Violence has flared up between Israel and Gaza, with the Israeli air force killing four Palestinians and Palestinian militants firing rockets far across the border. The fighting erupted on Thursday when an air strike on a car killed two militants, one of them from Gaza's governing Islamist group Hamas, whom Israel accused of planning to send gunmen to attack it through the neighbouring Sinai region of Egypt.
Palestinian militants responded to Thursday's air strike with a barrage of rockets, some of which landed near Beersheba, a city 35 km (30 miles) from Gaza. No one was hurt. Air-raid sirens summoned residents of southern Israel to shelters. Another Israeli air strike followed before dawn on Friday, hitting a Hamas training camp in Gaza City. The blast flattened a nearby home, killing its owner and his 12-year-old son. The man's wife and five other children were wounded, hospital officials said. Hamas accused Israel of a "massacre".