The Israeli military pressed ahead with its aggressive offensive against Palestinian rocket operations Sunday, intercepting at least two rockets fired toward Tel Aviv with the country's new `Iron Dome' missile defense system.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said two rockets were fired Sunday. It was impossible to immediately reconcile the reports.
Thousands of Israeli troops are massed near the Gaza border, meanwhile, awaiting an order to invade should Israeli leaders decide to widen the operation.
Israel expanded its airstrike campaign on rockets in the Gaza Strip Saturday, striking a Hamas government compound and a Cabinet building where Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh met with Egypt's prime minister on Friday.
Israel also said it intercepted an incoming projectile Saturday that was also bound for Israel's commercial capital.
The White House said it believes Israel "has the right to defend itself" against attack and that the Israelis will make their own decisions about their "military tactics and operations."
A top aide to President Barack Obama told reporters traveling with the president to Asia on Air Force One that the U.S. and Israel both want an end to the rocket fire that's coming from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agree that "de-escalation is preferred," provided that Hamas stops firing into Israel.
Obama has spoken with the leaders of Egypt and Turkey, too.
Rhodes said they "have the ability to play a constructive role in engaging Hamas" and encouraging a de-escalation of the attacks.
In Egypt, President Mohammed Morsi hosted leaders from Hamas and two key allies, Qatar and Turkey, to seek a way to end the fighting.
"There are discussions about the ways to bring a cease-fire soon, but there are no guarantees until now," Morsi said at a news conference. He said he was working with Turkey, Arab countries, the U.S., Russia and western European countries to halt the fighting.
The Israeli military, reluctant to let up without indications a truce would hold, attacked smuggling tunnels and other targets across Gaza, including a media building Sunday.
Footage from Associated Press Television News Saturday showed a plume of smoke emanating from an Iron Dome battery deployed in Tel Aviv followed by a flash of light overhead as the rocket is intercepted.
People huddled along Tel Aviv's beachfront boardwalk cheered as the interception took place.
Bombarding the Gaza Strip with nearly 200 airstrikes, the Israeli military targeted the militants' weapons-storage facilities and underground rocket-launching sites.
Israeli aircraft also bombed a police headquarters building in Gaza City, which set off a huge blaze that engulfed nearby houses and civilian cars parked outside, the Interior Ministry reported. No one was inside the buildings.
A three-story apartment building belonging to a Hamas military commander was also hit, and ambulances ferried out more than 30 inhabitants wounded by the powerful explosion.
Missiles knocked out five electricity transformers, plunging more than 400,000 people in southern Gaza into darkness, according to the Gaza electricity distribution company.
The Israeli military called up thousands of reservists and massed troops, tanks and armored vehicles along the border with Gaza, signaling a ground invasion of the densely populated seaside strip could be imminent.
Israel launched its military campaign Wednesday after days of heavy rocket fire from Gaza and has carried out some 800 airstrikes since, the military said.
Gaza militants, undaunted by the heavy damage the air attacks have inflicted, have unleashed some 500 rockets against the Jewish state, including new, longer-range weapons turned for the first time this week against Jerusalem and Israel's Tel Aviv heartland.
Two rockets landed in open fields outside of Jerusalem after air raid sirens sounded in the city Friday, sending Israelis running for cover. The strike marked the first time the holy city has been targeted by rockets fired by Gaza militants. There were no immediate reports of damage or causalities.
Israeli media say the rocket fell north of Jerusalem, as witnesses say they saw a stream of smoke in Mevasseret Zion, a suburb.
Israeli police spokeswoman Micky Rosenfeld said the rocket landed in an open area near Gush Ezion, a collection of Jewish settlements in the West Bank southeast of the city.
In Gaza, Hamas militants said they had attacked Jerusalem. The attack marks a major escalation, both for its symbolism and its distance from the Palestinian territory. Jerusalem had been thought to be beyond the range of Gaza rocket squads.
