news along from a dramatic escalation of the conflict between hamas and israel israel bombards gaza destroying a building it says was also connected to hamas intelligence the block was also home to international media organizations this after hamas launches dozens of rockets from gaza in the heaviest bombardment of television one man is killed as the projectile strikes israel's city.

welcome to the program conflict is escalating in israel at this hour with hamas missiles reaching the biggest city tell of the and israeli forces retaliating israeli air strikes destroyed a tower block in gaza city the military say the building was connected to hamas intelligence but it also housed international media organizations including the associated press the building's owner said the occupants were warned warned and left the site i'm now joined by a journalist. in gaza city thanks for joining us tell us about the moment this building came down. well the building a building is one of the old buildings in gaza city it is the building that contains the. media outlets offices in gaza i mean actually for i buildings where

it's flattened but this is the contains press offices it contains. 0 office floor arabic and english service as well as the american news agency s.-chip to the press this is the it was a very sad moment for the journalists who are working there. i'm not sure how many other media outlets are stayed or posted there but there are some others as well. along with other residential apartments for us for ordinary people. this building was was here after one hour there was a warning by the israeli intelligence services to the owner of the building it gave him an hour and he asked for 10 minutes more for some journalists to bring down their cameras but here fuse. 3 warning rockets from

a drone where the building then it was hit by a heavy were plane. and slaton down as in people watching there's no doubt in scratching their heads and trying to figure out why this building was targeted so the guessing game starts you know whether any hamas or islamic jihad offices or connections as far as you know in this building. well usually loose the house and other factions they have their secret offices i can't say that they have offices there or they might be but i mean. they have governmental offices which is where targeted as well these buildings lay. raised targeted some apartments not the whole buildings but this time they flatten the whole building even if there is some people are wondering why the israelis are not targeting lease apartments or flats in case there was. you know there on door

state by by by activists from hamas or islamic jihad this building is not a new building it's it's there since long time and not out of sudden there are some hamas people there so it was shocking and it was incredible it's in the center of gaza city and it's surrounded by many high buildings so i'm sure the neighboring or next door buildings were damaged as well we understand that hamas has been reacting to this bombing what exactly have they been saying. well hamas is always. better to kill or the military wing of hamas because some brigades are saying that the israelis are targeting civilian buildings and response to that they they fire and lunch struck into israel and the feste time when they targeted the 1st high building they respond with with rockets into television every time there

is an israeli airstrike on grey's buildings they fire rockets into israel mainly the center of israel and the latest statement was was by the spokesman of the cassandra gates and said that after destroying the civilian building will tell of eve and center israel has to stand on one leg and waiting for our shocking response so it means that the brigades might might launch rockets into israel again. in gaza city where seemingly minute by minute there's more news to report many thanks your welcome let's bring in now jerusalem correspondent tanya kramer tanya you've been reporting now from the israeli army on that media building in gaza or brought down this afternoon

bring us up to date on what they are saying. well they actually released a statement very shortly after the building was brought down and according to that statement and i really read you parts of it to quote from it it contained that's a quote military assets belonging to the intelligence offices off the hamas terror organization it continues to say the building contains see the media offices which the hamas terror organization hides behind and uses as human shields it also says says hamas and that's a quote again deliberately places military targets at the heart of densely populated civilian areas in the gaza strip and they also stressed in this. statement that they had given warning and sufficient time for residents and the people there for evacuating the building you have to yourself have worked out of

that building tanya i was going to ask you whether there was anything that could have justified that strike but it's clear that what they're telling you is that there was clearly a connection to a mosque and other so-called terrorist organizations. well as my colleague. also said i mean we've seen that throughout the past days in this country that you know is the israeli army has targeted several high rise and larger buildings mainly in gaza city saying that they. they were you know to have to offices infrastructure belonging thomaso. now but again this is a huge building and it houses not just international media like or which are reporting as well on this conflict from there but it houses also you know residential units flats the people we've seen that now time and time again in these high rise buildings that people are made homeless. clearly we

have to play devil's advocate here and there are some people who will say this is just a clearly a convenient excuse on the part of the israeli defense what would how would you respond to that. but i think you have to offer that the israeli media. spokes person of the israeli army by the targeted i mean they put it very clear statement out by the target at this building and that we have seen this over the past day in this conflict that this saying they're targeting infrastructure by. by the militant groups. the question is and also my colleague who sent gaza pointed that out but they always have to bring the whole building down or whether they target at some sometimes they only target also apartments or certain sites within the building attacks have certainly been launched from both sides a mosque has been escalating its rocket offensives on tell of these can you tell us

