A still image taken from Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) video footage shows what they say is a small unidentified aircraft shot down in a mid-air interception after it crossed into southern Israel October 6, 2012. 
 
 DUBAI (Reuters) - The incursion by an unmanned aircraft into Israeli airspace at the weekend exposed the weakness of Israeli air defenses, an Iranian military official was quoted as saying on Monday. 
 
 The Israeli air force shot down a drone on Saturday after it crossed into southern Israel, the military said, but it remained unclear where the aircraft had come from. 
 
 Jamaluddin Aberoumand, deputy coordinator for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said the incident indicated that Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile defense system "does not work and lacks the necessary capacity", Fars news agency reported. 
 
 The Iron Dome system, jointly funded with the United States, is designed to shoot down short-range guerrilla rockets, not slow-flying aircraft. It intercepted more than 80 percent of the targets it engaged in March when nearly 300 rockets and mortars were fired at southern Israel, the Pentagon said at the time. 
 
 The drone was first spotted above the Mediterranean near the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip to the west of Israel, said military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich. An Israeli warplane shot it down above a forest near the occupied West Bank. 
 
 Israeli parliament member Miri Regev, a former chief spokesman of the military, wrote on Twitter it was an "Iranian drone launched by Hezbollah", referring to the Lebanese Shi'ite group that fought a war with Israel in 2006. 
 
 Israeli defense officials have not confirmed this. 
 
 Aberoumand attributed claims the drone was made by Iran to a "psychological operation" by Israel, but did not confirm or deny them. "The Zionist regime (Israel) has many enemies," he added. 
 
 On at least one occasion, Iranian-backed Hezbollah has sent a drone into Israeli airspace. And in 2010, an Israeli warplane shot down an apparently unmanned balloon in the Negev near the country's Dimona nuclear reactor. 
 
 The Israeli military released a 10-second video clip of what it said was Saturday's mid-air interception, showing a small aircraft just before a missile from a fighter jet destroys it. 
 
 Israel has threatened to bomb Iran's nuclear sites if diplomatic efforts fail to stop the nuclear work it believes is aimed at getting weapons capability, a charge Tehran denies. 
 
 Iran has responded with threats to attack U.S. military bases in the region and retaliate against Israel if attacked. 
 
 (Reporting By Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Alistair Lyon) ||||| Smoke rises following what witnesses said was an Israeli airstrike that took place before a five-hour humanitarian truce in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. 
 
 July 17, 2014 Smoke rises following what witnesses said was an Israeli airstrike that took place before a five-hour humanitarian truce in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters 
 
 Panicked residents flee their homes in the northern Gaza Strip as children die in the continuing attack on Hamas. 
 
 Panicked residents flee their homes in the northern Gaza Strip as Israel continues its attack on Hamas. As of July 15, at least 185 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and nearly 1,400 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. 
 
 Panicked residents flee their homes in the northern Gaza Strip as Israel continues its attack on Hamas. As of July 15, at least 185 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and nearly 1,400 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. 
 
 On a day rattled by a fury of air attacks, Israel and Hamas were searching for a way forward Wednesday, with a senior Israeli military official declaring that a ground invasion of Gaza was a “very high possibility.” 
 
 Israel announced that it will observe a unilateral “humanitarian truce” for five hours Thursday to allow Gaza residents to stock up on food and other supplies and let aid reach civilians. The pause in fighting was requested by the United Nations, said another military official, army spokesman Lt. Col. Peter Lerner. 
 
 It was initially unclear whether Hamas would also hold its fire. The militant group rejected an earlier cease-fire proposed by Egypt, and a top Hamas leader declared that the Islamist militant group is alone in the world as it battles Israel. By Thursday morning, a Hamas spokesman said they would honor the brief truce, according to news agency reports. 
 
 Hamas continued to shower rockets Wednesday into southern and central Israel, including Tel Aviv, underscoring the extent to which the militants believe they still have the military capability to persuade Israel to accept their terms, analysts said. 
 
 “From their rationale, they are holding strong, as if they have nothing to lose,” said Miri Eisen, a former Israeli army intelligence official. She added, “If they feel they have nothing to lose, they can continue this for a long time.” 
 
