Two dead in Israel-Gaza border violence

A three-year-old Palestinian girl has been killed in a series of retaliatory Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip.

The attacks came hours after an Israeli civilian was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper while repairing the border security fence.

Israel's military said its aircraft and tanks had carried out strikes on several "terror sites", including a weapons manufacturing base.

Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, said it was a "dangerous escalation".
Hamas official Mushir al-Masri said on al-Aqsa television that Israel would "pay the price for these crimes" and he said Hamas and other Palestinian organisations were considering an "appropriate response".
'Severe incident'
According to reports, the girl died when Israeli shells hit the east of Maghazi refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip.

The girl's mother and two of her brothers were wounded in the attack, reports say.

A Gaza health ministry official said a man was killed in an Israeli attack in northern Gaza - but the BBC has been unable to confirm this.

The Israeli man was shot in the chest while working on the border fence near Nahal Oz. He later died in hospital.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the "very severe incident" would not go unanswered.

"Our policy until now has been to act beforehand and to respond in force, and this is how we will act regarding this incident as well."

There has been intermittent violence along the border since a ceasefire ended an eight-day conflict between Israel and militants in Gaza in November 2012.

Israel considers Gaza a "hostile territory" after it was taken over by the anti-Israel Islamist Hamas movement in 2007.