of building human intelligence information as opposed to just technical information i don't think he had any hesitations about obtaining information by very rough forms that were being carried out by the salvadoran armed forces under the eyes of u.s. military trainers. steele was the chief american country insurgency expert on the ground in el salvador a figure of enormous authority to the door and military of the mill group commander in el salvador nuffin moules with his authority. and it was due eradicate the guerrilla movement it's very well written through history that there were major massacres being conducted. we put these allegations to retired colonel steele and have received no reply.

by the end of the civil war at least seventy five thousand salvadoran civilians have died and one million refugees have fled the country the salvadoran military who are to the advance of the guerrillas leading some in washington to believe the u.s. advisory role was a success. so much so that even david petraeus then an ambitious thirty three year old major visited salvador to study this country insurgency campaign the young to trace even reportedly stayed in steele's house while their. eighteen years later in baghdad and now general petraeus would use steele's expertise to fight the iraqi insurgency. the architects of the iraq war did not expect a violent uprising so they started training a regular police force for what they thought. would be

a mostly peaceful transition to a western style democracy they brought in retired police men like douglas brand and jerry back to teach the basics of good civil policing. we went to may two thousand and three with six policemen six american police officers this small group was an equal to the enormous task they were given. to train frost townsend policeman it was a sort of five to seven year project but they wanted it done in one thousand months . the man seen here in the navy bulletproof vest pocket cardroom was installed as the iraqi leader of this new civic police force. hovering in the background is the mysterious figure of james steele observing and evaluating the situation sending his justified reports back to u.s. defense secretary donald rumsfeld.

still had arrived in baghdad in two thousand and three just after the invasion describing himself as an energy consultant. this is the only known video footage of james steele as a civilian he had no place in the military chain of command yet he exercised enormous power in iraq. the man on his left is the special forces colonel james coffman he reported directly to general petraeus. up initially the security situation in iraq was relatively stable and the task of training the police continue. but then everything changed. the intensity of the sunni insurgency surprised the americans.

and u.s. soldiers started being killed in increasing numbers. the flag draped coffins were being shipped home with the nominee regularity. the war was becoming unpopular in the united states. george bush. two thousand and four reelection was being threatened by the crisis in iraq. american law so jazz were dying at the hands of sunni muslims who had lost the most from the fall of saddam. decided to the old enemies of saddam and his sunni supporters as the shia militias. saddam had killed tens of thousands of shia during his rule and now the shia militias were only too happy to help the americans put down the sunni uprising. it was classic counterinsurgency.

paul wolfowitz and not the policy change before a senate committee. approach to those militias is to try over time to integrate them into new iraqi security forces shia militia from all over the country came in truckloads to baghdad to join the new special police commandos they were enraged by suicide bombings of shia civilians under stress nations and kidnappings by sunni insurgents and militants it was their time in power and opportunity to take revenge upon former regime elements that. iraq was on the path towards a sectarian civil war. the u.s. defense secretary donald rumsfeld confirmed the new policing strategy in may two thousand and four reading about how they were trying to make efforts placing iraqi militia to handle insurgents interacting you had discussions with general petraeus

yesterday i had a briefing today from a man named steele who has been out there working with the security forces and doing a wonderful job civilian as a matter of fact james steele the counterinsurgency ex-pat was now the man of the moment. his job would be to build a police commando force. the police units would increasingly be made up of members of shia militias like the badr brigades. that job was to hunt down sunni insurgents and their sympathizers like out salvador it would be a bloody and brutal business. there was no place in this new regime for a conventional police chief cardroom. he was offered a new posting at the united nations in new york. james steele was clearing house. garrido each of them for the joe. klock oh well.

and white you were. it was also the end of the line for douglas brand and rumsfeld decided that police training in the future would be dealt with by military people. that was a direct instruction from rumsfeld. that we had a need for some group on the street to restore order and this is where that third force concept came from this paramilitary special police commando unit. they operate on for more under the rules of engagement which is a military term. rather than the rule of law. the last time i saw stews when rumsfeld visited and then he was.