 Rockets fired from Gaza as the five-hour humanitarian truce ends and Israel prepares for launching a ground offensive in Gaza. (Reuters) 
 
 That attitude is increasing pressure on Israel. Hundreds of Israeli airstrikes have killed hundreds of Palestinians but have done little to stop Hamas rockets from striking Israeli towns. Human rights activists are accusing Israel of killing innocent civilians and possibly committing war crimes. Egypt, once a reliable ally, no longer seems to have the negotiating clout it once had. 
 
 All this is generating discussions — within Israeli political and military circles and on television, radio and editorial pages — of a possible ground invasion of Gaza in the coming days. In Tel Aviv, a high-ranking Israeli military official told reporters Wednesday that there was “a very high possibility” of such an operation, adding, “If you want to efficiently fight terrorism, you need to have boots on the ground.” 
 
 More than 113 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel on Wednesday, according to the Israeli military. 
 
 By Wednesday night, 222 people had been killed in Gaza during the nine-day operation, including 49 minors and 24 women, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. More than 1,600 people have been wounded in Gaza, the officials said. 
 
 Among the latest casualties were four Palestinian children, all younger than 12, who were killed by an Israeli missile or shell while playing on a beach in Gaza near a hotel used by foreign journalists, according to witnesses and Palestinian officials. The four boys were cousins. Seven others — adults and children — were reported wounded in the strike. 
 
 The Israeli army, calling the incident tragic, said the target had been a Hamas operative. 
 
 President Obama addressed the situation in brief White House remarks. Although he did not specifically mention the beach deaths, he said, “We are all heartbroken by the violence . . . especially the death and injury of so many innocent civilians in Gaza.” Obama said the United States would continue to “use all our diplomatic resources and relationships” to bring about a lasting cease-fire. “In the meantime,” he said, “we are going to support efforts to protect civilians in Israel and Gaza.” 
 
 For the first time in the conflict, Israel on Wednesday used its airstrikes to target the homes of top Hamas political leaders. They included Mahmoud Zahar, a founder of Hamas who played a prominent role in the Islamist militant group’s 2007 takeover of Gaza. 
 
 The strike on Zahar’s four-story house toppled its facade into the garden. Zahar was nowhere to be found Wednesday; he fled before the Israeli operation began and is assumed to be in hiding. 
 
 A neighbor, Ahmed al-Jarosha, said: “We knew when the cease-fire was rejected that we would start to see the Israelis hit political leaders. It is no surprise.” 
 
 The homes of three other Hamas leaders who are also members of the Palestinian Legislative Council were hit by airstrikes early Wednesday. None of politicians was injured. 
 
 In another possible signal of its intentions, Israel urged tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza to evacuate border areas. 
 
 Hamas leaders called for Gazans to remain in their homes. The militants did not stop evacuees from leaving but did not assist them. Hamas doctrine holds that those who abandon a neighborhood are following the orders of the occupiers. 
 
 “What is the real problem? Hamas asking people to stay in their own homes? Or the Israelis threatening their lives if they stay in their homes?” said Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas political leader. 
 
 Israelis condemn the practice as a cynical use of human shields. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said, “We are using missile defense to protect our civilians, and they’re using their civilians to protect their missiles.” 
 
 Israel came under sharp criticism Wednesday for its tactics. The watchdog group Human Rights Watch said Israeli air attacks in Gaza were targeting civilian structures and killing civilians, acts that could constitute war crimes. Israel has denied such allegations. 
 
 Hamas and other Palestinian militants boast that if there is a ground invasion of Gaza, they would use it as an opportunity to prove their mettle, saying that Israeli airstrikes would cease during the invasion and Israeli soldiers would be vulnerable to attack. 
 
 “It is best when the Israeli soldiers come to us,” said Abu Ahmed, chief spokesman for the militant group Islamic Jihad, whose rocket arsenal and numbers of fighters in Gaza are second only to Hamas. 
 
 “We know the terrain. It is our land,” he said. 
 
 Others in Gaza warn that a ground incursion by Israel would create a humanitarian crisis and a potential bloodbath. “It would be a catastrophe,” said Mkhaimar Abusada, a political scientist at Al-Azhar University in Gaza. 
 
 Hamas has struggled as a government to deliver a better life for the people of Gaza. Its military wing has achieved some success in the current conflict: Its rockets reached farther than before, causing air sirens to sound repeatedly over Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and Hamas managed to penetrate Israeli airspace with a drone. 
 
