What sparked escalation of violence in Israel and Gaza?

>>> the conflict between israeli forces intensified this morning expanding the bombing to government and media buildings. they fired rockets toward tel aviv . they intercepted one incoming rocket this morning. at a press conference in thailand, president obama asserted israel 's right to defend itself.

>> let's understand what the event here was that's causing the current crisis. that was an ever escalating number of missiles that were landing not just in israeli territory, but in areas that are populated. and, there's no country on earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on thinker citizens. we are supportive of israel 's right to defend itself from missiles landing on people's homes and workplaces and potentially killing civilians. we will continue to support israel 's right to defend itself. now, what is also true is that we are actively working with all the parties in the region to see if we can end those missiles being fired without further escalation.

>> the troops along the israel gaza border. israeli prime minister , benjamin netanyahu said they are going to expand the operation. the back and forth has been escalating since wednesday when they killed a chief. since then, israel carried out air strikes on targets in gaza . the death toll is at 56. hamas retaliated killing three civilians in a small town in southern israel thursday. netanyahu said israel will not tolerate the continues rocket fire.

>> no government would tolerate a situation where nearly a fifth of its people live under a constant barrage of rockets and fire. israel will not tolerate it. israel will take whatever action is necessary to defend our people.

>> in response, hamas ' prime minister said a time in which the israeli operation does what it wants and gaza is gone. he was not there at the time. what ignited the most recent round of fighting? ramped up rocket fire which demands military response. according to defense forces , the palestinian militants fired more into israel in october this year than all of 2011 . there's a semitri in the death toll . the fighting between the militants in 2009 through september of this year, 25 israelis have been killed by palestinians while 314 palestinians have been killed according to the israeli human rights organization. one of the palestinian casualty, a 13-year-old boy killed by israeli forces in a gunfight on november 8th . many point to that as a major escalation of the fighting. as to how and when it will end, they said thursday, it's unclear. we cannot predict what the end point is. at the moment, there's no reason to stop. joining me at the table are an israeli journalist and a former idf officer. it 's wonderful to have you all here. i wish it were under better conditions. as americans watching this, the conflict seems constant. once this awhile, rockets start flying or there's a bombing strike and i think americans look and say what happened? why now? i'll start with you from the israeli perspective, what is your understanding of why this is happening now and what internal political dynamics in israel are leading to the decisions being made to per sue this?

>> there's the issue of rocket that is have been escalating in the months leading to this assault on gaza . there's also a number of border incidents. israel is controlled around the gaza strip . it defines 17% of the street is in no man's land. around this area, sort of security zone , if you want. incidents in which palestinians were killed, soldiers injured and that contributed to the escalation. what's important, i think, is from the perspective of the israeli leadership. there's a political window for opportunity here. we are heading for elections in israel . they demand a more proactive approach to the conflict.

>> there's polling out showing why it's massive israeli -- we'll see if there's a ground invasion if that were to continue. i wonder from the perspective of internal politics in gaza , what are the politics driving the increase in rocket fire is the first question and what are the politics driving the response now in the midst of this?

>> first of all, there's a number of factions in gaza , including hamas and a variety of other factions. the israeli, through the egyptians have been working with hamas to crack down on the rocket fire and that has worked, largely thanks to one of the point people there who they just assassinated. obviously, that created a significant problem. one israeli journalist put it that israel had eliminated its s subcontractor in gaza . the palestinians object -- and are willing to not, you know, respond to what's going on in gaza as long as these assassinations don't continue. as long as they have continued, we have seen increases in rocket fire. the bottom line is, there's no military solution to this issue. you simply cannot bomb people into liking you. it's not going to work. so --

>> i just wanted to add to that. we discuss what per sip at a timed this. it's the debate in our media cycle. if all rocket fire were to stop today and all missile strikes and ground offensive in israel were to stop, the violence against palestinians would continue in the form of occupation, arbitrary detention. when we ask what started it, we are not getting to the root of it.

>> let's talk about gaza and the blockade.

>> it's a little thick to hear it said hamas objects to assassination. stock and trade is mass murder .

>> we'll get back to that. the other fact we are referring to is jihad, the popular resistance committee. they are the ones firing the rocket even if hamas was tasked with enforces the cease-fire. more on this after this break.