Gaza City, Feb 29: An Islamic Jihad leader and militant were killed late on Saturday in an Israeli air strike on a car in a neighbourhood just north of Gaza City, Palestinian medics and security sources said. Security sources said the helicopter, backed by an F-16 fighter jet, fired three missiles at around 7:45 pm killing three people travelling in a car through the Saftawi neighbourhood.
Medics said another 10 people were wounded in the strike, one of whom was a six-year-old child, whose condition was said to be critical.
The Subaru car was completely destroyed. The Israeli missiles also damaged houses and several other cars in the area.
Security officials named one of the victims as Mahmud Jhouda, 30, a top leader of the Al-Quds Brigades.
Fellow militant Amin al-Dahduh, 42, and his 20-year-old cousin Ayman, who was not affiliated to the group, were also killed in the strike.
Sources initially thought the third victim had been a bystander because Jhouda's head was blown right out of the car by the force of the blast.
The latest deaths brought the number killed since the Palestinian uprising erupted in September 2000, to 3,789, including 2,835 Palestinians and 886 Israelis.
The Israeli army confirmed the helicopter attack, saying it targeted an unspecified number of "senior militants" from Islamic Jihad.
"The Israeli Air Force attacked a vehicle carrying senior Islamic Jihad terrorists who were responsible for planning a number of terror attacks against Israeli civilian and military targets," a spokesman said.
The strike drew strong condemnation from the radical group, who warned it would only serve to strengthen their movement in its struggle against Israeli occupation.
"This attack and this crazy war against the Palestinian people by (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon will make the movement stronger and more insistent and give us more power to continue the struggle and jihad (holy war)," top Islamic Jihad official Mohammed al-Hindi said.