>> hello, and welcome to the studio here at "france 24." you are watching live from paris . here's a look at our top stories this hour. army leaders and israeli commanders refused to budge on their positions, sending the conflict into its 17th day. more than 700 palestinians have died. denying responsibility, a top russian official says the mitch -- missiles that shut down ukrainian fighter jets were -- another missing plane, a

flight operated by air algerie has lost touch with aviation authorities shortly after it took off from burkina faso on its way to algiers, with 116 passengers and crew on board. hour,oming up in the next let the festivities begin. festival featuring concerts and bullfighting. in spain, tourist numbers are on the rebound. the number of visitors is up 7% from last year, good news for the struggling economy there. another mysterious plane disappearance, this time in west

africa. a swift air flight operated by air algerie from burkina faso to algiers in algeria lost contact aviationrian authorities. the plane stopped responding about 50 minutes after takeoff. it was carrying 110 passengers and 6 crewmembers on board. moving on to the day's other top story, the conflict in gaza has entered its 17th day. palestinian health officials say at least 718 people have died, most of them civilians. 35 israelis have been killed, including 32 soldiers. hamas continues to send rockets into israel. is sticking byen its demand for a lifting of the blockade in exchange for a cease-fire. >> amid ongoing bloodshed in gaza and israel, refers. on wednesday -- a brief truce.

on wednesday fighting was halted throughout besieged areas allowing wounded palestinians access to a hospital. >> the international red cross was able to break the blockade and entered the disaster area. save some working to of the injured who are asking us for help. gaza city,e in israeli airstrikes showed no sign of abating. 2 palestinians were killed in the hotspot in what appears to be a targeted airstrike. with hamas' rockets continuing to rain down on israel from gaza, the army maintains it is doing all it can to minimize palestinian casualties whilst fighting to defend israel's borders. it is a battle that is taking place not just on the ground but also underneath it, in a tunnel

system that israel said is being used by hamas to restore and transport weapons. >> we are still operating inside of the strip. we have already found a tunnel shaft that leads to israeli territory. we are working on locating the tunnels themselves are continuing to hit militants and destroying infrastructure. reports,r, as the one international pressure to find a solution to the crisis is mounting. >> john kerry has arrived in cairo after wrapping up talks in jerusalem and ramallah. the u.s. secretary of state cited progress in regional efforts to reach the cease-fire. egyptian mediators said hostilities to the suspended as early as next week. at israeli cabinet ministers say up a lot of troops from gaza will not be happening -- pull out of troops from gaza will not

be happening in the immediate term. hamas has demands of its own. is ready tos it accept a cease-fire but only if the blockade of gaza is lifted. the exiled leader gave a press conference in qatar where he laid down the man's. -- laid down the man -- demands. >> and opening of the border crossings allowing medical supplies and food supplies to gaza,to the refugees in who are taking shelter in schools there. >> he said he would allow high temperatures to allow humanitarian aid through. u.s. secretary of state john kerry was in ramallah to meet palestinian president mahmoud abbas and he said progress was being made. >> we will continue to push for this cease-fire. he will continue to work with president abbas -- we will continue to work with president

abbas and others in the region to achieve it. i can tell you that we have in the last 24 hours made some progress in moving towards that goal. fatah movement recently reconciled with hamas and abbas was unflinching in his condemnation of israeli actions. >> this is a war against palestinian people. this is not self-defense. this is a defense of settlement expansion, aggression, and blockade. met israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu and talked for 2 hours. israel had agreed to an egyptian-brokered cease-fire last week, but american officials say a breakthrough is not yet on the current. -- not yet on the cards. >> the u.s. federal aviation administration is once again giving the green light to land in tel aviv. u.s. commercial flights can land at ben-gurion airport after a

24-hour ban imposed a day earlier. bywas met with applause hamas. several european airlines have extended cancellations through thursday. in just a few minutes we will be crossing over live to gaza city for more from our correspondent on the ground. ukrainian military jets shot down on wednesday may have been fired at from russia, so says a ukrainian un security council statement, a claim denied by moscow. russia's defense minister toused kiev of trying mislead the public and distracting attention away from the malaysian airlines flight 17 disaster. residents in eastern ukraine are caught up in the conflict and many have decided to flee from donetsk. >> the collateral damage of ukraine's civil strife. next to a children's play area

in the residential district, this rocket strike left at least one dead. locals know who they hold responsible. to -- it is not just who. ukrainian forces. >> the missile could have hit anywhere. alexander was in the adjacent room when the rocket struck his flat. with his living room in ruins, he knows he's lucky. safe.one is when the shelling stopped i collected all of my stuff and i went out. i was walking on the street and i saw 2 dead bodies on the ground. if i had the opportunity to leave, of course i would go somewhere else and wait until all of this and. -- wait until all of this ends.

