- The rocket landed in Rishon Lezion, a city just south of Tel Aviv located in heavily populated central Israel
- Claims of hit was denied as 'psychological propaganda' by the Israel Defence Forces
- Gaza militants had previously hit the city in 2009 fighting as well
By David Williams and Jill Reilly
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The Israeli army says a rocket has reached the southern outskirts of Tel Aviv, by far the farthest strike by Gaza militants in two days of fighting.
The rocket landed in Rishon Lezion, a city just south of Tel Aviv, some 60 kilometers, or 40 miles north of Gaza.
Although the rocket landed harmlessly in an open area, it illustrated the significant capabilities that Hamas militants have developed in recent years.?
Preparing: An Israeli Merkava tank is prepared to back up from its truck carrier as equipment is brought to the Gaza Strip border in southern Israel. there are now fears the hit could trigger a land invasion
Tough talk: Defence officials say Israel is prepared to launch a ground invasion into Gaza if necessary. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the army was prepared for a 'significant widening' of its Gaza offensive
The city with a population of some 228,000, lies about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the Gaza Strip and there are now fears it could trigger a land invasion.?
'There was a rocket that hit in an open field in the Rishon LeTzion area. There were no injuries or damage,' a spokeswoman said.
The claim was denied as 'psychological propaganda' by the Israel Defence Forces.
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Over 250 rockets have been fired from Gaza into the South since the IDF launched a campaign Wednesday to root out the terror infrastructure in the coastal territory, beginning with the targeted killing of Ahmed Jabari, the chief of Hamas's military wing.
Defense officials say Israel is prepared to launch a ground invasion into Gaza if necessary. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the army was prepared for a 'significant widening' of its Gaza offensive.
'No government would tolerate a situation where nearly a fifth of its people live under a constant barrage of rockets and missile fire, and Israel will not tolerate this situation,' he said.
Under attack: Smoke billowing from a spot targeted by an Israeli air strike inside the Gaza strip earlier today. Three people have been killed in southern Israel by rockets fired from Gaza, amid escalating violence
Operation: Israeli soldiers take cover as the 'Iron Dome' fires a missile against a Grad missile fired from the Gaza Strip
'This is why my government has instructed the Israeli Defense Forces to conduct surgical strikes against the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.
'And this is why Israel will continue to take whatever action is necessary to defend our people.'?
The fighting, the heaviest in four years, has brought life to a standstill on both sides of the border, with schools canceled and people huddled indoors.
Israel and Hamas have largely observed an informal truce for the past four years.
But in recent weeks, the calm unraveled in a bout of rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza and retaliatory Israeli airstrikes.
From Israel's perspective, Hamas escalated tit-for-tat fighting in recent days with a pair of attacks: an explosion in a tunnel along the Israeli border and a missile attack on an Israeli military jeep that seriously wounded four soldiers.
Israeli officials say they have not yet decided on whether to launch a ground invasion in Gaza, and it's not clear what would trigger it.
But a successful strike on Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial and cultural capital, would mark a significant escalation.
Gaza militants had previously hit the city in 2009 fighting as well.
Today three people have been killed in southern Israel by rockets fired from Gaza, amid escalating violence.
Funeral: Thousands of people gathered in the Gaza Strip 15 November for the funeral of Ahmed Ja'abari, the commander of the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement. His casket was being taken to the al-Omari mosque in Gaza City for a prayer service before burial
Grieving: Palestinian women react during the funeral of Hisham Al Galban, a Hamas militant
Commeration: Palestinians carry the body of Ahmed Al-Jaabari, top commander of Hamas armed wing Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam, during his funeral
Killed: Ahmed Jabari, the most senior Hamas official to be killed since an Israeli invasion of Gaza four years ago, was travelling in a car in Gaza city when it was struck by a rocket and exploded
The deaths are the first Israeli fatalities since militants fired into Israel after it killed a Hamas chief yesterday.
