according to several palestinian news agencies. meanwhile, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu say his priorities in gaza are to destroy her mouth and bring hostages home. he insisted israel was doing its best to achieve both. he was speaking after meeting with families of some of the more than 200 hostages, who fear that the escalation of fighting by israel is making matters worse destroy hamas. at the bombardment of gaza intensifies, the prime minister said the war would be long and hard. meanwhile, the international red cross has called for an immediate de escalation of the conflict, saying it was unacceptable that civilians had no safe place to go in gaza. this is the scene live in gaza, where the hamas run health ministry in gaza says that 8,000 people have been killed since air strikes were launched in response to the killing of 1,400 israelis by hamas three weeks ago. we ll start our coverage with this update from our international editor, jeremy bowen. heavy