The White House said Israel "has the right to defend itself" against attack and that the Israelis will make their own decisions about "military tactics and operations."
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israel hammered the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with 300 airstrikes early Saturday to take out improved rocket launchers that have enough range to strike cities that have never seen missiles from the Palestinian territory.
The airstrikes came as Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi met with Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Hamas leader Khaled Meshal and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Cairo on Saturday to discuss ways of managing the Gaza crisis and possibly negotiate a truce with Israel, Egypt news website Ahram Online reported.
"We have an interest in not escalating the situation with our Israeli neighbor," said Mohamed El Mekkawi, a member of the foreign relations committee in the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party. "We want them to calm the situation and not escalate the situation because it will create instability in all of the region -- for Egyptians, Israelis, for all Arab countries. This is a sensitive issue and we believe in a diplomatic solution."
The White House said Saturday that it believes Israel "has the right to defend itself" against attack and that the Israelis will make their own decisions about their "military tactics and operations."
A top aide to President Obama told reporters traveling with the president to Asia on Air Force One that the U.S. and Israel both want an end to the rocket fire that's coming from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agree that "de-escalation is preferred," provided that Hamas stops firing into Israel.
Israel's airstrikes hit a police compound, which erupted in flames that spread through a neighborhood, and struck a vast network of smuggling tunnels that Hamas has been preparing for years, according to Israeli Defense Forces. Meanwhile, Israel massed troops near the border in case a ground war is ordered stop the rocket assaults. The attacks are an attempt to halt an unprecedented barrage of rocket strikes from Palestinian militants, who are targeting neighborhoods and residential buildings. Some Hamas strikes landed near the holy city of Jerusalem and the cosmopolitan city of Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean.
The airstrikes in Gaza have mostly left the streets deserted, though some stores such as bakeries and pharmacies were open. Long lines formed Saturday for those willing to dash out of their homes to buy bread and supplies.
All other government offices, stories, factories, schools and universities in Gaza have remained shut since Hamas' military leader Ahmed Al Jabari was killed by Israelis in an airstrike Wednesday.
Many here were well aware that the Israeli strike was preceded by months of rocket attacks by Hamas, an Islamist group designated a terror organization by the USA and the European Union. But they were still defiant and bitter about Israel's retaliation.
"The Israelis have conquered our country and kicked us out of it, and now they are killing women and children," said Mohammed Miqdad, a university student sitting among some classmates and neighbors on a street corner in the Tal Al Hawa neighborhood.
Hamas supporters believe that the entirety of Israel should be a nation for Palestinians, and the group's stated goal is to destroy the Jewish state.
Tal Al Hawa was one of the most damaged neighbors in the Gaza Strip during the three-week military offensive by Israel, Operation Cast Lead, which began in December 2008, also in response to a barrage of rockets fired at Israeli homes.
"It's our right to defend ourselves," Miqdad added, turning the dial on his radio to various local news channels. "This is the first time the Palestinian rockets have reached the Israeli capital and Jerusalem, something considered really big."
But some in Gaza worried how long this air war would go on and the impact on their lives. The territory already has more than 40% unemployment, and the virtual shutdown of government and business has ground the economy to a halt.
Ez AL Dean Al Khalot, 24, a college graduate who lives in the beach area in the western part of Gaza City, says the constant explosions nearby have him worried about his family's safety, and how he will provide for them.
"We barely get through the day, since my income is little and I am the only breadwinner in the family (of six)," said Ez Al Den said. "I've just been sitting here waiting and hoping that this nightmare will be over soon so that I can return back to my work again."
Israeli aircraft also kept pounding their original targets, the militants' weapons storage facilities and underground rocket launching sites. They also went after rocket squads more aggressively. The military has called up thousands of reservists and massed troops, tanks and other armored vehicles along the border with Gaza, signaling a ground invasion could be imminent.
Palestinian terrorists have unleashed about 500 rockets against Israel, including new, longer-range weapons turned for the first time this week against Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv heartland. Following those attacks, the military deployed an Iron Dome rocket defense battery in central Israel on Saturday. The system has blown up about a third of the rockets, the Defense Ministry said.
Ten people, including eight Palestinians involved in the rocket attacks, were killed and dozens were wounded in the various attacks Saturday, Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said. In all, 40 Palestinians have died, including 13 civilians, al-Kidra said.
Israel has said it is striking military targets and blames Hamas for the civilian deaths for using people and residential buildings as cover for its missile launchers. Hamas has said it is intentionally targeting Israelis everywhere in the country, boasting of its ability to strike from longer ranges.
Three Israelis, including a mother who was pregnant, died Thursday when a rocket from Gaza slammed into the living room of their apartment.
Meanwhile, some Arab states have lined up to support Hamas. A high-level Tunisian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem, visited Gaza on Saturday. "Israel has to understand that there is an international law and it has to respect the international law to stop the aggression against the Palestinian people," Abdessalem said.
He did not elaborate on what aspect of international law Israel was violating in its retaliatory strikes. Hamas has fired about 800 rockets into Israel over the past several months.
Egypt's prime minister visited Friday and a Moroccan delegation is due on Sunday.
Israel had been incrementally expanding its operation beyond military targets but before dawn on Saturday ramped that up dramatically, hitting Hamas symbols of power. The Israeli military said more than 800 targets have been struck since the operation began.
Smoke rises during an explosion from an Israeli forces strike in Gaza City Nov. 17. Israel bombarded the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with nearly 200 airstrikes early Saturday, the military said, widening a blistering assault on Gaza rocket operations by militants to include the prime minister's headquarters, a police compound and a vast network of smuggling tunnels
Smoke rises after an Israeli forces strike in Gaza City on Nov. 17
Israeli civilians run for cover during a rocket attack launched from Israeli troops on Gaza on Nov. 17 in Tel Aviv, Israel. At least 39 Palestinians and one Isreali have died since conflict began four days ago.
Smoke rises after Israeli forces strike in Gaza City on Nov. 17
Israelis rush for cover during a siren alert for a rocket fired by Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip when defending themselves and Gaza people from the continuous Israeli air forces missiles sky attacks, at a residential area in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Nov. 17
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