4-year-old boy pronounced dead after being critically wounded by a mortar shell fired towards Sha'ar Hanegev.

A four-year-old was killed on Friday evening after a mortar launched from the northern Gaza Strip directly slammed into a car.

The incident occurred in a kibbutz in the Sha'ar Hanegev regional council. According to Channel 2 News, terrorists 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 critical injuries, and rescue services rushed him to hospital. A short time later, he was pronounced dead.

Gaza terrorists continued to fire rockets and mortars towards Israel on Friday.

A rocket fired on Friday afternoon caused considerable damage to a synagogue in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod.

Paramedics from the United Hatzalah and Magen David Adom emergency organizations rushed to the scene, after a massive explosion was heard. Three people were injured and have been evacuated for further medical treatment after receiving first aid.

Medical sources described two of the victims as males, aged 25 and 26, who suffered shrapnel injuries to their extremities. They have been evacuated to the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot.

The third victim, a 40-year-old woman, suffered injuries to her torso, and has been evacuated to Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon.

Several others were treated at the scene for shock.

Earlier in the day, a 54-year-old man was moderately wounded in a rocket attack on the southern city of Be'er Sheva.

Shortly afterwards, a rocket struck just 12 meters from a kindergarten packed with children and teachers. It was part of a five-rocket salvo from Gaza; the Iron Dome intercepted two others over the city of Ashkelon, and three fell on communities in the western Negev, one of which struck close to the kindergarten.

Luckily, no one was wounded in the attack as the kindergarten building - like most in southern Israel - was equipped with bomb shelters, and all of the building's occupants managed to reach safe areas.

Uzi Baruch contributed to this report.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)