A relative of Shaher Abu Shanab, one of three Palestinian militants from the Islamic Jihad’s armed wing, the Al Quds Brigades, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike, mourns during his funeral in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip yesterday.
Agencies
An Israeli air strike killed three Islamic Jihad militants in southern Gaza yesterday, a spokesman for the Hamas-run health ministry said.
The Israeli army confirmed the strike, saying the air force had targeted Islamic Jihad militants who had fired at troops.
The group’s armed wing, the Al Quds Brigades, confirmed that the three were its members, naming them as Abedlshafi Muamer, 33; Shaher Abu Shanab, 24, and Ismail Abu Jawdeh, 23.
It said they had been killed after firing mortars in a bid to try and prevent “an Israeli incursion east of Khan Yunis.” A witness confirmed Israeli tanks and bulldozers had tried to enter the area.
The three were buried in the southern border city of Rafah later in the afternoon, with thousands attending their funeral, angrily calling for revenge.
The Israeli army said the raid targeted Islamic Jihad after they “fired a mortar shell” at troops operating nearby.
“An IAF aircraft responded immediately in order to prevent further attacks on Israeli civilians and targeted the terrorist squad. Direct hits were confirmed,” a statement said.
The air strike came just hours after an unmanned aircraft of the sort Israel uses for surveillance and missile strikes crashed in the same area, just east of Khan Yunis.
It was unclear if the two incidents were related.
Meanwhile, Four militants from the Hamas movement were killed and five critically wounded yesterday evening in an explosion inside a building in Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, medics and security officials said.
Witnesses said that a huge explosion wrecked the third floor of a three-storey building.
Hamas security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the four killed men belonged to Hamas’ armed wing, Al Qassam Brigades.
The explosion was apparently caused by an error made when militants were preparing an explosive device, officials added.
