Seven Palestinians were killed in five different Israel Defense Forces strikes in the Gaza Strip Wednesday, Palestinian sources said.

In the West Bank, a leading Islamic Jihad operative was killed during an IDF raid in Jenin, according to Palestinian sources.

In one of the Gaza strikes, an Israel Air Force missile was fired at the southern Gaza town of Khan Yunis last night, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding another five, witnesses and medics said. Witnesses said that the missile appeared to have been aimed at a group of gunmen. Medics did not immediately identify the fatality, but said that three of the wounded were Hamas militants.

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The IDF had no immediate comment.

Earlier Wednesday, IDF troops shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy in Khouza, a village near Khan Yunis, Palestinian medical officials said. Three other people were wounded, they added.

Witnesses said that the boy was a civilian, but the IDF denied this, saying that soldiers operating in the area had shot a Palestinian who was trying to plant a bomb.

A third Palestinian was killed and two others were wounded in a third IDF air strike in southern Gaza. An IDF spokeswoman said that the strike targeted two armed gunmen who were close to the perimeter fence with Israel, just north of the Sufa crossing.

"An Israeli force was operating close to the fence and [the gunmen] were nearing the fence," she said.

The remaining four Palestinians, all Hamas operatives, were killed in two different IDF air strikes that took place before dawn Wednesday.

In the first, two Hamas militants were killed and 10 passersby were wounded when missiles hit a car in the Rafah refugee camp in southern Gaza. An eyewitness, Salim Abu Jazer, 55, said that the initial strike was followed by two smaller explosions in the car, indicating that it was carrying explosives. The militants were identified as Ahmed A'ashur and Ahmen Arkan, members of Hamas' military wing Iz al-Din al-Qassam.

After the missile hit the car, people rushed to try and rescue the men from the vehicle. As a result, the secondary explosions caused multiple casualties.

Residents said that the blast also caused a huge fire.

Approximately two hours later, missiles hit a car carrying two other Hamas men, killing them on the spot. They were identified as Aiyd al-Basiti and Ali Nashaf.

In addition to the air strikes, IDF troops also arrested an officer of the Palestinian Authority's Preventative Security Service during an operation in southern Gaza Wednesday, Palestinian sources said. Two of the officer's brothers were also arrested, the sources added.