>> this is dw news, live from berlin. israel steps up airstrikes on gaza. palestinian authority say more than a thousand people have been killed and a quarter million displaced, and it comes as israel prepares for an expected ground offensive against gaza, a campaign to be directed by israel's new emergency government. and we report on an israeli kibbutz targeted in the initial

wave of terror attacks by hamas. around 100 residents of the farming community were killed and dozens more kidnapped. i'm brent goff viewers watching on pbs in the united states into all of your around the world, it's good to have you say more than 1000 people have been killed in airstrikes as israel ratchets up its retaliation for saturday's hamas terror attacks. the israel defense forces are thought to be now preparing for a ground offensive against the gaza strip. inside gaza, the only power station today ran out of fuel as israel's rocket attacks leave more and more people homeless. >> airstrikes, blockades, and now a power cut.

conditions for the over 2 million people living in the gaza strip keep getting worse. israel had alreadynow the terrir plant is also out of service. the fuel has run out. officials warned that the effect on gaza's already overloaded health system will be devastating. >> we are talking about full beds in hospitals across gaza. adding to this that the medication and supplies are about to rule -- to run out. also the fuel and generators are close to running out. there will be a real issue pending as electricity company told us they will completely stop work which will be reflected by all those wounded and the sick people of gaza. gaza is under heavy fire. the wounded keep coming. and medicine is running out.

doctors without borders say 50 wounded came in at once after an airstrike reduced refugee camp to rubble. thousands have fled their homes to seek shelter elsewhere. but for people in this densely populated area, there are no safe hiding spaces. >> how is this our fault? what did my children do? there is no electricity, internet, food, or water. why? we suddenly found ourselves displaced, one person was coming to stay with us that got hit by an airstrike. another person asked us to come stay with them, they got targeted. i'm in the street. where should i go? >> even un facilities have been hit. >> a school sheltering the displaced has been directly hit a few days ago, and overall we

are hosting some 170,000 people in over 80 schools and other facilities across the gaza strip. these are families who have fled the shelling and the bombardment. >> israel says it has destroyed the homes of many members of hamas, the militant islamist group viewed as a terrorist organization by the e.u. and the u.s. as night fell in gaza, millions of people began to wait for morning in near-total darkness, in their homes and hospitals or in schools, while their essential supplies are running out. international rights groups are calling for the opening of a humanitarian corridor. brent: the u.n. secretary general says a spillover from the conflict between israel and hamas must be avoided. he also said today that critical

life supporting supplies such as food and water have to be allowed to get through to the people in gaza. >> i am concerned about the recent exchange of fire along the blue line and recent reported attacks from southern lebanon. i appeal to all parties and those who have any influence over those parties to avoid any further escalation and spillovers. i call for the immediate release of all israel he hostages held in gaza. civilians must be protected at all times. international military law must be respected and upheld. there are 92 facilities across gaza, hospitals, schools and clinics was never be targeted. you and steph are working around-the-clock to support the

people of gaza and i deeply regret that some of my colleagues have already paid the ultimate price. crucial life-saving supplies including fuel, food and water, must be allowed into gaza. we need rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access now. i want to thank egypt for its constructive engagement to facilitate access at one crossing. there is no time to lose. every moment counts. brent: the white house says the u.s. is working with israel and egypt in an attempt to set up safe core doors for civilians in gaza. egypt's president also says he is working on efforts to contain the conflict. the crossing on the border was the last hope for gazans trying to flee, but it is now close.

unverified footage on social media claims to show a large crowd near the crossing as bombs were falling nearby. the united nations says the bombardment has displaced more than 260,000 gazans, but with the crossing now shut, there is little chance of escape for any of the 2.3 million residents of gaza. an ap journalist joins me now from cairo. tell us about the situation right now at the rafah border crossing. reporter: at this moment, the latest information we have is that the border crossing has remained closed since yesterday after it was hit by three israeli airstrikes within 24 hours. the crossing is the only access point into and out of gaza that is not controlled by israel. it's the only humanitarian corridor in what israel has announced as a complete siege.

between monday evening at tuesday afternoon there were three rounds of strikes at the border crossing which damage the facility. eyewitnesses say egyptian of employees were evacuated from the area. egypt as you said has pushed 40 minutes harry and aid to get through. foreign ministers and national police said the government is committed to getting aid through. we know there have been attempts on the egyptian side. at least one shipment of medical aid from the red cross made it through on monday. the latest call came today from foreign ministers, and again from the united nations. so there has been a concerted push to make sure that medicine, food, fuel, and emergency equipment all make it to gaza, but what that will actually look like remains to be seen. brent: before the border close,