The attack struck an apartment building injuring two other people and is likely to produce a harsh response from Israel as it wages an offensive against militants in the Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory.
But Israel's Iron Dome interceptor system shot down dozens of some 130 rockets fired from Gaza in the first few hours of daylight on day two of Operation Pillars of Defence, the army said.
Israeli aircraft, tanks and naval gunboats pounded the Gaza Strip yesterday as Israel targeted the Islamic militants.
The operation, launched in response to days of rocket fire from the Palestinian territory, kicked off with the assassination of Hamas's top military commander.
The sudden conflict pours oil on the fire of a Middle East already ablaze with two years of revolution and an out-of-control civil war in Syria. Palestinian allies, led by Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi, denounced the Israeli offensive.
After watching powerlessly from the sidelines of the Arab Spring, Israel has been thrust to the centre of a volatile new world in which Islamist Hamas believes that Mursi and his newly dominant Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt will be its protectors.
Trapped: Palestinian men try to pull out civilians blocked in a car after an Israeli air raid on the area of Twaam in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahia
Medical help: Israelis are evacuated in an ambulance after a rocket attack from Gaza which hit an apartment building, claiming three lives
Distraught: Palestinian medics help a wounded woman at her family house following an Israeli air strike in Khan Younis southern Gaza Strip
The Israelis must realise that this aggression is unacceptable and would only lead to instability in the region and would negatively and greatly impact the security of the region,' Mursi said, although there was no immediate sign of robust action by Egypt, Israel's most powerful Arab neighbour.
The new conflict will be the biggest test yet of Mursi's commitment to Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel, which the West views as the bedrock of Middle East peace.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which brought Mursi to power in an election after the downfall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak, has called for a 'Day of Rage' in Arab capitals on Friday. The Brotherhood is seen as the spiritual mentors of Hamas.
Expecting days or more of fighting and almost inevitable civilian casualties, Israeli warplanes today dropped leaflets in Gaza telling residents to stay away from Hamas and other militants.
The United States condemned Hamas, shunned by the West as an obstacle to peace for its refusal to renounce violence and recognise Israel.
'There is no justification for the violence that Hamas and other terrorist organisations are employing against the people of Israel,' said Mark Toner, deputy State Department spokesman.
The U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting late on Wednesday to discuss the Israeli assault. It called for a halt to the violence, but took no action.
Dawn strike: Explosion and smoke rise following an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip. The attack resulted in the death of eleven Palestinians including children
Power: An Israeli 'Iron Dome' fires a missile, the second of three form the same battery, to intercept Grad missiles fired from the Gaza Strip
Retaliation: A rocket launched by Palestinian militants towards Israel makes its way from the northern Gaza Strip
In France, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabious said: 'It would be a catastrophe if there is an escalation in the region. Israel has the right to security but it won't achieve it through violence. The Palestinians also have the right to a state.'
Israel's already strained relations with Egypt's new Islamist government frayed even further as Egypt recalled its ambassador in response to the Israeli military operation.
Days earlier, Israel was drawn into Syria's civil war for the first time, firing missiles into its northern neighbour for the first time in four decades after stray mortar fire landed in Israeli-occupied Syrian territory.
Waves of air strikes on more than 100 militant targets quickly followed the assassination of Hamas mastermind Ahmed Jabari.
At Jaabari's funeral on today, supporters fired guns in the air celebrating news of the Israeli deaths, to chants for Jaabari of 'You have won.'
His corpse was borne through the streets wrapped in a bloodied white sheet. But senior Hamas figures were not in evidence, wary of Israel's warning that they are now in its crosshairs.
The air attacks continued steadily into the early hours today, targeting the armed group's training facilities and rocket launchers in Israel's most intense attack on the territory since its full-scale war there four years ago.
Ten Palestinians, including two young children and seven militants, were killed on the operation's first day, and more than 93 were wounded.
