"We discussed Israel's military operation in Gaza, including its efforts to stop the threat of terrorist infiltration through tunnels into Israel," Obama told White House reporters at a news conference.
"I reaffirmed my strong support for Israel's right to defend itself. No nation should accept rockets being fired into its borders or terrorists tunneling into its territory. In fact, while I was having the conversation with Prime Minister Netanyahu, sirens went off in Tel Aviv," he said.
"That's why we've indicated although we support military efforts by the Israelis to make sure that rockets are not being fired into their territory, we also have said that our understanding is the current military ground operations are designed to deal with the tunnels," he said.
"We are hopeful that Israel will continue to approach this process in a way that minimises civilian casualties and that all of us are working hard to return to the cease-fire that was reached in November of 2012.