egypt was leading an unlimited number of palestinians. is egypt now fearing mass displacement of people and is egypt willing to have a refugee crisis, onto its territory? >> the situation now is that egypt has already committed itself on a getting through to gaza, but what it has not done is indicate that it will be accepting refugees at all. cairo is in a situation finds historically very complex. again, this is the only access point to gaza not under israeli control. there's a push to allow israelis to come into egypt. there have been no official statements from egyptian authorities but there's something very telling in the statements that state aligned media have been sharing which site high-level security forces in saying that egypt stands solidly against -- which they

say the occupation only serves israel's interests. there is a historic fear by palestinians and larger populated areas that it palestinians were to leave their homes in search of safety in the case of attack, they would lose their homes. at the same time there's a call for those who would want to leave to be allowed to be now you're seeing sources close to the egyptian government saying that palestinians are being forced to choose between live under israeli bombing or displacement from their land. even in times of relative calm, passage through rafah is very tightly controlled, limited to humanitarian cases. what remains to be seen is what will happen, but the president was careful to release a statement saying that egypt's national security is his primary responsibility. brent: thank you for the latest from cairo.

israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has announced the formation of an emergency government with the opposition leader. the administration plans to last as long as the conflict with hamas militants continues. the former army chief will be part of a three man war cabinet led by netanyahu. they will be joined to the current defense minister. the prime minister's extreme right and ultra-orthodox jewish allies will remain in government but no bill and related to the war against hamas will be advanced during the conflict. let's go to our journalist in jerusalem. we want to talk to him about the situation and what is happening right now, what kind of decisions can we expect from this emergency government? and i say emergency government, would you go so far as to say a unity government? reporter: it can be called a

unity government because it does unite parties from different parts of the political spectrum that would have never united before and are only doing so because of the emergency israel is going through right now. it is difficult to anticipate what decisions exactly will this government take, but the significance of this government is a fact that up until now, five days into the war, israel's security cabinet was completely nonfunctioning, authorities in israel were not giving a response to the civilians into the military, and finally it seems like people who have experience in security, two former chiefs of staff, or joining the government. this is an important point. up until now, the majority of the israel security cabinet was built from people who had not even served in the israeli military, including the minister of national security, who was one of the parties delaying the unity government. so the expectancy for this

government is to make more well thought decisions, more responsible decisions, and maybe five days into the war, see a completely incompetent government start to function and give answers to the israeli citizens. brent: it took five days into this war before resolve this emergency government take shape. what is your explanation for why it took so long? reporter: this was indeed an incredibly long time. the war started on saturday morning. by saturday night, israeli citizens expected a government already to be formed. at the beginning, the majority of delays had to do with the minister of national security from the far right insisting not to allow any more parties into the government, claiming that the current government has complete control over the situation. however, even after he agreed for more parties to join the government, after it was guaranteed that he would not be

moved from his role, there were still delays, and today several senior israeli journalist revealed that one of the main reasons for that was the prime minister's wife, who is known to have a strong effect on the prime minister, who for bid her husband, prime minister ninja minette yahoo!, from forming a unity government, with the reason that she was afraid, and i'm quoting an israeli journalist, that the former chief of staff would take the credit from netanyahu if he achieves great achievements in this war. these are unthinkable things to comprehend and realize for israeli citizens, and after the war, there is going to be a very long investigation on why was this delays so long, who is responsible for it, and maybe also the calculation of how many lives this delay cost israel. brent: interesting insight into the power of the woman at the side of netanyahu's.

the latest from jerusalem, as always, thank you. we want to get some analysis on the security situation with a familiar face here from king's college, london. it's good to see you. israel's response so far has been to launch airstrikes on alleged hamas targets in gaza. how effective is this type of military power against an organization like hamas? reporter: it is a good question, because so far, the idea -- how effective it is is difficult to say at this stage in military terms whether it managed to retain the capabilities to

strike, command and control points up lamaze, because hamas was preparing for this. hamas has studied the israel military approach over the years , that being said, the political calls for israel launching these attacks because of their indiscriminate nature, creating a lot of collateral damage, is difficult, and specifically difficult for the overall power dynamics in the middle east and the normalization of israeli relations with the likes of saudi arabia, because this seems to be hanging in the air, so the political cost might be very high for israel, regardless of what the military will be achieving. brent: this ground offensive, in your opinion, is this just a matter of not if but when?

and is it even possible that israel would not start this ground offensive? reporter: well, it seems to be that israel has made the resolve to indeed start this ground operation, we don't know when exactly, but if they have decided so, we might be seeing some movement soon. that being said, it will be quite difficult, because of the nature of the operation and because of the fact that this was precisely something that hamas probably wanted to provoke , knowing the controversial nature of the operation, knowing how the israeli military operates, and knowing how difficult the terrain is, because as we have seen from many analysts, the attacks prepared by hamas, they have been prepared for possibly many years, building underground

tunnels, getting all the necessary ammunition and military support from regimes like the iranian regime and also from other militant groups like hezbollah. so the risk here is that this ground operation might trigger something bigger in the north on the border with lebanon, and hezbollah has already launched some attacks in order to -- meaning israel could see itself surrounded if this was to escalate. brent: as always, thank you. several israeli kibbutz communities came under attack by hamas militants. about 100 people were killed and dozens more taken hostage, most residents of the agricultural community were young families with children.

