In Pictures: Gaza conflict

Tit-for-tat attacks continue as Palestinian death toll crosses 45 mark and rockets continue flying towards Tel Aviv. Last Modified: 17 Nov 2012 21:51

View As Slideshow >> Hatem Moussa/AP Smoke rises during an explosion from an Israeli strike in Gaza City, as the Hamas-ruled Strip was bombarded with nearly 200 airstrikes early on Saturday. The assault widened to include not just attacks on Gaza rocket operations but also the prime minister's headquarters, a police compound and a vast network of smuggling tunnels. Uriel Sinai/Getty Images Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers stand guard by the Iron Dome defence system's new launch site in Tel Aviv. For the third day in a row, rockets from Gaza cruised towards the biggest metropolitan region in Israel. Of the two medium-range projectiles launched in that direction on Saturday, one was intercepted and another fell into an open area. ALI ALI/EPA A Palestinian searches for victims under the rubble of the destroyed house of a Hamas official, after an air strike in Jabaliya refugee camp of the northern Gaza Strip. Tsafrir Abayov/AP Local residents gather to inspect the damage at an apartment building, not seen, in the Israeli port city of Ashdod after it was hit on Saturday by a missile fired by Palestinian fighters from inside the Gaza Strip overnight. MARCO LONGARI/AFP/Getty Images Palestinians walk amid the debris of a burning factory near the house of Ezzedine Haddad, commander of the armed wing of the Hamas movement, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, after it was destroyed during an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City. DAVID BUIMOVITCH/AFP/Getty Images Israelis stand in a shelter as a siren wails across Ashdod to warn of incoming rockets. Israeli strikes on Saturday Gaza killed at least 10 Palestinians and left dozens more wounded. Hatem Omar/AP At his funeral, Palestinians carry the body of 26-year-old Mohammad Al-Lolahi, a Hamas fighter, who was killed in an Israeli air strike on several Hamas members in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. OREN ZIV/AFP/Getty Images An Israeli woman and her children take cover as sirens wail in Tel Aviv. Rocket attacks fired by Palestinians on Israel were a "precipitating factor" for the conflict that has engulfed the two sworn enemies, a White House official said on Saturday. MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images Palestinians stand at a petrol station which closed due to fear of Israeli bombardment in the village of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip. On Saturday, nine Israelis were hurt by rocket fire, four of them soldiers, medics said. Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images  Israeli children wave their national flag as they greet an army convoy passing on a road leading to the Israel-Gaza border near the southern Israeli town of Ofakim. MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images A Palestinian boy waits to buy bread in Gaza City, on the fourth day of a bombing campaign that has killed at least 44 Palestinians and three Israelis. MOHAMMED SALEM/REUTERS Tunisia's Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem visits Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's former office building, destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City. ABED OMAR QUSINI/REUTERS Israeli border policemen detain a Palestinian stone-thrower during clashes against Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip, at Hawara checkpoint near the West Bank city of Nablus. Israel's cabinet has authorised the mobilisation of up to 75,000 reservists, preparing for a possible ground invasion of Gaza. AMR ABDALLAH DALSH/REUTERS Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki attends an emergency meeting on the military operation in the Gaza Strip at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo. Arab foreign ministers on Saturday considered a draft statement that would call for the Arab League chief to lead a delegation to Gaza and voices support for Egypt's efforts to negotiate a truce. AMR ABDALLAH DALSH/REUTERS Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby, left, and foreign ministers, observe a minute of silence for victims of the conflict in the Gaza Strip. AMR ABDALLAH DALSH/REUTERS Members of the media compete to film Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, left, during an emergency meeting on the Gaza crisis. KAYHAN OZER/ANADOLU AGENCY/EPA Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan waves to the audience at Cairo University during his visit in Cairo on Saturday. Egyptian President Morsi, Emir of Qatar Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, PM Erdogan and Hamas leader Khaled Meshal were due to meet later during the day to discuss the situation in Gaza. AMR ABDALLAH DALSH/REUTERS Egyptian protesters in front of the Arab League shout slogans during a protest against Israel's ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip. JAMAL SAIDI/REUTERS Lebanon's Hezbollah supporters wave Palestinian and Hezbollah flags during a demonstration, organised by Lebanese and Palestinian factions, against Israel's military activities in Gaza, in front of the UN headquarters in Beirut. STR/EPA In front of the offices of the UN in Damascus, Syrians and Palestinians wave their national flags in a show of solidarity with Gaza after Israel had targeted the headquarters of Hamas leaders and other key facilities in Gaza. About 500 protesters shouted anti-Israel slogans and held up banners, some of them reading "the mercy is to our martyrs and the shame is to the agents."