Israeli air strike kills Hamas militant in Gaza

GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike killed a Hamas militant in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, Palestinian medical workers and Hamas said.

Hamas said the missile strike killed a local commander in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. The Islamist group said a second strike targeted a security outpost in southern Gaza, but caused no casualities.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said the air strike had targeted a Hamas militant who had been involved in smuggling. She added the second strike was against a Hamas position near the Gaza town of Khan Younis.

On Saturday, two Israelis, including an eight-year-old boy, were seriously wounded by Palestinian rockets fired from Gaza.

Gaza militants frequently fire short-range rockets and mortars into the Jewish state. Israel says militants smuggle rockets and other ammunition into the coastal strip through tunnels from Egypt.

Israel frequently carries out air strikes and raids into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in an effort to stop the rocket fire.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Dominic Evans)