reporter: gutted houses, wrecked cars, and families killed in their homes. the israeli military reclaimed the kibbutz from hamas three days after militants first stormed the village near the gaza border. where they begin setting fire to houses, indiscriminately shooting residents. in taking dozens of people hostage. >> just normal citizens that want to take their breakfast, and that's all. they cut off some of their heads. it's very difficult to see it. we must remember who is the

enemy and our mission. our mission is for all the war to be behind us. >> survivors of the attack heaven brought to a kibbutz near tel aviv. residents here are trying to help them with their grief. and to process what they experienced. >> they came into every home. the came into every room, every place. those that couldn't take out and murder, they would burn the house with them inside so they could die. that shot children, babies, old people, no one was safe from it. the first victim was a 90-year-old woman who was sitting on the porch, saw them coming, and she got shot. >> we were in this panic room for over 30 hours, and then they broke windows and started shooting everywhere. i think at some point they shot at the door of the panic room. >> it is unclear if they will be

able to return home. the small community described by a resident as a piece of paradise, now lies in ruins. brent: the u.n. secretary general has called on hamas to release all hostages being held in gaza. hamas has abducted dozens of people, including children and the elderly. meaning hostages were taken at an outdoor music festival. some of the family still have no news about their loved ones. i just spoke with sharon, she believes hamas kidnapped her parents. >> i'm talking to german tv or to german radio, and this is a degrom. pogrom. they were undefended, only defending themselves. these are citizens, they were

defending their own lives for more than seven hours. it took hours for the army to calm, absolute hours. it is horrifying what has happened. 160 people were evacuated to the south of israel. we are the people, their children and grandchildren and brothers and parents that did not experience it, we are trying our best to come together, support those people, and just getting them to functioning. they are staying in a hotel, there is not even the possibility of grieving while they are in that hotel. but i'm not here to talk to you about that. i am here because i want to continue to focus the attention of every human being, these are

elderly people and children and mothers and they should be immediately released. brent: do you think that the chances of that happening are helped or hurt by the fact that your country's military is preparing to take soldiers and move them into the gaza strip? the biggest incursion we've seen since 2014. >> i don't talk politics at the moment, because i don't have the luxury. i have two elderly parents who depend on medicine. they are being held hostage in the gaza strip. i know that the bombing is also falling on their heads. so how do we calculate for that? you tell me how. i don't know. to be honest, i call on every

body to halt everything and just release them, create a corridor and get them out of there. i'm calling on every decent government, i'm calling on the arab nations to come and get those people out. it's possible. this is a war crime. it is as bad as isis and worse. this is not a legitimate organization. this is a murderous organization. it is not representing the palestinian people. people are people all over the world, there are good people. brent: if i can ask you before we run out of time, i'm struck by your humanity. you are in a situation, you may lose your parents to an atrocity , and yet you're still appealing to the better net -- better nature of our humanity.

where are you finding the strength to do that? >> you asked me personally? brent: yes ma'am. >> i really don't believe in god . i am here, i'm in an impossible situation. my son is about to walk through that door in about 10 minutes. i have to tell him that something good is possible. and i think each and every one of us can make that happen in our own world. people have been pouring so much hate on the middle east. haven't we got enough of it? i spent the hold day today making -- the whole day today making interviews. it's really not something i'm interested in doing in my personal life. it's because finally we have to make something that makes sense.

for human beings, not for nations. first of all, can we just be humane in our own lives? can we smile at the person that is serving us coffee? can we just try to work for the halt of hostilities in our own personal lives and in the world. brent: unfortunately, we are out of time, but i'm sure there are many people watching around the world who hope that you will have good news to share with your son when he walks through the door, and also when you see your parents again. we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us tonight. think you. here is a reminder of our top story this hour. authorities in gaza say more than 1000 people have been killed by israeli airstrikes, the palestinian territory now has no electricity and its only power station today ran out of fuel. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu is forming an emergency unity government with

the opposition leader. the administration plans to last as long as the conflict with hamas continues. don't forget, you can always get dw news on the go, just download our app from google play or from the apple app store. that will give you access to all the latest news from around the world as well as push notifications for any breaking news. this is dw news live from berlin. after a short break, i'll be back to take you through "the day." stick around, we will be right back. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> you're watching live from paris world news analysis from france 24. i am marco and their -- these are the main news headlines. the war in the gaza strip becomes more fierce as israel messes troops on the border. the government is seen as excelling towards a ground invasion of gaza. a second front in the making in the north, rocket fire from south lebanon hitting the port city of haifa. they're concerned about hezbollah's attack. a reporter is standing by in tel aviv.