to defend that choice we're talking about being able to make decisions from our body for lines investigates the abortion bans on al-jazeera. an israeli airstrike on gaza kills a senior islamic jihad commander rockets are fired in retaliation. michelle kerry this is al jazeera life and also coming up after 13 years in power bolivia's president evo morales goes into exile seeking asylum and mexico. more anti-government protests in hong kong again and parts of the city to a standstill. and stargazers around the world witnessed the rare sight of mercury soon between the sun and earth.

have been exchanges of gunfire over the israel gaza border following this ass nation of a palestinian islamic jihad commander. wife were killed in an israeli airstrike on his home in gaza overnight the israeli military says around 50 rockets have been fired in retaliation from gaza popping the closure of schools and some transportation services as earlier strikes have also hit apartment buildings and a hamas facility and gaza and israeli warplanes fired missiles towards damascus and the mess a neighborhood 2 of them hit a house belonging to. another commander of islamic jihad it's unclear what his fate is but his son and granddaughter have been killed it's going out there and fossett who is in west jerusalem so harry since this all happened overnight there's been this back and forth what else we learned. well the libyans are continuing

throughout the morning with among other things waiting for a statement from the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and the head of the israeli army that was due to have happened about half an hour ago but so far still has not we've also heard just in the couple of minutes before we came to where the 2 further young people young men have been killed in sidebars or they were traveling on a motorcycle in northern gaza there was an explosion and confirmation from guards of that 2 people have been killed in that explosion not clear whether that was an israeli strike on. potential rocket launchers or whether potentially as sometimes happens there are explosions as explosive materials transferred around the gaza strip but the main event of course was what happened overnight the targeting and killing of. israel says that he

was a ticking bomb they say that he was planning further imminent attacks on israel and having been behind a lot of the rocket fire that we've been seeing coming out of gaza in recent months the israeli military also saying that they communicated to islamic jihad that they knew of his intentions tried to issue a warning they leaked his name to the media and then in the early hours of this morning the israeli air force struck killing him and as you say according to the gaza health ministry also killing his wife in that explosion the response from islamic jihad has been to fire a multitude of rockets at around 910 local time was the last time we had an official accounting from the israeli military they said it was 50 at that stage where nearly 2 hours later islamic jihad is risk is promising an expanded response from what we've seen in recent such exchanges between the israel. military and the

palestinian fighting factions inside gaza that has been backed up with what we've been hearing from places like muddying which is not far from here in jerusalem a place which doesn't usually get targeted in these sorts of exchanges least not the kinds that we've seen over the last couple of years and there's also been video being passed around of a of a rocket apparently hitting a busy intersection and narrowly missing vehicles so it's a big response already from islamic jihad hamas is also promising to join in with a unified response from the palestinian fighting factions the big question i suppose is to what extent because islamic jihad is certainly be operating in a different way from hamas at a time when hamas has been interested at least in trying to get more concessions out of israel in terms of the negotiated truce which has long been in the works so the question i suppose is whether hamas is willing to go as far as islamic jihad appears to be and then what kind of response we could see and turn from the

israelis as to whether this really does escalate into something much bigger the more you see in the last couple of years of course area when things like this happen that they don't happen in and a vacuum there's always some sort of political context as we know right now and prime minister benjamin netanyahu really doesn't seem to be in the driver's seat when it comes to his political future he was not able to form a government now it's up to benny gantz what are we hearing about the political context of this. well certainly but the betterment of neo is the head of a caretaker administration the 2nd consecutive caretaker administration out of 2 inconclusive elections he is also facing the prospect of the israeli attorney general finally making a decision on whether and to what extent to indict him in 3 separate corruption cases there has been criticism coming from some in israeli politics notably the palestinian israeli joint list members accusing netanyahu of engaging in this as

a sort of a desperate last attempt to hold on to power has to be said that benny gantz who currently holds the mandate from the israeli president to try to form what the israeli president wants a unity government between his party and netanyahu is he says that this was the right decision. that this is something that is required he's been recommending a tougher response on gaza for many months simply the president is saying this is not a time for political squabbling but for all to unite in concern for israeli security still as i say we're waiting to hear from benjamin netanyahu himself and his army chief of staff we expect that any time now. that with the latest and most recently or thank you some imbecile amiss a palestinian journalist who joins us live from gaza sami even on the best day life is not easy and gaza so what is it like now as this is happening what are people what are their fear for their concerns. right now people. drones are hovering

