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Tel Aviv came under a barrage of 130 rockets launched by Hamas from the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, sending residents fleeing for shelter as air raid sirens blared across Israel’s second-largest city.

Israel’s anti-rocket defense systems were activated Tuesday night, with the streaks of multiple interceptor missiles lighting up the skies over the area.

The heavy bombardment came in retaliation for an Israeli strike earlier on Tuesday evening that leveled a high-rise building in Gaza, which housed the offices of several top Hamas officials. That strike had come in ralition for earlier Hamas bombings.

Both sides had been firing at each other almost nonstop throughout the day, in some of the worst fighting between Israel and the terror group since their 2014 war.

As the rockets launched into the skies from Gaza on Tuesday night, mosques blared with chants of “God is great,” “Victory to Islam” and “Resistance.”

One of the rockets appeared to have hit an oil pipeline belonging to an Israeli state-owned energy company, setting a large storage tank on fire. Videos showed flames engulfing the tank in the city of Ashkelon, which reportedly burned for hours.

A 50-year-old woman was killed in strikes on the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon Lezion. Two other women, one in her 80s and one in her 60s, were killed when rockets hit their homes in the southern city of Ashkelon, according to Israel’s Magen David Adom ambulance service.

One of the three women killed in the Gaza rocket attacks was identified as Soumya Santosh, an Indian national working as a caregiver in Israel.

Israel’s ambassador to India, Ron Malka, extended his condolences to her family, writing on Twitter, “Our hearts are crying with her 9 years old son that lost his mother in this cruel Terrorist attack.”

One of the rockets struck a bus in the central city of Holon, just south of Tel Aviv, wounding three people, including a 5-year-old girl, according to medics.

Traffic at the Tel Aviv airport, a major hub, was suspended amid the air raids.

Israel’s Iron Dome air defenses intercepted the bulk of the rockets that made it across the border, the country’s military said, adding that many of the rockets from Gaza had fallen short and wounded Palestinians.

In a nationally televised speech late Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas and Islamic Jihad “have paid, and will pay, a heavy price” — and warned that the fighting would continue for some time.

“This campaign will take time, with determination, unity and strength,” he said.

The confrontation was sparked by weeks of tensions in contested Jerusalem, which erupted into clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces on Monday.

At least 28 Palestinians — including 10 children — were killed in Gaza, most by airstrikes, since Monday night, health officials there said. The Israeli military said at least 16 of the dead were militants.

On Tuesday evening, Israel launched airstrikes into the Gaza Strip after Hamas and other Islamic jihadist militants bombarded multiple locations in Israel with rockets.

The Islamic Jihad vowed to fire rockets into Tel Aviv, which led to the collapse of the 13-story residential building.

“In response to the targeting of residential towers and civilians, your appointment with the resistance’s rockets in the skies of Tel Aviv is at 9 p.m.,” a statement by an Islamic Jihad spokesman said.

In total, it fired 130 rockets, marking its most aggressive strike thus far.

Sirens could be heard blaring across the southern and central parts of Israel on and off for hours as the two exchanged rocket-fire. The sound of the outgoing rockets could also be heard in Gaza.

In response to rocket-fire on Monday, Netanyahu had said that Israel “will not tolerate attacks on our territory, our capital, our citizens, or our soldiers” before vowing to retaliate.

“Israel will respond with great force. We will not tolerate attacks on our territory, our capital, our citizens, or our soldiers,” he said at the time.

In a tweet in the immediate aftermath of the missile attack, the IDF warned that, “One of the 100s of rockets that were just fired from Gaza toward Tel Aviv and central Israel exploded on a civilian bus.

“Hamas’ intentions are clear: kill Israeli civilians. We won’t stand by and let this happen.”

Asked about the developing situation during a briefing Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that President Biden had “directed his team to engage intensively with senior Israeli and Palestinian officials as well as leaders throughout the Middle East.

“His team is communicating a clear and consistent message in support of de-escalation and that is our primary focus. The president’s support for Israel’s security, for its legitimate right to defend itself and its people is fundamental and will never waver. We condemn ongoing rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups, including against Jerusalem.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to the Israeli foreign minister to condemn the Hamas attacks and “reiterate the important message of de-escalation,” the State Department said.

Meanwhile, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke with Israeli National Security Advisor Meir Ben Shabbat and “condemned the ongoing rocket attacks by Hamas and other terrorist groups,” according to a statement from NSC Spokesperson Emily Horne.

Sullivan also conveyed Biden’s “unwavering support for Israel’s security and for its legitimate right to defend itself and its people, while protecting civilians,” the statement said.

In addition, Sullivan had a conversation with the Egyptian government over the situation. “They discussed steps to restore calm over the coming days and agreed to stay in close touch,” the statement said.

With Post wires