many have found shelter from erbil. >> reporter: the iraqi army is only able to reach this area by air, the land below is in the hands of the islamic state group and other factions. this is a besieged town.

and the united nations is warning of possible massacre. the iraqi defense ministry released this video, showing helicopters dropping aid supplies and evacuating people. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: some 12,000 shiite turkmen live in this town which has been under attack by the i.s. group for about two months now. the u.n. says the situation here is desperate. people have been without electricity and are running low on food and medical supplies. these are among the many minority groups who have been forced from their homes in the north. some found their way to this camp. >> translator: i have six children. life is very difficult for us. we would like to be back home. that is what we want. >> reporter: the fate of iraq's minorities just like the country is uncertain, and people no longer feel safe unless they are among their own communities.

this is a transit center where families are waiting to be repatriated, but they are waiting to be flown to bagdad and other shiite areas where they say they will feel safe. but life in the iraqi capitol is violent. a series of car bombings killed dozens of people in shiite areas. the attacks keep happening despite the tight security in and around the city. >> translator: i saw fire erupting near our house sending up a big plume of smoke. >> reporter: the violence is also continuing in sunni areas outside of the control of the government. more often than not, civilians are dying. there are many front lines and battles across iraq, and with less than two weeks before a constitutional deadline to form a government, there are growing

concerns that iraq is descending in to all-out violence. we're taking you live to gaza, because we can see a gathering. there is the hamas spokesman, and we also know that egypt has announced a ceasefire in gaza that is starting at 2100 hours gmt in under six hour's time. this is according to the reuters news agency, who was stating that a ceasefire in gaza will start at 2100 hours gmt. and that is the scene right now in gaza, where we can only imagine that they are celebrating. let's listen in.

>> translator: the resistance will go on. >> all right. so the resistance will go on is the message from hamas in gaza. andrew simmons is also in gaza joining us from there. tell us if you have heard anything additional andrew to the announcement that had been made by egypt that a ceasefire will commence 2100 hours gmt. >> that is right. and now this information is sinking through. people are beginning to react. there has been a lot of fighting, which is not unusual in advance of a ceasefire. there has been an air strike on a islamic jihad leader's home. also activity with more rocket fire and casualties. we understand more information is coming through yet to be

confirmed on that. so the fighting has gone right to the wire it would seem, and skit expected it won't be over until that's fire is imposed. this is a deal that the palestinians have come to, egypt has brokers, israel has made no official comment yet, it is expected that the palestinian and israelis will go to cairo to engage in the formalities, and then start the process. the process -- the highlights are that immediately there will be an easing of the blockage that dates back to 2 th thou -- 2007. and also the main egyptian crossing point. and not only that, but also building materials. and the building materials has been the issue of cement of

steal, which israel says will be used by hamas for reconstruction of tunnels. now the whole process will be supervised by the palestinian guard at the egyptian crossing point. and then other arrangements were made at other crossing points from then onwards. also fishing rights, there will be an adjustment to the fishing rights, it will be increased in increments all the way up to 12 nautical miles is the plan. as far as the sea port and airport, the main issues that hamas is demanding has to happen, that's going to be postponed for at least a month or effectively, and it's the most substantive part of it. beyond that exchange of the release of palestinian prisoners and the exchange of