in the guy's us try and people to receive one body in the in the hospital in north of gaza as according to hamas sources one have just been killed in an airstrike as it's like trying to get to 2 guys who were in in a circle and 2 others one do anyway but it is expected to be escalated because right now at this moment maybe or after 20 minutes we will testify the funeral of babel are on their brigades good to brigades their military wings military wing of there is that means you had said we will bury then we will say our story so it is expected that they will leave after the funeral or in the order in the afternoon and the. leader of one of them either visit with. a bunch.

we have nor choice but confrontation and there is no or no mean will stop us and we will not put any consideration to any any calculation so far and it is very airlift to speak about internal mediation or truce anyway these. latest. beside the state of of the spear palestinians living in gaza why because it was very expected that gaza through and that was bank and jerusalem expect elections in june or elections after understanding. that he conciliation between p. and hammers and other factions which means that put it to kill or economy city which would be because there is any conciliation between them throughout. the elections but this this is skittish and will it why or destroy all of these diplomatic if by the palestinian factions and that the 2 sit in terror and

palestinian situation like this. one palestinian journalist reporting on what is happening in gaza sami thank you. running battles are ongoing across hong kong between protesters and police anti-government demonstrators have set up barricades paralyzing streets and public transport on kong leader kerry lamb calls the protests a very selfish act that follows some of the most violent demonstrations seen in months on monday with the protester being shot any pro-government supporter being set on fire to go paula has the latest from hong kong. this is hong kong's financial center earlier thousands of office workers have brought the streets to a standstill since then their lunchtime so over they have gone back to their offices what we're seeing now is some more of the hard core protesters who have got up barricades using public property blocking off the roads trying to bring her home

products commercial center to a standstill just further down is the hong kong stock exchange many of the bank's headquarters are here this area is usually bustling with tourists shoppers and everyday office workers this is hong kong financial hard now this follows a speech by hong kong's chief executive cari lam he says the government is trying to minimize disruption to the protest she's called the protesters selfish saying that their violent actions in the protests will not result in the government conceding to any of their demands but it seems her comments may have backfired with instead the protestors gating more momentum but not just the regular protesters the more radical ones but also with everyday people here in hong kong who say they now support the 5 demands of the protesters and also want more of an investigation into police brutality as these have seen the crackdown on protesters over the past few days. a flight carrying the former bolivian president evo morales to mexico has been diverted to perve why. resigned on sunday after weeks of protests following

his disputed reelection meanwhile the country he leaves behind is bracing for more violence as thousands of his supporters march towards the capital a pause the army is conducting joint operations with police against what they call than doles out a sanchez has more from libya's capital. he is on his way to mexico marcello but at the foreign minister of mexico said that they sent a plane that belongs to the government of mexico to secure a safe passage of the former president there they have a tradition of granting asylum is so that's what they have done with president former president they will morality and also with 20 other former government officials who have taken refuge in a residence is here in the past. residents of that belong to the government of mexico now mortalities as he was leaving we're not sure if he said this from the

airplane or as he was getting on the plane said that he was thankful for the government of mexico for taking care of his life let's not forget that he's been he has tweeted in the past 24 hours since he resigned that that there was an arrest in order against him and that police were out to get him something that many politicians that we've spoken to have completely denied that there was no order of a rest against him then morale is also said that it hurts to leave him for political reasons he's also been tweeting and saying that this is a result of a coup to top his. regional allies and he got out of cuba. they have said that they support this version clued in mexico that this is a coup to top an al jazeera home and has more now from mexico city. there's a few film crews not just us that have turned out outside of the pool in mexico

city where president x. president now morales of libya is expected to at the end arrive but it's taking a little bit more time than was thought to bring him to makes co because he's had to make. a technical stop we think that that technical stuff is happening in part of why it's going to take which is actually below bolivia so it's going to take him a while to get to his intended destination now this is a man it will more or less the on sunday morning he woke up as the longest standing the longest running current leader in latin america and that was on sunday morning and then by monday evening he was boarding a plane to take him into exile really in mexico he said that he hopes to return to bolivia when he's got fresh energy but the situation in the country really seems to be moving on the schools for fresh elections schools for an orderly transition and

