Israel-Hamas war death toll nears 1,300 as Gaza Strip is bombed and gun battles rage for a third day

TEL AVIV (CBS NEWS) — Air raid sirens blared in the Israeli capital again Monday morning as Palestinian militants fired more missiles at the Jewish state and the death toll on both sides soared over 1,200, with nine Americans among the dead. Explosions rang out as Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system brought down some of the rockets, but there was no immediate word on how many might have slipped through.

The latest salvo of rockets, claimed by Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades military unit, came after Israel said it had struck hundreds of Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip overnight and as four Israeli combat divisions were deployed to the country’s south. Some 100,000 Israeli reservists were called up to fight as battles with Hamas militants continued.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said “fighter jets and helicopters, aircraft and artillery struck over 500 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip” Sunday night and Monday morning, claiming to have destroyed tunnels and at least seven “Hamas command centers” in the blockaded Palestinian territory. The IDF said it also struck a command center used by Islamic Jihad, another Iran-backed terror group based in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

“It’s taking more time than we expected to get things back into a defensive security posture,” Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told journalists Monday morning, acknowledging the ongoing battles in southern Israel three days after Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on the Jewish state.

Officials said the Israeli death toll from Hamas’ surprise attack stood at 700 Monday morning, but it was expected to continue rising. More than 250 of the dead were people who had been attending a music festival near the border with Gaza when the attack took place.

At least nine U.S. nationals were among the dead, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council told CBS News Monday morning. An undetermined number of Americans remained missing.