Palestinian Killed in Israeli Missile Attack on Car After Rockets Fired

Text of report by Israel radio on 21 April

[Report by Tziqa Gottlieb: "Palestinian Killed, Another Hurt in IAF Strike in Gaza"]

An Israel Air Force aircraft fired a missile at a car in the northern Gaza Strip late Saturday, killing a Palestinian man and wounding a second occupant, Palestinian officials said.

The airstrike came shortly after Palestinian militants fired three rockets into southern Israel. One of the rockets scored a direct hit on a house in the border town of Sderot, police said. Officials said there were no injuries.

The Palestinian officials said the car was struck near the rocket launch site. Medical officials identified the dead man as a 37-year- old Gaza resident. The identity and condition of the second person were not immediately known, and it was unclear whether the pair were militants.

The Israel Defence Forces said it was looking into the report.

Three Palestinian militant groups -Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades -claimed responsibility for the rocket attack. In a joint statement, they said the attack was to avenge the deaths of three militants killed earlier Saturday in the West Bank.

The fighting threatened to strain a cease-fire declared last November between Israel and militants in Gaza. The truce has brought a sharp drop in fighting, though sporadic rocket attacks have continued. Israeli officials have said they will not tolerate continued rocket fire.

Earlier Saturday, undercover Border Police officers killed four Palestinians in clashes in the West Bank, including three militants killed when troops opened fire at their vehicle.

The three militants were ambushed while riding in a vehicle in Jenin, a northern West Bank town known as a stronghold of armed groups. Weapons were later found in the car.

The dead militants included two members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades -a militant group with ties to Palestinian [National] Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement -and a member of the Islamic Jihad militant group. There were no other occupants in the car.

The army said a special unit operating in Jenin came under fire from the car. It said the troops returned fire, hitting the vehicle.

Earlier Saturday, IDF troops operating in a village outside of Jenin shot dead a Palestinian policeman.

Palestinian sources said that soldiers operating in the village of Kfar Dan had surrounded the family home of Muhammad Abed before breaking into the home and shooting in all directions.

Witnesses said the man was not involved in the fighting and he was shot through the window of his house.

The soldiers killed Abed, 22, a member of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the sources said, and later left the village taking five people with them.

An IDF spokeswoman said troops operating in the village had come under attack from Palestinian militants.

“(The troops) shot at an armed militant,” the spokeswoman said, adding that they saw he had been hit.

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