Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to escalate the fight against Hamas, vowing the group would "pay a heavy price" after a four-year-old Israeli boy was killed by a mortar attack from Gaza.

The Islamic militant group appeared to be stepping up attacks after Israeli forces killed three of its senior commanders.

More than 80 rockets and mortars hit Israel.

The four-year-old boy died in this attack on a farm in a southern Israeli village.

He was the first Israeli child to die in the six-week conflict.

The Israeli army carried out about 30 air strikes on Friday.

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