An Israel Air Force strike in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday killed one Hamas militant, three hours after an IAF missile struck a car south of Gaza City and killed three Islamic Jihad militants, including a local commander.

Three militants were wounded in the strike, Hamas officials reported. The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that it had carried out both airstrikes.

Earlier Thursday, witnesses reported the Islamic Jihad men had been travelling in a jeep when the vehicle was struck by an IAF missile.

	Advertisement

Islamic Jihad said three of its senior commanders were killed in the IAF attack, including Omar al-Khatib, who had survived an Israeli air strike on Tuesday.

The other two Palestinians killed in the first strike were named as Khalil Daifi and Ahmed Abd Al-el.

After the attack, other Islamic Jihad activists tried to retrieve items from the targeted car, but were stopped by members of the Hamas security forces, according to witnesses.

A firefight erupted, and four Islamic Jihad members suffered gunshot wounds, according to the group, witnesses and officials at nearby Deir El Balah hospital where they were treated. Hamas officials had no immediate comment.

Also Thursday, IDF soldiers killed two Palestinians in two separate incidents, one in the morning hours during a military incursion in the Gaza Strip and the other a few hours later at a West Bank checkpoint.

In the West Bank incident, an IDF soldier killed a Palestinian man who tried to stab one of his comrades at a checkpoint near the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

According to the troops, the Palestinian wielding a knife attacked a soldier, who fought back and tried to fend the assailant off. During the ensuing struggle, another soldier hit the Palestinian in the head with a baton, seriously wounding him.

He was treated by a Palestinian medical team, and succumbed to his wounds a short while later. Palestinian sources said the man was mentally disabled.

The soldier said he did not shoot the Palestinian because he was afraid he would accidentally wound his friend.

Earlier on Thursday, a Hamas militant was killed by an Israel Air Force strike east of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. Military sources said the militant was trying to fire an antitank missile on a troops operating on the ground.

Witnesses said IDF troops, backed by tanks and bulldozers, had launched an incursion on the area of al-Fahari, which often serves a base for militants firing Qassam rockets into Israel.

Later, IAF aircraft fired a missile toward gunmen who were driving in the area, lightly wounding three.

Udi al-Amur, council head of al-Fahari, said that the soldiers shot at Palestinian farmers, occupied the roofs of dozens of home and conducted searches in the area.

In an another strike in the northern Gaza Strip, two Palestinians were wounded, Hamas said. The IDF said it targeted a pair of militants spotted with rocket launchers.

IDF troops arrested at least ten wanted Palestinians in West Bank raids Wednesday night and Thursday, including an Islamic Jihad leader who, according to the group, was arrested at a hospital in Jenin. Later Thursday, the IDF suspended a platoon commander Thursday, after his troops shot and wounded a Palestinian civilian without any apparent justification in the Southern Hebron Hills.

Also on Thursday, a Qassam rocket hit near a gas station in the western Negev on Thursday, causing no damage or injuries.