Palestinians flee their homes after an Israeli forces strike on a nearby sports field in Gaza City. Picture: AP/Bernat Armangue Source: AP
Israeli soldiers tend to their tanks in a deployment area on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip. Picture: Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images Source: Getty Images
A Palestinian demonstrator throws stones during a protest against Israel's ongoing military operation in the Gaza Strip, in front of the headquarters of the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank city of Jenin Picture: Saif Dahlah Source: AFP
Smoke rises during an explosion from an Israeli forces strike in Gaza City. Israel bombarded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with nearly 200 airstrikes early Saturday, the military said, widening a blistering assault on Gaza rocket operations. Picture: Hatem Moussa Source: AP
The US, UN and Egypt are leading calls for a Gaza ceasefire, but there is no sign the violence is losing momentum.
11.30am: Both sides have set stiff conditions for a ceasefire, according to reports, as negotiations continue in Cairo.
The BBC have been told Israel wants an end to all hostile fire from Gaza, Hamas fighters to stop travelling to the Sinai to carry out attacks, and Hamas to not use the ceasefire to rearm.
Meanwhile, Palestinian officials say part of the ceasefire agreement has to include Israel lifting its six-year blockade on Gaza.
Hamas Leader Khaled Meshaal gives a press conference in Cairo, saying Israel must lift its six-year blockade of the Gaza Strip. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
3.15am: The Lebanese Army have found two rockets in southern Lebanon set up for launch at Israel, Associated Press reports.
Sappers defused the rockets, which were equipped with timers.
Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian hackers apparently based in Pakistan have hijacked the Israel Groupon site, replacing it with an anti-Israel message (at the time of writing it remains hacked).
The message promises to "make you cry blood", saying "we will come to you like hungry lions, cut your bodies, roast your A***s, and rip what remaining of you".
The hacker(s), who called themselves "L33t Pakistani H4x0rZ", responded to Israel's government's claims yesterday to have successfully blocked all but a few of millions of cyber-attacks in recent days.
This screenshot of groupon.co.il on November 19 shows the message left by a hacker who took over the site to write anti-Israel threats. Source: Supplied
2.59am: The death of the Islamic Jihad media spokesman Ramez Harb takes the Palestinian death toll to 96 in the six day-old Gaza offensive.
An Israeli spokesman told Al Jazeera his government was not targeting the media. "We hit the targets we want," he said, adding that journalists affiliated with Hamas were "not legitimate".
On Twitter, the IDF said they scored a "direct hit" on the building's second floor "which is where the senior terrorists were".
"The senior PIJ cadre was operating in a media building. They weren't there to be interviewed. They were using reporters as human shields... the rest of the building was unharmed."
Palestinian firefighters extinguish a blaze following an Israeli air strike on the Gaza City tower housing Palestinian and international media. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
2.35am: The IDF have named the targets of a strike on a media building in Gaza that has killed at least one person.
On Twitter the IDF's official spokesman said they were targeting senior militants in the Islamic Jihad group.
The militants included Baha Abu el Ata, senior member of the military council and Gaza brigade commander "involved in planning attacks against Israel, arms manufacturing, long-range rockets", and Tissir Mahmoud Jabari, "responsible for training & approving terrorist attacks against Israel".
The two other militants were Halil Batini, "a key figure in org's long-range rocket launching operations, responsible for internal security" and Ramaz Harab, "responsible for propaganda in PIJ Gaza City Brigade" the IDF said.
Foreign press representatives were also in the building during the strike, which briefly set the building on fire.
Palestinians firefighters try to extinguish a fire after an Israeli strike on a building in Gaza City. Picture: AP Source: AP
Palestinians firefighters try to extinguish a fire after an Israeli strike on Islamic militants in a building in Gaza City. Picture: AP Source: AP
1.59am: According to the BBC and several other sources, Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian militant faction in Gaza, says Israel's strike on the media building has killed one of its leaders.
The man has been named as Ramez Harb, the head of media for Saraya El Quds, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad.
The organisation is based in Damascus and is backed by Syria and Iran, but most of its members are in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Smoke and fire are seen from an explosion by a high rise housing media organizations in Gaza City. Picture: AP Source: AP
People stand in front of a high rise housing media organisations in Gaza City, struck for the second time in two days. Picture: AP Source: AP
1.20am: Al Jazeera reports that during a press conference in Cairo, Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal paid tribute to the chief of Hamas' military wing Ahmad Jabari, who was killed during an Israeli air strike.
Mr Meshaal called Jabari's death "a big blow" but added that it is "the nature of battle."
"We are prone to get killed, to get martyred," Mr Meshaal said, saying Jabari has "joined the caravan of glorious martyrs."
Back in Gaza, the fire is out at the building that was just hit. At least one person is dead, according to reports. Reuters correspondent Dan Williams heard from the Israeli side that the strike was targeting "several Islamic Jihad members".
12.55am: More reports that Israel has again hit the Gaza building they targeted previously on Sunday, which housed local and international media.
On Sunday Israel claimed a "precision" strike on Hamas communication antenna, though there were several casualties including a cameraman whose leg was amputated.
The building housed Al Arabiya, Sky news Arabiya, and Hamas' Al Asqa TV, though it is unclear how many news organisations were still there after Sunday's strike.
Reporters on the spot say this new strike hit a lower floor of the building. Injured people are being taken out as smoke billows from the building. An ambulance driver reports at least one person dead.
Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on an office of Hamas television channel Al-Aqsa in Gaza City on November 18. The same building has reportedly been targeted again. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
12.35am: Reports of a big explosion in central Gaza.
The BBC's Jon Donnison says the third floor of the Sharouk building, which houses journalists, has been hit (though he says most journalists were already evacuated).
12.25am: Three rockets made it past the Iron Dome and hit the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon, sources tell Sky news.
The IDF said a school was hit, but nobody was injured as students had been sent home for the day. The Times of Israel said it was the third time the school has been hit in the last decade.
According to IDF figures, from midnight on Monday 32 missiles were fired from Gaza into Israel, and four were intercepted. There were no casualties.
An Israeli police sapper examines the remains of a ordnance fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip that landed in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon. Picture: AP Source: AP
12.16am: Thousands gathered in Gaza city for the funerals of 11 members of the al-Dallu family, who died when their home was demolished in an Israeli air strike on Sunday.
