TEL AVIV, Israel — The Israeli military says its "Iron Dome" rocket-defense system has shot down an incoming projectile bound for Tel Aviv.

Footage from Associated Press Television News shows a plume of smoke emanating from an Iron Dome battery newly deployed in Tel Aviv followed by a flash of light overhead as the rocket is intercepted.

People huddled along Tel Aviv's beachfront boardwalk cheered Saturday as the interception took place.

It's the third straight day that Gaza militants have fired rockets at Tel Aviv, Israel's bustling commercial and cultural capital.

Israel says its Iron Dome system has intercepted nearly 250 rockets since a round of fighting broke out on Wednesday.

The rocket caused no casualties or damage, police told Reuters.

The armed wing of the Islamist Hamas movement said in Gaza that it launched a long-range Fajr-5 rocket at the city, Israel's commercial center, Reuters reported.

Witnesses told Reuters they saw two white plumes of smoke, the interceptor missiles, rise into the sky over the southern outskirts of Tel Aviv and heard an explosion when the rocket was hit.