international aid agencies say they struggle to contact their teams inside gaza after most communication networks were cut overnight. and the families of some of the hostages being held in gaza call for the government to do more to bring their loved ones home. hello, i m anna foster. this is bbc news. we re live in southern israel, and you can hear the continuing israeli bombardment of gaza, you can hear loud firing, gunfire, artillery fire and mortarfire going on through the morning which marks the intensification of israel s bombardment of gaza which started last night will stop with bright flashes and huge explosions lighting up the night sky above the territory. the israeli army had said it was expanding its ground operations there. a spokesman for the israeli government would not confirm that this heralded the start of a much anticipated ground offensive against hamas. the armed wing of hamas, which is a recognised terror organisation by the uk and the usa, has said it i
russians are stirring things up a bit. the u.s. led alliance today has announced it is stepping up patrols immediately along its eastern border. keep in mind the russian have troops on the other side of the ukraine. so, is nato finally drawing some kind of line here? nato is desperate how to deter putin from making any other land grabs you may have word several words bandied around. i spoke to the russian eu ambassador today and i pressed him on are we going to see any more land incursions by the russian military? and he said absolutely not.