Mourners carried the bodies of the dead children through the streets in the funeral procession, their lifeless faces uncovered.
The only survivor of the strike on the home, Abdullah Dalou, had to be helped to walk when he was overcome with grief during the procession.
Palestinian women mourn during the funeral of members from the al-Dallu family in Gaza City. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
11.58pm: The Egyptian prime minister says he thinks the two sides are close to a truce deal.
"Negotiations are going on as we speak and I hope we will reach something soon that will stop this violence," Hisham Kandil told Reuters.
"I think we are close, but the nature of this kind of negotiation (means) it is very difficult to predict.
Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan has also weighed in on the crisis, telling a conference of the Eurasian Islamic Council in Istanbul that the "massacre of children in Gaza" means that "Israel is a terrorist state, and its acts are terrorist acts."
Today's death toll is 25 dead including three children and an old man, a Hamas health official told a BBC reporter.
Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, left, meets with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt. Picture: AP Source: AP
8.45pm: Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip have killed 13 people, raising the Palestinian death toll to 90 as Israel's campaign enters its sixth day.
In the latest incident, a missile hit a motorcycle east of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, killing two men and critically wounding a child with them, a statement by Gaza's ambulance service said.
8.00pm: An overnight airstrike on two houses belonging to an extended clan in Gaza City killed two children and two adults, and injured 42 people, said Gaza heath official Ashraf al-Kidra.
Shortly after, Israeli aircraft bombarded the remains of the former national security compound in Gaza City. Flying shrapnel killed one child and wounded others living nearby, al-Kidra said. Five farmers were killed in two separate strikes, al-Kidra said, including three who had been identified earlier by Hamas security officials as Islamic Jihad fighters.
6.24pm: Medical facilities in Gaza have "severe shortages" of basic supplies such as gauze, antiseptic and IV fluids - if they have not yet already run out of them - according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The WHO's Tony Laurance told the BBC hospitals in Gaza were "just about coping" but it would not take much for them to be overwhelmed.
6.08pm: Israel has adjusted flight paths for planes using its main international airport near Tel Aviv after rockets were fired from Gaza on the coastal metropolis, the civil aviation chief said.
Giora Rom said the new regulations at Ben-Gurion Airport had been in place since Saturday, when an Iron Dome rocket interceptor battery was installed nearby.
There was no indication that takeoffs or landings at Ben-Gurion had been affected.
"Because of the rerouting, there is no danger" to civilian aircraft, Rom told Israel's Army Radio.
5.50pm: British Foreign Secretary William Hague cautioned against a potential Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.
Hague also said Hamas ''bears principal responsibility'' for initiating the violence but made clear the diplomatic risks of an Israeli escalation.
''A ground invasion is much more difficult for the international community to sympathise with or support,'' he said.
5.37pm: Hamas officials said their supreme leader, Khaled Meshaal, held talks with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, and that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was to visit Gaza on Tuesday.
Hamas is linking a truce deal to a complete lifting of the border blockade on Gaza imposed since Islamists seized the territory by force.
Hamas also seeks Israeli guarantees to halt targeted killings of its leaders and military commanders.
Israeli officials reject such demands. They say they are not interested in a ''time-out'' and want firm guarantees that militant rocket fire into Israel will end.
5.25pm: More than 80 Palestinians have been killed by laser guided "precision" Israeli missiles launched from F-16 jets while the unguided Chinese made "dumb" rockets flung into Israel by Hamas have claimed three lives since renewed hostilities broke out last week, News Limited Defence Correspondent Ian McPhedran reports.
5.17pm: Israeli TV stations said an Israeli envoy travelled to Cairo on Sunday and was returning to Israel with details of ceasefire proposals. Channel 2 TV, citing American diplomats, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's personal envoy, Yitzhak Molcho, would visit Washington in the coming days.
5.10pm: New pictures emerge of the aftermath of an Israeli attack reportedly by jet fighter planes on the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City today.
A Palestinian woman is helped by a paramedic out of her building, damaged during an Israeli air raid on a nearby sporting centre reported to be the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City today. Picture: AFP/Marco Longari Source: AFP
Palestinians take photographs of destruction after Israeli air strikes in Gaza City today. Picture: AFP/Mohammed Abed Source: AFP
5pm: UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged the two warring parties to achieve an immediate ceasefire. He said he was heading to the region to appeal personally for an end to the violence, but no date was given for his arrival.
4.50pm: President Barack Obama said he was in touch with players across the region in hopes of halting the fighting. He warned of the risks of Israel expanding its five-day air assault into a ground war.
''We're going to have to see what kind of progress we can make in the next 24, 36, 48 hours,'' Obama said during a visit in Thailand.
4.44pm: In all, 81 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, had been killed by Monday morning (local time) and 720 had been wounded, AP reports. Three Israeli civilians died from Palestinian rocket fire and dozens were wounded.
4.15pm: Aljazeera English journalist Will Thorne tweeted: ''Our team report Israel has just hit the Ministry of Youth and Sport, and the stage at the Palestine Football stadium.''
3.54pm: BBC Gaza and West Bank Correspondent Jon Donnison tweeted: ''2 big explosions sounds close to where we are in #gaza city at 0618''. Follows widespread reports on Twitter of Israeli fighter jets targetting the Palestine Stadium.
3.34pm: Widespread reports on Twitter of F16 fighter jets striking the Palestine Stadium in central Gaza City.
3.26pm: A TV news report captures the chaos following the aftermath of latest Israeli missile attacks on militant targets including the Abbas police station.
An AFP correspondent says an Israeli air strike has leveled the Abbas police headquarters in Gaza City.
3pm: Photographs of Israeli soldiers emerge on mobile phone photo-sharing app Instagram with various patriotic messages attached including: ''We're coming for you gaza!" and "#istandwithisrael".
Picture: Instagram Source: Supplied
Picture: Instagram Source: Supplied
Picture: Instagram Source: Supplied
2.30pm: Israel says its new missile-defence system, Iron Dome, is a game changerthat has intercepted hundreds of rockets fired at the Jewish state by Gaza-based militants.
In five days of fighting against Hamas, Israel says its newly-developed missile-defence system has intercepted hundreds of rockets fired at densely-populated civilian areas.
As of Saturday evening, the military said it had shot down some 240 incoming rockets, more than half the number of projectiles launched into Israel since Wednesday.