Early today, Israel targeted a motorcycle carrying a rocket squad, killing one militant and wounding two, a Palestinian health official said. The Israeli military had no immediate confirmation of this report.
Tank shells and naval gunfire backed up the air onslaught. Few in the territory's largest urban area, Gaza City, heeded the call for dawn prayers, and the only vehicles plying the streets were ambulances and media cars.
Destroyed: Palestinians inspect an area targeted by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City in the early hours of this morning
Destroyed: A Palestinian man sits inside his damaged house after Israeli air strikes
Ruined: Palestinians check their damaged house after Israeli air strikes in Gaza City
Schools have been ordered closed until the operation ends, and most of the territory's 1.6 million people are expected to hunker down close to home, venturing out only to buy food, fuel and other basic supplies.
Hamas announced a state of emergency in Gaza, evacuating all its security buildings and deploying its troops away from their locations.
Dozens of rockets bombarded southern Israel after the operation began, the militants undeterred by the relentless air attacks.
Israel and Hamas waged war on Twitter yesterday after the death of Ahmed Jabari.
The most senior Hamas official to be killed since an Israeli invasion of Gaza four years ago, he was travelling in a car in Gaza city when it was struck by a rocket and exploded.
The entire event was played out online, with Israel and Hamas both using Twitter to provide updates on the latest round of cross-border violence.
Video of the attack was posted online by the Israeli Defense Forces as they provided live updates of their operation Pillar of Defense on terror targets in Gaza.
Jabari, 46, had long topped Israel?s most-wanted list and was notorious in Israel, which blamed him for in a string of bloody attacks, including the kidnapping of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit in 2006.
Last night there were fears the region was on the verge of a full-scale war as both sides traded threats in the aftermath of the assassination of Jabari.
The 46-year-old, who ran ruling Hamas?s armed wing, Izz el-Deen Al-Qassam, or the Alqassam Brigades, was travelling in a car in Gaza City when it exploded in the drone attack, killing him and a passenger.
Father's grief: BBC journalist Jihad Masharawi weeps while he holds the body of his 11-month old son Omar, at Shifa hospital
Grief: Jihad al-Masharawi carries the body of his son wrapped in a white shroud
Mourning: Jihad al-Masharawi, a Palestinian employee of BBC Arabic in Gaza, kissed the body of his young son
Respects: Today was the funeral of 11-month-old Omar al-Masharawi killed by Israeli airstrike in Gaza City
Panicking civilians ran for cover and the death toll mounted quickly. At least four? people, including two girls under the age of five, were killed, officials said.
Hamas said Israel had ?opened the gates of hell? with the attack.
Plumes of smoke rose last night as Israel continued the air strikes and warned of further assassinations.
Alert: A father with his three sons and and daughter huddled outside their car when they stop in the southern Israeli town of Kiryat Malachai as a 'Red Alert" sounds, signaling a rocket attack
Dead: Ahmed Jabari, the most senior Hamas official to be killed since an Israeli invasion of Gaza four years ago, was travelling in a car in Gaza city when it exploded
Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his military was ?prepared to expand? the Gaza operation as the navy began pounding the enclave last night.
Gunfire echoed round the streets of Gaza as immediate calls for revenge were broadcast over Hamas radio and smaller groups also warned of retaliation. Fighters spoke of an escalation of attacks on Israel, which could trigger a war drawing in Hezbollah and Lebanon, already a frontier of the conflict in Syria.
Israel had immediately admitted responsibility for the attack and said Jabari had been behind ?all terrorist activities against Israel from Gaza? in the past decade.
?The purpose of this operation was to severely impair the command and control chain of the Hamas leadership,? the Israeli military said in a statement.
Immediate calls for revenge were broadcast over Hamas radio and smaller groups also warned of retaliation.
?Israel has declared war on Gaza and they will bear the responsibility for the consequences,? Islamic Jihad said.
But it was the chilling playing out of the war on Twitter that gave a new twist to yesterday's events.