“We are sending a short and simple message: There is no security for any Zionist on any single inch of Palestine and we plan more surprises,â€
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said two rockets were fired Sunday. It was impossible to immediately reconcile the reports.
Thousands of Israeli troops are massed near the Gaza border, meanwhile, awaiting an order to invade should Israeli leaders decide to widen the operation.
Israel expanded its airstrike campaign on rockets in the Gaza Strip Saturday, striking a Hamas government compound and a Cabinet building where Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh met with Egypt's prime minister on Friday.
Israel also said it intercepted an incoming projectile Saturday that was also bound for Israel's commercial capital.
The White House said it believes Israel "has the right to defend itself" against attack and that the Israelis will make their own decisions about their "military tactics and operations."
A top aide to President Barack Obama told reporters traveling with the president to Asia on Air Force One that the U.S. and Israel both want an end to the rocket fire that's coming from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agree that "de-escalation is preferred," provided that Hamas stops firing into Israel.
Obama has spoken with the leaders of Egypt and Turkey, too.
Rhodes said they "have the ability to play a constructive role in engaging Hamas" and encouraging a de-escalation of the attacks.
In Egypt, President Mohammed Morsi hosted leaders from Hamas and two key allies, Qatar and Turkey, to seek a way to end the fighting.
"There are discussions about the ways to bring a cease-fire soon, but there are no guarantees until now," Morsi said at a news conference. He said he was working with Turkey, Arab countries, the U.S., Russia and western European countries to halt the fighting.
The Israeli military, reluctant to let up without indications a truce would hold, attacked smuggling tunnels and other targets across Gaza, including a media building Sunday.
Footage from Associated Press Television News Saturday showed a plume of smoke emanating from an Iron Dome battery deployed in Tel Aviv followed by a flash of light overhead as the rocket is intercepted.
People huddled along Tel Aviv's beachfront boardwalk cheered as the interception took place.
Bombarding the Gaza Strip with nearly 200 airstrikes, the Israeli military targeted the militants' weapons-storage facilities and underground rocket-launching sites.
Israeli aircraft also bombed a police headquarters building in Gaza City, which set off a huge blaze that engulfed nearby houses and civilian cars parked outside, the Interior Ministry reported. No one was inside the buildings.
A three-story apartment building belonging to a Hamas military commander was also hit, and ambulances ferried out more than 30 inhabitants wounded by the powerful explosion.
Missiles knocked out five electricity transformers, plunging more than 400,000 people in southern Gaza into darkness, according to the Gaza electricity distribution company.
The Israeli military called up thousands of reservists and massed troops, tanks and armored vehicles along the border with Gaza, signaling a ground invasion of the densely populated seaside strip could be imminent.
Israel launched its military campaign Wednesday after days of heavy rocket fire from Gaza and has carried out some 800 airstrikes since, the military said.
Gaza militants, undaunted by the heavy damage the air attacks have inflicted, have unleashed some 500 rockets against the Jewish state, including new, longer-range weapons turned for the first time this week against Jerusalem and Israel's Tel Aviv heartland.
Two rockets landed in open fields outside of Jerusalem after air raid sirens sounded in the city Friday, sending Israelis running for cover. The strike marked the first time the holy city has been targeted by rockets fired by Gaza militants. There were no immediate reports of damage or causalities.
Israeli media say the rocket fell north of Jerusalem, as witnesses say they saw a stream of smoke in Mevasseret Zion, a suburb.
Israeli police spokeswoman Micky Rosenfeld said the rocket landed in an open area near Gush Ezion, a collection of Jewish settlements in the West Bank southeast of the city.
In Gaza, Hamas militants said they had attacked Jerusalem. The attack marks a major escalation, both for its symbolism and its distance from the Palestinian territory. Jerusalem had been thought to be beyond the range of Gaza rocket squads.
“We are sending a short and simple message: There is no security for any Zionist on any single inch of Palestine and we plan more surprises,â€