we re following all the breaking news in israel s escalating war with hamas. israel s prime minister says his country is now in the second stage of the war. the goal to eliminate hamas and eeradicate its threat to israel. israel s military says it has troops inside gaza, but it s not clear if this expanded operation is the beginning of a broad ground incursion. civilians in northern gaza say last night was the heaviest bombardment so far. israel s defense minister says the intensifying assault will improve his country s chances of treeing freeing the hostages. translator: we are making any effort in order to return the handles to us, to our country. it s a difficult effort. dealing with reality we didn t know in the past. we are ready to do anything possible. this is not a secondary mission. this is a national priority. also new this hour, hamas is firing back. this is new video from a cnn producer in gaza capturing rockets being fired into israel. and cnn s nic roberts