rumsfeld's choice to take over all command of this new policing strategy with a military star in the making. general david petraeus was much admired by the american media. the commandos would become the cutting edge of this ambitious general's war against the insurgents you know i've spent a little bit of time at the where you were training the police commandos and i got the strong impression that you're putting a lot of priority on the police force today well that helped them develop these special police units some of them or their own initiative initially and great initiatives like the special police commandos which they now have nine battalions of those forces eight of which are in active operations right now. they were dark but the gist of what that was just good to be i was going and was the most remote

washy in. there was the shot or just. a bit seen here that james steele was a sunni iraqi general who had been imprisoned by saddam. he now headed the special police commandos which were financed from a two billion dollars fund controlled by general petraeus. with. a car at the very most americans. are doing or. should. do you. call. it was the first time the americans could work with

a significant iraqi force that knew the lay of the land and where to find the insurgents senior advisers studio and kaufman directed the sects for the insurgents . with james keown actually side adnan targets commandos grew into a five thousand strong force with a fearful reputation on the streets of iraq. still made a strong impression with the high level even battle hardened iraqis who worked with . us and also to learn no. more and the mashad and so on. at that horrible leash afterward was we believe the. wrong kind of. multiple and it was just a little mini or what i like. general moon. is a former general in the iraqi army after the invasion he worked with the americans

to rebuild the police force but muntadhar was very disturbed by the abuse and torture he witnessed being committed by the police commandos he tried on a number of occasions to stop each. he has never spoken before about the part the u.s. played in running the special police commandos. more than was out of the. government was possible. for a lot of them to be. done here. but a shot. that i missed. by sadr as it was but it was the general muntadhar alleges that jane steele had access to all of these prisoners and that he visited one in baghdad with him. all the dentists you. are all found in

the car and one of the components more going on for the. injured to come into the. normal. in the in the. doctor most fact i was iraq's national security advisor through the west years of the war. he met james taylor's high level security meetings. jim still for me was a mysterious guy. who sat in the meeting and he came. and sat there. he did not introduce himself to me you don't get anywhere in these meetings there were only only silences. grama. myself the minister of defense and mr little. and him full stop.

who was very respected by them and then listen to what he has to say. one of the main bases of operation for the commandos was the ancient city of samarra the area was a center for the iraqi insurgency. it was also adnan talbot's hometown and he was determined to inflict a major defeat on the insurgents and their sympathizers. with jane steele advise him but none talbot's commandos fled to the city going door to door taking hundreds of men from their homes to the interrogation center. u.s. army medic neil smith was in somalia during the months long struggle to control the city. we're like in the government. and where the police station was was actually right across from where the commandos were headquartered

so there are always special commandos there in the war and like pretty much every. military unit in the world does. there are well equipped. more commandos on these brand new dodge ram pick that were painted in camouflage and they all look like they have new weapons and new uniforms. some are i was the first place that the connection between james steele and the activities of the police commandos was made known to the outside. new york times journalist peter maass convinced general petraeus to allow him and photographer to paraphrase to visit the commanders in. their host was james steele . what i heard. screaming all lifelong.

parries stark black and white photographs capture how the commandos worked in samarra. james steyer crops up in these photographs repeatedly. i was staying at the base and some are an american base and i overheard soldiers american soldiers of the space talking about having watched prisoners be kind of strong up like animals after all hunched over a bar having watched prisoners be actually tortured. bit and the american military made the joint decision she set up the commando headquarters and interrogation center in the city's main library. we spoke to two men from somalia who were imprisoned in the library still fearful they asked us to conceal their identities. she's gone. the one

you could go to the wall of water a watch on the which you know one is someone. you go beyond just some that. you're from want to know and that. is the. part that you will like the interrogation center was the only place in the kind of mini green zone in somalia that i was not allowed to visit however one day jim steele said to me hey they just captured a saudi jihadi. would you like to interview him. and paraphrase we're about to get an unprecedented glimpse into this discussion well.

in a world where journalism as an industry is changing we had fortunate to be able to continue to expand to continue to have that passen that drive and present the stories in a way that is important to our viewers. everyone has a story worth hearing. we cover those that are often ignored we don't weigh our coverage towards one particular region or continent that's why i joined al-jazeera . on july fourteenth. two thousand and sixteen.

