Both Israeli and Hamas leaders hint at intesified fighting in and around Gaza. Julie Noce reports.
THE Middle East is once again at flashpoint, as Israel and Hamas trade bloody body blows in Gaza and Tel Aviv.
2.50am: The Jewish settlement of Ma'ale Amos, reportedly just hit by a missile from Gaza, is about 20km south of Jerusalem.
It is a small community of about 79 families, mostly Ashkenazi Jews who commute into the city.
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2.42am: A BBC correspondent says the rocket hit the main gate of the Maale Amos settlement, within the Etzion Bloc in the West Bank.
Meanwhile the Israeli response is intensifying. The BBC reports that by this time yesterday Israel had fired at 225 targets in Gaza. The figure now is over 600: it has more than doubled in 24 hours.
2.26am: Reuters correspondent Dan Williams reports the missiles landed in the hills to Jerusalem's south.
Early reports say they may have hit in Etzion Bloc, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Still no news of damage or casualties.
A tunnel and bridge lead from the Jerusalem suburb of Gilo to the West Bank settlements of the Etzion bloc, pictured here in 2004. Picture: Justin McIntosh / Wikimedia Commons Source: Supplied
2.16am: The IDF tweets "Confirmed: A rocket fired from Gaza struck outside Jerusalem, Israel's capital city. "
If confirmed, says the BBC, "this is believed to be the first time militants in the Gaza Strip have attempted to target Jerusalem".
And the armed wing of Hamas has claimed responsibility.
1.57am: Journalists on the ground report a missile, apparently from Gaza, has hit close to Jerusalem.
1.27am: The Israeli Defence Force has taken to social media to make its case. The IDF has its own Flickr, Tumblr, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter accounts. It also has a blog, which includes a "rocket counter" (though it seems to be down right now). The UPI press agency has more on the IDF's social media push here.
1.15am: Hamas militants from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades have executed a man on charges of "collaborating" with Israel as warplanes pounded Gaza, Palestinian sources said.
"The Qassam Brigades on Friday executed a collaborator for providing guidance and information on the locations of the resistance and their rocket launchers to the Israeli occupation," a source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Medical sources confirmed that a picture circulating on social media networks purporting to show the executed man's body was authentic.
Israeli D9 bulldozers are stationed at the Israeli-Gaza Strip border. Picture: Jack Guez Source: AFP
1.03am: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has added her voice to the call for a peaceful resolution to the fighting.
"The federal chancellor calls on the Egyptian government to use its influence on Hamas to push it towards a moderation of the violence," Merkel's deputy spokesman Georg Streiter said in Berlin.
President Vladimir Putin told Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in a telephone call that Russia supports Egypt's efforts to halt the escalating violence in Gaza, the Kremlin said.
In Brussels, European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Israel had the right to protect its people against Gaza rocket attacks but urged it to stick to a "proportionate" response.
A Palestinian demonstrator runs through a cloud of tear gas during clashes against Israel's operations in Gaza Strip, outside Ofer, an Israeli military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday. Picture: AP Source: AP
12.55am: Police and a witness say a rocket fired by militants crashed into the sea off Tel Aviv in the second incident in as many days, as sirens wailed across the city.
The rocket was the farthest that one from Gaza had ever hit inside Israel, and it sparked panic among beachgoers, although several people tried to swim out to the point where the rocket landed, the witness said.
12.30am: Thousands of people across the Middle East have protested on against Israel's aerial bombardment of the Gaza Strip, with some chanting "death to Israel" and others calling for the bombing of Tel Aviv.
In Cairo, several thousand protesters gathered outside Al-Azhar mosque after weekly Muslim prayers and chanted "We will go to Gaza in our millions," swearing to "sacrifice ourselves for you, Palestine".
President Mohamed Morsi himself branded the Israeli assault in which 23 Palestinians have been killed as a "blatant aggression against humanity and promised that "Egypt will not leave Gaza on its own", MENA news agency said.
Israeli anti-riot policemen detain a Palestinian man during a protest in Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City. Picture: Ahmad Gharabli Source: AFP
11.45pm: A Palestinian rocket has targeted Tel Aviv on the third day of an Israeli military operation against the Gaza Strip.
Sirens wailed across the city Friday afternoon shortly before the explosion sounded out.
Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says no injuries have been reported and it appears the rocket landed in the Mediterranean.
An Israeli missile is launched from the Iron Dome missile system in the southern Israeli city of Beer Sheva in response to a rocket launch from the nearby Palestinian Gaza Strip, on November 15, 2012. Israel yesterday killed a top Hamas military commander in a targeted strike in Gaza on Wednesday, prompting outrage from militants who said the Jewish state had opened "the gates of hell." AFP PHOTO/MENAHEM KAHANA Source: AFP
Earlier:
ISRAELI aircraft pummelled the rocket arsenals of Gaza militants on Friday and signalled a ground invasion might be growing near as troops, tanks and armored personnel carriers massed near Israel's southern border with the Palestinian territory.
Fighting between the two sides escalated sharply with a first-ever militant attack on the Tel Aviv area, menacing Israel's heartland.
No casualties were reported, but three people died in the country's rocket-scarred south when a projectile slammed into an apartment building.
The death toll in the densely populated Palestinian territory climbed to 19, including five children according to Palestinian health officials, as waves of Israeli fighter planes and drones sent missiles hurtling down on suspected weapons stores and rocket-launching sites.
Image: Google Maps Source: No Source
Troops massing on the border
At least 12 trucks were seen transporting tanks and armored personnel carriers toward Gaza late Thursday, and buses carrying soldiers headed toward the border area.
Israeli TV stations said a Gaza operation was expected on Friday, though military officials said no decision had been made.
"We will continue the attacks and we will increase the attacks, and I believe we will obtain our objectives," said Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, Israel's military chief.
An Israeli ground offensive could be costly to both sides. In the last Gaza war, Israel devastated large areas of the territory, setting back Hamas' fighting capabilities but also paying the price of increasing diplomatic isolation because of a civilian death toll numbering in the hundreds.
How the crisis has unfolded
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