Israeli air strike kills four Gaza militants
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA, Dec 18 (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip killed at least four Islamic Jihad gunmen on Tuesday, Palestinian medical workers and militants said, a day after Israel stepped up attacks against the militant group.
Islamic Jihad said four of its militants were killed by the air strike as they walked out of a mosque in the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza. An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed there had been an air strike.
Palestinian officials said a fifth Islamic Jihad militant was killed overnight by Israeli forces near the West Bank city of Jenin.
Israel launched a series of attacks late on Monday, killing six Islamic Jihad militants, including a senior Gaza commander, prompting the group to threaten suicide bombings inside the Jewish state.
Palestinian officials said Majed al-Harazeen was the most senior militant commander to be killed in an Israeli strike in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in more than a year.
"The assassination of the general commander will open the door wide to a wave of martyrdom operations," Islamic Jihad said in a statement.
The Israeli army accused Harazeen of having organised rocket attacks from Gaza on the Jewish state. Islamic Jihad claims responsibility for most of the rocket attacks against Israel.
Islamic Jihad was one of the groups to claim responsiblity for a suicide bombing that killed three Israelis in the southern city of Eilat in January.
The Islamist Hamas movement seized control of the Gaza Strip in June after routing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's forces.
Israel's military often carries out attacks against Gaza militants in what it says is an attempt to stop them firing rockets and mortar bombs into southern Israel. (Additional reporting by Wael al-Ahmed in Jenin, Writing by Ari Rabinovitch, Editing by Ralph Gowling)