an attack on this today in east would change people's lives had. to be killed at least sixty people. two years on their world meets the french muslim families who lost their loved ones. truck attack a nice an al-jazeera. hello and hasn't in doha the headlines on al-jazeera the israeli military says it's bombed another site in gaza after a rocket attack from the palestinian territory this comes after hamas said a ceasefire had been agreed earlier on saturday israel carried out dozens of air strikes in gaza in a major escalation it says it was in response to border violence and rocket fire of

the latest flare up between students and nicaraguan security forces has ended catholic bishops who've been mediating during the three months crisis secured the release of dozens of students two died in the violence to they were fired at by pro-government forces while trapped inside a church. donald trump flies to finland late sunday for talks with russia's president after spending the weekend playing golf at his scottish resort he's told a british newspaper he plans to stand for the white house again in twenty twenty. haiti's prime minister jacques guy has resigned after days of violent protests they were triggered by plans to raise fuel prices by fifty percent which the government abandon at least seven people have been killed in three days of unrest. eritrea's president of work he is on

a landmark visit to neighboring ethiopia it is the latest step towards reconciliation and peace between the two nations last weekend the leaders signed a pact ending a twenty year military standoff a second attack by a fighters in a week in the heart of somalia has killed five people police say one car bombing happened just after a gunfight between security forces and armed men at a checkpoint in the capital mogadishu the second blast detonated nearby just moments later. the spanish coast guard has rescued three hundred forty refugees and migrants adrift in the strait of gibraltar they were found aboard twelve among them were one hundred children since the start of this year around one thousand nine hundred thousand people have arrived in spain from northern africa. a melting ice berg in greenland is causing fears of a tsunami several people near the danger zone in the village of in our suite have been moved to higher ground the government the police have been put on high alert as it's thought the melting iceberg could swamp the entire settlement it is home to

about one hundred seventy people those are the headlines we're back with more after searching for steel. well. the interrogation center was the only place in the kind of mini green zone in somalia that i was not allowed to visit however one day jim steele said to me hey they just captured a saudi jihadi would you like to interview him and we kind of walk into the entrance area and the first thing that i see is one of the iraqi guards beating up one of the iraqi prisoners and then i'm taken not into the main area kind of the main hall although out of the corner of my eye could see there were a lot of prisoners in there with their hands tied behind their backs i was taken to a side office where the saudi was brought in and there was actually blood dripping down the side of a desk in this office away in a room in the library into ewing studio and i. you know. and while this interview

was going on me in the saudi with jim steele also in the room there were these terrible screams there was somebody shouting allah but it wasn't you know kind of religious ecstasy or something like that these were these were screams of pain and terror. we asked general why he thought the prisoners were screaming. go on and. on and. they were so loud and they were so disturbing that steele left the room to go find out you know what was going on because it was breaking up our interview and while he was gone the screaming stopped and then he came back into the room and the interview continued. with the radio.

for. me and. i did. frontally other kind of i thought of it when just. looked at the look at the right. well i guess at melwood it looks a little of my view a list of all the matter. in the so i look at the plan that units already on. general adnan had his own explanation for the bloody desk witnessed during mass and peyrade interview with james steele in the library. what is either going to be sued and you got a new home. i don't malard god. oh but that is not enough then you can have so little what good happens and i'll quit you know. what i must follow up and they will fight i've got

a monopoly with iraq. my name might have it how do i feel mazed without a cuppa. on a photo of you for. although james still did not respond to our requests for an interview about his activities in somalia he did tell the new york times that he opposes human rights abuses. one american soldier in somalia i was deeply affected by what he saw. at the time i just felt like everybody knew and nobody cared that there is torture going on. me medic neil smith remembers just have frightened iraqi civilians in some are aware of the special police commandos what was pretty widely known in our but talian definitely in our pool tune is that they're pretty violent with their interrogations that they would be people shock them with you know electrical shock

stab them i don't know what you know sounds like pretty awful things if you sent a guy there who is going to get tortured and perhaps raped. or whatever humiliated and brutalized by the special commandos in order to get whatever information they want to go i don't know about boston and. they learned. about city to the very full was doing. just mcqueen like. i thought it give all of them a little bit of a clear priority at that time in iraq was to not have this incredibly shaky provisional government defeated by the insurgency that was

