on from gaza the armed wing of the palestinian group hamas and its allied factions of launched more than a 1000 rockets towards israel towns and cities deep in israeli territory have been hit some managing to get through the on dome missile defense system. and they go. was talking about how. unsafe that the remaining portion of the building is it is now collateral we're not sure whether that was another missile attack that that that brought the building down completely but it has now gone it was a missile and being told. at

least 2 missiles hit the building the remaining part of the building that was left standing after that 1st missile strike some 25 minutes or so ago. or and i was telling you about. missiles being fired from gaza into israel at a very says far as ashkelon ashdod tel aviv and other areas in the southern and central israel 5 civilians at a soldier have been killed that let's bring in al-jazeera sorry forsett who's live for us in southern israel. area we're just looking at at and another missile strike at least 2 missiles hit the remaining part of that building. that we saw. coming down here earlier this is that the moment when the building was was finally brought down an area that was a building that but housed media offices and

a ground floor level shops. yes i mean as far as the israelis a concern and what they're saying in bringing down these towers is that they are also being used in part whether it be some apartments within them or a or something else they're being used in part by fighting factions within gaza and that makes them admit targets especially given the fact that they have been ringing up building manages to clear those buildings of civilians before they take them down it is also a huge statement of power in a very visual statement of destruction in gaza and visible to the residents of gaza and also hamas passes palestinian islamic jihad and others what it also does of course is renders hundreds and hundreds of people homeless in the

middle of a military escalation so there is a huge consequence to civilian life that is going to be felt by these big destructive acts at the same time israel is saying that it did kill earlier on wednesday 6 senior command members of the hamas general staff it says that they were among them the head of the gaza city brigade and 5 others who were involved in things such as intelligence and rocket production 10 others who worked in those areas also killed in those attacks and that is something that has been confirmed by hamas is almost certain to elicit a major response from hamas in terms of more rocket fire that's what the expectation is in any any event nonetheless the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said it was making good on what he'd warned of the day before and he said there will be more to come. because on. the whole involved i said yesterday that

the sons of darkness the terrorists of the hamas and islamic jihad they bear responsibility a short while ago we eliminated senior commanders in the air mass general command including the commander of gaza brigade and other commanders this is just the beginning we will strike them with hits they did not dream of. harry while all of this going on there's a parallel crisis unfolding in in israel's mixed palestinian israeli towns neighborhoods. yes that's right this is an issue which is also very much occupying the israeli government it's a crisis of a related but different kind one within the one within the that this the the country itself and the communities themselves the jewish and arab communities

who live here 20 percent of the israeli population is palestinian israeli and what we've seen is after a shooting dead of a parson israeli man in lloyd on monday night a massive funeral which led to clashes with the israeli security forces and then an eruption really of violence in many mixed jewish arab towns particularly focused on lloyd where we saw jews attacked with stones a synagogue set on fire also arabs being attacked as well in various places and so this is a real crisis for the government they have instituted a civil emergency in la they've put in a curfew in place due to come into force at 8 pm tonight so let's less than an hour away and 3 other cities as well the border force usually used in the occupied west bank they have been deployed to try to restore order the prime minister benjamin

netanyahu pledging to use an iron fist to do so. and harry. the song about the situation in israel itself with that power of rockets over a 1000 rockets now having been fired from gaza into southern israel a number of people have been killed there. what's the mood in the country itself and is there anyone at the moment who is mediating between 2 saw the 2 sides to perhaps bring an end to this. well to start with that point there were efforts we understand from the egyptians who have acted as mediators in the past during these it's difficult to say these sorts of escalations because this is an extremely unusual rare and enormous one but that yes there were efforts by the egyptians to try to to mediate but there seemed to be very little will to step back from the brink and those efforts in the short term at least have failed as for

the impact of what's been coming out from gaza as you say more than a 1000 rockets an enormous amount of weaponry coming out of gaza targeting israeli cities most notably those that double. in the middle of the night and earlier in the evening on tel aviv we've seen 5 israeli civilians killed in those rocket strikes the most recent were overnight in large as well as a father and his young daughter both of them palestinian israeli citizens and then there was another attack early this morning when a. israeli military jeep came under fire from an anti-tank missile and one soldier confirmed killed 2 others were injured one of them critically and so as i've been saying that there is just

