let's go live to our correspondent gary for said harry i'm not entirely sure where you are you in ashdod in the south of israel this is where it is so this is where those mortars were aimed at. well you were in ashdod which is a little bit north of the of the area immediately surrounding gaza where those mortars fell this morning tuesday morning it was the largest volley of such mortar fire since the twenty fourteen war twenty eight mortars according to the israeli military one of which number of which were intercepted by israel's iron dome anti-missile system but also some of them did land in israeli territory and some of them exploded one of those took place in the grounds of a kindergarten before the children arrived for the school day but that is elicited a very strong response from the israeli government the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu talking about reacting with great force and already we have seen a number of hamas and islamic jihad sites attacked from the air inside gaza in response we are expecting that to continue it is as i say it is that the largest such mortar

yes we're in in ashdod just slightly up the coast from ashkelon a little bit further away from the border areas with gaza but yes what happened early on tuesday morning over the course of about three hours was that nearly thirty projectiles were fired it's believe the mortar shells that were fired from inside gaza and territory into israeli territory this is the biggest such barash since the twenty fourteen war one of those shells falling within the grounds of a kindergarten before any of the children had arrived so that is what is prompted this very strong reaction from the israeli government the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu saying that this would be met with great force as you say saying that israel would exact a heavy price for such actions it followed what had taken place on sunday which was an israeli attack on an observation post in which three men were killed thought to be islamic jihad fighters that after an explosive device was found on the fence so now we have this latest retaliatory action by israel the israeli military confirming to us in the last few minutes that

israel will probably intercept them and that the very unlikely possibly taken to the israeli port of ashdod and from there they would be returned to gaza during ok bernard thank you for that update. now israel's leading banks are quote bankrolling illegal settlements in occupied palestinian territory according to a leading human rights group human rights watch says at least seven big banks have loan millions of dollars in loans to construction projects and building illegal settlements in the occupied west bank they're also giving financial assistance to read. local authorities to provide services like sanitation and education among others to israeli settlers but palestinians in the west bank don't have access to them the rights group says homebuyers in these illegal settlements are getting easy mortgages from the banks palestinian west bank residents are forbidden by military order to enter illegal settlements except as laborers with special permits said she is the israel and palestine advocacy director for human rights watch she says banks need to do more to comply with international law.

mile limit where israel's blockade starts about sixteen kilometers out to sea they were towed to ashdod port which is just to the north of gaza in israel most of them . in the last sort of twenty four hours or so a bit less than that have been released i think the captain and another person is still being held by the israelis we're not sure when or if or how they'll be released but most of those people who were on that boat have been returned to gaza they did not make it to cyprus which was the destination how they managed to breach that blockade during all right burnitz move giving us the update from gaza thank you well the former u.s. national security official hellery mann leverett and leverett excuse me says the latest as clear as collation and violence may be used against them the palestinians that is by israel's close ally the u.s. . i think the palestinians have been much more effective in terms of their their case here in washington and i think particularly in european capitals when they are engaged in what seen. seem generally as nonviolent resistance but when it goes anything