2pm: Three people have been killed in new Israeli air strikes on Gaza, pushing the death toll in six days of violence to 80 Palestinians, health officials say.
''The toll of martyrs has risen to 80 with the deaths of Nisma Abu Zorr, 23, Mohammed Abu Zorr, 5, and Ahid al-Qatati 35, in an air strike on the Azzam home in east Gaza City,'' health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP today.
The strike in the Zeitun neighbourhood came after a night that saw Israeli war planes level a Gaza City police station as navy ships kept up sustained fire at the Gaza shore, AFP correspondents said.
The deaths came after multiple raids on Sunday that killed 31, in the bloodiest day of Israel's bombing campaign, medics said.
The number of injuries rose over 700, officials said.
At least 10 children, five of them babies and toddlers, and six women were among those killed on Sunday, in attacks that came even as diplomatic efforts intensified to broker an end to the bloodshed which began on Wednesday.
The violence has also cost the lives of three Israelis and injured more than 50, according to medical sources.
By far the deadliest strike was in northern Gaza City where a missile levelled a three-storey building, killing nine members of the Al-Dallu family - five of them children - and two other people, medics said.
The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the strike, only saying the air force had hit ''a few targets in northern Gaza City''.
1.21pm: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has made renewed calls for an end to the violence in Israel and Gaza, releasing the following statement.
"I am deeply saddened by the reported deaths of more than ten members of the Dalu family, including women and children, and additional Palestinian civilians killed as a result of the ongoing violence in the Gaza strip.
"I am also alarmed by the continuing firing of rockets against Israeli towns, which has killed several Israeli civilians. This must stop. I strongly urge the parties to cooperate with all efforts led by Egypt to reach an immediate cease fire.
"Any further escalation will inevitably increase the suffering of the affected civilian populations and must be avoided.
"I am heading to the region to appeal personally for ending the violence and contribute to ongoing efforts to that end."
Palestinians stand in the rubble of the Dallu family house, where 11 people were killed, following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. Picture: Hatem Moussa/AP Source: AP
11.47am: An Israeli air strike has levelled the Abbas police headquarters in Gaza City, an AFP correspondent says.
The strike completely destroyed the building, the second biggest police facility in Gaza City.
Shockwaves from the blast shattered glass in neighbouring homes, where several people are reported lightly wounded, and shook buildings through the Rimal neighbourhood of the city.
The strike came as Israel pressed its campaign against the Gaza Strip for a sixth day, opening fire at the Gaza shore from navy ships and carrying out air strikes that killed at least one shortly after midnight.
11.36am: Health authorities in Gaza have warned of a shortage of critical medical supplies at the main Al Shifa hospital, which has been inundated with casualties.
The Independent reports that the Ministry of Health in Gaza has run out of 192 essential drugs and has no stock of 586 medical disposables such as dressings and syringes.
Dr Mahmoud Daher, Head of the Gaza office of the World Health Organisation, said hospitals would not be able to cope with the increase in casualties if the situation escalated.
"More than 50 per cent of the essential drugs that should be avaialve at the Ministry of Health offices are out of stock," he told Al Jazeera.
"We are calling on the international community to coordinate all their efforts towards the Ministry of Health."
10.25am: Daily Telegraph reporter Simon Benson reports from Ashkelon, Israel.
"A feeling of dread comes with every announcement through the car radio warning of another incoming round.
"Even my driver, Yahalom, a local who has lived with rocket fire for the past 12 years, shows signs of unease, looking out the window, one hand on the wheel and the other shielding his eyes from the sun, trying to track the trajectory of the "qassams".
"That's the name they give to the rockets - after the military wing of Hamas that send them over the fence.
"The further south we drive, the more deserted the roads become, and the less time there is to find cover."
Read his full account here
9.42am: The Israeli Defence Force says 105 rockets struck Israel on day five of the conflict. The IDF says the Iron Dome defence system intercepted 41 rockets, while 140 rockets were fired by Israel during strikes on Gaza.
8.40am: The Israeli Defence Force says it's Iron Dome has intercepted three more rockets fired from Gaza into heavily populated areas of Israel.
7.26am: New Israeli air raids have killed two people in Gaza City, taking the death toll to 25 on the bloodiest day of Israel's bombing campaign, Hamas's health ministry says.
The latest deaths came in the Gaza City neighbourhood of Tal al-Hawa.
"Two Palestinians were killed in an air strike on the Tal al-Hawa neighbourhood," Hamas health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said, without adding details.
The latest violence hiked the Palestinian casualty toll to 71 dead and more than 600 injured in almost 100 hours of raids, while three Israelis have been killed and more than 50 injured by rocket fire since Wednesday.
7.01am: About 500 Egyptian activists have have crossed into Gaza to deliver medical supplies and show support for Palestinians facing an Israeli offensive.
Hundred of Palestinians have reportedly been injured in clashes across the West Bank, many of them suffering the effects of tear gas.
Al Jazeera reports a 20-month-old baby was among those affected by the tear gas. Elsewhere about 120 people were injured in protests in Tulkarem, many of them by rubber bullets.
5.45am: AP and Al Jazeera now say 11 members of the Dallo family were killed in an Israeli airstrike, including an 80-year-old woman and four children.
Reuters also count 11 deaths in the attack on a top militant that destroyed a three-storey home.
It is the biggest single loss of life in the conflict that began last week.
Overall, at least 30 people died in Gaza from Israeli strikes on Sunday.
As of a few hours ago the IDF said 55 missiles had been fired into Israel from Gaza on Sunday, of which 36 were intercepted by Iron Dome.
Palestinians point a the spot where they believe the children of al-Dallu family are trapped following an Israeli air strike on their house in Gaza City. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
5.30am: According to the BBC, "Ha'aretz newspaper in Israel reports that an Israeli envoy in talks in Cairo is seeking a twin-stage ceasefire.
"First a 'small calm', in which Israeli air strikes and Gaza rocket fire would halt, and then talks leading to a 'big calm'."
However there is one report from an NPR/The Times correspondent saying the talks have already failed:
5.05am: Around 400 Egyptian activists headed to the Gaza Strip to show solidarity with its people as Israeli air strikes pounded the Palestinian enclave for a fifth day, organisers told AFP.