>> alexander's staying put. others have decided to take a train away from the conflict in the done yet region in the done region.etsk >> my mother is going to russia as a refugee. the situation is deteriorating. ofdon't want the republic donetsk, or the republic of ukraine. >> the train operator says that every train heading north and estk is soldon out. understandable, as the fighting and poses growing toll on the population. >> jesse joins me from gaza city with the latest. palestiniansday

coping with the ongoing violence? >> on the 17th day of this conflict, palestinians in gaza are facing increasing hardships and increasing difficulties, not only do they have the conditions of the siege and continuous bombardment, but the impact they are having at this point is becoming crippling. i was with the family in gaza city who has 55 people staying in their apartment but they have been without power and water for 4 days. much of gaza lost power last night and that is just our doing -- adding to an already ethical situation of regular bombardment and increasing shortages. what about the fighting -- does hamas have the support of the population behind it? war --le are currently are credibly war weary and have been battered by intense

bombardment and increasing casualty rate. situation before the war was a situation of relative quiet while the blockade of gaza is maintained. as long as the demands are for the ending of the blockade and the freeing of business, something that touches every palestinian family -- freeing of prisoners, something that touches every palestinian family, there will be support for continued resistance until those demands are achieved. for people in gaza life is unbearable otherwise. while people have fled their and places have been turned into intense guerrilla battlefields, people would like to see this and, they will support palestinians fighting on and slowing the israeli advance if they feel it will lead to improvement in their already difficult lives. >> thank you for joining us live from gaza city. another botched execution in the

united states prison system. a condemned murderer took close to 2 hours to die in the state of arizona instead of 10 minutes as originally planned. he gasped for breath hundreds of times shortly after being injected. the sedative used as a pain killer ha proved problematic before. he stood out as one of the leaders of the recent antigovernment protests in venezuela. he is on trial at the opposition there is struck with -- opposition figure is charged with inciting violence following his february arrest. raleigh -- af a rally that saw activists clashing with police. spain'ss good news for battered economy. the country's tourism sector is bouncing back.

there's been a 7% increase in the number of visitors over the last year, proving that business and pleasure can go hand-in-hand. beaches, the city ,enter, and the museums tourists are again flocking to spain. this seaside resort set a new record for visitors. hotel years are delighted -- hoteliers are delighted. this property has a 96% occupancy rate. in 2000 and it was practically it was- in 2009 practically anti-. >> we are continuing the growth we had in 2006 and 2007. >> in the past year the number of visitors to spain has increased by more than 7%. the government intends to make its thriving tourism sector the main engine of its economic recovery. despite the debt and deficits,

the country is spending millions to attract visitors. the area near the cathedral was converted into a pedestrian zone. here is the future home of the museum of fine art and archaeology, 22 million euro investment. >> new hotels are also being built. during the past seven years, the number of bars and restaurants have tripled. in a country where the unemployment rate exceeds 25%, the tourism sector is an exception. --nding majoris is high. spending by tourists decide. the figure is 50% more than what irsts -- than what tourists spend in france. demands, theo israelis and hamas commanders refused to budge on conditions.

more than 700 palestinians have died and 35 israelis. denying responsibility, a top russian official says missiles that shot down to ukrainian fighter jets on wednesday were not fired from russians went, -- for martian oil, going against claims from kiev. and yet another missing plane -- a flight operated by air algerie has lost touch with aviation authorities shortly after it took off from burkina faso on its way to algiers. french a round up of the weekly magazines. welcome to the set. you are starting off with someone who is in the headlines. >> vladimir putin, president of russia, has his eyes and ears in france and there are big spy that hasbout a been at work in france on behalf of the russian government. it says they have some interesting revelations about

how this character has been working. he has been trying to find out more information about president françois law and -- francois hollande's inner circle, asking about the private lives of his family members, hollande himself, other ministers. it has obviously been found out that he is a spy. he was asking too many questions . this report has revealed the kinds of methods that these spies use to get this kind of information. this guy offers small gifts at the beginning to people like reporters and military specialists in order to get a few favors in return. they start at with a small gift. that'll and anyone in jail. -- they don't land anyone in jail. then they work up and see if journalists are interested and

s in returnr gift for bigger favors. this spy is, as i say, the eyes and years of putin in france. isgoes on to say that putin keen to have more information on what is going on in europe lost capital -- europe's capital because he feels this is a sensitive time. putin is at the mercy of european sanctions. they are going to be tighter because leaders will be looking at broadening them and toughening sanctions not only on putin's inner coterie but on the russian economy in general. findremlin is trying to out what is being said in european capitals like paris. they're also trying to find out what french spies are up to in moscow and what kinds of things spies can find out about each other. ultimately this spy was spied upon.

