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 bodies, these issues have also got to be

resolved, but it would appear that now we are looking at -- after more than seven weeks of this whole crisis with so many dead and so much misery and damage, three times the amount of damage than was done in the -- in the first gaza war, which we remember, in which so many died. this has beenco lossal, and it would appear that this is the brightest light we have seen in a while. >> andrew just to let you as well as our viewers know, the palestinian authority president is speaking right now. and we were expecting him to

make some sort of announcement that there was a ceasefire deal. hamas had announced that a ceasefire deal had been reached. i do apologize for that technical glitch. i do believe we have him back, that is the palestinian president, abbas. so here is what we'll do. we will -- we will monitor -- we will be monitoring that speech by the palestinian authority president, and we'll bring you any and all of the important lines that he will be speaking of. andrew simmons is now joining us from gaza. so we were expecting the authority -- the palestinian

authority president, unfortunately we're just having some technical glitches, andrew, but he had been in cairo the last few days? >> as far as abbas is concerned, he had -- had planned to make an announcement of this whole break through, had wanted to, it would appear, we understand from our sources. hamas on the other hand had been quite determined that the whole thing should come from the egyptian end, and in fact effectively it would appear there was a rush to get this news out and mention it first. now as far as abbas is concerned, he has a series of measures to announce. it isn't only this break through, but other political initiatives he wants to engage in as well. so i think you can expect there to be a fairly forceful

speech -- it's a shame we can't hear it right now -- but a fairly forceful layout. he has effectively been taking the diplomatic offensive, and hamas has been making the military offensive, and it has been a two-pronged approach that israel hasn't liked. now it seems we have a situation, if israel will bite, will sign up, and this whole thing has potentially been a massive change for the palestinians of gaza who are in such a devastated state after enduring for so long this level of violence, which is unprecedented even by gaza standards over this period of time. >> okay. andrew to thank you. andrew simmons reporting for us from gaza. and just a reminder that

breaking news we have at al jazeera that egypt has announced a ceasefire in gaza starting at 2100 hours gmt, and that's according to reuters who is siting state news in egypt. egypt says it didn't carry out air strikes in libya. the u.s. has accused egypt as well as the united stated arab emirates for the attacks. the newly appointed u.n. envoy says it is not helpful. >> any kind of interference of foreign expression won't help libya to get out of the current chaos, so what is important is to support libyans who want to fight chaos, and who want to do it through a political process. the founder and director of

[ inaudible ] institutes, which provides analysis on libyan issues. >> it has certainly taken away the mystique of this being a proxy war. it is the first time since 2011 that a member of the international community has played a prominent role in the libyan conflict. from that respect it's a precarious new chapter we're having to open up. the renegade general declared operation dignity, which is a war on terror in mid-may of this year, and since then has found backing from sisi in egypt. being to him being at odds with terrorist organization, but a very wide mandate of sisi is also to destroy the muslim brotherhood. the muslim brotherhood has found backing from revolutionary

brigades who also feel that he has been having a grab for power. so in that respect the ua backing the new operation. further than that, though, he doesn't like the fact that the libyan muslim brotherhood is the lasting man standing in the arabing spring. and it poses a challenge for them to get rid of them. but egypt i'm sure find it embarrassing to be on this stage. in afghanistan one of the two candidates hoping to succeed karzai is threatening to pull out of the process. he says the audit process is a joke. his rival claims to have won the

election, marking afghanistan first democratic transfer of power. >> reporter: this is another wrinkle in the already complicated process to decide who will be afghanistan's next president. after the run off election in june, abdullah abdullah alleged widespread fraud. john kerry has been here twice in the past few weeks trying to broker an agreement. after the election commission on monday only through out a small fraction of the vote, dr. abdullah's team is calling the process a joke. if their demands are not met by wednesday, they say they will pull out of the process all together. for more than a month hundreds of international observers have

been on the outskirt of kaboul looking at almost every single ballot as afghanistan waits to see who will be its next president. this whole slow drawn-out process has paralyzed the afghan economy. and afghans would like to see this process finished soon. the outgoing president would like to see his successor inaugurated on september 2nd, but this new complication, the objections by dr. abdullah's team makes that unlikely. asylum seekers are sighing the australian government for failure to provide adequate health care. the australian government has come under fire from human rights groups over the way it deals with asylum seekers arriving by boat. the lawyers aledge the people are suffering from physical and

mental health problems, which are not being properly addressed. >> we can't give people back the youth they have lost in detention, and we can't give children back their childhoods. but what we do hope is that compensation will provide something with which people can rebuild their lives once, and if they are given back their freedom. the bodies of another 24 migrants have been recovered from a boat that overturned off of sicily's coast on friday. the italian navy says it has rescued almost 4,000 migrants in 48 hours. a record number of people have been crossing the mediterranean, more than 100,000 have arrived by boat this year alone. the man credited for transforming berlin into one of the coolest cities in the world

