Israel launched an air strike against a car in the Gaza Strip today, killing three Palestinians and critically wounding a fourth, witnesses and hospital officials said.
The Islamic Jihad militant group said one of the dead was Sami Tafesh, a commander of its rocket crews. The other three casualties were identified as members of an armed wing of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.
The air strike in Gaza City came hours after a Palestinian rocket launched from Gaza hit a home in the Israeli border town of Sderot. A woman was moderately wounded, Israeli police said. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the rocket attack.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the air force had operated in Gaza against what she called "a terrorist cell involved in rocket fire against Israel".
Israel frequently carries out attacks against militants in coastal Gaza in an attempt to stop them launching rockets and mortar bombs into southern Israel.