Israel's Ben Gurion international airport suspended air traffic on Tuesday following a massive barrage of rockets launched towards nearby Tel Aviv by Hamas militants in Gaza, the civil aviation authority said. 

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday urged both Israel and the Palestinians to lower tensions and urged an immediate end to rocket fire by Hamas.

The United States on Tuesday urged both Israel and the Palestinians to avoid "deeply lamentable" civilian deaths after air strikes by the Jewish state in response to rocket fire in Gaza.

France wants Israeli leaders to show a "proportionate use of force" in response to rockets fired by the Hamas Islamist movement following several nights of violence at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a government official said Tuesday.

The United Nations rights office said Tuesday it was "deeply concerned" by the escalation of violence in the occupied Palestinian territories, east Jerusalem and Israel.

Islamic Jihad, one of the main Palestinian armed groups in Gaza, said Tuesday that two of its commanders were killed in Israeli air strikes targeting the strip.

Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza exchanged heavy fire Tuesday, killing at least 26 Palestinians and two Israelis, in an escalation sparked by violent unrest at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound.

Nine children were among those killed in the blockaded Gaza Strip that is controlled by Hamas and 125 people there were wounded, local health authorities said.  

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday that Israel would step up attacks on Gaza's rulers Hamas after two Israeli women were killed by rockets fired from the enclave.

"Since yesterday, the army has carried out hundreds of attacks against Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza... and we will further intensify the power of our attacks," Netanyahu said in a video released by his office, adding that Hamas "will be hit in ways that it does not expect."

Amnesty International said Israel is using "abusive and wanton force against largely peaceful Palestinian protesters" in east Jerusalem clashes that have wounded hundreds of demonstrators and dozens of police.

Qatar's ruler Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani landed in Saudi Arabia for talks Monday, in his second visit since the countries re-established relations in January following a bitter three-year feud.