A five-bus convoy transporting members of several Egyptian parties and political movements arrived at the country's Rafah border crossing with Gaza, officials said.
"The trip is aimed at showing our support for the people of the Gaza Strip in the face of the Israeli aggression," said organiser Mahmud Ali of Egypt's liberal Dustoor Party.
The activists were "carrying a message of support from the people of Egypt," he added. They were also bringing medicine and emergency medical supplies.
The IDF also co-ordinated a convoy of supplies from Israel to Gaza:
4.32am: The airstrike that the IDF described as a "pinpoint" attack on Hamas communications (see the video from the 1.55am update below) wounded eight journalists and draw widespread criticism.
Reuters reports the two buildings hit were used by Britain's Sky News, German ARD, Saudi Al Arabiya, Beirut's alQuds and other broadcasters.
One al Quds cameraman had his leg amputated below the knee after being injured in the strike.
The IDF accused Hamas of using the media as "human shields" to protect its operations. The Foreign Press Association quoted a UN Security Council resolution that condemned attacks against journalists.
ITN Channel 4 journalist Stuart Webb Tweeted this picture of al Quds cameraman Khader Al Zahhar who was injured in an Israeli air strike on a media building overnight - surgeons amputated his leg. Picture: Twitter.com Source: Supplied
4.05am: THE Israeli army says it has killed a senior Hamas operative in Gaza who was responsible for the movement's rocket operations.
An army spokesman identified the Palestinian as Yehia Bia, who was killed in one of the northern neighbourhoods of Gaza City that experienced the brunt of Israeli attacks on Sunday.
"We can confirm a direct hit," the army spokesman said by telephone.
Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon said Bia was "the commander of the (Hamas) rocket units" whom the Israeli forces had "intercepted and killed".
A Palestinian boy inspects the wreckage of a car following an Israeli air strike on Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
3.55am: Israel's vaunted Iron Dome anti-missile system has shot down a rocket over Tel Aviv as sirens wailed across the city, in the second such interception in one day, the military said.
"Iron Dome battery operators successfully shot down a rocket over the Tel Aviv area," it said on its Twitter account.
A man waves the Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's operations in Gaza Strip, outside Ofer, an Israeli military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Picture: Majdi Mohammed Source: AP
3.47am: One-time Republican presidential candidate John McCain has told CBS News he believes the US should send in a high-profile negotiator, such as Bill Clinton, to try to broker a lasting peace.
"We need a person of enormous prestige and influence to have these parties sit down as an honest broker," he said.
3.25am: The air strike on the home of Hamas official Mohamed Dalou has killed at least nine people, the biggest single loss of life since the conflict escalated last week.
Hamas Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh has condemned the attack, which killed four children, as an "ugly massacre", the BBC reports.
Al Jazeera reports that 15 more people are believed to be still trapped underneath the debris from the attack.
Palestinians search the debris of the al-Dallu family home following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City that killed at least seven members of the same family, including four children. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
3.02am: Militants may be stripping explosives out of some rockets they fire from Gaza in order to make them travel further, Reuters reports.
Israeli security sources told the wire service that "not a few" of the rockets reaching Tel Aviv and other cities were designed for much shorter ranges but their warheads had been taken out.
"They're pipes, basically," an official said. "The prestige of setting off alarms deep in Israel and being perceived as fighting on is as important to them now as spilling our blood."
Israeli soldiers sit next to Iron Dome defense system launch site, deployed in Tel Aviv to intercept incoming missiles from Gaza. Picture: AP Source: AP
2.40am: Three more people have been killed in two separate raids on Sunday, medics have told AFP, shortly after at least nine people died when an Israeli missile hit a family home in Gaza City,
The latest raids killed one man in the Shejaiya district in eastern Gaza City, and two more in the northern town of Jabaliya, the Hamas-run ambulance service said.
An Israeli F-16 jet pass over the Israeli city of Ashdod during a rocket launch from the nearby Gaza Strip. Picture: Jack Guez Source: AFP
2.15am: The Times of Israel reports that five people were injured in Ofakim when a rocket from Gaza landed a few metres from their car.
Two parents and an infant were taking cover next to the car and were sprayed with shrapnel. The infant suffered light injuries but the parents are in "moderate to serious condition" in hospital.
1.55am: The death toll from a three-storey building hit by an Israeli missile in Gaza city has risen to nine - or ten, according to the BBC.
At least seven members of the al-Dallu family, including four children and a 70-year-old woman, were among those killed, the health ministry told AFP.
At least 20 people were injured in the strike in the Nasser neighbourhood.
There are unconfirmed reports that the strike was aimed at Hamas man Jamal Dalou (al-Dallu). It is unclear if he is among the dead.
The IDF have released video of an earlier strike on Hamas' communication networks, that hit a building used by international journalists.
1.35am: The Israeli government says it has been hit with a massive cyber-warfare assault since the start of the Gaza offensive.
There have been millions of attempts to hack state websites, but only one got through, said finance minister Yuval Steinitz.
Anonymous claimed to have downed dozens of agencies in protest over the air assault.
Read more here.
A screen grab from an Anonymous video announcing the group's intention to target Israel for its "barbaric, brutal and despicable treatment of the Palestinian people". Source: Supplied
1.22am: The BBC's Paul Danahar is at the site of a rocket strike in Gaza, the cause of a recent big rush of casualties at Shifa hospital.
"I am standing in front of a huge crater which is still smoking," he Tweets. "The narrow ally way is choked with shouts & screams. Men are dragging away rocks and rubble with their hands trying to get to the people underneath.
"Lots of men (are) holding folding stretchers hoping for more survivors. Only one little girl (was) brought out. She was dead."
Palestinians call for help as they stand next to a damaged building after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. Picture: AP Source: AP
12.55am: The Israeli army have told Al Jazeera 50 rockets have been fired into Israel today from Gaza, of which 33 landed in Israeli territory and 17 were intercepted by the Iron Dome. Only two of these were fired at Tel Aviv today.
They say that since the beginning of "Operation Pillar of Defence", a total of 900 rockets have been fired from the strip: 520 landed, 280 were intercepted by Iron Dome and 100 landed inside Gaza.
Israeli emergency services and policemen inspect a car that was hit by rocket shrapnel, fired from Gaza, in the city of Holon, near Tel Aviv. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
12.40am: Egyptian security officials say a senior Israeli official has arrived in Cairo for talks on reaching a cease-fire to end an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, AP reports.