 “But Hamas today as a military doesn’t have much beyond rockets, and the arsenal is not renewable” because the smuggling tunnels from Egypt are closed and Israel does not allow Gaza to have a seaport or airport, said Ibrahim Ibrash, a former culture minister in Gaza. 
 
 Hamas also finds itself more isolated than ever. Standing in front of the Shifa Medical Center, Gaza’s largest hospital, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri complained that Gaza and Hamas have been abandoned even by their brothers. “The Arab world has done nothing. The Arab world is silent about Gaza.” 
 
 Hamas leaders now openly heap scorn on Egypt’s new government, headed by President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi, and complain that Cairo is working closely with the Israelis to crush the Islamist movement. “The Egypt media attacks Gaza. Shame on you. The Arab position is shameful,” Abu Zuhri said. 
 
 Booth reported from Gaza, and Eglash reported from Tel Aviv. Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| Gaza City (CNN) -- The Israeli Cabinet will meet early Tuesday to consider a cease-fire proposal that could provide a possible breakthrough in the ongoing crisis. 
 
 The proposal, put forward by Egypt, calls for all sides to cease hostilities in Gaza. It also calls for the opening of border crossings, once the security situation is stable, and for high-level talks among those involved. 
 
 Senior Israeli officials say the proposal is being taken very seriously; however, a Hamas spokesman described it as a "joke." 
 
 "We did not receive this declared paper from the Egyptians ... which means it's an initiative for the media. It's not a political initiative," said Osama Hamdan. 
 
 Speaking on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer," he continued: "It's not really an initiative. It's not really an idea, what they are trying to do is to corner the Palestinians and to help the Israelis more." 
 
 Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat was more optimistic, saying he is hopeful that "we may see some real, real serious signs of a possible cease-fire in the next 12-24 hours." 
 
 "I know that some other leaders in Hamas have said we are not closing any doors for any initiative for a cease-fire," he said. 
 
 The stakes are high and climbing. 
 
 By Monday, the death toll from nearly a week of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza had reached 186 -- all of them Palestinians -- with at least 1,390 wounded, according to Palestinian health authorities. 
 
 The death toll is now greater than the number killed in Gaza during the 2012 war. 
 
 "We welcome Egypt's call for a ceasefire and hope this will lead to the restoration of calm as soon as possible," said U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, describing the situation as both dangerous and volatile. 
 
 'We have nothing' 
 
 Over the weekend, Israel dropped leaflets instructing residents to leave northern areas of Gaza, where it planned to carry out strikes. But Hamas, which controls Gaza, told people to stay put. 
 
 Ahmed, a resident of northern Gaza, loaded his family into a taxi Sunday to take them to somewhat safer ground in Gaza City. 
 
 "I don't answer to them," Ahmed said of Hamas' request. "I do what's best for us." 
 
 As they were getting into the car, explosions erupted nearby, prompting cries of fear from the terrified children. 
 
 It's the third time in the last five years that the family has had to flee their home. 
 
 Others stayed, because they felt they had no other choice. 
 
 "They will not vacate. ... Where do we go?" asked Ramez Al-Madhoun, who lives in a building with 20 people in the northern Gaza neighborhood of Beit Lahya. He said his building is home to seven adults, the rest children. 
 
 In Gaza City, where some streets are strewn with rubble, people are taking refuge in U.N. buildings. More than 1,000 gathered in one school alone. 
 
 Um Juma'a says she and her family of 15 fled their home at 2 a.m. 
 
 "We told the kids, 'Get up! Get up!' " she says. "We walked all the way here." 
 
 A baby in the family needs milk, but they don't have any. 
 
 "We have nothing," she says. "Not even safety." 
 
 No signs of letting up 
 
 On Monday morning, the rhythmic thuds of shells fired from Israeli warships pierced the morning silence in Gaza. The streets were relatively quiet with few cars moving around. The buzz of drones filled the skies, a constant reminder of the Israeli aerial presence 
 
 Israel has said it will continue the offensive as long as the militant group Hamas keeps firing rockets into its territory. 
 
 And Hamas shows no sign of letting up after launching almost 1,000 rockets at Israel. 
 
 Caught in the middle are the residents of Gaza. While the Israeli attacks have killed some militants, around 70% of the fatalities were civilians, according to the United Nations. Of the dead, more than 30 are children, the U.N. reported. 
 
