Fresh Israeli airstrike kills one, injures two militants in Gaza

Gaza, June 23 (Xinhua-ANI): A Palestinian militant was killed and two others wounded in an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza Strip, medical sources said Friday.

The Israeli airstrike targeted a motorcycle and wounded the three, one of them critically who died after arriving at hospital, the sources said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, a health ministry spokesman, identified the dead as Hamam Abu Qadous , 20-years-old.

An Al-Qaeda-style Salafi group calling itself Jaish Al-Uma (the army of the nation) said the militants were affiliated with it.

Israel said it targeted a group that was preparing to launch a rocket toward its southern territories.

Earlier Friday, another militant was killed and two others were wounded in Israeli artillery shelling in eastern Gaza Strip.

Security sources said that the shells targeted the group after they fired a rocket toward the Israeli borders from Central Gaza Strip.

The Israeli strikes came after a day of relative calm that followed three days of cross-border fighting in which nine Palestinians were killed.

Hamas, the Islamic movement that controls Gaza, took part in firing rockets into Israel in this round of violence for the first time in more than a year.

Hamas said Wednesday that it accepted Egyptian-proposed ceasefire, but smaller factions announced Friday morning that they continued aiming their missiles at Israeli communities near Gaza. (Xinhua-ANI)