priority number one to which every other priority democracy human rights. it's etc was aboard. the trails defended his record with the police commandos to p.b.s. frontlines martin smith he says he was aware of individual militia members in the commanders but not militia groups. i did not see militia groups in the special police during the time that i was there did you feel. different. to have prevented the development of these militias that were developed by your mind again don't i have not seen you know we heard we kept hearing this all the time martin that this or that to find the absolute evidence of this has actually been quite difficult but jerry buck who is a senior advisor in police affairs to the iraqi interior ministry says that the

trace must have known that organized shia militia were dominant in the police commandos he had to have known these things were discussed openly whether it was staff meetings or you know before or after various staff meetings in general conversation. pretty much the whole world in iraq knew that the police commandos were about a brigade and he must have known about the death squad activities and yet it was common knowledge and across baghdad even to trace his own special adviser in the military chain of command colonel james coffman was according to many witnesses working side by side with james steele in the detention centers where torture was taking place. kaufman declined to be interviewed by us. about general petraeus his relationship with james steele the official speaking for the general said steele was one of thousands of advisors to iraqi units working in the area of the iraqi police. journalist peter mass who interviewed patris at the

time remember. the relationship being a lot closer than the patrol statement would indicate. it was very clear. that they were very close to each other in terms of their command relationship and also in terms of their ideas and ideology about what needed to be done to try to explicitly told me that he believed very very strongly in the commandos thought the commandos were successful and wanted them to become bigger stronger and even more prevalent in the fight against insurgency. international humanitarian law imposes obligations on those engaged in armed conflict regarding the treatment of prisoners not only must prisoners not be abused but those detaining prisoners also have an obligation to ensure respect as well it is not acceptable to turn

a blind eye. because absolutely responsibility of every u.s. service member if they see in your main treatment. to intervene to stop it i don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it's to report. if you're a physically present when in your main treatment is taking place or they have an obligation to tours. but the masses of secret iraq war communiques released by wiki leaks showed that u.s. soldiers were routinely handing prison as over to the iraqi police force even before the police commandos were officially launched. the top u.s. military knew from the soldiers daily logs that torture was going on inside detention centers they even issued a new official military order in june two thousand and four it was called frog zero two four two it directed u.s. troops to note but not investigate torture of iraqis by iraqis unless ordered to

take action by. headquarters. but later that month members of the oregon national guard was so disturbed by the abuse they witnessed at a police detention center that they intervened to try and stop it. saw some horrific things. saw one room that had. seventy five prisoners are crammed into one one small space and they asked for food they asked for help and they asked for medical way we gave them every bit of scrap of food that we had every bit of water and you could see evidence of a torture chamber where they had a broken lamp where they used a logical shot and it was quite evident what they had been doing to these fellows. said the commander approached the man who appeared to be in charge of this

torturous and according to the man immediately got on the telephone to us military headquarters right after he made that phone call the order came that we were to stand down we were ordered to pull away right now. i know that that order came from someplace very high. we went directly back to our compound and the commander called us all in there together and told us that what we saw didn't happen to forget about it but the oregonians didn't forget they went to the american press and blew the whistle a high level u.s. military investigation followed and the top just stopped that. there is no evidence that steel was involved in this incident but a year later the special commandos took over the facility and used it for interrogation and torture.

there's great continuity. and really if you go back to the to the nature of the regular warfare in the. dark side it's not called dirty war for nothing so it's no surprise to see individuals who are associated in a sort of know the ins and outs of the kind of war reappear at different points in these conflicts. after a few months in the studio and also draw i didn't have any contact with them whatsoever until i saw their peter maass article and saw that all he's in iraq it was not surprising there's a warrior like james steele would appear again he had been sidelined by the u.s. military after a congressional committee decided that he had lied about his role in all of the north's illegal gun running operation against the leftwing government in nicaragua

