the family of an israeli man being held in gaza appeals for help to get him released. ♪ good to have you along. i'm david foster, and you are watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up 1 in 4 million, the number of refugees displaced from syria passes a new milestone. south sudan marks four years of independence, but for the many victims of the country's civil war there is little to celebrate. and what does greece's

economic crisis have to do with the price of fish? we will try to enlighten. ♪ hello there. israel says two of its citizens are being held in the gaza strip, at least one of them it claims by hamas. he is of ethiopian dissent and is believed to have crossed the border fence into the gaza strip last year. according to israeli sources he is being held against his will by hamas. but hamas says it knows nothing about this. paul brennan reports. >> reporter: with a 10-month news blackout now lifted there were chaotic scenes as the media arrive en masse. the parents and brother of the man appeared shocked by the shouting. his mother was visibly upset. when a degree of calm was finally restored it fell to one of the brothers to read from a

prepared statement. >> translator: we are talking about a humanitarian case here because my brother is not well. my family behalf i ask the government of israel to do its utmost to bring back my brother safe and i ask the international community to intervene and put pressure to release my brother. >> reporter: on september 7th last year he was seen climbing the border fence alone and disappearing into the territory of gaza why he did it no one knows. but he was apparently acting of his own free will. ten months later it is not clear whether he is still there voluntarily. hamas denies holding him captive. >> translator: we are here to support the family. there's no reason why people can't show up for their support. the israeli government should answer questions to the family and the citizens of israel. we hope to get more information and details. >> reporter: it has been

revealed that a second israeli is also currently missing in gaza. the circumstances of that disappearance into gaza are very different indeed. but none of less i think it presents a real headache for the israeli government and hamas too. coming on the first anniversary of the start of the war in 2013 and at a time when hamas as israel appeared to be entering a period of genuine calm. there's also the potential for increased racial tensions. last month protests turned violent charges were developed against an officer who had been film beating a citizen. but for the moment the mood is calm. whether it stays calm depends on

how this develops in the coming days from the israeli side of the border into gaza now and as our correspondent will tell us hamas is saying pretty much nothing. >> reporter: a very serious situation here in gaza but one with very few answers. al jazeera reached out to senior hamas spokesman and asked him whether hamas was holding either one or both of these israeli citizens. the answer to that was, and i quote, no comment. still in the background of all of that of course is one year since israel began its 50-day bombardment of the gaza strip, that of course has been marked here in gaza by a ceremony including the unveiling of a monument in the center of gaza city. this monument is of a fairly large replica of a tank with a clenched fist rising out of it.

in the hand of that fist are hanging three dog tags or military id tags. one of them bears the name of an israeli soldier believed to have brn killed during that conflict but who's remains are believed to still be here in gaza but the other two dog tags or military id tags they are only question marks leading many here to speculate that they represent those two missing israeli citizens. ♪ the u.n. envoy to yemen says an agreement on a humanitarian ceasefire is expected to be announced within 24 hours. the envoy has held talks with officials from the excited government of the president and houthi rebel group in sana'a. they are trying to end more than three months of fighting

saudi-lead air strikes that have lead to the deaths of more than 3,000 people. >> translator: we are leaving after our third visit with cautious optimism. in particular i'm optimistic that in the next 24 hours, we will announce the humanitarian truce, but we still have to wait for further discussions. the burrow of the secretary general will hold some discussions with the president and other parties. we are very optimistic. the taliban now says it has not been engaged in talks with the afghan government. a meeting in pakistan had been portrayed by local media and the pakistani foreign minister as the first official talks between the taliban and afghan officials. but the group's political office says those at the meeting were relatives of taliban members, not official representatives.