there's worries as well about noor an order in that country in a sort of vacuum of power that's being created by the resignation of president if a moral is that he says he was really pushed by the military in that country there's been violence reported on the streets not just ex-president now morale is said to his house people attempted to attack it the opposition leader colors messes at the same and the rector of the national university he's been a very strident voice and this is also said that his house was burnt down he shared pictures of that on twitter so a very precarious situation in bolivia as if will moralise tries to get to hear that scary city which is he's the intended end destination. so ahead on al-jazeera. fire officials in australia are warning the worst is yet to come as

several places threaten australia's largest city. plan to rewrite a constitution that dates back to its military dictatorship. and i was still waiting for the rainy season to become properly established in indonesia it should be there and as you can see there are certainly showers moving down towards java now i was not exactly a sky full of storms much of the energy is still being developed up here in the eastern philippines where a tropical cycle is attempting to develop but there are still showers for the south through borneo sumatra more especially we now see that in the forecast covering java release western java during says in fact this whole area into these is looking nicely wet suit away surprisingly is dry and the development hasn't quite taken

place to the east the philippines if you're in thailand bangkok could be wet something thailand could be wet which is southeast asia is prone to a few showers but mostly we're talking about coastal thailand vietnam and here's a dangerous weather unfortunately found by still a strong winds the wildfires in new south wales show no signs of abating at the moment the weather is not going to help is going to hinder and is generally dry throughout the continent in fact is getting increasingly warm for the west person 36 degrees on wednesday are not much different on thursday asked for rain if you're not in tasmania you can almost forget it occasional thunderstorms are possible but they are just occasional. mass protests forcing the government's hand but are we seeing the home try to talk

to passengers we follow journalists on the front line the fish tank the free press committed to reporting the facts police officers pointing guns at journalists it's a stop to think of hong kong fact and fiction the truth is it anyway on al-jazeera . watching al-jazeera let's recap the top stories right now there have been exchanges of fire over the israeli gaza border allowing assassination of palestinian islamic jihad commander and gaza overnight israeli airstrikes also hit apartment buildings

and a hamas facility in gaza at least 4 people have think hill. police have been firing tear gas and engaging in running battles with protesters across several parts of the city anti-government protesters also set up barricades paralyzing streets and public transport. former president of bolivia eva morale is has left the country after seeking asylum in mexico but his flight has been diverted to paraguay morales resigned on sunday after weeks of protests following his disputed reelection. a vast area of eastern australia has been given one of the country's most serious wildfire warnings sydney region has been given a catastrophic danger level for the 1st time and rising temperatures are fanning flames closer to sydney's outskirts the rest of the south wales and queensland are also under a warning under the sorts of conditions there is a significant amount of unpredictability instability and aggressive far behind you

and fast break you we know that under under di's of catastrophic if a foster and types hold if we are not there so quickly that we can bring it under control if it times hold we are not going to stop it we are not going to control fawaz on a catastrophic conditions but have the ability to develop and grow extremely quickly. enter thomas says that with firefighters near sydney. the catastrophic is the word that the authorities here use to describe the conditions the weather conditions and the states of the ground as far as starting to take out relates both to very high temperatures in the high thirty's most of tuesday and very high winds they can spread by very very quickly and very dry land like this very dry trees very dry pushes which when fire takes hold can lead to those fires being catastrophic now so far on choose day despite the conditions across the state of new south wales and indeed parts of queensland to the north being catastrophic

there hasn't been a catastrophe the hasn't been mass loss of life as far as we know because that was a real danger now that's not to say the people haven't lost their lives authorities haven't got to all the places in the states where there have been fires and it's not to say that this is over yet it's still hot it's evening here now in australia and this predicted to be a wind change soon which could make some of the existing fires worse but as far as we know the hasn't been any loss of life on shoes day this hasn't yet turned into a catastrophe but to give you some idea of the extent of these fires there have been more than 70 separate fires burning in the state the new south wales alone are really cool to choose day 50 more plus in the state of queensland and right over on the other side of australia in western australia fires are burning there right now as well including some within the city limits of that state capital on here just 18 kilometers away from sydney's paul the bridge this very much within the sydney