. however his work in el salvador had not been forgotten by powerful washington insiders like vice president dick cheney who knew steele cheney was the first senior american politician to draw parallels between el salvador and iraq. because we don't feel like it's a palmer the concept is enormous and will apply in afghanistan and as well in iraq . dick cheney as a congressman made any number of visits to central america did members of the reagan administration who were in the four runners of the neoconservatives come into office and really take the whole approach to the next level in iraq. they opened a cover story in the new york times magazine that and saw that it described the creation of this new police commando unit within the iraqi interior ministry and

mentioned that the the u.s. military adviser in charge of this was jim steele. was probably more alarmed when i started to hear reports a few months later that that particular unit was carrying out death squad activities in iraq the publication by wiki leaks of thousands of diplomatic cables show that by july two thousand and five the u.s. embassy in baghdad was telling washington about the abuse being committed by the commandos. we also learned that adnan was a guest at the american embassy in baghdad he met the u.s. ambassador for counterterrorism and talked about his approach to police in this is an extract from what he's reported to have said summary fight terror with terror major general tab it who created in command special police forces is a sunni officer who served time in prison for attempting to overthrow the saddam regime they expressed the view that it is necessary to fight terror with terror and

that it is critical that their forces be respected and feared as this was what was required in iraqi society to command authority. we asked them back to do crampton if he had been aware that adnan talbot's commandos were engaged in torturing detainees. although i assure you if i knew there was torture going on. at that time with the people i was talking to my. i would have raised it and then discussed it. here you're employing that i don't know that and i resent that question the way you phrased it frankly. but there are indications that the u.s. government knew what the commanders were doing. we remain troubled by the indications that at times units commanded by target crossed the line despite these concerns adnan tarbet remained officially in charge until the middle of two thousand and six he told us that the american officials he

dealt with were aware of what his men were doing. are. removed. rather drawn and are better. regarded woman and would someone rather walk in wardrobe. because. the police commandos were growing in numbers and importance they had a national headquarters in a sewer square in baghdad it could hold around one thousand detainees at any one time and was the nerve center of a national network of interrogation centers. this notorious detention center was situated just outside the fortified green zone and less than a mile from the american and iraqi joint command. major general remembers that james steele and portrays his military adviser james kaufman were a constant presence here. he says they were there to receive the high value

detainees from the so-called intelligence committees that operated at each regional command center. one of the. other. but i mean yes i. saw the. just. you know it's an either. or. a leg. and that's. the. method of the years that. got a little. too iraqi generals who worked with steel say that one of steele's responsibilities was to give the commandos lists of people

that the americans wanted picked up. steel would then allegedly arrange to transfer them to a u.s. run interrogation center near baghdad airport. one man who survived the mara and in his two a square says that the police commandos lied about the fate of some of his fellow detainees. go awol to the home where the. water dog. became very obvious that this was criminal activity by the special commandos they were written eliminating their own opposition and terrorizing citizens from the sunni community we lost the support of a lot of iraqi citizens who became very cynical and very anti-american even the ones who were friendly with us couldn't understand why we were allowing this to happen. good afternoon folks. are you concerned over and in fact if united states looking into growing

reports of uniformed death squads in iraq perhaps assassinating and torturing hundreds of cities and if that's true of eventually of all stability on iraqi. hypothetical questions i've not seen reports that hundreds are being killed by roving death squads at all i'm not going to get into this speculation. like there that's not a hypothetical i don't believe some sort of the charging that hundreds of been. people shown in the hay valladolid. you're talking about are unverified to my knowledge at least on for comments i just don't have any data from the field that i could comment on in a specific way but donald rumsfeld should have known about the death squad activities james steele had written to rumsfeld six weeks earlier warning him that the police commandos armed and financed by the us were effectively

a shia militia engaged in death squad activities. memo to don rumsfeld but jim steele. is like the commander of the wolf brigade who has been involved in death squad activities extortion of detainees and a general pattern of corruption nearly all of the new recruits within the commandos are shia many of them are barred or members. general resigned from the interior ministry he had come to view the commandos as death squads. to close colleagues were killed following a summons to the ministry their bodies were found on a rubbish tip. he got out of iraq and fled for his safety to jordan. despite the risk he decided to speak out about what was happening inside the ministry of the interior. where minutes past the. right of.

that but. a few days after the broadcast general on one charge i was contacted by james steele. it seemed that former colonel steele had made an unexpected trip to jordan he was very anxious to meet with. james steele was staying at the luxury sheraton hotel in a man. he asked if they could meet him at seven pm that night. when tiger agreed and went to the head town. the hobbit and had a sword and jim sr said no i just do the little for energy sector and you need to sit in the ditch and done this for them with time and do it. in the cut that bit harder than the. men for the. china. good bye for the most you. know honey you know i mean.

