Israeli air strike kills 2 in Gaza: witnesses

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – Israel killed two Palestinian militant
commanders with an air strike on their car in a Gaza refugee
camp on Tuesday, a day after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
demanded Palestinian leaders wage a war against armed groups.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the
reported attack in Jabalya refugee camp, a militant stronghold
in the northern Gaza Strip.

Witnesses said an Israeli aircraft attacked a car, killing
Hassan al-Madhoun, a senior al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades commander,
and Fawzi Abu al-Qarea, leader of Hamas’s armed wing in
Jabalya.

The two men were traveling in a car with a red Palestinian
Authority security license plate, the witnesses said.

Over the past week, Israel has carried out numerous strikes
against militants in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, killing
13 Palestinians, most of them gunmen.

The Israeli attacks followed a suicide bombing that killed
five people in Israel and cross-border rocket attacks mounted
by the Islamic Jihad group, which said on Sunday it would halt
such launches if Israeli raids stopped.

In a policy speech on Monday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon,
demanded the Palestinian Authority “wage a real war on terror”
before peace talks can resume in the wake of Israel’s Gaza
pullout.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who along with Sharon
declared a ceasefire in February, has urged militants not to
carry their weapons in public but has resisted U.S. and Israeli
calls to disarm them, citing fears of civil war.