Rocket barrages, Israeli strikes threaten new Gaza war

The worst escalation between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza since a 2014 war threatened to descend into full-blown conflict on Tuesday after further barrages of rocket fire and dozens more air strikes overnight.

Six Palestinians were killed in Gaza in less than 24 hours as Israeli strikes targeted militants and flattened buildings while sending fireballs and plumes of smoke into the sky.

Sirens wailed in southern Israel and tens of thousands of residents took cover in shelters as around 400 rockets and mortar rounds were fired from the Gaza Strip, wounding 27 people, including three severely.

A Palestinian labourer from the occupied West Bank was killed when a rocket hit a building in the Israeli city of Ashkelon.

Schools were closed in the Gaza Strip and in southern Israel as both sides warned the other that it would respond forcefully to any further violence.

A spokesman for Hamas's armed wing, Abu Obeida, threatened to further expand its targets "if the enemy continues to bomb civilian buildings." Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said "what we have signalled to Hamas over this night is that we have the intelligence and capabilities to strike a very wide range of military targets that belong to Hamas."