Planned cease-fire fails as Egypt's prime minister visits Gaza NEW: Rockets fall near Jerusalem and Tel Aviv IDF says the campaign reduced rocket fire from Gaza overnight The "Iron Dome" has stopped 130 Gazan rockets, Israel says Egypt's prime minister and a delegation head to Gaza on Friday morning Gaza City (CNN) -- Rockets landed near Israel's two most populous cities Friday as fighting between Israel and Hamas militants persisted with no immediate end in sight. Two rockets hit north of the city of Jerusalem, CNN affiliate Channel 2 Israel reported. Hamas militants confirmed that they had fired rockets at the city, which Israel considers its capital, but is not recognized as such by the international community. Air raid sirens also sounded in Tel Aviv, but officials said rockets fired toward the city did not hit land, but might have landed in the sea. The fighting has left 24 dead and 200 wounded, Palestinian officials said. Israeli officials reported no new deaths Friday, saying a total of three have died from rocket fire since fighting broke out. Gazans got no respite from the ongoing attacks as Egypt's prime minister arrived for a visit. Israel planned a cease-fire for Friday to accommodate him, according to a senior official from the Israeli prime minister's office. But the move was contingent on Gazans also holding their fire. The militant group al-Qassam, Hamas' military arm, rejected the idea. Watch: Blair calls for calm in Gaza The military began operation Pillar of Defense on Wednesday in response to a high number of rockets fired at Israel over the past year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said. "This year alone, they (Hamas) fired over 1,000 rockets and missiles at Israel, including close to 200 rockets in the last 24 hours," he said in a statement Thursday. Western powers largely blame Hamas for starting the armed altercation but call on Israel to be proportionate in its response. Watch: Egypt condemns Gaza violence In Gaza City, recurring bombardments provided for a sleepless night of hearing and feeling explosions of ordnance coming into Gaza from Israel and watching some rockets leaving Gaza for Israel. Clouds of smoke sprouted into the sky, paralleling the thunderous booms. The bomb clouds in Gaza could be seen from Ashkelon, Israel, in the morning light, and the loud rumble of their explosions could be heard. The military campaign has hit relevant military targets and stifled the launching of rockets out of Gaza, Israeli authorities said. Palestinian officials have yet to give a detailed account of damage and death from the night's attacks. Hamas said that the Israeli air force struck its Interior Ministry, a claim backed up by press photos of fiery rubble where the building once stood and comments retweeted by Israeli spokeswoman Avital Leibovich. Gazan militants from the Qassam Brigade denied Israeli reports that their attacks had lightened up. They claimed to have hit multiple Israeli targets Friday with Grad and Qassam rockets. Qassam announced it had directed a rocket at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, but Leibovich said no rocket had hit there. High-level visit from Cairo As Kandil, the Egyptian prime minister, got a first-hand look at fresh destruction and casualties on a tour with Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, fears of a ground invasion by Israel seemed to gain support. The Israel Defense Forces announced Friday they are "recruiting" 16,000 reservists, according to a Twitter post by Leibovich. The Israeli army has already moved nearly a division's worth of troops -- perhaps 1,500 to 2,000 -- to the border, an Israeli official said on condition of anonymity. Read more: Israeli: 'How would you feel is your children were constantly scared?' Kandil openly showed emotion over the death of a year-old boy. He read a verse out of the Quran in respect to the fallen Palestinians. Read more: Fear, mourning, celebration in Gaza City His rhetoric toward Israel was diplomatic, though his voice was halting, and he struggled at times to get his words out. "No one can remain still and watch this tragedy unfold in this fashion," Kandil said. This is impossible. The whole world must intervene, and Israel must abide by the agreements and stop the aggression. The armed conflict is likely to further erode Israel's fragile relationship with Egypt, which recalled its ambassador to Israel on Wednesday in protest over the ongoing strikes. "Egypt will not leave Gaza alone and what is happening there is a blatant aggression against humanity," Egyptian President Mohammed Morsy said. His Cabinet chief, however, said Egypt's peace treaty with Israel is safe. "But respecting a peace treaty does not mean to stay idle or indifferent to what is going on along our borders," Mohamed Refa'a al-Tahtawi said. Since the start of Operation Pillar of Defense, the Israeli Air Force has targeted over 600 sites in Gaza for what it calls terror activity. In addition to airstrikes, the Israeli navy has taken aim at targets along Gaza's shoreline, the IDF said. Israel said it has called thousands of residents in Gaza to warn them of strikes and dropped leaflets in Gaza warning Palestinian civilians to "avoid being present in the vicinity of Hamas operatives," the IDF said. Read more: Will Twitter war become the new norm? It also said it uses "roof knocking" -- targeting a building "with a loud but nonlethal bomb that warns civilians they are in the vicinity of a weapons cache or other target. Well over 400 rockets from Gaza have been fired into Israel since the Israeli operation began Wednesday, the Israeli military said. Israel's Iron Dome defense system has intercepted at least 130, the Israel Defense Forces said. On the Hamas side, the Qassam Brigade said on its Twitter feed that it had shot 527 projectiles at Israel by Thursday night. Western officials express concern The European Union's High Representative Catherine Ashton expressed concern Friday over the mobilization of IDF troops. She urged Israel to be "proportionate" in its response but blamed Gazan militant groups for starting the violent exchange. "Israel has the right to protect its population from these kinds of attacks," she said. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking Friday during a visit to Bangkok, Thailand, said he believes Israel and the Palestinians need to negotiate "a more permanent peace in that region." "I understand the reasons Israel is doing what they're doing," he said. Tony Blair, envoy for the Middle East Quartet, which is working to bring about a peace agreement, said Thursday: "I don't think we should be of any doubt at all that if this situation continues and it escalates, it's going to be really serious and tragic -- not just for Israelis and Palestinians, but actually it will cause a huge amount of upheaval right across the region, and this is a region, as you know, that doesn't require more upheaval right now." U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will go to Egypt and Israel next week because of the rising tensions between Israel and Hamas, a Western diplomat told CNN. CNN's Sara Sidner reported from Gaza City; CNN's Fred Pleitgen reported from southern Israel; CNN's Ben Brumfield, Josh Levs and Chelsea Carter reported from Atlanta; CNN's Jessica Yellin, Saad Abedine and Joe Vaccarello as well as journalists Per Nyberg and Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report.