The IDF announced on Twitter: ?We recommend that no Hamas operatives, whether low level or senior leaders, show their faces above ground in the days ahead.?
The Alqassam Brigades (the military wing of Hamas) retaliated, tweeting ?Our blessed hands will reach your leaders and soldiers wherever they are (You Opened Hell Gates on Yourselves)?.
The killing was a dramatic resumption of Israel?s policy of assassinating Palestinian militant leaders and military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitch said the attack is the ?start of a broader operation? - seen as a clear indication attacks on more Hamas leaders are planned.
Jabari was blamed by Israel for a recent wave of heavy rocket fire into the country from Gaza.
Video released by the IDF shows the moment it targeted Ahmed Jabari, the head of Hamas' military wing, in the Gaza Strip. Here, Mr Jabari's car is driving along a residential road
As the car carrying Mr Jabari reaches a crossroads the missile is fired and then The pinpoint attack hits, and Mr Jabari's car explodes in a ball of flame
The Israeli military has already carried out retaliatory air strikes in Gaza and there were three more reported attacks yesterday on other targets in Gaza City, Khan Younis and Rafah.
Since Saturday, four Palestinian civilians and three militants, including Jabari, have been killed in Gaza, and dozens injured. Eight Israelis have also been hurt.
Israeli military officials said Jabari was identified by 'precise intelligence' gathered over several months.
Gunfire echoed round the streets of Gaza last night as Hamas fighters spoke of revenge and an escalation of attacks into Israel which could trigger another war in the region, drawing in Hezbollah and Lebanon, already a frontier of the conflict in Syria.
There were three more reported attacks yesterday on other targets in Gaza City, Khan Younis and Rafah. Since Saturday, several Palestinians and militants have been killed and dozens injured. At least eight Israelis have also been hurt.
Israel?s Shin Bet security service said it was behind the attack on Jabari, saying he had organised ?all terrorist activities against Israel from Gaza? in the past decade.
Running for cover: Palestinians run out of their houses following the air strikes
A Palestinian helps a woman evacuate her house
Columns of smoke rise as Israeli airstrikes hit a series of targets across Gaza City
The killings come amid warnings Israel may try to topple President Mahmoud Abbas if he carries out a plan to ask the United Nations this month to upgrade the status of the Palestinian Authority, an official said yesterday.
The upgrade would give the Palestinians a place in the world body similar to that of the Vatican - short of full membership as a sovereign state but as close as they can get without the full recognition that Israel says can only come from a peace treaty.
A draft document from the office of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, said Israel must confront this challenge by means that could include 'toppling (Abbas) and dismantling the Palestinian Authority'.
Newspaper reports say Israel instructed its ambassadors to warn it may revoke all or part of the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, which set up the Palestinian Authority under an interim peace agreement.
The Palestinians are currently an observer 'entity' at the United Nations. An upgrade could grant them access to bodies such as the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where they might file legal suits against Israel.
Palestinians try to extinguish fire following an Israeli air strike on Gaza City
Targeted killings are controversial but advocates say they are an effective deterrent without the complications associated with a ground operation, chiefly civilian and Israeli troop casualties. Proponents argue they also prevent future attacks by removing their masterminds.
Critics say they invite retaliation by militants and encourage them to try to assassinate Israeli leaders. They complain that the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings.
During a wave of suicide bombings against Israel a decade ago, the country employed the tactic to eliminate the upper echelon of Hamas leadership.
Israeli aircraft have previously assassinated the previous commander of Hamas' military wing, Salah Shehadeh, the movement's spiritual leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, his successor, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, and dozens of other senior Hamas military commanders.
Hamas has governed Gaza since 2007 and does not recognise Israel's right to exist. It has been emboldened by the rise to power in neighbouring Egypt of its spiritual mentors in the Muslim Brotherhood whom it views as a 'safety net'.
Israel last staged a full-scale attack on Gaza during a three week conflict in 2008 and 2009 in which 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.
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