The international community must do everything possible to avert a new conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, France's foreign minister said Wednesday, after Palestinian militants fired hundreds of rockets and the Israeli army launched air strikes.

Israelis and Palestinians must immediately halt their violence "to prevent a broader conflict" impacting civilian populations, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on Wednesday.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday called for an urgent meeting of the Middle East Quartet in order to halt violence between Israel and the Palestinians.

The U.N. Security Council held another emergency meeting Wednesday on worsening hostilities between Israel and Palestinians, again without agreeing on a joint statement due to opposition from the United States, Israel's key ally, according to diplomats.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday reiterated his urging for a halt to violence between Israel and the Palestinians in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

"The secretary reiterated his call on all parties to de-escalate tensions and bring a halt to the violence," said a State Department statement. 

Calls grew on Wednesday for a de-escalation of violence after intense hostilities between Israel and the Palestinians that have left at least 65 dead and hundreds injured.

Hamas said it fired a barrage of rockets Wednesday towards central and southern Israel, where rescue workers reported one of them killed a six-year-old boy.

The Palestinian group said in a statement that it launched 130 rockets in response to an Israeli air raid that leveled the Al-Sharouk tower in Gaza City.

Heavy exchanges of rocket fire and air strikes, and rioting in mixed Jewish-Arab towns, fueled fears Wednesday that deadly violence between Israel and Palestinians could spiral into "full-scale war."

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday urged Israel and the Palestinians to halt fighting in a call with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said the world needs to give Israel a "strong" lesson.

Rockets streamed out of Gaza and Israel pounded the territory with airstrikes early Wednesday as the most severe outbreak of violence since the 2014 war took on many hallmarks of that devastating 50-day conflict, with no endgame in sight.

Gaza's Hamas rulers and other militant groups have fired barrages of hundreds of rockets that at times have overwhelmed Israel's missile defenses, causing air raid sirens and explosions to echo across Tel Aviv, Israel's biggest metropolitan area, and other cities.