a feeling that more and more of this is what we can expect in the coming days certainly a big response from hamas is likely in the coming hours and each step along this road a further both sides go the harder it is to get back this is becoming an extremely it's already a deadly situation and a dangerous one it's almost looking irreversible that there will be still bigger conflict on the way out of this herefore said reporting live from southern israel area many thanks indeed. kohls crew on wednesday for a deescalation from nations around the world china expressed deep concern and urged all parties to exercise restraint to avoid further casualties russia is calling on israel to stop all settlement activity in palestinian territories russia's president vladimir putin and turkey's president the one spoke on wednesday with the other one demanding that israel be given a strong and deterrent lesson for its treatment of palestinians the e.u.

says that the priority should be deescalation and the prevention of civilian deaths germany says that israel has a right to self-defense against rockets being fired out of gaza and the u.n. security council has been meeting for an emergency session on the escalation let's go live now to the white house our white house correspondent kelly halkett is there for us. the u.s. secretary of state has spoken to his israeli counterpart with hearing. and the u.s. secretary of defense is spoken to his counterpart the secretary of state is part of asking for both sides to cease violence complete waters he said. yeah this coming down just moments ago the bible administration if we've known for days has been working behind the scenes in private as well as public statements to nudge israel to deescalate the tensions that have been playing out across television

screens for days apparently that nudging wasn't quite enough and now we know the secretary of state just moments ago announcing that he is sending an envoy to the region in order to try and encourage deescalation according to and city blinken the deputy assistant secretary of state for israel and palestinian affairs will be going to meet with israeli as well as palestinian leaders the goal again deescalation the united states saying it is deeply concerned with what they are seeing particularly in the last 24 hours in jerusalem gaza and elsewhere so this comes on the heels of a statement by the secretary of defense lloyd austin who has conveyed to his counterpart that the united states believes and israel has the united states ironclad support when it comes to israel's what the united state calls legitimate right to defend itself and its people they are condemning the launch of rockets by

hamas and they're really iterating the importance of restoring calm but the question that many have been asking here in the united states even members of the president's own democratic party is do palestinians also have that right to defense that the united states government the by the administration continues to reiterate that israel has that right of self-defense and this is still an open and unanswered question so we're watching very carefully to see what more might come out of this white house joe biden the u.s. president did not speak on this when he appeared before reporters in the last hour but there is a white house briefing coming up the press secretary will be talking we'll be watching carefully to see what more she might add to get the impression can believe that the white house is perhaps dithering here has been caught off guard and that it doesn't really have what it's ducks in a row as far as policy is concerned. there's no question that that is the

commentary that is happening here in the united states with respect to the by the ministration this is ministration has made clear what it wants to make its top priority is dealing with covert 19 is getting 70 percent of the population vaccinated by early july but the reality is is that even if joe biden doesn't want to get involved he is involved because historically the united states has given billions of dollars in military aid to israel add to that you have the previous administration that was very one sided with respect to its policy in the region very much favoring israel this is an administration that says it is going to listen to both sides that it sees the only path forward being a 2 state solution they've also spoken very candidly the white house press secretary saying that they believe when it comes to israel that the a vixens of palestinians have been working against the interests of trying to resolve this longstanding dispute and bring about peace so 2 this is ministration

is looking for a path forward they're hoping that they can find deescalation diplomacy but at the same time this is not the priority that this administration wants to be working on right now a white house correspondent kimberly how could live in washington kimberly many thanks to the palestinian authority is set to meet in the coming hours to discuss the escalating violence soldiers there is need to abraham reports now from ramallah in the occupied west bank. one. the palestinian leadership is focusing on is. trying to reach out to the international community heard from several palestinian officials who say that the international community's response has been. as they hope for we've also heard from the palestinian prime minister. who says that this is an explosion because the reason for it is that israeli crimes as far as.

