Hundreds of civilians, mostly in Iran, have been killed by dueling airstrikes despite international pleas for de-escalation.

Israel's military spokesman said that the country’s air force has destroyed 120, or about one-third, of Iran’s surface-to-surface missile launchers since the beginning of its confrontation with Iran.

All night people in Israel have been braced for more rockets. Just before 01:00 the Israeli military announced that it was striking missile sites in Iran, and instructed residents to move closer to shelters. Four hours later the response came – with what felt like the largest barrage so far of this conflict.

Iran unleashed a missile barrage on Israeli cities Monday after Israeli strikes deep inside the Islamic republic, leaving streets in ruins and the death toll in Israel climbing by 11 amid a spiralling air war.

The deadly conflict between Israel and Iran has entered a fourth day, with both sides firing waves of missiles overnight. Follow for live updates.

Israel’s high-tech defences have so far succeeded against most of the hundreds of ballistic missiles fired by Iran.

The Israeli military said that its air force has struck a number of command centers of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It said that the command centers, which were in Tehran, were used to direct proxy groups to launch attacks against Israel.

The Iron Dome is designed to protect Israeli citizens by launching guided missiles to intercept incoming rockets and other short-range threats in mid-air.