An Israeli air strike killed at least two Hamas members and critically wounded another in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, local medical workers and officials said. According to Reuters, Hamas said the missile hit one of their military positions in the town of Khan Younis and the two dead men belonged to the movement's armed wing.
An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed the air strike and said it was in response to the frequent firing of rockets and mortar bombs by militants into nearby Israeli towns. The spokeswoman said since the start of the year 215 launchings had been counted.
Earlier, Hamas security officials said they arrested a Palestinian who was set to detonate a bomb at a gathering hosted by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh for returning Haj pilgrims on Saturday afternoon. Hamas official Ehab Alshsain said security men caught a suspect with 4 kg of TNT ready to be blown by cellular phone at rally where Haniyeh welcomed home hundreds of pilgrims. "The investigation is taking several directions (to discover) whether the aim was to assassinate Haniyeh, or to kill as many people as possible," Alghsain said.
Another security official accused Fatah of being behind the plot. A Fatah official in the West Bank rejected the allegation as "fabrications and lies". "Since Hamas stole the authority in the Gaza Strip it has only been practicing lies and deception," Fatah's Ziad abu al-Enain said in Ramallah.
Also in the Gaza Strip, unknown gunmen stormed the American International School in the Gaza Strip, smashing windows, seizing computers and torching buses but causing no injuries, security sources said. In a leaflet left behind after the attack, the gunmen claimed affiliation with al Qaeda and vowed to attack other symbols of "immorality" throughout the coastal territory.