palestinian president has been holding calls with different leaders of the world including jordan. as well as that off the president's. use of joseph. for. a quick break get a weather forecast on al-jazeera we'll be back with more coverage of developments out of the biggest escalation of violence since the 2014 war. it's time for the gin in the winter storm supply qatar airways hello some heavy rain is falling along beginning sea river on thursday now by friday this is going to lift a bit further north it's going to impact shanghai with somewhat weather to end out the work week we're just getting clipped was some moisture for the eastern portion of honshu but tokyo by and large will stay dry you know the usual areas of concern

towards southeast asia northern sumatra where we have seen some devastating landslides once again heavy pulses of rain through borneo as well however we are getting some breaks bangkok's just a mix of sun and cloud on thursday 34 jakarta also dry conditions for you on thursday over to india now where the storm risks really will be from go rate down to careless states where we could see some of these strong pulses of energy bubble up also toward west bengal in bangladesh and a very whites picture in the forecast for katmandu on thursday over to the arabian sea right now and we are seeing these pulses of energy this could form into a tropical cyclone could head toward oman or pakistan so do check back with us over the next few days as we nail out where it's going to steer cross the middle east high temperatures for the gulf states up to a high of 42. ways

most people will never know what's beyond this storm. in the. $100.00 involved. and we can. touch. most people live in new know what it's like to work with every breath is rich. with . tsunami. but when most people.

in the past ah israeli airstrikes destroyed this building many media organizations have their offices. in gaza israeli said been targeting gaza's police headquarters and government buildings with airpower reducing them to rubble gazan journalist. was on air with us live when that building was brought down. right now israeli warplanes are striking air raids on the tower which is the home for lots of media offices here in the gaza strip right now these were a couple of missiles that are where we're going missiles and right now they should be starting to bring down the entire tower this tower is up to 14 stories it's

one of the biggest and oldest towers in the in the gaza strip and it holds mainly media offices like almost all the media offices are in this tower along with a jo had a tower which was. directly targeted yesterday. as you can hear now there raids are. the raids are. directly targeting the tower. is this artillery fire can you hear the sound of jets or grown sort of ahead. i'm sorry is this are it is this artillery fire can you hear the sound of jets or runs. oh my god yes yes yes i need to go down ok. i'm all right as you can see that humans have to take cover. just as we were expecting after

a warning shot fired at that building which it was telling us houses among other organizations media offices of the various organizations who cover gaza. that's been at least partially taken out those stakes notions. about the given that are you ready are you able to speak yes i can hear you nothing i mean. yes i've directed the camera now to it's the explosion this is this is a shock tower that has been brought down as you can see i was standing right opposite to it when i was talking to you. how far away is the option how far away is that building one of the. story of the house has gone the biggest buildings it's the building has not fallen yet. it has not fallen yet which means that more rockets right now will be fiery to where it sit.

how well how densely populated is the area around the building will the building would have been evacuated there were warnings given even warning shots fired but how many people live around that building. this building is in a very very populated densely populated area it's in remailed street it's one of the major important streets here in gaza strip where so many shops are like almost the old important shops and there is a den still buildings of people are * so basically distracting such a tower like shouldn't tell and which comes exactly in the middle of the area exactly the middle of renown street means and entire destruction in the neighborhood i can assure you of that the aftermath of the destructive of this tower is going to be terrible just terrible whether because of the shops or.

the neighboring neighboring towers and buildings it is the highest tower in the area but in all the other terese and buildings are lower than ants but there's going to be a massive destruction for the aftermath of bringing this tower down. all right so just a few seconds ago. on the right of your screen this happened it appears to be rockets being fired out of gaza once again latest pictures this happened while he were watching that recording of human speaking a little early out on al-jazeera arabic colleague spoke to the director of the hospital in gaza he says the attacks put pressure on a medical system which was already stretched to breaking point. would look up on

then the situation is more than dire simply because gaza strip as you know has been under tight seats for the past 14 years the seeds has exhausted the entire health care sector in this trip in addition we were hit by the coronavirus pandemic which we have been fighting for more than a year now israel's recent unjust and belligerent admission has come to add insult to injury and as you see for your own eyes innocent women and children are victims most of their bodies are torn apart needless to say that our operation rooms have been suffering lack of supplies over the past 15 years consumables and medicines are in charge shortage in the entire guys this trip this hospital has been running on the same devices on up lunches for the past 20 years. more live pictures from gaza i will speak to our correspondent in southern israel in a few moments but. first we spoke to