suburbs and you can see there was a fire here 3 hours ago that just about got in top of it now but right opposite people's homes just across the other side of the road i was talking to one of the residents an hour ago and he told me he just got home from work just over 3 hours ago now to see flames shooting right to the top of the tree about 5 metres high he says the. the authorities the bar guys got on top of it very very quickly but they're still here now making sure there aren't still some flights allowed. the afghan government has announced it will release 3 top taliban leaders in exchange for 2 hostages american kevin king an australian to him at the wakes were kidnapped from kabul else hired an american university in 2016 the taliban prisoners include on us economy who was seized in 2014 and who's older brother is the deputy taliban later president ashraf ghani said the release of the taliban fighters was a hard decision made in the interest of the afghan people and that court has ordered the netherlands to repatriate more than 50 children of women who joined

eisel and syria 23 women have asked the court to allow their families to return home from the hall camp in northern syria that is lawrence lee reports in the hague the judge roll them others don't need to be sent back. figuring out what to do with women and children associated with the enemy isn't a new problem for a country but when you bring eisel into the equation it becomes hugely controversial. at issue in the netherlands what to do about $23.00 dutch women and their $56.00 children under the age of 12 many born in the vast desperate el whole camp in northern syria their families have demanded they be brought home the government had said no thanks excel than i was even a kindler and for ordering in his ruling the judge demanded that the dutch state had achieved see to show it was trying to repatriate the children and their mothers to if the kurdish come command has said so and all within 14 days so if the kurdish

resort authorities say were only willing to give back the children if the dutch authorities also take back the women then that's the way it has to be and that has been the kurdish position until now they won't give any children unless the mothers are also brought back among the women there is child who was a little girl was as innocent looking as anyone but the family say she suffered mental health issues growing up was targeted by eisel supporters in the netherlands and persuaded to go to syria to be a bride so a fighter and this is chatty and now she lost a foot in the explosion but she doesn't have children and so she's stuck her family a devastated we had her passport when we saw that she was running for 2nd travel to syria to possible to wait for yes of course every family did that dutch government don't get their responsibility again they said yes there are dare it's not our problems and it's very hard to to hear that so what might the dutch government do now putting the onus on the dutch authorities to go into northern

syria to get these women and children out is one thing whether the dutch are actually prepared to do it themselves is something else again because they've always said it's too dangerous but the americans have been some may say to that they're prepared to go into al hole to perform the task for them very likely then that the dutch will be trying to outsource their own problem. the big problem in any number of european countries is public opinion which overwhelmingly insists anyone who went to syria within the last 5 years knew exactly what they were doing and should lose their rights assuming they are brought home the next question will be what to do with them lawrence li al jazeera the hague. again broken down in chile with riot police firing tear gas and water cannon at demonstrators and santiago it comes after president sebastian pinera offer to rewrite the current constitution which dates back to the pinochet era once for a written the document will be put to a public referendum but opposition figures have criticized the move saying the vote

should be health 1st so people's views could be considered on the current charter many say excludes protections for social rights owners move was aimed at appeasing demonstrators have been protesting against and coming equality for more than 3 weeks now a lot. more from santiago. the unmistakable sight and sound of the quick cheese national dance. in the same plaza where some travelers largest protests are taking place these people came to remind chileans that there are things that unite them all they feel like this is a decisive time it's making us reflect on what we're all and what we want to become we need to feel empowered and also take responsibility for the solutions to i'll do more on this. one of them is a new constitution in nearly 4 weeks of unrelenting protests it's widely being seen as indispensable to pave the way for structural changes to chile's free market system. the current constitution was imposed in 1900 under the pinochet

dictatorship and then i'm. going to tell. the model of the 1980 constitution hands education health social security and labor relations over to the private sector the state plays a minimal role so people are feeling abused by a constitution that instead of benefiting the collective needs tends to concentrate resources in a few hands without providing the necessary services. but other experts argue that the current constitution is not to blame rather the laws and public policies that have failed to meet people's needs. i'm not saying this is a new constitution can some prove the magna carta but i fear that it will be a huge question between people's expectations and the reality of what the constitution and can't do. after nearly 4 weeks of unrelenting protests it's widely being seen as a necessary step to pave the way for structural changes to chile's free market

