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'Two militants' dead in Israel Gaza Strip air strike Two militants killed in Gaza Strip air strike
(about 11 hours later)
Two Palestinian militants have been killed by an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian and Israeli officials say. Two Palestinian militants have been killed by an Israeli air strike in the northern Gaza Strip, officials say.
The Israeli army said that one of the dead was Ahmad Zaanin, a militant who fired rockets during the funeral of former PM Ariel Sharon last week. The Israeli military said one of the dead was Ahmad Zaanin, whom it called a senior operative in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
A Hamas radio station said the two men were members of Islamic Jihad. He was behind several rocket attacks, including one after former PM Ariel Sharon's funeral last week, it added.
The Islamist group has been blamed by Israel for a recent surge in cross-border rocket attacks. But local Palestinians said Zaanin and the other man killed in the air strike, his cousin, belonged to Islamic Jihad.
The Israeli military said the overnight strike in Gaza had been necessary "to eliminate an imminent threat to the lives of Israeli civilians". Islamic Jihad, which has been blamed by Israel for a recent surge in rocket and mortar attacks, confirmed Zaanin was a member but did not comment on the other man's affiliation.
It said Mr Zaanin had been behind several recent rocket and shooting attacks in southern Israel. "The blood of martyrs will not be wasted. It will be a curse that expels the occupier," the Islamist group said in a statement.
Locals in Gaza were reported by the Reuters news agency as saying that Mr Zaanin and another militant - a relative of him - had been sitting in a parked car when it was hit by a missile. 'Clear policy'
There has been intermittent violence along the border since a ceasefire ended an eight-day conflict between Israel and militants in Gaza in November 2012. Zaanin and his cousin were sitting in a parked car in the town of Beit Hanoun when it was hit by a missile, locals told Reuters news agency.
Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 under the orders of Mr Sharon. Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Peter Lerner said its air force had targeted them "in order to eliminate an imminent threat to the lives of Israeli civilians".
Zaanin had "actively planned to launch rockets at Israeli communities in the south", and since 2009 had "endorsed numerous attacks such as sniping attacks and detonating explosive devices" against Israeli soldiers, he added.
The air strike took place just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hamas, the Islamist movement that governs Gaza, and other militant groups that it would carry out pre-emptive strikes to counter the launching of rocket and mortars at Israel.
"We have a very clear policy of foiling terrorist attacks when we identify their forming and of responding firmly to those who harm us," he said.
"This policy has yielded a quiet year in 2013, the quietest year in many, and if Hamas and the terrorist organisations have forgotten this lesson then they will learn it, with great force, in the near future."
Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shihab told the Maan news agency that Israel was attempting to "disavow" the ceasefire that ended an eight-day conflict with militants in Gaza in November 2012.
Palestinian factions were "not interested in escalation, but if Israel insists and continues with targeted assassinations, they have to bear the consequences," he added.
On Sunday, another militant in Gaza was wounded in an air Israeli strike. The Israeli military said Ahmed Saad was a member of Islamic Jihad who specialised in launching rockets.