The officials said the official arrived at Cairo's airport and was immediately rushed away from the tarmac into talks. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity under security guidelines, did not identify the Israeli.
Israeli officials declined comment.
Egypt has been leading international efforts to broker a truce to end five days of fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza.
The death toll in Gaza is now up to 55, AFP reports, with three people dead in Israel from rockets fired from Gaza.
12.20am: US President Barack Obama says Israel has a right to defend itself from missiles being aimed at the country by militants in the Gaza Strip.
Mr Obama says "no country on earth would tolerate missiles raining down" on its people and says any effort to resolve the conflict in Gaza "starts with no missiles being fired into Israel's territory".
"Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory," Mr Obama said from Bangkok, adding, "if that can be accomplished without a ramping up of military activity in Gaza, that is preferable."
Israeli soldiers look at an Iron Dome missile as it launched near the city of Ashdod, Israel, to intercept a rocket fired by Palestinians militants from Gaza Strip. Picture: Ariel Schalit Source: AP
12.18am: Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has said Israel would not negotiate a truce with Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers as long as rocket fire continues from the Palestinian enclave.
"The first and absolute condition for a truce is stopping all fire from Gaza," he said before meeting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, adding that all militant factions in Gaza would have to commit to cease rocket fire.
"We want a long-term arrangement," Mr Lieberman said.
12.15am: The BBC's Paul Danahar is Tweeting about shocking scenes at Shifa hospital in Gaza as wounded and dead arrive from Isreali airstrikes.
"Two children have been brought in, one covered in blood, his brother hysterical," he says. "More children have come in, they look like they've been dug out of rubble. There's screaming and crying and chaos. A nurse has brokien down and is crying in the corner."
He says the injured are coming from an air attack north of Gaza city. Three dead include one woman and two children. and ten more are injured.
Young children are treated in the emergency room of the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City after being wounded in an Israeli airstrike. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
11.55pm: THE IDF are certainly pulling out all the PR stops on social media.
The latest: a spokesman publishes on Facebook a picture showing the purported range of Gazan missiles, and the Isreali towns within range.
An IDF infographic shared on an IDF spokesman's Facebook page, showing the range of different kinds of missiles being launched from Gaza. Picture: IDF / Facebook.com Source: Supplied
11.30pm: An Arab League delegation headed by the bloc's chief Nabil al-Arabi will visit Gaza on Tuesday in a show of support for the territory in the face of Israeli air strikes, a league official said.
"The Arab ministerial delegation formed by the Arab foreign ministerial council will visit Gaza on Tuesday, headed by Nabil al-Arabi," the official said in a statement received by AFP on Sunday.
11.25pm: Israel has continued to explain on Twitter why it targeted a building housing international journalists in Gaza.It said it hit two buildings with precision strikes.
"Site 1: Hamas comms center, which was in civilian building. IDF only targeted devices on roof & left Hamas offices on 8th floor untouched."
"Site 2: Hamas comms equipment on building where several international news orgs are located. Roof antenna hit - rest of building untargeted."
"If Hamas commanders in #Gaza can communicate with each other, then they can attack us. This is the capability that we targeted."
The IDF also released a video showing a precision strike on an underground rocket launching site next to a mosque.
10.55pm: Several reports say an Israeli missile has killed a child and her older relative in the beachfront Shati refugee camp in Gaza city. A hospital named the victims as 13 year-old Tasneen al-Nahhal and Ahmad al-Nahal, 25. One report said the man was the child's uncle.
The deaths take the toll in Gaza has risen to 52, AFP reported. Al Jazeera reports that three children were killed on Sunday, including an 18-month-old in an air raid east of Bureij refugee camp.
The IDF say a rocket fired from Gaza has just fallen near a kindergarten in Ashkelon - but no children were inside as school was cancelled for the day.
Body of 13-year-old Tasneem killed in #Israel strike on in #Gaza Beach Camp Source: AFP / Twitter.com Source: AFP
10.40pm: A ground invasion of the Gaza Strip would lose Israel much international sympathy and support, British Foreign Secretary William Hague says.
Mr Hague told Sky News it was much more difficult to limit civilian casualties in a ground assault and it would threaten to prolong the conflict. Read more here.
10.26pm: An Israeli army spokesman has fronted the Western media to explain why their rockets hit a building they were working from.
They say the building was deliberately targeted - but the journalists were not the aim of the strike, it was intended to take out aerials used by Hamas for its communication network.
10.11pm: Shortly after the interception of a rocket by Israel's Iron Dome, a car just south of Tel Aviv caught fire, apparently as a result of falling debris from the rocket, police spokesman Luba Samri said.
"A car caught fire in Holon, apparently as a result of shrapnel falling when the rocket was intercepted by Iron Dome," she told AFP.
An Israeli soldier inspects the damage caused to a building by a rocket launched by Palestinian militants from Gaza strip hitting the city of Ashkelon. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
9.05pm: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel is ready to ''significantly expand'' its operation in the Gaza Strip.
''We are extracting a heavy price from Hamas and the terror organisations,'' Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.
''The army is prepared to significantly expand the operation.''
Netanyahu said he was holding ongoing talks with world leaders, ''and we appreciate their understanding of Israel's right to self-defence''.
''The operation in the Gaza Strip is continuing, and we are preparing to expand it,'' he said.
His remarks came as thousands of Israeli troops backed by armour massed along the border.
Netanyahu praised the ''swift and impressive'' response of reservists, 16,000 of whom had been called up for duty.
''The soldiers are ready for any activity that could take place,'' he said at the cabinet meeting.
The Israeli army sealed off the main roads around Gaza late on Friday and shortly afterwards, the cabinet authorised the call up of up to 75,000 reservists, prompting a flurry of diplomatic efforts to broker a truce to head off any escalation.
8.24pm: Sirens have sounded across Tel Aviv for a fourth straight day as Israeli police confirmed two rockets had been intercepted over the city by the Iron Dome defence system.
''Two rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome system,'' police spokesman Luba Samri told AFP on Sunday shortly after the sirens sent residents running for cover across the commercial metropolis and in nearby Bnei Brak and Ramat HaSharon.
7.59pm: Talks on a truce to end five days of violence in and around Gaza are underway, and a deal could be reached ''today or tomorrow,'' a Palestinian official says.
