MIDDLEEAST: Israel killed a senior Hamas leader, one of his deputies and three other Palestinians yesterday in air strikes hours after President George Bush promised to renew efforts to end Israeli-Palestinian violence.
At least 47 Palestinian civilians were wounded in the first such attack in Gaza City since the start of the US-led war in Iraq.
The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the attack.
Hamas, which has killed dozens of Israelis in suicide-bombings during the 30-month-long Palestinian intifada, vowed to avenge the deaths of Sa'ad al-Arabeed, a senior commander of its Izz el-Deen al-Qassam armed wing, and his deputy, Ashraf al-Halabi. They were in a car struck by two of three missiles which witnesses said were fired by an Israeli F-16 warplane.
A bystander was killed in the explosion of the missile which missed the car, witnesses said.
Minutes later, two other Palestinians were killed when an Israeli helicopter fired two missiles near hundreds of people who had gathered at the scene, witnesses and doctors said.
Shortly before the air strikes, President Bush ended his summit in Northern Ireland by saying that he would turn his attention to achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace when the conflict in Iraq ended.
"The Islamic resistance will not rest until it avenges the holy blood of the hero martyrs," said Ismail al-Haniyah, a Hamas spokesman.
A month ago, an Israeli helicopter strike on a car in Gaza City killed Ibrahim al-Maqadma (51), a founder of Hamas. The Israeli defence minister said at the time that more leaders of the militant Islamic group would be killed.