it's a long time or bust out of love it would then if the had to make it to the odd non-target the heart of gone there if the kid. caught the awful thing is somebody that i'm going to turn. sick at my luck one jaw that's what idea of big data the hell the i.d.f. said she was just a game to still be fed but i'm here so what i did i thought i care that she could have been. just shot i know by dint of her father with a sudden njt on and just out of newark and endured. for good dumble last cent. and i know and. and missed a way out that. jim steele. and. but the whole peninsula.

but that could be a job. people should know about what was going on because i was shocked when i came back to the states and found out that. most people didn't even know they were involved in torture over there. there is little chance that james steele will be investigated within months of entering the white house president obama issued a statement saying we've been through a dark and painful chapter in our history nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy lang blamed for the past. james steele and david petraeus left iraq in september two thousand and five. the ranks of the police commandos increased to over seventeen thousand and the allegations of abuse against them sawed. a year later the country was in the grip of a bloody sectarian civil war. at its height

the civil war was claiming the lives of three thousand people a month some were so badly tortured they could not be identified. many victims found a final resting place in desolate dumps like this one. a rusty tin can mox each grave. on talbot has now retired on an iraqi government pension and lives in jordan. donald rumsfeld resigned as defense secretary at the end of two thousand and six he never replied to any of our questions. rumsfeld had presented james deal with a distinguished public service medal for his extraordinary service in iraq. steele is now living in bryan texas and gives their case no lectures on country insurgency . he did not respond to our many requests to be interviewed for this documentary.

hello there will begin in the levant and western parts of asia this time it's a largely fine picture not much to be said about it temperatures in baghdad forty four but some parts of iraq probably still pushing fifty degrees the main weather feature remains this area of sherrick to vittie in eastern parts of turkey and carry through the caucuses with much of the showers spoken on georgia there will be some really heavy downpours in the could be some flash flooding to come further south it's looking fine on the eastern side of the mediterranean beirut should see plenty of sunshine highs of thirty one it's looking fine here in the arabian peninsula to fight on the western side temperatures not over by a mere forty to forty two degrees celsius but sell our side of the clinchers a different story with a bit more breeze coming loose in the humidity and that allows the temperatures

a climate of a bit higher so forty six is on the cards here in doha on sunday and through into monday heading down into southern parts of africa is looking a bit windy in places at the moment to come a strong wind along the eastern cape durban just sixteen degrees one or two shots of the coast of mozambique and also some showers in parts in the movie a stunning towards a skeleton coast as we head through to monday those will move a little bit further south into more western parts of south africa much welcome rain highs of eighteen in cape town. where were you when this idea popped into your head that when they're on line it's undoubtedly chief cole. over to an inequality in society today or if you join the sunset criminal justice system is dysfunctional right now this is a dialogue what does it feel like for you to go back for the first time everyone

has a voice and allow refugees to be the speakers for a change join the conversation on our about fifty thousand people were arrested under a policing strategy that is stop and frisk the car got a ball here it was a guy coming behind me and kicked me in my back how many of your children gotten caught in this trap i have seven sons and six of them have been arrested for drug charges though me guess the war may be tabled last think is what thoughts we've now created the atmosphere that the police was tobacco exploring the dockside of american justice the system with job an engine on al-jazeera. al-jazeera. and for you. the question is

were fifteen thousand people posing an imminent threat to israel you snipers yes they were who are told it's going to be deployed. to be going to what's known over there same thing that occurred on the base are sending them to die it's a cause. when they come and attack us it's a little he was attacking maybe his son goes head to head with daddy and what israel is doing is deliberately choosing to slaughter houses and al-jazeera. oh. after the air strikes and an easy truce between gaza and israel following the most violent daytime assault since two thousand and fourteen.

