Israel's air defense attack against the Gaza Strip has expanded to target Hamas government buildings on Saturday, with Palestinian militants continued firing a torrent of rockets at civilian areas in southern Israel.
Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. In all these conversations Netanyahu said he was open to reaching a cease-fire within the next few days.
Netanyahu asked the leaders to intercede with Egypt to put pressure on Hamas, and made it clear that in the event the rockets did not stop Israel would be forced to invade Gaza with ground forces, according to the Associated Press.
The Israeli military said its newly deployed missile defense battery intercepted the rocket before it landed in the populous coastal city.
Just before sundown on Saturday, Hamas said it had shot an Iranian-made Fajr-5 rocket at Tel Aviv, and air raid sirens sounded in that city for the third day in a row.