has stepped down as mayor. he was berlin's first openly gay mayor. and he draw young people to berlin's famous night life and cultural heritage. but delays tarnished his reputation, and he'll step aside at the end of the year. a new government is expected to be announced in france. some ministers criticized austerity measures. >> reporter: the question is will this cabinet reshuffle be effective? and the answer is in the immediate term, yes, it will. because there is expected to be a brand new cabinet, made up largely of loyalists, and expressly there will be no policy change. it will be back to business as

before, in the view of those dissenters, that amounts to toeing the economic line, towards restoring growth. even in the short-term, though, there are problems on the horizon. most french people are extremely frustrated. they blame the president for the slow revival. even before this political crisis there was talk of an autumn of protests and strikes over the economy. well, nothing in the composition of a new cabinet is likely to bestow much confidence in the public mind. still ahead on al jazeera: ♪ >> trying to encourage more ethnic minorities into ballet. and we'll tell you why the coach of the israeli champions has

quit his job after just two months. ♪

city. we want to bring you an update on two breaking news stories. we've got some breaking news out of syria today where an american hostage has been freed. here you are in the al jazeera news hour. hello, again. speaking to our correspondent jackie rowland who has an announcement that a ceasefire in gaza will be commencing. >> yes, we now have confirmation from the israeli side that in fact, yes, a ceasefire will be beginning, a little bit of confusion about exactly when the

ceasefire is due to take effect, and we have had conflicting reports in any last couple of hours. most of the local media reporting that it would begin at midnight local time. we have a couple of reports that appear to conflict that, but nevertheless a very clear message coming from the israeli side that yes, a ceasefire has been agreed upon. >> all right. jacky thank you. the languages of minority groups of myanmar are making a comeback. for more than 50 years burmese was only allowed to be taught in schools. >> reporter: this teacher is teaching children to read and write in their mother tongue. most of these children are from the shawn ethnic minority. and while they speak the shawn

language, this is the first time they are learning the written script in school. >> translator: in addition to teaching, i'm a farmer. after teaching in the morning i go back to the fields. >> reporter: she learned how to read and write shawn in a monastery. previously the only place one could do so. the shawn culture and literature committee which trains teachers for about a week before sending them out to schools has only managed to recruit about 30 people. after the military took power in the early 1960s, burmese was the only language taught in state schools, but the 2008 constitution ensured that ennick -- ethnic minorities could learn their own language. lessons start at dawn and go on for 90 minutes. the children get a break before

regular schooling begins. they also come here on weekend, but don't seem to mind. >> reporter: i am a shawn, and i want to master my own language. also this is an honor to my community. >> reporter: the committee runs the program, and is self funded. >> translator: our duty is not just to preserve our language, but also to promote it. we strive towards that. it is the mission of our ethnic group. >> reporter: there are more than 130 ethnic groups in myanmar, so far only shawn and mar states have reintroduced their languages, but more are expected to follow suit. we take you now back to gaza, that is where we have

sammy who is a senior spokesman for hamas speaking on the announcement of the ceasefire deal. let's listen in. >> translator: his defeat and his failure even within the few minutes before the declaration of the agreement, the resistance said that it killed two soldiers within the few minutes before the agreement. we have started in strength and we have ended in strength, and that netenyahu will fail and netenyahu is a big failure, and there will be a committee to examine the failures of the israelis in this battle. that's why today we congratulate our palestinian people for achieving such a victory. we congratulate our arab nation for achieving that victory. a big victory.

and we stress that this victory is the result of the support of [ inaudible ] and the sacrificing of the great people. we say to our people that we will be always together with our people. we feel proud of our people who offered the resistance all sacrifices. we will never let our people down. we will never leave our people even after the battle. the palestinian people have suffered the loss and sacrificed the loss, and the palestinian resistance factions alongside with the palestinian people. we will never let our people down because we appreciate the efforts of our people. we wear the guards of our people in the battle, and now we'll continue to be servants for our people. but the israelis have been told by us that also the settlers

have been told that you will never come back without a decision from hamas and not netenyahu. today we are telling israel, as the agreement has started, you can go back home within a decision taken by hamas and not a decision taken by netenyahu. allah is the great. praise be to allah. allah is the greatest. praise be to allah all mighty. allah is the greatest and the all mighty. they have destroyed as much as they could, but in every moment, they proved to be failure and they have destroyed the towers. they failed to phase the resistance, so they wanted to kill the civilians, but the resistance has hit the

