Palestinian militants fire rocket at Jerusalem

GAZA CITY -- Palestinian militants took aim at Jerusalem for the first time yesterday, launching a rocket attack on the holy city in a major escalation of hostilities as Israel pressed forward with a relentless campaign of airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.

Israel called up thousands of reservists and massed troops along the border with Gaza, signaling a ground invasion of the densely populated seaside strip could be imminent. The attack on Jerusalem, along with an earlier strike on the metropolis of Tel Aviv, raised the likelihood that Israel would soon move in.

Israel assassinated the military chief of the ruling Hamas militant group on Wednesday, then conducting dozens of airstrikes on weapons-storage sites used by rocket squads. The sudden attack came in response to days of heavy rocket fire from Gaza.

Israeli leaders have threatened to widen the operation if the rocket fire doesn't halt. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said options included the possible assassination of Hamas' prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, and other top leaders.

"Every time that Hamas fires there will be a more and more severe response," he told Israel's Channel 2 TV. "I really recommend all the Hamas leadership in Gaza not to try us again . . . Nobody is immune there, not Haniyeh and not anybody else."

More than 450 rockets have been fired from Gaza, including a number of sophisticated weapons never before used.

The rocket attack on Jerusalem was unprecedented. Police said the rocket landed in an open area southeast of the city, near the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. Earlier Friday, Hamas fired a rocket at Tel Aviv that also landed in an open area.

"We are sending a short and simple message: There is no security for any Zionist on any single inch of Palestine and we plan more surprises," said Abu Obeida, a spokesman for Hamas' armed wing.

In all, 27 Palestinians and three Israelis have been killed.

The violence has widened the instability gripping the region, straining already frayed Israel-Egypt relations. The Islamist government in Cairo dispatched Prime Minister Hesham Kandil to show solidarity with Gaza.

Kandil called for an end to the offensive while touring Gaza City's Shifa Hospital with Haniyeh, the Gaza prime minister. In one chaotic moment, the two leaders held up the body of a 4-year-old boy who Hamas said was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Israel vociferously denied the claim, saying it had not operated in the area.