Updated

The U.N.'s top human rights official has denounced three days of fierce clashes between Israeli forces and Gaza militants, urging them both to pull back.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says she is appalled that civilians are being killed, including three Israelis in their apartment and several Palestinian children, including a baby, and a pregnant woman.

Her spokesman, Rupert Colville, told reporters Friday in Geneva that Pillay condemns the indiscriminate firing of rockets from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel and is extremely concerned by the sharp increase in aerial attacks by Israeli forces on the heavily populated Gaza Strip.

With rockets from the Gaza Strip targeting Tel Aviv, Colville said Pillay "urges both sides to pull back from an increasingly dangerous confrontation."