occupation in depth to prove that the occupation is a failure. that's why today we say we have achieved a victory by the support of the all mighty, and the value of our achievement not to open across here or there, but the value of this victory is the pavement of the way to free jerusalem as the territories of palestine, this is the real value of our battle. we have achieved most of our goals and targets, and today we are in big belief that we are closer to jerusalem. we are closer to our targets. the resistance have done a lot to the occupation. we hit the occupation in their hollows. the visions of the occupation's

soldiers crying are there, and in the future, the resistance will be able to go to jerusalem, so the value of the -- the importance of the -- this victory is it paves the way towards our territories out towards jerusalem, and we will congratulate our people, our nation. we congratulate ourselves because of this big achievement, and we appreciate the role of the brave resistance that have done the miracles that have paved the way for our people and our nation to be proud. now the whole nation, the whole palestine are praising the efforts of the resistance. that is now the one to decide when to fight and how to cooperate with the palestinian factions. the resistance is the future. the resistance is the future.

in the name allaw all mighty, this is the day that belongs to allah all mighty. this is palestine's day. it's day for our people, for our family, for our resistance. brothers and sisters, salute to gaza, so rafa, to this rafa -- the [ inaudible ] in the south, salute to [ inaudible ] and the resistance and the defense. salute to [ inaudible ] and [ inaudible ]. salute to gaza. east, west, north, and south,

salute to [ inaudible ]. salute to the west bank, that has supported us with men and have -- has sacrificed a lot. martyrs and injured in order to achieve the victory for gaza, and to achieve the victory for the resistance in gaza. salute to our familiar list and people in jerusalem, the youth, the men of alacsa who have made the enemy to be in trouble and have got into that conflict to defend our principles, and our needs. salute to the shake -- shape of palestine, and the shape of

alacsa, who defended and will defending, who stay in the field. salute to our families behind the green light in the 48 lands. salute to the families of the martyrs, each one, each single one, men, women, children, girls, boys, the families of the martyrs, they are our honor. we have proud of them today, and through them we feel very proud and we feel very honored in the sky of palestine, in the sky of gaza. a big salute to the families of the martyrs, to the wives of the martyrs, to the daughters of the martyrs, to the sisters of the martyrs, to the sons and houses of the martyrs. you are the ones that made gaza and palestine and jerusalem proud, and you have made the

arab nation to be proud. a big salute to those injured, each one, thousands and thousands of injured people, a big salute to them because from the bottom of our hearts, we salute them, not only a salute from hamas, but from every man, from every woman, from every sister, a big salute from the bottom of our hearts. you are in the hospitals and you are watching. you are looking for this day, waiting for this day, waiting for the day of victory, a victory of palestine, a victory of aluksa, a big salute to those who have their homes and house destroyed, to those who are displaced in hospitals, in schools in every single inch in gaza, every single inch in gaza had witnessed how much the people of gaza are patient and strong.

i also need to salute the major journalists, male and female, local media, national media, regional media, and international media. the people of the media are still in gaza watching the reality, sending the reality, to the whole world, so every country. brothers and sisters. i am not to forget to salute the delegation of the resistance. the delegation of palestine. the delegation of palestine who are still until this minute united, strong, because the occupation has tried to divide them. the occupation has tried to make them weaker, but the palestine delegation in one sound listened

by every one in all languages. yes, to the national unity. yes to the palestinian firm united stand. yes, to the resistance. yes to the rifle. yes to defend our shrines and our land until we achieve this great history, the great achievement, great agreement, despite all of the injuries, despite all of the pain, they defending us, they defending our issue. and finally, brothers and sisters in front of every palestinian, we are still in gaza. we are still with the rockets. we are still with the rifles, and the artillery. we will continue. we will be committed forever until we can free palestine for the battle of alucsa, and finally let me tell you what has

apped is not the end of the road. it's a round from too many rounds of conflicts with the israeli enemy. until we free our land, our people, our shrines, may allah bless you all. [ speaking foreign ] and peace be upon you all. [ speaking foreign ] >> that's the scene in gaza right now, just a short while ago, we were listening to the hamas spokesman, essentially calling the ceasefire that we know now has been reached between israel and hamas a victory for hamas, but whom said that they were committed to the -- to free palestine for the

battle of alucsa is what he said. and right before him we heard from the senior spokesmen. both men calling the battle -- the ceasefire now that has been reached a victory for hamas. congratulating the palestinian people for achieving this victory. andrew simmons has been listening in, and he is joining us from gaza. what do we think is different, andrew from this ceasefire that has been announced. now that we know that all factions have agreed to it from the past ceasefires. >> before i answer that doreen, let me bring you up to date. behind me the sky has been really, certainly, moved in -- in essence by the iron dome weapon the israelis used to counter rockets. at least three rockets have been fired and it has been used to intercept them. we have had a lot of military activity