kamal hyder is live in islamabad for us. what is the difference whether they were members of the taliban or members of the family of the taliban? >> reporter: absolutely. that's what the pakistanis said the foreign office said that this was a break through; that pakistan was a facilitator, however, the statement has now come from the spokesmen of the taliban in pakistan saying that he was dismissing all of the reports in the pakistani media about those talks, and also the fact they had been in touch with some of the [ inaudible ] in the afghan taliban who told us that the decision always had to come from the qatar office, because the taliban have an office there, they are the ones who are authorized to give out statements and make decisions. also saying further that a

political bureau will now be dealing with negotiations, whether those negotiations should go ahead or not. so it will be interesting to see who the pakistanis were meeting just a few days ago. >> the other line suffice -- surfacing on this is chinese representatives were at these meetings and americans could be involved as well. >> reporter: absolutely. just two days ago the white house spokesmen said the americans were supporting the talks. the pakistani foreign office also saying a chinese representative was also present in those talks, but now the taliban are shooting this down saying that they did not have any authorization from the government. there's been intense speculation that because [ inaudible ] has not appeared with any statement

in the past few months that there are some rumors as to whether he is still operationally the commander of the taliban, but the statement coming from mohammed shows that omar is still calling the shots. the afghan taliban said unless there was a total withdrawal of foreign forces from that country; that there would be no talks with anybody, especially the afghan government so it's going to be very surprising to see what sort of talks really transpired transpired, why it is so upbeat when the [ inaudible ] taliban afghanistan are saying that these talks never happened. >> thank you. greek ministers are putting in the extra hard hours as the government tries to finalize a package due within hours.

ministers arriving early for a cabinet meeting in athens as a deadline looms for a third bailout package. greece has to produce a final plan by friday morning. jonah hull live for us in athens. it is unlikely i think that they have shared the exact details with you or any other correspondent, but what do you think this package contains? >> reporter: well, greek media think they have an idea and presumably they have sources that have leaked some information out, we don't have specifics about the actual proposals, what we believe we know is the likely size of this package of reforms, austerity reforms, of course and the size of the austerity measures that they are discussing the greek cabinet have been for the last several hours now, and they need

to put to the euro zone in brussels shortly is something like 12 billion euros $13 billion, and astonishingly that is $4 billion euros higher than the deal that mr. tsipras walked out on a week and a half ago in brussels and some 61% of greeks said no to in the referendum. why are they looking at a higher measure now? quite simply time is ticking along with the greeks. the economy is in freefall it has been for six months, worsened much by the closure of banks for the last two weeks. they know they have got to get a deal the cost of saving greece has gone up and with it the cost that greeks have to pay to be saved. >> jonah thank you. small businesses in this greece are struggling to stay afloat including the fishing

industry. hoda abdel hamid went to one community in greece. >> reporter: it is a postcard image of greece. but there's no escaping the harsh reality greece is facing. >> translator: until now we survived, but now i don't know if i'll be able to continue. these days starting a fishing business is madness, but i inherited this and i will pass it on to my son. >> reporter: the family has been casting their nets for five generations. the whole economy of the area resolves around fish. it is considered one of the most important fishing ports in the country. a reputation difficult to understand these days. normally this market would be buzzing with greek people coming here to get produce. now the shelves are half empty, half of the shops have closed down, and the fishmongers say they are selling about 60% less.

>> translator: the price of fish has not changed, but people don't have money to buy. the last four days nearly no one came. that's why i'm so sad. >> reporter: fish is a big part of the greek diet but this person says it has become a luxury. he lost his job six weeks ago, and at 60, wondering if he will ever be hired again. >> translator: i used to fish at least two or three times month. now it's twice at most. and i have to buy the smaller, lower quality ones. i can't afford it otherwise. >> reporter: it should have been the summer season for tourism. her restaurant opened 17 years ago. it had a reputation that went beyond the village. empty tables are the new normal nowadays. >> translator: i wake up in the

morning wondering how many people will come. sometimes there's no one. it's so hard. i now take antidepressants, but we are proud people and the e.u. won't take our dignity away. >> reporter: the final deadline for greece is next sunday. people here like elsewhere are resilient and say the country will come out of the crisis one day but when and at what cost. stay with us if you can, we have this coming up. there has been computer chaos in london. the transport system struggling to cope after the entire network shuts down. ♪

