Sirens sounded in Tel Aviv on Saturday, signalling a rocket attack on the city, and an explosion was heard, witnesses said. No casualties were reported, according to the Israeli ambulance service.
A cloud of smoke was seen in the sky over the southern outskirts of Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial center. The Israeli army and police confirmed that the rocket fired at Tel Aviv was intercepted in mid-air and did not hit the city.
Hamas's armed wing in the Gaza Strip said it fired a rocket at the city, the third such attack since Israel launched its air offensive in the enclave on Wednesday.
Earlier, AFP reported that 3 Israeli soldiers were wounded in a rocket crash. According to the agency, the rocket was fired from Gaza.
Also on Saturday, Israel bombarded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with more than 180 airstrikes early Saturday, the military said, widening a blistering assault on militant operations to include the prime minister's headquarters, a police compound and a vast network of smuggling tunnels.
The new attacks followed an unprecedented rocket strike aimed at the contested holy city of Jerusalem that raised the stakes in Israel's violent confrontation with Palestinian militants.
Six people, including five militants, were killed and dozens were wounded in the various attacks Saturday, Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said. In all, 35 Palestinians, including 13 civilians, and three Israeli civilians have been killed since the Israeli operation began.
Missiles smashed into two small security facilities as well as the massive Hamas police headquarters in Gaza City, setting off a huge blaze that engulfed nearby houses and civilian cars parked outside, the Interior Ministry reported. No one was inside the buildings.
The Interior Ministry said a government compound was also hit while devout Muslims streamed to the area for early morning prayers, although it did not report any casualties from that attack. Also hit was a Cabinet building where the Hamas prime minister has his offices. Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was not inside.
Missiles knocked out five electricity transformers, plunging more than 400,000 people in southern Gaza into darkness, according to the Gaza electricity distribution company.
In southern Gaza, Israeli aircraft went after the hundreds of underground tunnels militants used to smuggle in weapons and other contraband from Egypt, residents reported. A huge explosion in the area sent buildings shuddering in the Egyptian city of El-Arish, 30 miles (45 kilometers) away, an Associated Press correspondent there reported. The tunnels have also been a lifeline for residents of the area during the recent fighting, providing a conduit for food, fuel and other goods after supplies stopped coming in from Israel before the military operation began.
The Israeli military did not provide a detailed accounting of its overnight targets, but said more than 180 sites were struck, for a total of more than 800 since the operation began.
International reactions:
In the reactions, US President Barack Obama reiterated
during a phone call with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, the US support for
Israel and for its right to defend itself.
However, the Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdel Salam who
is visiting Gaza denounced the Israeli aggression of the Strip.
For his part, the Turkish PM Recep Tayyib Erdogan arrived to
Egypt in a visit which aims at reinforcing the bilateral relations affected by
the conflict in Gaza.
In this context, the Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Wahidi
called on the Islamic World to conduct revolutionary moves against Israel in
order to put an end to the crimes committed in Gaza.
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AP/LBCI