more about the. well i absolutely agree seen that today a. very severe rocket barrages in several waves actually within a very short time around midday. and again targeting. israel mainly also tell of beef and surrounding cities. you see in that appears to that several rockets actually. made impact and one of the rockets made impact in a residential building in the gun that's just next to tel aviv run person died and then a civilian died from from that rocket strike but of course also rocket barrages continued throughout you know in the morning and even now you know we get there getting constant alerts for this in the south surrounding the gaza strip and the south and

south and cities. are u.s. envoy is there now to meet with israeli and palestinian leaders there is a u.n. security council meeting tomorrow can international efforts to get this conflict back under control. well this is says still to see i mean this this conflict has again in the past i was reporting on it has intensified again it's a 6 days now and at the same time you know them or more reports as well that we need and that is ready media and in the arab media that mediation efforts underway. you know mediation is usually being done by egypt by qatar by the united nations other activists they have in previous rounds of conflicts also during the wars they have been hamas and. the question is really whether both parties you know have. reached whatever they see as men's you know whether they are prepared now to end

this round of very severe and attend intense hostilities. indefatigable tanya kramer thank you tanya. earlier we spoke to a lieutenant colonel jonathan can recast international spokesman for the israeli defense forces he joined us from rome a gun near tel aviv where one israeli man was killed in a hamas rocket attack we started by asking about that attack. i can tell you that this is now the 6th day fighting hamas and all the terrorists have fired more than 2300 rockets like the one that impacted here what you can see behind me by the way are the rescue efforts and they're now taking away the remainder of the bomb but more than 2300 rockets have been fired at our cities our civilians and as you said unfortunately there is an israeli fatality here a man of middle aged man who has nothing to do with gaza nothing to do with

fighting he was in his home and he is now dead because of it i must rockets up with fire. the i.d.f. is obviously seeking to distend israelis from these hamas attacks from gaza but he's its response proportionate. yes it is we our response is very propulsion that imagine yourself living in your home city in your capital city and having your campus on bombarded by rockets by a terrorist organisation that knows no law no boundaries and has total disregard for human life our response is a measured professional and precise despond and we are told that thing that terrorists and their infrastructure and we try our best even in these very difficult circumstances when our civilians are targeted we try our best to limits any is it accidental casualties that noncombatants. well 10 people were

killed in one of the latest israeli airstrikes on gaza to women and children those are hardly legitimate targets are they sure. well they're targeting that specific event it was a senior hamas leader i cannot see it disclose his name but it was a senior hamas leader we're looking into the details of that specific event what happened who was with him. and the entire situation around him we know from past experience is that it is a usual class of terrorist to have human shields with them and around them at all climes so that if anything happens then the world will focus on collateral damage not on the fact that we targeted a terrorist and i can assure you unequivocal we cannot forget anything that is a terrorist and if there are is accidental damage that is an unfortunate result that it's definitely not our intention to kill terrorists to break their

infrastructure and try to create a serious situation where they cannot fire rockets at our civilians that's the aim of our operation. are you saying very clearly here that those women and children who were killed women and children who presumably had nothing to do with this conflict as that israeli man who was killed had nothing to do with the conflict or you saying that they were human shields. i am saying very clearly about the hamas has complete disregard for human life hamas imbedded. systematically as a way of practice within the civilian infrastructure they hide behind schools mosques and they also use human shields in order to protect themselves their seniors use human shields specifically about this event it is still unclear and i don't have the final details but i again i want to reiterate and be very clear we

do not fall in civilians we talk about fairies and we try to minimize collateral damage as much as possible we're not always successful in this but i can doing our job is to stop the terrorists from executing i facts exactly like this one behind what has your appreciate that it's an extraordinarily difficult task to go after these so-called terrorists and also try to minimize. civilian casualties but doesn't the israeli military need. to do more to prevent civilian casualties in such a high density area as the gaza strip which is pushed as you know is one of the most highly populated highly dense areas in the world. yes you're correct in your fact that it's very dense it's almost an impossible situation and they're what's really important to keep in.