An Israeli missile hit a car ferrying Palestinian militants back from a rocket attack in the Gaza Strip today, killing two of them, Palestinian and Israeli officials said.
"We identified a cell from the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades firing rockets into Israel," an army spokesman said. "They fired the rockets, they got into the car and we hit the car," the spokesman added.
Two people were wounded, one critically, in the strike on a car driving in the outskirts of the Shijaia neighbourhood of Gaza City. The neighbourhood, a militant stronghold, is close to the Israeli border fence.
Palestinian medics and security sources confirmed the targets of the strike were members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades returning to base after firing rockets into Israel.
The attack took place a day after an Israeli missile killed five militants and the 5-year-old son of one of them who had gone to watch his father training at a militant base in the southern Gaza Strip.
The six were killed in a strike on their car as they left the training base.
It was the deadliest Israeli air raid in five months.
Israel says it has the right to strike at militants it says are planning attacks on the Jewish state.