Palestinians: Israeli airstrike kills 2 in Gaza
GAZA CITY (CNN) -- An Israeli Apache helicopter attacked a car Thursday in the Gaza town of Rafah, killing two Palestinian militants inside, Palestinian security sources said.
One of the two killed was identified as Zaki Abu Zarkha from the Abu-Rish Brigades.
The other man was badly burned in the attack, but security sources said they believe he is Amer Abu Siteh, also of the Abu-Rish Brigades, a small militant group.
The Israel Defense Forces said the operation targeted a senior Fatah commander and his assistant. They identified the commander as Siteh, 32, from Khan Yunis, Gaza.
Fatah is the mainstream faction and Palestinian nationalist movement of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
On Sunday, Israeli helicopters launched missiles twice against a house in Gaza City's Zeitoun neighborhood, Palestinian sources said.
In the first attack Sunday morning, a single missile wounded three bystanders, Palestinian security and medical sources said.
The Israeli military said its target was "a weapons workshop located in a residential building ... used by the Hamas terrorist organization and likely by other terrorist organizations to produce and develop a variety of weapons, notably Qassam rockets."
The Qassam is a homemade rocket that militants have deployed in the Palestinian territories and used against Israel.
In the second attack Sunday night, a helicopter fired two missiles at the building, the Palestinian sources said, but no casualties were reported. The Israeli army had no comment.
Hamas is a Palestinian Islamic fundamentalist organization. The group's military wing, Izzedine al Qassam, has admitted responsibility for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians as well as attacks against the Israeli military.
Israel and the U.S. State Department consider Hamas a terrorist organization, though it also operates an extensive social services network in the territories.