Palestinians are pictured through the damaged windscreen of a bus as they gather at the scene of an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip yesterday.
AFP/Gaza
Two Palestinians were hurt, one critically, in an Israeli air strike on Gaza City yesterday, which the military said had targeted a senior Islamic Jihad militant.
The strike, the third in 12 hours, came a day after militants fired another rocket at southern Israel, prompting a sharp warning from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We are determined to maintain quiet in the south. We will do so by a policy of preventive action and strong reaction against those who try to harm us or who harm us,” he told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting.
“I suggest that Hamas take our policy into account,” he said.
Gaza emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said the strike had hit a motorcycle in the northern neighbourhood of Saftawi, leaving its rider, a 22-year-old man, in critical condition.
A 12-year-old boy who was standing nearby suffered moderate wounds in the raid, he said.
“I was there and saw the strike, a motorcycle burst into flames and a car drove away,” said witness Saad al-Dabbur, adding that he initially thought there had been a road accident until he saw a donkey lying dead on the ground.
Shortly afterwards, the Israeli army confirmed the strike, saying it targeted a “senior operative” in the Islamic Jihad movement, identified as Ahmed Saad and accused of planning an imminent attack on Israel.
There was no confirmation from Gaza that the wounded man was Saad or that he belonged to Islamic Jihad, with sources in the movement also refusing to comment on the strike.
