Israeli air strike kills 2 in Gaza
IDF says vehicle struck on road between Khan Younis and Rafah was carrying ‘terrorists who were planning to carry out attacks’; medical sources in Strip say passengers Islamic Jihad members; unidentified gunmen fire at home of Hamas lawmaker in south Gaza Strip, killing one of his bodyguards
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that the air force struck the vehicle on the road between the towns of Khan Younis and Rafah, saying the occupants were “terrorists who were planning to carry out attacks.”
Medical sources described the dead as members of Islamic Jihad, a group sworn to the Jewish state’s destruction.
Israel’s air force has killed scores of terrorists in Gaza and the West Bank during a 6-year-old Palestinian revolt.
Later it was reported that unidentified gunmen fired at the home of a Hamas lawmaker in the south Gaza Strip, killing one of his bodyguards in what appeared to be the latest attack in a Palestinian power struggle.
The lawmaker, Younis al-Astal, was not hurt in the shooting in Khan Younis town. He is considered among the more hardline figures in Hamas, an Islamic terror group that ousted the more moderate and long-dominant Fatah faction in January elections.
Gaza and the West Bank have seen spiraling violence between Hamas and Fatah supporters this week. At least 14 people have died, including a Hamas leader shot by gunmen near his mosque in the West Bank city of Qalqiliya on Wednesday.
The factional clashes overshadowed a visit to the region by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who seeks to restart a “Road map” to Israeli-Palestinian peace.
