DHAKA: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said military operations will ‘intensify’ after an Israeli boy was killed by fire from Gaza.

The four-year-old died in a mortar attack on a southern Israeli village near the Gaza border.

Meanwhile Israeli air strikes have continued, killing at least four people on Friday, Palestinian officials say, reports the BBC.

More than 2,090 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 67 Israelis, mostly soldiers, have been killed in recent weeks.

Netanyahu’s spokesman, Ofir Gendelman, quoted him on Twitter as saying Hamas would ‘pay a heavy price’ for the boy’s death.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet security service would ‘intensify’ operations against Hamas until the goal of Israel’s Operation Protective Edge campaign was achieved, he added.

BDST: 1510 HRS, AUG 23, 2014