Israel-Gaza conflict: Child's death unleashes new Israeli rocket attacks

The residents of Gaza were warned of what to expect. In messages delivered by leaflet, voicemail and text messages to those living in the besieged coastal enclave, Israel said there would be another onslaught; another escalation in a direct response to the killing of an Israeli child hours before.

Four-year-old Daniel Tregerman became the first Israeli child to be killed near Gaza on Friday. Yesterday, renewed air strikes were carried out by Israel, as dozens of militants fired rockets into the Jewish state.

The Israeli army said it was preparing to attack "terrorists and terror infrastructure", telling Palestinians to stay away from areas where rockets were being fired into Israel. "Any house that is used to wage attacks against Israel will be targeted," read the leaflets in Gaza. "The mission is still ongoing; Beware."

With no end in sight to the deadliest violence between the sides in years, Egypt yesterday attempted to restart the ceasefire talks, but with little apparent success.

After Daniel was killed at an Israeli kibbutz near the Gaza border, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said: "In this difficult moment, I wish to strengthen the people of Israel. Hamas will pay a heavy price for this terrible terrorist attack. The IDF [Israel Defence Forces] and the Shin Bet [intelligence agency] will intensify their operations against Hamas and the terrorist organisations in Gaza until the goals of Operation Protective Edge will be reached."

The boy, who is due to be buried at 9am local time today, was the first Israeli child to die, but more than 460 children have been killed in Gaza by Israeli bombardment during the six-week war, according to Unicef.

Israel initially claimed that the mortar that killed Daniel had been fired from near a school used as a shelter by the UN Relief and Works Agency. Two hours later, Peter Lerner, the IDF spokesman, retracted the claim, saying the rocket had been fired from a Hamas shelter.

Daniel's parents, Gila and Doron Tregerman, were reported to have left their home in the south due to rocket fire from Gaza, but decided to return just a few days ago. The whole Tregerman family was at home when the mortar was fired on Friday. According to local reports, when sirens sounded, the parents got their two youngest children into a shelter, but Daniel was still outside when the mortar struck.

Health officials in Gaza said five people, reportedly members of the same family – including two children aged three and four – were killed in an Israeli strike on a house in central Gaza yesterday. The Israeli military said it bombed about 20 targets.