Gaza air strike kills 3 Jihad men

IDF jets attacked an Islamic Jihad unit preparing a rocket for launch toward Israel Friday night, killing three militants, an IDF spokesperson said yesterday.

The attack was a joint operation by the IDF and the Shin Bet Security Service. The unit was located in preparation for the launch in the north of Gaza City. An IDF aircraft fired a single rocket at the group, killing three - Mahmoud Bana, Kamal Dahdouh and Muhammed Marshoud. Another militant was wounded. Security sources said they believe this unit was responsible for firing a rocket at Sderot on Rosh Hashanah. Kamal Dahdouh was the son of Khaled Dahdouh, a former head of the Islamic Jihad military wing assassinated by Israel in 2006.

On Friday morning a rocket was fired, and yesterday morning two mortar shells were launched toward Israeli towns near Gaza Strip. No casualties or damage were reported. On Thursday night, Israeli jets attacked three smuggling tunnels in the Philadelphi strip area in the south of the Gaza Strip, an IDF spokesperson said.

Security sources said that there has been a recent increase attempts by Palestinian organizations, especially the Islamic Jihad and Al-Qaida affiliated groups, to carry out attacks against IDF patrols around the Gaza Strip, and to launch shells and rockets at Israeli-populated areas nearby. Hamas has been trying to prevent the shooting in some cases, the sources said, as the organization does not wish an escalation while it attempts to rebuild the infrastructure damaged during Operation Cast Lead. Sporadic shots are fired at engineering teams working on the security fence along the Gaza border on an almost daily basis, but no recent casualties were reported, as the gunmen cannot come close enough to the fence to become a real threat.