Israeli jets bomb Islamic Jihad buildings in Gaza

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli warplanes bombed three buildings linked to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, the militant group and witnesses said.

The air strikes, which did not immediately appear to have caused casualties, were launched shortly after Islamic Jihad and another Palestinian militant group jointly claimed responsibility for a rocket which struck north of the Israeli city of Ashkelon, 17 km (11 miles) from Gaza.

It was the furthest a Palestinian rocket had reached, the army said.

The first air strike targeted the Gaza City home of Karim al-Dahdouh, a senior Islamic Jihad bombmaker killed by Israeli forces last month.

The second air strike hit the home of Abu al-Murshed, an Islamic Jihad leader killed last week, in the central Gaza Strip. A third building belonging to an Islamic Jihad member in the southern town of Khan Younis was bombed minutes later.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the air force had attacked in Gaza but did not immediately elaborate.

Israel rarely uses warplanes for bombing runs in densely populated Gaza, preferring the more limited firepower of helicopter gunships or drones.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Diana Abdallah)