Palestinan Man Killed in Israeli Air Force Raid on Gaza

Thursday December 18, 2008 12:36 by Justin Theriault - 1 of International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC Editorial Group

A Palestinian man has been killed and two others injured in an Israeli air raid on the town of Beit Lahiya, Gazan medics have said, Al Jazeera news agency has reported.

Wednesday's raid was said to have been aimed at targets in Gaza that were firing homemade Qassam rockets, and was launched in response to earlier attacks on the city of Sderot in southern Israel, an Israeli spokeswoman said in a statement.

Medical workers inside Gaza have said that the missile hit a house in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza, killing 47-year-old Falak Okel and injuring his son and daughter.

Witnesses told AFP news agency that the dead man did not belong to any armed militia.

The Israeli spokeswoman also stated that fighters in Gaza had fired at least 20 rockets at Sderot, and that two Israelis had been injured by a homemade rocket that hit a shopping centre car-park.

Late Monday night, undercover Israeli soldiers assassinated the leader of the al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, Abu Mojahid, in the the West Bank city of Jenin.  The Islamic Jihad vowed retaliation and an end to the Egyptian-brokered truce.

Early this morning, in response to Israeli Air Force attacks, Gaza militants fired five more homemade rockets into the Negev, Haaretz reported on Thursday.  The Sources stated that nobody was injured

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