a lot has i'm sick of this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. former prime minister surprise resignation after deadly protests against fuel price rises . ready for their next meeting the u.s. and russian presidents prepare for their joint summit in helsinki. and the singing the color on the rivalry france and croatia limber up for the world cup final. i know israel has reportedly xx. sept in egyptian brokered ceasefire with hamas following the latest violence in gaza on saturday israel launched what it says were the most powerful daytime airstrikes since the twenty fourteen gaza war at least two palestinian teenagers died israel says the strikes were in response to border protests and rocket fire from hamas burnet smith reports from gaza. not

since the twenty fourteen war has israel hit a target so close to the densely populated gaza city israel says this building was a hamas urban warfare training facility with a tunnel underneath there were also civilians nearby israel says they were warned in advance of the strike means a smaller rocket was fired first at the roof a knock it's called but the people there said they didn't understand this warning instead some rushed to help thinking someone have been injured these two teenagers were among that group they were killed when israel second a much more powerful strike came in since friday evening israel's military has hit more than forty targets across gaza the total to move in consultations with the defense minister the military chief of staff and top security forces we decided on a powerful action against hamas terrorism the israeli army delivered its most painful strike against a mass since the twenty fourteen war it also released a video of what it says was the destruction of

a tunnel near the border with egypt. israel has been frustrated for weeks now by century burning balloons and burning kites that drift over the border during friday protests and set fire to israeli crops prime minister benjamin netanyahu has been under enormous domestic pressure particularly from border communities to do something to stop them and israel has threatened hamas and said to hamas if you do not stop these kites we will get back and this seems to be the retaliation. dozens of rockets have been fired by armed groups from gaza towards israel a few have been intercepted by israel's iron dome system unusually hamas has claimed sole responsibility for some of the rockets fired her israel's air strikes follow friday's protests which are now in their fourth month a fifteen year old palestinian was shot dead when israel says he tried to climb the fence the mainly peaceful protests began as an attempt to persuade israel to lift

its twelve year long blockade of gaza but israel has not made any concessions and that's led to enormous frustration amongst garza's almost two million people all right in a moment we'll speak to stephanie deco who is watching from west jerusalem and first let's go to bernard smith in gaza so bernard we've heard israel saying that they will they have agreed to this cease fire from the gaza side are you seeing any evidence of that cease fire holding at this point. yes it was effectively quiet overnight house and there was one strike in two mortars fired in the nighttime hours but wasn't considered as a as a major major breach of the cease fire so it is much quieter but what the cease fire does again is paper over cracks paper over very big cracks here the fundamental issue here in gaza is that this place is still under siege and after three weeks three months three and

a half months of protests along the border there's been no relief offered by israel guards the protesters hoped that some sort of relief would be given because of those protests as they got nothing so you again you have a flare up like we've had over the last couple of days so while the cease fire holds and he's holding for now the much greater question of how to maintain the longer piecing garza still remains to be answered because unless there is some release from this siege then there is a risk of a flare up breaking into an all out war hasn't bernard thanks for that let's go to stephanie use in west jerusalem so where do things stand then stephanie as far as israel is concerned right now. well there is going to be a security cabinet meeting in about two and a half hours from now where the prime minister will be discussing you know the events in gaza and how to move forward the message has been pretty strong coming from both the military and the political leadership here that they will do whatever

it takes if they need to escalate it interesting what bernard was saying there you know it certainly is different this time because of also the response that how maskaev usually in these flare of so we've seen them before you'll have other groups within gaza following rocket sporadically but really it was a real increase in rocket and mortar attacks and also have mass claiming it so it does show you the frustration on both sides i think we're going to have to wait and see how it unfolds certainly the indication is that a deal has been reached but as one anonymous israeli official said it really does depend on what happens on the ground gaza is being squeezed and the message that's been coming out of the military and the intelligence services here to the political leadership as bernard was saying is that the situation is and sustainable some kind of life needs to be breathed in to gulzar for things like this not to flare up at the moment as we know at the moment the only economic goods crossing has been closed so that's a watch as well how things are going to unfold i think at the moment certainly that

cease fire holding will have to wait and see if anything different comes out of that security cabinet meeting in a couple of hours from now stephanie deca live for us in western. now two more demonstrators have been killed in protests in iraq against high unemployment and i lack of basic services the deaths in may send province on the border with iran brings the number of people killed to three health workers say the pair died from gunshot wounds the demonstrations have spread to karbala and the capital bank dad people in several cities have been protesting over the past week but government has deployed more security forces after people stormed the airport in that jeff and attacked government offices around basra. haiti's prime minister has resigned after a violent protests there jack again tunnels government has been under president under pressure since unveiling a plan to remove fuel subsidies gabriel is on the reports from port au prince.

he arrived to parliament as a prime minister of peace in his political feat and calls to resign.