Tel Aviv: Israel shot down a rocket fired at its commercial capital Tel Aviv on Tuesday, a military source said, the deepest such attack from the Gaza Strip during a two-week-old escalation of fighting in the Palestinian territory.
Live television showed a double-burst of smoke in the clear blue skies above Tel Aviv after air raid sirens sounded.
The military source said Israel’s Iron Dome interceptor shot down the projectile fired by Palestinians, hours after Israel intensified its bombing campaign in Gaza in a declared bid to halt rocket fire pouring into the south of the country.
Hamas, the dominant armed group in Gaza, had vowed to strike further inside Israel after Israeli air strikes killed seven people in a home belonging to member of the Islamist movement.
The Palestinian death toll, on the first day of the stepped-up Israeli offensive, rose to 15, including 11 civilians, Palestinian officials said.