and a special report on the rising number of drones in the sky. unmanned drones. >> unmanned aerial vehicles, uav's, these have been more and more present in the skies around the world but it is the u.s., obviously, that the greatest number of them in operation. follows on some of the reports that have been in the papers over the week. it features in this case a full on investigation done by "the washington post," along with photos that have been put together from a number of agencies around the world. what this investigation shows is the sheer number of drones in the sky now -- >> how many are there? >> no idea as to how many but hundreds at any one time. >the idea is that it is going to get a lot worse because next be open toies will

commercial drones as well. we have heard bits and pieces about companies like amazon trying to, shall we say, pilot projects on how the drones will be used to carry products and deliveries to your doorstep, who knows. the problem is there has been crashes. there are drones that have run into planes, run into mountains. they are down to a few things that i thought quite worrying, really. one, too much wind. in other cases, turns were taken to type. in other cases it is a guy on the other end pressing the wrong button. it is kind of a worrying article because you are not sure what will happen next. there are one or two anecdotes, one of which points to 2011, when a drone crashed into a blank -- crashed into a plane and there were -- there was panic in the corners and we

heard air traffic control getting in contact with the person on the other end the drought and said, yes, you have a drone, we think we found it, it just crashed into a plane. >> back in france, a rare look into the influence and power of the wealthy. >> yes, this is an article about how much more access, it seems, the wealthy has two powerful leaders. it has an article about jeff rey immelt, the general electric boss, who won the contract with a french company, and they describe the pomp and t's visitnce of immel to france and now he had access to leaders, what looked like a state visit. increasing power as well that the rich and friends are getting with access to the media.

they are basically trying to shore up positions of media outlets and they point to -- >> france's biggest television station. newspapers that, but as well. it is a look at how much they are trying to get access to the airwaves and greater influence. -- onto another man who would not mind wielding the kind of influence he once had. nicholas sarkozy is on vacation but reporters will still not leave him alone. is he that interesting? >> he unfortunately is. i say "unfortunately" because the poor guy has been under investigation for some time. he is just trying to escape his and they snaparla the guy on a scooter with no helmet -- either of them, you can see.

pundits have picked this up, the papers are on top of it. they say that this is a former head of police, former minister of the interior who is now basically -- >> wrecking the law -- breaking the law. >> could have the scooter impounded in points off of his license. >> ooh, careful. thank you for the link at the weekly french papers. now the latest on the world of sports, starting with tour de france. >> rafale micha has bolstered his lead in the classification with a stunning second stage win. queen stage, 124 kilometers, including arduous climbing and little respite. none of them threatened the race leader. biggest rivals are looking

for a chance to drop the italian leader. in the last five kilometers, it will follow the yellow jersey. ride in thee mountains added to his victory on saturday. my legs were a little worse than yesterday and i paid for my efforts yesterday. i had to avoid being trapped. everything's ok. my teammates were with me and that was important. >> across the line in third place as he continues to track down his first ever tour de france title. he took the honors once again

with visconti crossing second 29 seconds later. nibali has extended his lead over valverde. peraud is fourth in at 2 french writers are adjusting for a place on the podium in paris this weekend. rodriguez has been unveiled as real madrid's latest addition. the columbian, who won the golden buddha the world cup, completed the transfer from monaco, where he spent one season. 80 million euros, the fourth-largest ever. -- rodriguez is

thrilled. "i have always wanted this and i think this is not the end for me. winning lots of things here and being here forever. the club is a winner and i am a winner." tag, as the board and the fans look for an instant return. the columbian says he is not phased about stepping into the spotlight. "there's always pressure in such clubs to win. this club always wants to win, especially the champion's league. there is always pressure and i have learned how to live with it. i am ready for all this, and i hope this happy dream has a happy ending." german winterows toni kroos to madrid as the

look to formpions a winner. the transfer of 20 million euros, with a 30-year-old making two appearances for france complained 126 league games for valencia. completing 126 league aims for valencia. germany's coach says he will continue to lead the world champions through the end of the 2016 european champions league. the 54-year-old has led to germany in the last 4 major champion chips. he initially said he would reconsider his position after winning the world cup. france won gold in the fencing world championships, the country's first world title since 2011. , southng in the finals korea, 45-39 print the winning touch to seal his fourth world

title. switzerland took bronze. in the women's event, russia retained their world title by beating estonia 40-29. the estonians were never able to recover from a slow start. russia's fourth tgg99ññwçça7guc

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