US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta pledged Thursday his country will continue to boost Israel's Iron Dome air defense system that has successfully intercepted hundreds of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

Panetta said he was very proud that the Iron Dome system performed remarkably well during the clashes between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, which had killed nearly 150 Palestinians and five Israelis before a cease-fire was reached last week.

The system intercepted more than 400 rockets bound for Israeli cities, with a roughly 85 percent success rate, Panetta told a joint press conference in the Pentagon with his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Barak.

"Its success is a testament to the ingenuity of the Israeli people and to the commitment of the United States to Israel's security," he said. "Today, I assured the minister that our strong commitment to Iron Dome will continue into the future."

The United States provided 70 million US dollars in fiscal year 2012 to fund the system, in addition to the 205 million dollars previously provided, the US defense chief said.

"We will obviously continue to work together to seek additional funding to enable Israel to boost Iron Dome's capacity further and to help prevent the kind of escalation and violence that we've seen," he said.

Barak expressed appreciation of the US plan. "The needs are much larger than what we have right now, and we are determined to complete the system, besides the operational offensive capacities of the Israeli armed forces," he said.

Panetta reiterated the US strong support to Israel's self-defense rights and condemned the rocket attacks launched by Hamas militants against Israel.

He also vowed to continue to work with Israel and Egypt to end the smuggling of arms into the Gaza Strip.

He urged Israel and the Palestinians to sit down to resolve their differences so to achieve real peace.

Panetta also discussed the issue of Iran's nuclear program with Barak, repeating the US determination to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

There is time and space for an effort to try to achieve a diplomatic solution as Iran was facing unprecedented pressure from crippling sanctions imposed by the international community, he said.

Panetta pinned the Defense Department's Medal for Distinguished Public Service on Barak, who announced Monday his intention to quit politics after the national elections in January 2013.