system. but for many that's no longer enough former presidential candidate. says peña that must call for early general elections before chile can tackle a new national charter. discredited but we need to legitimize social changes by turning to our citizens they inevitably and this is seriously must be consulted actively and that starts by letting them choose who will represent them. the undemocratic origin of chilies current to magna carta is indisputable like a new one will not rectify all the countries wrongs but it may be a good way to start over to boost the tarnish legitimacy of the country's democracy you see in human al-jazeera santiago. former u.s. presidential candidate hillary clinton has accused the u.k. government of shameful behavior for failing to release

a report on russian election interference and says every voter has a right to read the reports head of the country's december election probe report only details russian descent from ation campaigns aiming to influence both the upcoming and previous votes on since government has denied it is trying to suppress the report to avoid a scandal. stargazers around the world have witnessed a rare show as mark 3 passed directly between earth and the sun the smallest planet in the solar system could be seen as a tiny black disk as a travel across the glowing or john hendren imports from chicago. around the globe in fair weather and foul astronomers turned their telescopes to the sun was this little dot right here on monday the sun shone a little less brightly as mercury transited across it leaving a freckle of darkness on the message star for a small planet that's a pretty big deal transit or mercury is cool because it just doesn't happen all that often. a transit occurs when

a planet like mercury or venus crosses face of the sun as seen from earth. every century it only occurs for mercury 13 times there are only 2 planets between the earth and sun the last time mercury was visible crossing the solar face was in 2016 the next in 2032 transits a venus or even rarer if you missed it in 2012 and want to see it live healthfully it won't happen again till 2117 for centuries when mercury transit of the sun nobody noticed because it's so small by comparison to give you an idea how small if this is the size of mercury that is the size of the sun. by watching the way planets cross the sun in our solar system scientists are able to identify new planets or exile planets in others more than 4000 exoplanets have been discovered since 1992 universes billions of years own this like human life is only so short and there's only so many things we can see in our share

a lot of time so for me it's like being able to see as much as bad our universe as possible and learning more about the universe by watching a pinprick of darkness crawl across the sun helps those of us here on earth understand a little better how we fit into it john hendren al-jazeera chicago. take a look at the headlines right now on al-jazeera there have been exchanges of fire over the israel gaza border following the assassination of a palestinian islamic jihad commander in gaza overnight israeli military says around 50 rockets have been fired in retaliation in gaza prompting the closure of schools and some transportation services really are strikes have also hit apartment buildings and a hamas facility in gaza at least 4 people have been killed and israeli warplanes have fired missiles towards damascus in the meza neighborhood 2 of them hit

a house belonging to offer allah jury another commander of islamic jihad it's unclear what his fate is but his son was killed and his granddaughter injured running battles are ongoing across hong kong between protesters and police anti-government demonstrators that set up barricades paralyzing streets and public transport on kong's leader kerry lam calls the protest a very selfish act to follow some of the most violent demonstrations seen in months on monday a protester was shot in a pro-government supporter was set on fire the former president of bolivia even morality says left the country after seeking asylum in mexico but his flight was diverted to paraguayan or alice resigned on sunday after weeks of protests following his disputed reelection a vast area of eastern australia has been given one of the country's most serious wildfire warnings the sydney region has been given a catastrophic danger level for the 1st time i wince at rising temperatures are

fanning flames closer to sydney's outskirts the rest of new south wales and queensland are also under warning. protests have once again broken out in chile with riot police firing tear gas and water cannon at demonstrators in santiago it comes after president sebastian pinera offer to rewrite the current constitution which dates back to the pinochet era once very written a new document will be put to a public referendum opposition figures have criticized that move saying the vote should be health 1st so that people's views could be reconsider the headlines keep it here on al-jazeera much more news to come up next whose truth is it anyway hong kong fact and fiction. the dream to take a poll to see would hundreds of fellow was to a tropical paradise. when i when a student is to gates the secretive sect accused of abuse and violence in fiji. on

al-jazeera. a. serious thing.