The United States government slammed Hamas’ campaign of terror against Israel, after tens of thousands of Israelis spent the night in bomb shelters as rocket barrages that began Wednesday evening continued throughout the night and into Thursday.

Following an escalation by Hamas that saw the first rocket from the Iranian-backed terror group reach the major southern Israeli city of Beersheba since 2014, the IDF said that it leveled a headquarters of Hamas.

Jason Greenblatt, the Trump’s administrations special envoy, said in a tweet that the “Hamas regime again is launching rockets at Israeli communities. Another night of terror & families huddling in fear as Israel defends itself. This is the Hamas regime’s choice. Hamas is subjecting people to the terrifying conditions of war again.”

MK Yair Lapid, who leads the Yesh Atid party, traveled Thursday to Sderot to see first-hand the damage from the overnight attacks and receive an update on the situation. “No country on earth would tolerate,” their civilians being fired at by an internationally designated terrorist organization without exercising the right to self-defense, Lapid stressed in an interview with The Israel Project.

“Hamas has to understand that Israel will not tolerate nights like the one we just had with rockets and mortars being fired at our women and children,” he added. Asked if Hamas and Israel are heading to war, or can agree on a ceasefire, Lapid said, “It’s too early to tell.”

He stressed that, “We will not sit on our hands while our children are being bombed by people who are using their own children as human shields.” During the Hamas-orchestrated riots along the Gaza-Israeli border, which started in March, the terrorist group sent women and children to the frontline as human shields.

“If necessary, we will go into war. But hopefully it can still be prevented, if Hamas comes to its senses,” Lapid observed, echoing earlier statements from Israeli officials, who raised hopes that peace negotiations will resume.

The proposed multi-phase agreement, under the leadership of Egypt, would begin with Hamas halting the arson attacks and other violence on the border, while Israel would ease restrictions on the Kerem Shalom border crossing and Egypt would reopen its Rafah crossing with the territory.

The second phase of the agreement would see the implementation of humanitarian projects for the territory, while in the third phase, major infrastructure projects would be carried out, among them the construction of a port in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. The final phase would involve a long-term truce and talks on a prisoner exchange, notably the return of two Israeli civilians and the bodies of two Israeli soldiers being held by Hamas, which Israel has insisted be part of any deal.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Sderot, Alon Davidi, in an interview with The Israel Project issued a passionate plea to the international community to put an end to the violence. “I say to you, please, your leadership in Europe, in Canada, in the United States, in all democratic countries, you must know we need your help, we need your support.”

The mayor continued: “We are on the frontline against terror. Sderot, and the villages around Gaza. All the terrorists who want to destroy us, our houses, our children…if they have the chance they will come again to Paris, London, Belgium, Canada, the United States, or Russia.”

Davidi stressed that the money that flows into Gaza from the international community is used by Hamas, which exercises complete political and military control over the costal enclave to buy weapons and rockets “to destroy our country.”