Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on CBS's Face the Nation Sunday from Tel Aviv just as another round of sirens sounded, sending the city under yet another red alert. The prime minister asked viewers to imagine this scenario happening in every city in America:

Well, the sirens went off because Hamas have fired rockets on Israel's major city. They're firing rockets at all our cities. I want your audience to imagine what it would be like if all the cities of the United States -- I'm not just talking about New York and Washington, I'm talking about all the cities of the United States from the East Coast to Colorado. 80% of your population would be in bomb shelters, with a minute to a minute and a half red alert warning time to get into those shelters. That's what we're experiencing right now as we speak. So this is an unconscionable terrorist attack on civilian populations and of course we have to act to defend ourselves.

Host Schieffer asked how many rockets have been fired to date from the Gaza. Netanyahu said over 400 rockets have hit Israel's cities. He estimates that the number is closer to 500 when accounting for rockets that have been fired but missed their targets.

The prime minister explained that the choice of rockets by Hamas is deliberate. Excepting chemical weapons or nuclear weapons, Netanyahu said Hamas is using "the ultimate terror weapon" in that the frequency of launches and explosions terrorizes civilians.

Netanyahu explained that his country must defend against these terrorists, as "any country would." He said they are trying to pinpoint the rocketeers and they are having to go at it surgically because the command posts are embedded amongst "homes, hospitals, next to kindergartens, [and] mosques."

But the prime minister said that there is a huge difference between the terrorists of Hamas and Israeli forces, especially in terms of their civilian population:

We're using missile defense to protect our civilians and they're using their civilians to protect their missiles. So, naturally they're responsible for all the civilian deaths that occur accidentally. We're sorry for any accidental civilian death but it's the Hamas that bears complete responsibility for such civilian casualty.