Gaza: Israeli Airstrike Kills Three Militants
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Version 0 of 1. An Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip late Wednesday and seriously wounded a fourth, according to Palestinian and Israeli officials. Israel said the militants had been preparing to launch a rocket to attack Israel. The raid came days after Palestinian militants fired about a dozen rockets into southern Israel from Gaza, the coastal enclave controlled by Hamas. Groups affiliated with Al Qaeda claimed responsibility for those attacks and criticized Hamas this week for cracking down on them. The names of the three people killed Wednesday were released, but no militant group officially claimed them as members. That fueled speculation that the militants had been working with the Qaeda-linked groups. Those groups are made up mainly of former members of Islamic factions, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees. The Hamas fighters who join the groups are often dissatisfied with the cease-fire that Hamas observes with Israel. |