''There are serious talks to reach a truce, and it is possible that understandings will be reached today or tomorrow,'' the senior official said on Sunday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official's comments were confirmed by an Egyptian security source, who said: ''Egypt has continued meetings and intensive communication with all parties to reach a truce as quickly as possible.
''We have reached important understandings, but we still have a little way to go in order to complete the truce agreement in order to achieve security and stability and ... ensure it doesn't happen again.''
A source close to the negotiations said a series of meetings were being held in Cairo between the Palestinian factions, involving both Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal and Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shallah.
''The organisations want to completely end the siege on Gaza and stop all the Israeli aggression and in return, all attacks on Israel will stop,'' the source said.
Overnight, talk of a truce agreement intensified after Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi said his government was in talks with Israel and the Palestinians and there were indications they could reach a truce ''soon.''
7.15pm: First pictures emerge of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on an office of Hamas television channel Al-Aqsa in Gaza City on Sunday.
Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on an office of Hamas television channel Al-Aqsa in Gaza City on Sunday. Source: AFP
Journalists from different agencies run after an Israeli air strike on an office of Hamas television channel Al-Aqsa in Gaza City on Sunday. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
Ajab al-Shorafa, a cameraman for Press TV network, arrives at the emergency room in Gaza City after an Israeli air strike on the building housing the offices of the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV station and several other news outlets on Sunday. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
A Palestinian journalist inspects his work car in Gaza City on Sunday. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
7pm: Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya's office said he had spoken by phone with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi to discuss the ongoing violence.
Haniya's office issued a brief statement saying: ''During a 20-minute phone call between Prime Minister Haniya and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, Morsi described the efforts he has made to stop the aggression on Gaza.''
6.40pm: An Israeli air strike on central Gaza has killed an 18-month-old Palestinian boy and wounded his two young brothers.
The strike happened east of the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya told AFP, naming the toddler as Iyyad Abu Khusa.
Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told AFP on Sunday that the two wounded boys, aged four and five, were ''in critical condition''.
The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the strike, which took place several hours after two other people were killed in separate aerial attacks on the northern towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahiya.
The attacks came after a quiet night on the Israeli side of the border, with the military confirming that no rockets had hit between 9pm local time on Saturday and 7am on Sunday, after which two struck the south.
The latest incidents raised the death toll in Gaza from Israeli air strikes since Wednesday to 47, with more than 450 people wounded, the emergency services said.
6.10pm: French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has left Paris for Israel ''to call on all the parties to stop the escalation and offer France's help to reach an immediate ceasefire,'' his ministry says.
During his one-day trip, the minister will meet with the Israeli authorities and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
''This visit prepared in co-ordination with our principal regional and international partners, will be the occasion for talks'' with President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, it said.
The visit had been announced from Israel.
Fabius will travel to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and will visit Ramallah, in the West Bank, to meet Abbas, Palestinian and French officials say.
5.52pm: Two journalists were injured in an Israeli missile attack on a media centre in Gaza housing Sky News. Al-Arabiya, and the official Hamas-run channel al-Aqsa TV have offices in the building.
5.20pm: Sky News reporter Sam Kiley was inside a building housing international media in Gaza when it was struck by Israeli missiles. He said the building took two direct hits, blowing out all the windows on the 15th floor studio used by Sky News. Kiley said the building houses journalists and camera crew, leaving him at a loss to explain why the Israeli military would target a building housing mainly media. It is the second missile strike against a media building by the Israeli air force and navy.
4.52pm: The Sky News headquarters in Gaza also housed other international media, including Reuters.
4.40pm: Sky News headquarters in Gaza City have been struck by Israeli missiles, Sky News Australia reports.
4.30pm: Rocket fire from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip has subsided as ceasefire efforts appear to be gaining momentum, AP reports.
But the Israeli military is pressing ahead with its offensive against Palestinian rocket squads there.
The Israeli military said Sunday morning local time that Gaza militants haven't attacked Israel since the night before.
The lull coincides with Egyptian-led efforts to negotiate an end to the five-day-old confrontation.
Israel is reluctant to let up without signs a truce would hold.
Thousands of Israeli troops are massed near the Gaza border, meanwhile, awaiting an order to invade should Israeli leaders decide to widen the operation.
4pm: Air attacks knocked out five electricity transformers, cutting off power to more than 400,000 people in southern Gaza, according to the Gaza electricity distribution company. People switched on backup generators for limited electrical supplies.
3.25pm: Medical officials say the death toll has risen to 46 Palestinians, including 15 civilians, and more than 400 wounded civilians. Three Israeli civilians have been killed and more than 50 wounded.
2.40pm: Israeli military officials expressed satisfaction with their progress on Saturday, claiming they had inflicted heavy damage on Hamas.
''Most of their capabilities have been destroyed,'' Major General Tal Russo, Israel's southern commander, told reporters.
Asked whether Israel was ready to send ground troops into Gaza, he said: ''Absolutely.''
2.20pm: Israel is running the risk of ''feeding extremism'' if its response to Hamas is seen as disproportionate, Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr warned.
Senator Carr says Israel has a right to defend its people but he has again urged its government to use restraint.
''I urge a de-escalation and calm at this point. That is what Australia is calling for, that is what other governments are calling for,'' he told reporters in Sydney.
''We say that account must be taken of civilian casualties, that Israel should be aware of the risk its own troops will be under, the risk of injury or death or kidnapping, and Israel should be aware of the danger of feeding extremism by what might be seen as a disproportionate reaction.''
Senator Carr said Israel ran the risk of a backlash with its attack on Gaza, one of the most densely populated regions in the world.
''Any Israeli reaction has got to take into account the great danger of civilian casualties, of the danger of the world seeing it as a disproportionate reaction even though the rocket attacks on Israel are the key cause of this tension,'' he said.
The world wanted ''an alternative to further fighting'' but Israel was entitled to defend itself.
''The Israelis will defend their people and they will respond strongly,'' Senator Carr said.
He repeated that he expected one of the legacies US President Barack Obama would seek in his second term was the creation of a Palestinian state.
1:05pm: An air strike that hit a Gaza City media building earlier today has injured at least six journalists, as a separate raid in northern Gaza killed two people, Palestinian medical sources said.
