territory again has been heavily bombarded by israeli airstrikes which palestinian health officials have killed at least to,000 750 people in just one week. this is after the attacks last week in israel that killed at least moo people. israel says it is targeting members of hamas, the group designated as a terror organisation by many western governments including the united kingdom. thousands of palestinians who have fled hoping to escape and cross into egypt have found that the rafah crossing is still closed. negotiations are ongoing to open it for aid and dual citizens trying to leave gaza so far no progress has been made on that front. we start our coverage with this report from our international editor, jeremy bowen. anotherwar, of words, has started over who is responsible for the suffering of palestinian civilians in gaza. israel is dropping the bombs. it says blame hamas for killing and kidnapping and, says israel, hiding behind civilians. gazans crowded into un school
announcer: this is cnn breaking news. hello and welcome, everyone. i m michael holmes, and we continue our breaking news coverage of israel at war. and there are growing signs this hour that an israeli military ground operation into gaza could get under way at any moment. after a week of air strikes and artillery aimed at hamas inside gaza and a hastily ordered evacuation of up to a million civilians from gaza city, israel declared on saturday that it is ready to open a new phase- in te war with a focus on, quote, significant ground operations. earlier israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu met soldiers on the front lines. you see him there offering words of support, telling them to be prepared. also on saturday iran warned far-reaching consequences if the israeli attacks don t stop. the iranian foreign minister met with a senior hamas official for the first time since the fighting began, and there is deep concern that iran and its proxies might try to escalate the con