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The latest flare-up in an already tense arena was triggered by a botched undercover Israeli military operation inside Gaza that turned deadly on Sunday night. Authorities on both sides reported new deaths Tuesday morning.
In Israel, one person was killed and two others seriously injured when a rocket hit a four-story residential building in the city of Ashkelon.
In Gaza, the Health Ministry said seven people were killed in the Israeli airstrikes, including [terrorist]s. Residents uploaded photographs of several prominent buildings they said were destroyed by Israeli bombs.
Briefing the press Tuesday morning, Israeli army spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said this was "the most severe attack on Israeli civilians by terrorist organizations from Gaza since our 2014 operation."
Close to 400 projectiles, a mix of rockets and mortars, were fired at Israel since hostilities flared on Monday afternoon, he said. A large portion were struck down by the Iron Dome defense system, but given the high number, Conricus said, some succeeded in scoring direct hits on homes and buildings.
In response, Israeli military jets hit more than 100 sites across the strip, including what Conricus called "four strategic assets belonging to Hamas." The five-story building housing the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV station, the [terrorist] group's internal security building and an office building used by its military intelligence were all reportedly destroyed.
The army also said Tuesday that its naval forces struck Hamas naval vessels, as well as numerous weapons storehouses and manufacturing facilities. The sites belonged to both Hamas, the [terrorist] Islamist group that rules the Gaza Strip, and the second-largest [terrorist] faction in Gaza, Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
"It is Israel that initiated this round of violence," said Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official. "Israel didn't respect all the efforts being done and understandings reached to restore calm around the borders. Israel must take responsibility for its madness, which has led to the total deterioration of the situation on the ground."
"Gaza is still looking for calm and a better tomorrow," he said.
Abu Hamza, spokesman for the Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades, said the overnight bombardments, including on homes belonging to faction members, had lead "to a decision to expand the circle of response."
He warned residents of Israeli cities of Beersheva and Ashdod "to stay alongside their shelters."
Egypt has urged Israel to stop the escalation of violence and is also working with the Palestinians to end hostilities, according to Egyptian state television Tuesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has remained conspicuously silent since the start of the latest violence, convened his security cabinet Tuesday morning as residents of Israel's southern cities, forced to stay indoors and near protected areas, expressed their anger and frustration that a long-term diplomatic solution has yet to be found to the continual rounds of hostilities.
Israel and Hamas have fought three deadly wars in 10 years, with flare-ups becoming increasingly frequent in recent months as Hamas has urged residents to protest at the fence along the border with Israel.
Since March, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed, mostly by Israeli sniper fire, in weekly demonstrations protesting the increasingly difficult humanitarian conditions in the strip, where Israel imposes tight restrictions on trade and travel. Recent U.S. cuts to aid for Palestinians have exacerbated their woes.
Israel maintains the protests are a cover for Hamas to break into Israel.
Gaza [terrorists] have also taken to floating incendiary kites and balloons across the border, igniting fires.
There had been a glimmer of hope this past weekend that a long-term understanding to restore calm mediated Egypt, the United Nations and Qatar, was proving fruitful. Israel on Thursday took the unusual step of permitting $15 million in cash from Qatar to enter Gaza to pay long-delayed salaries of Hamas civil servants in an attempt to ease the suffering of the territory's 2 million residents.
That understanding appears to have been wrecked by this botched Israeli covert operation that took place Sunday night. Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, chief of the general staff of the Israel Defense Forces, said an undercover team was involved in a "very meaningful operation for Israel's security."
The unit, which had been at least two miles inside the Gaza Strip, was discovered, leading to an exchange of fire between the troops and Palestinian fighters. A senior Israeli officer was killed, along with seven Palestinian [terrorist]s, including a Hamas commander.
The Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, said in a statement that the Israeli team was two miles inside Gaza in a civilian car when the fight broke out. Residents in the area, east of the town of Khan Younis, said a group of Hamas fighters stopped the vehicle carrying the Israelis to check their identities. It was then that the Israeli unit shot Nour Baraka, a local Hamas leader, and another [terrorist] dead, they said.
Anticipating a deeper response following the incident, Israel's military deployed extra infantry troops and air defenses to the border on Monday. By the afternoon, [terrorist] factions in Gaza had launched hundreds of projectiles toward Israeli territory. Several of the rockets hit residential buildings, while an antitank missile struck a bus transporting soldiers, the military said, critically injuring a 19-year-old.
Maj. Gen. Kamil Abu Rukun, coordinator of Israeli government activities in the Palestinian territories, said that Hamas had crossed a "red line" and that the military would "dial up" its response.
He told residents of Gaza to "look carefully" at the pictures from the 2014 war in the territory. "A picture is worth a thousand words," he said.
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