these are the global headlines this hour. the family of an israeli man reportedly being held in gaza is calling on the international community to try to bring about his release. he disappeared ten months ago. israel says he is being held by hamas, but the palestinian group denies any involvement. the u.n. envoy to yemen says an agreement on a humanitarian ceasefire is likely to be announced within 24 hours. that is according to the houthi run news agency. the taliban says it hasn't been taking part in talks with the afghan government. a meeting in pakistan has been portrayed as official talks between the armed group and afghan officials, but the taliban says those taking part were relatives not official representatives. the u.n. says a number of

people who have now lead in syria has topped 4 million. where are they? just look at the map, the biggest number in turkey more than 1.8 million, accounting for 45% of the refugees. lebanon, sharing the burden hosting nearly 1.2 million syrians. and to jordan more than 600,000 there. many living below the poverty line. while nearly a quarter of a million in iraq and north african, most of them in egypt. on top of the region there are also 270,000 syrian asylum seekers in europe. [ inaudible ] went to the refugee camp in jordan. she sends us this. >> reporter: 4 million and counting. refugees in jordan's camp didn't think the conflict in syria would last this long or force

this many people out of their country. this man is one of the camp's oldest residents. he says two and a half years later, he has finally adjusted to life as a refugee, but had this reaction when we told him the number of refugees had reached 4 million in the region. >> translator: this is a disaster. it means the entire population will be displaced. this makes me feel our conflict will drug on for years, a and a return to syria soon isn't possible. >> reporter: this the oldest resident bs to its newest arrivals this man had lived in the camp before deciding to survive on his own in the jordanian border town but returned to the camp two months ago. >> translator: i left the camp because my children couldn't survive the scorching heat of the summer. i had to then pay rent and it was so expensive. so i was forced to return here. >> reporter: when asked what

they want from the international community, many refugees here say they want an end to the carnage in syria. the united nations has called the crisis the worst humanitarian disaster in recent history. almost half of all of the people in syria have been displaced, including 4 million who have been forced to leave for neighboring countries like jordan. and according to aid agencies there is no sign of when these refugees will be able to return home. the u.n. says the international community has been generous but the scale of the syrian crisis is to big that donors are thinking about how funding can be sustained. >> already this year people have less access to services. there are agencies having to cut back on the systems. it's pushing them back to the camps funded entirely by the international community or pushing them even to return to syria. and when you have families telling you i'm going back

because i can't make a living here, and they would prefer to live in a war zone you know how desperate they are. >> reporter: many say this is a sign of how desperate people have become. foreign ministers from western powers are still locked in talks to try to finalize a deal about iran and its nuclear program. they are trying to iron out remaining issues and secure an agreement by friday so a document can be presented to the u.s. congress. james bayes has the very latest from the talks in vienna. >> reporter: the six countries negotiating with iran met among themselves to discuss their strategy on what they hope could be the final day of this long process. optimism came from russia where the president of iran is one of

the guests at a summit a city. his foreign minister is also here, one of the key players in the talks not currently in vienna. >> translator: based on the principal of taking consecutive and mutual decisions we're not on the verge of reaching afinal and comprehensive agreement. >> reporter: he spoke about one of the remaining stumbling blocks lifting the arms embargo on iran and on this issue, he supports the iranian position. >> translator: we are advocating for lifting of the arms embargo as soon as possible. as iran as we have all now seen a dedicated supporter of the fight against isil and of clearing the region and the rest of the world of this threat. a lifting of the arms embargo would help iran to raise its military capabilities in

fighting against terrorism. >> reporter: he didn't mention russia's own commercial interests. it's likely soon to deliver further long-range s300 missiles to iran part of a deal that had been suspended. the reason the u.s. and some of the western partners have been pushing so hard for a deal right now, is because of u.s. legislation. if there is a deal congress will get just 30 days to look at it as long as it is done by the end of the day. but if they don't make it by the end of the 9th, washington, d.c. time, congress will get double the time to scrutinize the deal. it is yet another deadline for those involved in intense meetings in the luxury hotel. south sudan today marks four years as an independent country. and they celebrated in juba the

