As the battle between Israel and Hamas militants entered its fourth day, diplomatic efforts to end the hostilities gathered pace.
Overnight, US President Barack Obama phoned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express concerns and to offer his help in resolving the crisis.
"The United States remains prepared to facilitate a cessation of hostilities, including a return to the November 2012 ceasefire agreement," the White House said, referring to a truce which ended the last major confrontation between Israel and Hamas.
But Egypt, which has played a key role in mediating previous ceasefire agreements, said its efforts were falling on deaf ears.
"Egypt has communicated with all sides to halt violence against civilians and called on them to continue with the truce agreement signed in November 2012," the foreign ministry said.
"Unfortunately, these efforts... have met with stubbornness."
Neither of the warring sides appeared to have any interest in backing down.
After weeks of rising rocket fire on its south, Israel lost patience and was bent on dealing a fatal blow to Hamas, with
Netanyahu reportedly saying talk of a ceasefire was "not even on the agenda".
And Ismail Haniya, Gaza's former prime minister and the most senior Hamas official in the enclave, also ruled out any end to hostilities.
"(Israel) is the one that started this aggression and it must stop, because we are (simply) defending ourselves," he said.
Hamas's armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, has kept up a steady stream of rockets deep inside Israel, with sirens sending people fleeing for shelter in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and even in the northern port city of Haifa.
On Friday morning, three Gaza rockets were shot down over Tel Aviv by the Iron Dome anti-missile system, the army said, as the Brigades claimed their militants had fired M75 missiles at Israel's main international airport.
Israel's Airport Authority said Ben Gurion airport had been closed for "nine minutes" during the raid, but then normal operations were resumed.
But Hamas warned "all foreign airlines" to halt flights due to "the dangers surrounding all the airports due to the ongoing war".
It has also called for mass demonstrations across the region as Muslims mark the second Friday of the holy month of Ramadan.
Although police prepared for possible disturbances, there was no immediate reports of any protests.
Israeli strikes killed more than 30 Gazans on Thursday, and another eight died in three separate strikes on Friday, hiking the overall death toll to 100, Palestinian medics said. More than 500 people have been injured.
So far, no-one in Israel has been killed, and only 10 people hurt, two of them seriously, medics said.
