An Israeli air strike on a car in the southern Gaza Strip early Thursday killed two Palestinians, witnesses and security sources said. An Israeli spokesman confirmed that the struck the vehicle on the road between the towns of Khan Younis and Rafah, saying the occupants were "terrorists who were planning to carry out attacks".
Medical sources said the dead were members of Islamic Jihad.
In a separate incident Wedneaday, two other members of the Islamic Jihad were injured when a car was attacked in Gaza. Another missile hit a car carrying activist from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, the armed wing of Fatah movement.
Meanwhile, gunmen fired at the home of a Hamas lawmaker in the south Gaza Strip on Wednesday, witnesses said, killing one of his bodyguards. The lawmaker, Younis al-Astal, was not hurt in the shooting in Khan Younis town.
Rice talks
Israel will help Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas "create a better environment" and return to peacemaking, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday night following a meeting with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Rice said Wednesday that the United States wants to help make practical improvements in the Palestinians' daily lives, as violence, deprivation and political chaos are reaching threatening levels in the PA. Rice said the U.S. is "very concerned" about the plight of the Palestinians.
Rice met Abbas in Ramallah Wednesday and held talks on the crisis in the PA and how the U.S. could bolster the chairman's position. "The Palestinians need a government that can provide for their needs and meet the conditions of the Quartet," she said.