capitol. thousands of people there, many of them from the military. the president salva kiir using the anniversary speech to blame rebels for what he called a senseless war that has been going on since december 2013. and with violence on both sides many say they have nothing to celebrate. they are simply trying to stay live. catherine soi spoke to some who live under rebel control. >> reporter: this woman was fetching firewood northeast of here. she said she was ambushed by government soldiers. they allegedly stabbed and shot her multiple times before she was rescued and air lifted to this red cross center. her brother says the security situation is not what he expected when he celebrated independence from sudan four years ago. >> translator: you get independence but you are still dying, you can't be happy.

the conflict was not happening, i wouldn't be here so how can i celebrate? >> reporter: at another health center not too far away this baby has her first medical checkup. her mother says she just wants her child to grow up in peace. >> reporter: i -- want this two sides to come together. it's only the leadership that can bring peace so our children can have a good future. >> reporter: there's relative calm here but many are poor and displaced. they receive humanitarian help but a few aid agencies often have trouble getting supplies from the capitol city juba. all of these people will go home with nothing. some have walked for hours to get to this distribution center. most have been displaced from areas that are far from here where fighting is still going on. opposition leaders have been

traveling across the continent before talks begin aimed attending the conflict. the rebel leader says he is still committed to the peace process. >> i'm always hopeful that peace will come. salva kiir if -- if he quits -- if he resigns, this is peace. you know? normally if -- if you look into the history of wars the president that causes a war is never the person who brings about peace. >> reporter: as in government controlled area life is tough for everyone here. food prices have more than doubled. tough restrictions imposed by the ethiopian government at the border crossing has made it more differ cult to import supplies. many are cautiously hoping this time around the talks will bring lasting peace. big crowds on the main

street in sarajevo to respect the newly identified victims of the massacre. a truck which carried the coffins of 136 people recently identified by dna. remains have been taken to a memorial cemetery. this would be the anniversary of the slaughter which left a thousand muslim boys and men. pope francis is continuing his south american tour. he called on the crowds to reject consumerism. before mass he made use of a nearby fast-food restaurant to change his clothes. 24 hour strikes by four rail unions caused the first complete shut down of the london underground in 13 years.

charlie angela reports. >> reporter: frustration and anger in london. the closure of the train network for 24 hours through the capitol into chaos, the 4 million people had to find alternatives. queues for buses overspilled on to pavement and there were reports of fights breaking out as people jostled for a pressure place. >> it would have taken about 24 minutes has taken about an hour and a half, and i'm going to have to forgo my meeting today. >> i think it's inconvenient. but i think some people enjoy it. >> work it out between them and not inconvenience others. >> reporter: the dispute is over working hours and pay to do with

the new 24 hour night tube which unions say is being imposed without proper discussion but londoners are struggling to sympathize with the workers who get paid almost double the average british salary. talks have gone on for months and ended bitterly. unions say it was not an easy decision. >> they lose pay. it's not something they want to do, and they are only doing it because there is genuinely no other alternative, because we have been trying to talk to london underground management and they have been refusing to listen to us. >> reporter: whereas london's mayor says the strike is politically motivated. >> i think the union were spiling for a big strike action on this for a long time. they didn't like the election result. they picked the timing of the

first budget for 19 years or whatever it is and they thought let's have a big strike. >> reporter: officially the strike will end on thursday evening, but services will be disrupted for rush hour on friday morning. and you can keep up to date at aljazeera.com. that's aljazeera.com. ladies and gentlemen, doing the right thing is the hardest thing to do. >> south carolina moves to take the confederate flag off of the state capitol grounds. the effort took all night, and the governor is set to signoff in just a few hours, and reaching the end game in the nuclear talks with iran and major issues remaining on the table as the latest self imposed deadline approaches.