 "I urgently call on the Israeli Security Forces to put an end to attacks against, or endangering, civilians and civilian infrastructure which are contrary to international humanitarian law," said Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, or UNWRA. 
 
 There are now 17,000 refugees taking shelter in 20 schools in Gaza, UNWRA said, and the airstrikes have damaged 47 of its buildings, including clinics, schools and warehouses. 
 
 UNWRA called on Israel to exercise maximum restraint and precaution to avoid more casualties. 
 
 "Clearly at this stage not enough is being done in that regard," Krahenbuhl said. 
 
 'We cannot live in peace' 
 
 Israel said its forces have struck 1,470 "terror targets" across Gaza, including 770 concealed rocket launchers. 
 
 On Monday, an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip, struck a motorcycle, killing one member of Islamic Jihad, Palestinian medical and security forces said. 
 
 One airstrike hit the house of the head of the Gaza police, Tayseer al-Batsh, killing at least 18 people, all of them members of the same extended family, and wounding 50, Palestinian security and medical sources told CNN on Sunday. The attack, whose youngest victim was 10, happened late Saturday. 
 
 Earlier that day, an Israeli airstrike hit a center for the disabled, killing two women. 
 
 "Every people in Gaza are suspected as targets to Israel. We cannot live in peace in this situation," said Dr. Ahmed Jarour at Gaza's Shifa hospital, where two patients with severe burns from the disabled center attack were brought in. 
 
 On Friday, Israeli rounds struck the El Waffa Hospital. 
 
 The Israeli military said it was investigating the strikes but said that Hamas often hides missiles and other weapons in hospitals and private homes. 
 
 Iron Dome intercepting attacks 
 
 Israel has used its Iron Dome defense system against some of the more than 980 rockets fired from Gaza into Israel, the military said. 
 
 On Monday, the system intercepted a rocket fired from Gaza toward the Israeli border town of Sderot, close to CNN's Blitzer. 
 
 "We heard a loud boom," he said. "If you don't seek shelter, you're gonna be in danger because even though the rocket was destroyed in the air, the shrapnel starts coming down very, very quickly." 
 
 When sirens go off, people along the border have about 15 second to seek shelter. Farther north in Tel Aviv, where the Iron Dome system also intercepted a rocket Monday, people have about a minute. 
 
 On Sunday, militants launched more than 130 rockets at Israel. The defense system intercepted 22 of them. 
 
 Seventy percent of Israel's population lies within range of Hamas rocket attacks, according to the Israel Defense Forces, and the Iron Dome can't stop all of them. 
 
 One rocket that hit the city of Ashkelon on Sunday severely wounded an Israeli teen, the IDF said. 
 
 So far, no Israelis have been killed by the rocket attacks. 
 
 The IDF said Monday that it shot down a drone spotted along the Israeli coastline, near the city of Ashdod. 
 
 Hamas' military wing said in a brief statement that it has sent a number of drones on missions inside Israel and would provide more details in due course. 
 
 Al Aqsa TV in Gaza showed video of a drone it called Ababill 1, a name inspired by the Quran meaning "consecutive waves." 
 
 Hopes of a cease-fire 
 
 So far, international efforts to press Israel and Hamas into negotiating a cease-fire have failed to gain traction. 
 
 Secretary of State John Kerry was preparing a possible trip to the Middle East to lay groundwork for a cease-fire, but several U.S. officials told CNN Monday night that Kerry is postponing the visit to give Egyptian efforts a chance to take root. 
 
 Kerry was to travel from Vienna -- where he was negotiating a deal with Iran and world powers over Iran's nuclear program -- to Egypt and Qatar in the coming days to lay the groundwork for a possible cease-fire between the two sides. 
 
 One official said the United States wants to give Egypt a chance to reassert itself as a power broker the Middle East, as it did during the 2012 cease-fire. The United States sees the election of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as a positive development in terms of Egypt playing a constructive role in the conflict, because Obama administration sources say that North African nation now is viewed as less conciliatory towards Hamas than it was under former President Mohammed Morsy. 
 
 Kerry will allow a few days for diplomatic efforts to lay any groundwork, officials said, and is still prepared to either travel to the region if any cease-fire does not take hold, or to help support it if it does. 
 