a high at who is the israeli foreign ministry spokesman he says that hamas is responsible for any palestinian deaths. if you get the masses using those buildings as their infrastructure for terror incidents is there a fact waters as the places where day i did their weapons obviously this is a military target we are doing as i said utmost effort in order not to eat any civilians but we will hear again from structure of the target station i'm asked because this is how come last words they're doing this is actually a double crossed you work right 1st of all they're shooting from civilian areas and using that signal it the civilians of the gaza strip as there is a human shields and the 2nd it works the masses it committed this that there are huge shooting and civilians in israel and we've seen that over many who are in

shelters and in this safe rooms are going to the last few hours and in during the night because they are trying to hit civilians both you need front and on for a massive event. as human shields us all because a street is well he's doing out most in order to prevent collateral damage if there is collateral damage he sees not the goal of the east really military strikes in the gaza strip we are trying to keep it she is to keep the terrorist leaders up if that is hamas terror organization and if infrastructure in order to stop it should be the launching of missiles on israeli civilians and in order to. to make the hamas understand that they will once keep us as hostages in should act israeli civilians whenever they want to this is the right of every suffering country please let me finish to defend itself he sees it work of self. defense by israel it

started by come us launching missiles on the capital a piece of all of jerusalem in a city that they can consider to be holy so just imagine out what happened in the last 36 hours over 101000 war crimes by come us. live to southern israel al jazeera herefore said you'll be able to hear in just a moment we're staying on these live pictures of gaza on the left of your screen television of on the right. to seeing missiles launched once again from gaza a few moments ago perry what's happening where you are. oh yes just the last few minutes there were a lot of rockets being fired out of the gaza strip behind us we saw a lot of iron dome interceptions as well coming from behind me to the left across

to try to disrupt on the way out some of those rockets but as you're seeing as we're hearing there have been alerts again in bush done close to tel aviv and in tel aviv itself so this does seem to be another major barash less powerful potentially them what we saw last night so far at least but it does follow what took place earlier in the day with those targeted killings of 6 senior hamas commanders and a promise that there would be their deaths would be seen as fuel. for the fight hamas said was liberate the whole but their homeland the holy month of ramadan of course coming to an end of the knowing the last time story a building hit in ashkelon close to us ok last night of course that the main barriers of rockets didn't happen until an hour or so after after sunset. so

we are expecting you would think given what's happened today that there would be a greater concentration once again of missiles fired from gaza a little later. quite possibly it's hard to know that the timing of last night's major attack was about an hour after what took place earlier inside gaza which was the 1st of these big towers that was taken down so that there was a fairly. easily connected line between those 2 events there has been a more of a delay since the killing of those 6 senior hamas commanders earlier in the day and this latest barrage it does though follow pretty close on the heels of that latest very large building that's been demolished from the inside gaza that we've been witnessing happening during our time on air in the last hour or so so i think we're

in a position now where there will be steps taken on each side. seen potentially each side is responding to the last and that is that is the pattern of what's been happening so far and it looks set to continue to get hairy but when he was speaking we could hear the sound of war it sounded like military equipment you've told us before that minute quitman was being taken. past you heading towards the gaza strip . the prime minister has been holding a meeting with his security cabinet what more do we know about what they've been discussing. but we don't have any conclusion of that at this stage this is not a piece of military given going past right now but just a 2nd ago you're right it was another tank being taken or rather a heavy artillery piece being taken to closer to the gaza border what we do know is that this meeting the security cabinet meeting was due to get under way a short time ago and there have been reports that there are discussions to be had

in that meeting about a still further broadening of the scope of what is already an extremely. broad military operation by the israelis reports in the israeli media only so far so we have to take it with that health warning that they will at least discuss the option of using ground some kind of ground offensive alongside the airstrikes now that is something that israel has not done since 2014 it's something that carries with it all sorts of risks in terms of the lives of israeli soldiers which obviously is or is of a key concern to israeli government and the potential for capture. of soldiers as has happened in the past so that is not a decision will be taken lightly but it does seem that the option at least is being put in place we've seen throughout our couple of days here a pretty steady pruett procession of heavy armory being brought into place it's not

entirely unusual when there are these escalations sometimes it's a show of force sometimes it's prepare a tree in case needed however this is different from the kind of escalations we've seen in recent years already and as all the indications suggest it is getting worse all right harry it is just approaching 7 30 in the evening in gaza where more than 2000000 people are living under the shadow of the most serious escalation of violence there since the 2014 war.