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Four militants killed in Israeli airstrike in Gaza

"No one would condone fighting one another while the Israelis are shelling Gaza."

Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman

Four Palestinian militants were killed yesterday in an Israeli air strike against a car carrying Islamic Jihad gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip, medical and security sources said.

The group said that the four men were members of its armed wing, the al-Quds Brigades.

The Israeli military said it carried out a strike in the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabaliya, but declined to provide details.

Palestinian rockets slammed into southern Israel yesterday morning after an Israeli airstrike hit a Hamas lawmaker's house killing eight people and wounding at least 13 in the deadliest attack of a renewed Israeli campaign against incessant rocket fire.

The Israeli airstrike on Sunday night, which followed a government decision to step up operations against Islamic militants, hit the house of lawmaker Khalil al-Haya, who was not at home and was unharmed.

All the dead and wounded were relatives and neighbors, his wife said. Hamas said two of the dead were militants.

Army spokeswoman Captain Noa Meir said the airstrike was not aimed at al-Haya, but at a group of five armed Hamas men, including a senior militant, near the home.

"They, and only they, were the target, and they were hit," Meir said. "Any civilian casualties, she said, "were the result of the terrorists' use of civilians as human shields."

Israel resumed its airstrikes in Gaza last week in response to increased Palestinian rocket fire at southern Israeli towns. The airstrikes have killed 36 Palestinians, most of them Hamas militants.

Early yesterday, Israeli aircraft struck four more times in Gaza, the army said, killing a Hamas militant.

The military said two of the targets were weapons factories. Palestinians said one was a cement factory and the other was a house.

The Israeli operations have not managed to stem the Palestinian rocket fire and militants fired four more rockets at Israel yesterday morning.

There were no casualties. But several people have been wounded in recent days and the rockets have severely disrupted life in the southern border town of Sderot.

The Israeli airstrikes appeared to have helped cement a truce between the warring Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah that began to take hold after a week of intense violence.

There was a feeling in Gaza that the Israeli retaliation for the rocket attacks contributed to the calming of internal clashes -- which might have been precisely Hamas' intention when it ratcheted up its rocket fire at Israel and attacked a Gaza-Israel border crossing last week.

"No one would condone fighting one another while the Israelis are shelling Gaza," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

At the time of Sunday night's airstrike, al-Haya was attending an Egyptian-sponsored truce meeting meant to bring Hamas and Fatah together.

Relatives said the missile hit a room used as a meeting place for the extended family. There was little damage visible from the missile strike, but mattresses where the people were apparently sitting were strewn around the room.

Barhoum said the attack was a sign Israel is targeting "everyone -- civilians and leaders."

"This escalation is very serious," he said, "all options are open" for responding.
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