Israel targets militants in Gaza

15 Oct 2012, 7:18 am   -   Source: AAP
Israeli strikes targeting militants in Gaza have killed five people including a top Salafist leader. (AAP)

Israeli strikes targeting militants in Gaza have killed five people including a top Salafist leader. (AAP)

Israeli strikes on Gaza militants have killed five people over the weekend, among them a top Salafist leader.

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Two Gazans have died in an Israeli strike, raising to five the total number killed as Israel pressed a series of raids targeting militants, among them a top Salafist leader.

Palestinian witnesses said the latest Israeli strike on Sunday targeted a motorcycle near Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, killing two militants in their early 20s.

The Israeli army confirmed the strike, saying it had targeted "a terrorist rocket squad".

Ashraf al-Qudra, spokesman for the Hamas-run health ministry, told AFP the strike killed Ezzedine Abu Nasira, 23, and Ahmad Fatayer, 22, and left another two people in critical condition.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said they were targeted after firing a rocket into Israel that landed in the Eshkol regional council flanking the southern sector of the Gaza border, without causing injury.

It was the third deadly Israeli raid within 24 hours and came just hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "act aggressively" against anyone threatening to attack Israelis.

"Global jihad is increasing its efforts to strike at us and we shall continue to act aggressively and forcefully in response," he told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting, saying the military would also engage in "preventive strikes".

The surge in bloodshed began on Saturday night when the air force targeted a motorcycle in the northern town of Jabaliya, killing top Salafist leader Sheikh Hisham al-Saedini, 43, and a fellow militant called Fayek Abu Jazar, 42.

Saedini, a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship, headed a Salafist group called Tawhid wal-Jihad, or the Mujahedeen Shura Council, which has claimed responsibility for firing a handful of rockets at Israel over the past six weeks.

A 12-year-old bystander was wounded in the raid, medics said.

Several hours later, warplanes targeted two militants from the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the southern city of Khan Yunis, killing one and critically wounding the second.

The dead militant was identified as Yasser Mohammad al-Atal, 23.

The strike came shortly after a rocket hit an open field in the Eshkol region, with the army saying the dawn raid had targeted "a terrorist squad".

Saedini was one of the top Salafist militants in Gaza who founded the Mujahedeen Shura Council at the end of 2008.

He was buried in Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.

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