"At least six journalists were wounded, with minor and moderate injuries, when Israeli warplanes hit the al-Quds TV office in the Showa and Housari building in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City," health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said. Earlier reports suggested three people had been injured in the attack.
Witnesses reported extensive damage to the building, and said journalists had evacuated after an initial strike, which was followed by at least two more on the site.
The injured were taken to Gaza City's Shifa hospital. One journalist lost his leg in the attack, Qudra said. Imad Efranji, director of the al-Quds TV office, slammed the incident as "a new crime against the media."
"It was the media battle that forced Israel to stop its killing of children and civilians last time," he told AFP, referring to Israel's December 2008-January 2009 Operation Cast Lead.
In the northern strip, Israeli war planes carried out two separate raids on houses that killed two and injured 10 others, Qudra said.
"Two young citizens were killed and at least ten others wounded in two separate raids on houses in Beit Lahiya and Beit Hanun," he said.
In Gaza City, as the Israeli air force attacked from above, Israeli naval forces opened fire, launching more than a dozen shells towards the shore, an AFP correspondent reported.
It was unclear what the shells had hit, with the Israeli military's official spokesperson Twitter account saying only: "(A) short while ago, Israeli Navy targeted several Hamas terror sites in the Gaza Strip."
12:45pm: Israel destroyed the headquarters of Hamas' prime minister and blasted a sprawling network of smuggling tunnels in the southern Gaza Strip, broadening a blistering four-day-old offensive against the Islamic militant group even as diplomatic efforts to broker a cease-fire appeared to be gaining steam.
Hamas officials said a building used by Hamas for broadcasts was bombed and three people were injured. The injured were from Al Quds TV, a Lebanon-based television channel.
The building is also used by foreign news outlets including Germany's ARD, Kuwait TV and the Italian RAI and others.
The Israeli military spokesman was not immediately aware of the strikes but said they were investigating.
12:08pm: Digital activist group Anonymous claim to have successfully hacked several Israeli government websites, deleting databases and leaking emails and passwords, according to a report on tech website Gizmodo.
The group claims to have wiped out databases for both Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Bank of Jerusalem.
"To the oppressors of the innocent Palestinian people, it is too late to EXPECT US," the group said in a statement earlier today.
11.39am: Medics have reported that two people have been killed and 10 injured in an Israeli strike on northern Gaza homes, according to AFP.
11:26am: An Israeli air strike has hit local media outlet Al-Quds satellite channel in the Gaza Strip injuring three, medical sources have told AFP.
11:05am: Israeli artillery fired into Syria after gunfire from Syria hit an army vehicle but caused no injuries, the Israeli military said, in the latest spillover of violence from the bloody civil war raging across the ceasefire line.
"Shots were fired at IDF (Israeli army) soldiers...in the central Golan Heights," an army spokeswoman told AFP. "Soldiers responded with artillery fire towards the source of the shooting.
The IDF also tweeted that it was targeting militants in Gaza.
"A short while ago, the IDF targeted two smuggling tunnels belonging to terrorist groups in the #Gaza Strip," the IDF tweeted.
10:40am: These startling images have emerged from violent clashes between Palestinian youth and Israeli soldiers at the Qalandia checkpoint, in the occupied West Bank.
A Palestinian youths clash with Israeli soldiers at the Qalandia checkpoint, in the occupied West Bank. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
Palestinian youth take cover behind a makeshift barrier during clashes with Israeli soldiers at the Qalandia checkpoint, in the occupied West Bank, o. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
10:20am:While Egypt's president is talking up the possibility of a ceasfire, watch video footage of Israeli forces massing on the border.
Israeli forces deploy artillery to border and airstrikes killed one person and wounded several in Gaza. Deborah Gembara reports
9:15am: Arab foreign ministers roundly denounced Israel's campaign in Gaza, as Egypt tried to mediate a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi told reporters in Cairo his government was in "vigorous'' communication with both Israel and the Palestinians.
"There are some indications that there could be a ceasefire soon,'' Morsi told a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, adding that there were still "no guarantees.''
Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal was also in Cairo for talks, a senior Hamas official said. A senior Hamas official told AFP the movement was reluctant to agree a truce because it does not believe mediators could guarantee the terms of a ceasefire. The "international community'' had to put pressure on Israel, he said.
Medics said 45 Gazans had been killed and more than 450 injured since Israel launched its air campaign on Wednesday, with at least eight militants among the 15 people killed yesterday alone.
As the toll rose, sirens sounded in Tel Aviv for a third day, sending people running for cover a day after a rocket fired by militants in Gaza hit the sea near the city centre, AFP correspondents said.
Israeli officials said one rocket was intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system while a second hit somewhere in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. The attack was claimed by Hamas's armed wing.
Residents of Israel's commercial centre say they feel more comfortable after new rocket defence system is deployed. Sunita Rappai reports.
Warplanes carried out 180 air strikes on Gaza overnight, Israeli television reported, with attacks levelling the headquarters of the Hamas government.
8:25am: Israeli troops are massing on the border with Gaza readying for a ground offensive on the fifth day of Operation Pillar of Defence, as Turkey and Egypt press Israel to end the fighting, according to AFP.
7:40am: Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi says there are indications Israel and Hamas may reach a truce soon, according to an AFP alert, but Israel's media organisastions are denying rumours of a looming ceasefire.
7:20am: Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi will head a delegation to Gaza in a show of solidarity after Arab ministers decided to review their diplomacy towards Israel and show their support for the Palestinians.
The delegation will travel to Gaza "to affirm solidarity with the Palestinians," a League statement said after the foreign ministers' meeting. Arabi told reporters it would head for the enclave either later today or tomorrow.
The statement said the ministers decided to ask an Arab League task force to review "the usefulness of continuing the Arab commitment in proposing the Arab peace initiative as a strategic choice."
6:40am: Four Palestinians were killed in new Israeli air strikes on central Gaza, raising the death toll from 72 hours of raids to 44, the emergency services said.
A statement first announced two deaths in a strike on Deir al-Balah, then added an additional two deaths in a strike on the Masdar area, also in central Gaza. There were no immediate details on whether the four were civilians or militants.
At least four people were injured in the strike in Deir al-Balah, which followed multiple strikes during the day that killed 10 Palestinians, eight of them militants.
