Arabs looking for a bloody Shabbat:

• Gaza rocket hits Ashdod synagogue, injuring three
• Gaza mortar explodes near preschool in Eshkol
• 1 wounded in Beersheba

Medical officials in southern Israel announced the death of a four-year-old Israeli boy who suffered serious injuries when a mortar launched from the northern Gaza Strip directly slammed into a car before sundown on Friday.

Israel Policeman poses with part of a rocket that struck in the Tel Aviv area earlier Friday – Photo: Israel Police

According to Channel 10, Magen David Adom rescue services rushed the boy to hospital, listing him in grave condition. A short time later, the boy was pronounced dead.

The incident occurred in a kibbutz in the Sha’ar Hanegev regional council. According to Channel 2, Palestinians in Gaza fired a barrage of mortars at the kibbutz, one of which exploded in a location near where the boy was standing.

The boy sustained serious injuries, and rescue services rushed him to hospital. A short time later, he was pronounced dead.

Rocket sirens were activated in Tel Aviv just before sundown on Friday as Palestinians in Gaza launched at least three projectiles at central Israel.

Witnesses reported hearing at least three explosions overhead. No word yet on whether any injuries or damage resulted from the incident.

Sirens were also heard in the adjacent suburbs of Tel Aviv, including Ramat Gan, Holon, Bat Yam, and Givatayim.

Earlier Friday, a rocket fired by Palestinians in Gaza slammed into a synagogue in the southern city of Ashdod, injuring three people.

According to police, the injuries resulted from flying shrapnel immediately after impact. The Magen David Adom rescue service reported that two people were lightly hurt and one moderately injured. Eight others were treated for shock.

Earlier Friday morning, a mortar shell landed near a preschool in southern Israel’s Eshkol Regional Council during continued barrages of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

In Beersheba two rockets were intercepted over the city while a third exploded in a residential parking lot, wounding one person, police reported. The man was rushed to the hospital in moderate condition from shrapnel wounds. Several vehicles in the vicinity sustained damages.

Another rocket landed in open areas of the greater Tel Aviv area.

From midnight until 4:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon, some 70 projectiles from Gaza were fired into Israel and the Iron Dome rocket defense system executed eight interceptions, the IDF spokesperson said.

Rocket alert sirens blared throughout the morning in the South with 26 rockets launched so far at Israel by mid-day from the Gaza Strip. The Iron Dome rocket defense system intercepted five rockets and 21 struck open areas in Israel.

Sirens went off in the Eshkol Regional Council, the Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, Ashkelon and Beersheba.

Meanwhile, the IDF continued its campaign against terrorist elements in the Gaza Strip for a third day since a temporary cease-fire collapsed on Tuesday night with the resumption of rocket attacks from Gaza.

The air force struck some 30 targets across Gaza on Friday from midnight until 4:00 p.m, the IDF said. Since Tuesday, the IAF killed 23 terrorists in Gaza.

Palestinian medical sources reported that one person was killed during the overnight air force strikes in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah.

On Friday morning, Palestinian sources in Gaza reported that four additional people had been killed in Israeli air strikes in the enclave.

View original Jerusalem Post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Abbas-expected-to-visit-Cairo-as-Gaza-rockets-continue-to-target-Israel-371945