Israel Intensifies Airstrikes on Gaza as Hamas Rockets Continue to Fly Over Tel Aviv

Fighting between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas intensified Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. The Israeli Army shot down at least five rockets over Tel Aviv Wednesday morning after an Israeli airstrike on the Gaza Strip killed at least eight people overnight, according to The New York Times.

The airstrike follows a barrage of Hamas-fired rockets that touched down near Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and other areas of Israel. One of the rockets, a Syrian-made M-302, hit near the city of Hadera, nearly 80 miles from Gaza, the Times reports.

Israeli Army Lt. Col. Peter Lerner said that Palestinians in Gaza had "tens" more like it, which Israelis believe have come from Iran. The army is now mobilizing forces for a possible ground invasion of the Palestinian territory. 

Since Israel's military response began this week, the country has attacked more than 400 sites in Gaza by air and sea, resulting in at least 32 dead. Israeli Army officials said they hit about 160 targets overnight Tuesday-Wednesday in what it's calling Operation Protective Edge. This is the heaviest fighting between Israel and Hamas since an eight-day battle in November 2012, according to AP. It appears to have been sparked by the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers, to which the U.S. State Department linked Hamas, and the burning death of a Palestinian teenager by Israeli youths in apparent retaliation.