Cross border attacks between Israel and Gaza shook communities today, as ceasefire efforts have yet to bear fruit.

A flurry of long-range rocket launches set off sirens around Israel's commercial capital of Tel Aviv, where witnesses reported several interceptions by the Iron Dome air defence system.

A building was hit in the southern coastal town of Ashkelon but there were no casualties.

The rockets have sent Israelis regularly rushing to shelters and dented the economy despite Iron Dome's high rate of success.

A Hamas rocket intercepted near Ben Gurion Airport on Tuesday prompted the US Federal Aviation Administration to halt American commercial flights to Israel's main international gateway. Some European carriers followed suit.

An air strike on Gaza City targeted a woman's home, residents said, and destroyed other nearby buildings.

Piles of debris littered the streets, with residents barely able to salvage belongings.

Gaza's housing ministry said 20,000 housing units in the territory have been either completely or partially damaged.

More than 140,000 Palestinians have been displaced in Gaza by the fighting, many of them seeking shelter in buildings run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

US Secretary of State John Kerry pressed regional proxies to nail down a Gaza ceasefire as the civilian death toll soared, threatening to spread Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed to the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.