Israel has attacked hundreds of targets in Gaza on Wednesday and more than 180 rockets have been fired from Gaza during the same period, according to Israel Defense Forces estimates. A strike in the early hours of Wednesday on a house in Beit Hanoun in the north of the Strip killed six people, including a senior leader of the militant group Islamic Jihad. They were very close. In the most serious single incident, seven Palestinians including two children were killed and about 25 wounded in an attack on a house in the Khan Younis area in south Gaza. "I firmly condemn the multiple rocket attacks launched from Gaza on Israel. There were no reports of deaths from the rocket attacks. "I also urged (Israeli) Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu to exercise maximum restraint and to respect international obligations to protect civilians. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption James Reynolds looks at where Gaza militants are aiming rockets 
 
 Israel has said it will expand its campaign against Hamas. On Tuesday, five armed Palestinians crossed the border into Israel, near the beach of Kibbutz Zikim. The Israeli military made no immediate comment about the incident. Homes of four other Hamas members were attacked, including that of rocket specialist. 'No safe haven' 
 
 The head of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza, Raji Sourani, accused Israel of deliberately targeting civilians. Therefore, Hamas was responsible when there are accidental civilian casualties in Gaza. However, the fear is that this message would develop into a wide-scale war, whose results it is impossible to predict in advance". “We think Hamas was surprised by Israel’s actions over these two days. (Israel Radio) 
 
 6:10 P.M. One of the mortar shells that recently fell in the Eshkol Regional Council landed between two houses in a residential area. The Israeli military since Wednesday morning bombed 31 tunnels in Gaza, in addition to 60 concealed rocket launchers, rocket storage sites and 12 buildings it says were used as command centers. (Shirly Seidler) 
 
 5:15 P.M. Iron Dome interceptors shoot down a rocket over the greater Tel Aviv, the third since Tuesday. Image copyright AFP Image caption The military wing of Hamas has vowed that Israel will pay a "tremendous price" for the air strikes 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Israeli soldiers have been deployed to reinforce the Gaza border 
 
 He told the BBC the Israeli army was acting to "dismantle Hamas's military machine". This combination is our response to the terror organizations that want to harm us. Netanyahu at first seemed unwilling to be drawn into a prolonged and bloody conflict over Gaza, offering "quiet for quiet" if Hamas halted its rocket fire. That brought the death toll since Israel began its offensive to 22: Hamad, four Hamas gunmen and 17 civilians, including seven children. Israel says Hamas was behind the abduction and murder of the Israeli youths - a claim it denies. (Shirley Seidler) 
 
 12:40 P.M. A father and son were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, the Palestinian news agency Ma'an reports. "We will not tolerate rocket fire on Israel's cities, and we are preparing to expand the operation with everything at our disposal to strike Hamas," said Moshe Ya'alon, Israel's defence minister, who announced a special state of emergency in the south of the country. Henceforth, none of the sides has any control: not on the timetables and not on the way this battle will end". "Therefore I have ordered the military to significantly broaden its operation against Hamas terrorists and against the other terrorist groups inside Gaza," he said. Iron Dome intercepted two rockets above Tel Aviv on Wednesday morning, three over Ashkelon and three over Ashdod. (Nir Hasson) 
 
 10:10 A.M. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas asks Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi to intervene in the escalating violence between Israel and militants in Gaza.  Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Yolande Knell reports on Israeli air raids as video shows missile strikes 
 
 Palestinian militants have fired more rockets at Israeli cities after Israel carried out dozens of overnight air strikes on the Gaza Strip. The military wing of Hamas has warned that all Israelis are now targets. The military earlier confirmed that it had targeted 118 concealed rocket launchers, 10 Hamas command-and-control centres and 10 tunnels in overnight attacks. The statement also deplores the "growing number of civilian casualties, reportedly among them children, caused by Israeli retaliatory fire." (Israel Radio) 
 
 2:21 A.M. Due to the rocket attacks on Tel Aviv, the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv says that is will operate with minimal staffing until further notice. Residents said the house belonged to the family of a Hamas member and the casualties occurred when the property came under attack for the second time. Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kedra told AFP news agency that Israeli air strikes on Wednesday had killed four Palestinians in Shejaiya and two in Zeitun - both close to Gaza City - and two more in Beit Hanoun. Israel Defence Forces said on Tuesday night that 117 rockets had struck the country in the past 24 hours and that an additional 29 had been intercepted.
– Israel's chief military spokesman announced that "we have been instructed by the political echelon to hit Hamas hard," and recent developments bear that out: Israel's air and naval strikes against Gaza continued today, as rockets similarly continued to rain down on Israel from Gaza. Israel says it has pursued about 440 targets since the start of Operation Protective Edge, the New York Times reports. At least 29 Palestinians have died since airstrikes started on Monday; some reports say eight children are among the dead, and according to Haaretz, so is an elderly woman. Another 90 have been injured, reports the Guardian, which puts the number of rockets fired by Hamas yesterday at 140. Israel said today it specifically targeted one rocket commander, Abdullah Diyfallah, in an airstrike, and that it hit around 160 targets overnight. Among them: Hamas facilities and military command positions, rocket launching sites, and weapon storage facilities. Last night, it said it had unraveled an attempt by Palestinian militants to enter the country by sea, killing four who came ashore via Zikim beach. Israel has also been moving tanks to the Gaza border, and the government has authorized as many as 40,000 additional reservists to be called up, though no move has reportedly been made to do so yet. Hamas' military wing has said that all Israelis are now targets, the BBC reports.