• Israel responded to yesterday's attacks on civilian targets that killed eight with strikes on Palestine
• Gaza hits back by launching 10 rockets early this morning

Militants in Gaza launched a barrage of rockets at Israel early this morning as the deadliest attack against Israelis in three years threatened to escalate.

Israeli aircraft had responded to yesterday's attack, in which eight people died, by striking targets in the Palestinian territory. 

Yesterday, gunmen who appear to have originated in Gaza crossed into southern Israel through the Egyptian desert and ambushed civilian vehicles traveling on a remote road in southern Israel.

Rockets fired: Members of an Israeli bomb squad carry the remains of a rocket that was fired from the Gaza Strip into the coastal city of Ashdod in Israel this morning 

Airstrikes: A plume of smoke rises above Gaza City as Israeli missiles hit in the hours after attacks by militants near Eilat, Southern Israel

Six of those killed were civilians and two were members of Israeli security forces responding to the incursion.

The attack signaled a new danger for Israel from its border with the Sinai Peninsula, which had long remained quiet under the rule of deposed Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak was ousted in February and since then the desert of the Sinai Peninsula - largely controlled by Bedouin tribes - has become increasingly lawless.

 Hours after the initial attack Israel responded with an airstrike that killed five members of the Palestinian group that Israel said was behind the incursion, an organisation known as the Popular Resistance Committees. The dead included the group's leader.

A spokesman for the group, Abu Mujahid, would not confirm or deny responsibility for the attack inside Israel, but said militants would avenge the killing of the men in Gaza.

Warnings: Flares fired by the Israeli Army can be seen in the sky above the Israeli village of Elot near the southern city of Eilat

Ruins: A Palestinian man surveys the damage to his house after an Israeli air strike in Gaza today

Damage: An Israeli policeman and an Ultra Orthodox Jewish man inspect the damage to a synagogue caused by a Grad rocket launched from Gaza Strip

Scroll savers: Ultra Orthodox Jews evacuate Torah scrolls from a synagogue that was damaged following a Grad rocket attack from the Gaza Strip in Ashdod

Hamas denied any connection with the attacks, but hurriedly evacuated all of its security facilities yesterday in anticipation of more Israeli retaliation. Those strikes continued through the night, targeting what the military said were smuggling tunnels and sites used by gunmen.

Hamas officials said two children, aged 3 and 13, were killed in the Israeli strikes.

The Israeli military's chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, said it was 'too early' to say that a broad escalation in Gaza was imminent.

'If we see that Hamas is choosing to escalate, we will not hesitate to expand the scope of our actions, respond in strength and exact a price from Hamas,' he told Army Radio this morning.

Militants in Gaza launched at least 10 rockets into Israel today, the military said.

One, aimed at the city of Ashkelon, was intercepted by the new Israeli anti-missile system known as Iron Dome. Another hit the port city of Ashdod and wounded six Israelis, according to Israeli emergency services.

Israel's south has been equipped with early warning systems and bomb shelters over years of rocket fire from Gaza, and those measures have helped keep casualties low.

The attacks focused Israel's attention on its border with Egypt - 125 miles of mountainous desert with no fence for most of its length. The border has traditionally been crossed mainly by Bedouin smugglers ferrying drugs and thousands of African asylum-seekers into Israel.

Yesterday's attack - the deadliest for Israel since a Palestinian gunman killed eight people in a Jerusalem religious seminary in 2008 - took place near Israel's popular Red Sea resort city of Eilat, currently at the height of the tourist season.

Some 20,000 British tourists visit  Eilat each year. The last terror attack there was in 2007.

Though the desert outside Eilat showed signs of an increased military presence on Friday morning, the city itself appeared unaffected. Joggers and cyclists were visible along the beach.

Resident Zion Cohen, 53, said the steady stream of African migrants crossing the border with ease in recent years showed that an incursion like the one on yesterday was only a matter of time.

'What bothers me is the unbearable ease with which they cross the border and the knowledge that... every day, every minute and every hour something can happen like yesterday,' said Cohen said.

A new fence is currently under construction, and the military says it will be complete by the end of 2012.

Burned out: The shell of a bus lies at the side of a road leading to Eilat, Israel, following yesterday's bloody day of attacks

In hot pursuit: Israeli Police and Special Forces made arrests in connection with the attacks

Losing control: The attacks on soldiers and civilians in Israel's south yesterday fueled concerns that Egyptian security forces are losing control of the Sinai desert region bordering Israel

Deaths: A bullet-riddled car which was among the Israeli vehicles attacked north of Eilat yesterday