The statement added that at least two Palestinians were in critical condition after an air strike on their car in the Zeitun neighbourhood of Gaza City, adding that another two were also in serious condition after a strike on a motorbike in Khan Yunis, in central Gaza.
Nine Israelis including four soldiers were hurt by rocket fire, medics said.
The bloodshed raised to 44 the total number of Palestinians killed in just over 72 hours of Israeli air strikes, while another 393 were injured, Gaza's emergency services said.
Over the same period, three Israelis have been killed by rockets and another 18 injured, 10 of them soldiers, police and the army said.
6:20am: Hundred of protesters have demonstrated near the Israeli embassy in London, waving placards and chanting slogans like "From London to Ramallah organise the intifada".
Speakers on a podium condemned the British government after Foreign Secretary William Hague said the Hamas regime running the Gaza Strip bore "principal responsibility" for the escalation of violence.
The rally was called by the left-wing Stop the War Coalition, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.
"We are insisting that the British government uphold international law and human rights and tells Israel to end its war now," PSC director Sarah Colborne said. "It's very clear what is happening here: Gaza is under siege, Israel started this by assassinating the person who was trying to negotiate a long-term truce with Israel," she said.
5:50am: The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald's writes here about why the US can't pretend it is not involved in the dispute.
A central premise of US media coverage of the Israeli attack on Gaza - beyond the claim that Israel is justifiably "defending itself" - is that this is some endless conflict between two foreign entitles, and Americans can simply sit by helplessly and lament the tragedy of it all.
The reality is precisely the opposite: Israeli aggression is possible only because of direct, affirmative, unstinting US diplomatic, financial and military support for Israel and everything it does.
This self-flattering depiction of the US as uninvolved, neutral party is the worst media fiction since TV news personalities covered the Arab Spring by pretending that the US is and long has been on the side of the heroic democratic protesters, rather than the key force that spent decades propping up the tyrannies they were fighting.
5:43am: Arab foreign ministers roundly denounced Israel's campaign in Gaza in an emergency meeting in Cairo on Saturday and demanded a review of what they called their futile diplomacy towards the Jewish state.
The session came amid a flurry of meetings to coordinate an Arab and Turkish response to the four-day conflict in which 40 Palestinians have been killed in air strikes and three Israelis have died in Hamas rocket attacks.
Some ministers and officials at the meeting ventured into rare self-criticism at a forum more accustomed to routine denunciations of Israel.
Member states should "reconsider all past Arab initiatives on the peace process and review their stance on the process as a whole," said Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi.
5:31am: The Arab League has an emergency meeting.
Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki (R) and Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani attend an emergency meeting of the Arab Foreign ministers in Cairo. Source: AFP
5:18am: Israeli air strikes in Gaza killed 10 Palestinians overnight, eight of them militants, as nine Israelis including four soldiers were hurt by rocket fire, medics said.
The bloodshed raised to 40 the total number of Palestinians killed in just over 72 hours of Israeli air strikes, while another 393 were injured, Gaza's emergency services said.
Over the same period, three Israelis have been killed by rockets and another 18 injured, 10 of them soldiers, police and the army said.
In the latest strike, warplanes hit the southern Gaza city of Rafah, killing Osama Qadi, 25, and injuring another two people, emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya said.
Earlier attacks on Rafah killed five people, an ambulance worker called Awad Nahal and four Hamas militants.
5:13am: Protests against the rocket fire crop up in countries all over the world, including here in Spain.
Activists lay on the ground next to a banner reading in Catalan "Stop the Massacre in Gaza" during a demonstration against Israel's attacks on Gaza, in Barcelona, Spain. Source: AP
5:04am: Union of Health Care Committees (UHCC) has charged that the Israeli occupation was deliberately targeting the children and women of Gaza by using internationally prohibited weapons.
UHCC reported in a press statement overnight that such large numbers of dead and injured children in the ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza demonstrates the clear Israeli targeting of civilians particularly innocent children.
4.55am: Tel Aviv is shaken by rocket attacks on the capital.
An Israeli woman and her children take cover as sirens wail in Tel Aviv. Source: AFP
4:52am: Cyber attacks by Anonymous on Israeli sites continue.
Israeli soldiers fire tear gas towards students from the University of Birzeit during clashes as students rallied against the ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip. Source: AFP
4:48am: Israeli soldiers fight back against stone throwers.
Israeli soldiers fire tear gas towards stone throwers demonstrating against the Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip in the village of Beit Omar, north of the West Bank town of Hebron. Source: AFP
4:44am: AP reports that The White House has defended Israel's right to defend itself against attack and decide how to respond to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, blaming the ruling Islamic militant Hamas group for starting the conflict.
Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in agreement that a de-escalation of the violence is preferred, provided that Hamas stops sending rocket into Israel, deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters during the president's flight on Air Force One to Asia.
Israel launched the offensive on Wednesday by assassinating Hamas' military commander, but Rhodes said the U.S. believes "the precipitating factor for the conflict was the rocket fire coming out of Gaza. We believe Israel has a right to defend itself, and they'll make their own decisions about the tactics they use in that regard."
He added, "These rockets have been fired into Israeli civilian areas and territory for some time now. So Israelis have endured far too much of a threat from these rockets for far too long, and that is what led the Israelis to take the action that they did in Gaza."
4.33am: Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi has said the bloc should review its peace proposals to Israel and its entire stance on the peace process in response to the conflict in Gaza.
Member states should "reconsider all past Arab initiatives on the peace process and review their stance on the process as a whole," he told an Arab foreign ministers' meeting in Cairo called to discuss the conflict.
A Palestinian youth take cover behind a makeshift barrier during clashes with Israeli soldiers at the Qalandia checkpoint, in the occupied West Bank. Picture: AFP Source: AFP
4.20am: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, headed to talks with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo, has said Israel is squarely to blame for the latest upsurge in violence.
"It's a tactic of Israel's to point the finger at Hamas and attack Gaza," he told reporters before leaving Ankara.
"Israel continues to make an international racket with its three dead," he said of three Israelis killed by a rocket fired from Gaza. "In fact it is Israel that violated the ceasefire."
The trail of an Israeli missile launched from the Iron Dome air defence system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells, is pictured from the southern Israeli-Gaza border in response to a rocket launched from the nearby Gaza Strip. Picture: Jack Guez Source: AFP
For older rolling coverage, go here.
How the crisis has unfolded