 "Diplomacy has to start with Hamas," a senior U.S. official said. "They are the ones firing the rockets, and from (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's) point of view, he is just responding." 
 
 Earlier, Kerry spoke by phone with Netanyahu and expressed U.S. concerns about escalating tensions. He reiterated that the U.S. is prepared to help bring about a cease-fire, a senior State Department official said. 
 
 But "offering facilitation is not enough," Yousef Munayyer of the Washington-based Palestine Center told CNN's "New Day." 
 
 "It's important that the United States demand a cease-fire," he said. "There is no military solution to this." 
 
 On Monday, Ismail Haniyeh -- former prime minister and Gaza-based deputy chief of Hamas -- said that talks must take into account the situation on the ground. 
 
 "All diplomatic efforts must consider our demands. We cannot let the blood of our martyrs and the suffering and sacrifices of our people go to waste," he said. 
 
 "There are talks between several countries and with our political leadership abroad, but all must consider the reality on the ground. The resistance is steadfast against this aggression and cannot be written off." 
 
 The last cease-fire with Gaza was negotiated in 2012 and included Egypt and the country's now ousted President, Morsy. 
 
 His Muslim Brotherhood was closer to Hamas than Egypt's current government, which has been reluctant to open border crossings for Palestinians. 
 
 Tensions in the West Bank 
 
 The Gaza conflict flared after the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank set off a new cycle of violence in the region. The Jewish teens' bodies were found in a field two weeks ago. 
 
 Two days later, a Palestinian teenager -- Mohammad Abu Khedair -- was abducted and killed in Jerusalem, raising tensions further. 
 
 Seven suspects were arrested, according to Israel's domestic security service. They did not previously know their victim and two of the suspects first attempted to attack and kidnap an 8-year-old boy, the service said. The attempt was foiled by the boy's mother. 
 
 The kidnappers then patrolled Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods trying to locate a victim, until finding the teenager, the service said. 
 
 Since the Israeli youths went missing last month, Israeli security forces have been hunting for their abductors in the West Bank. Israel blames Hamas for the Jewish teenagers' deaths, an accusation the group denies. 
 
 The weeks-long Israeli search in the West Bank has stirred anger among residents, resulted in hundreds of arrests and provoked deadly unrest. 
 
 Early Monday, a 21-year-old Palestinian named Munir Ahmad Badareen was shot and killed during clashes with the Israeli military south of Hebron, said Rateb Jabour, a member of a local committee. 
 
 Badareen was left bleeding on the ground for 40 minutes before the Israeli military allowed a Palestinian ambulance to transfer him to a hospital, Jabour said. 
 
 A spokeswoman for the Israeli military said the matter would be investigated by the military police, whose findings would be reviewed by the military advocate general. 
 
 The death came as Israeli security forces detained 57 people in the West Bank late Sunday into early Monday, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society said. The detentions bring the total number of people arrested since the Israeli operation began last month to 1,071, including 34 Palestinian members of parliament, the organization said. 
 
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 Fear for daughter's Gaza border wedding 
 
 Opinion: A smart way out of the Gaza confrontation 
 
 CNN's Ben Wedeman reported from Gaza City, and Jethro Mullen reported and wrote from Hong Kong. CNN's Ali Younes, Yousuf Basil, Kareem Khadder, Tim Lister, Salma Abdelaziz, Michael Schwartz, Josh Levs and Khalil Abdallah contributed to this report.
– Israel launched a round of airstrikes on Gaza today, wounding two militants and eight bystanders, including some children. Israel says the attack was retaliation for a round of Palestinian rockets fired yesterday, which Palestinians say were in response to another Israeli airstrike earlier in the day, Reuters reports. More than 470 rockets have been fired from Gaza since June, but this was the first time Hamas acknowledged responsibility. As usual the rockets failed to harm anyone, though one did kill some goats at a petting zoo. The incident comes in the wake of a drone flight into Israeli airspace this weekend, which some have speculated came from Iran. An Iranian military official today boasted that the incident proved that Israel is vulnerable, and that its anti-missile defense system "does not work and lacks the necessary capacity." But he denied that the drone was made by Iran, saying such accusations represented a "psychological operation" on Israel's part. "The Zionist regime has many enemies," he said. Iran, meanwhile, is blaming Israel for a hack attack on its oil rigs.