Gaza City: A Palestinian was killed and five others were wounded by Israeli
air strikes on the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, the Islamic Jihad said.
According to a statement by the movement, two Israeli air
raids hit east of the Zeitun neighbourhood in the Gaza Strip.
The statement said that Ismail al Areer, 22, a member of
Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, was killed
in the raid and five other members of the movement were
injured.
The Israeli military said in a statement that their
aircraft targeted two terrorist squads preparing to launch
rockets at Israeli soldiers from two different locations
within the northern Gaza Strip.
"Successful hits were identified, preventing the rocket
launches," the statement read.
Last Sunday, Israeli warplanes launched two strikes on
the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire from the
Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory into the Eshkol region
of southern Israel the day before, causing no casualties.
Earlier in October, the Israeli chief of staff warned
that repeated rocket fire from Gaza would push Israel into
taking "aggressive" action in the Gaza Strip.
Low-level unrest has rumbled in and around Gaza in past
weeks but has not erupted into all-out fighting as it did on
October 29-30 when tit-for-tat violence left 12 Palestinian
militants and an Israeli civilian dead.
Militant groups say they are observing an Egypt-brokered
truce agreement but have reserved the right to reply to any
Israeli fire. Israel has said it will target any militants
poised to fire rockets across the border.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 07, 2011, 10:13