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Israeli aircraft hit Gaza militant targets | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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GAZA, (Reuters) – Israeli military aircraft attacked the home of a leading Palestinian militant and the office of an Islamic charity in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, wounding one person, witnesses and medics said.

The strikes on Beit Lahiya and Rafah followed a similar attack on Wednesday which killed four Palestinian militants near Gaza City. Israel launched the offensive after an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber killed five of its citizens last week.

Witnesses said the three-storey building targeted in Beit Lahiya village belonged to a leader of the Popular Resistance Committee (PRC), a coalition of Palestinian militants that specialises in cross-border rocket fire into Israel.

The building was partly gutted by fire, but the militant was unhurt. Another Palestinian was wounded, medics said.

Israeli military sources said the air strike targeted a PRC weapons store.

In Rafah, an aircraft fired a missile at the office of a charity linked to Islamic Jihad, causing damage but no casualties. Military sources said the office had been used to plan attacks.

Earlier on Thursday, Israeli aircraft fired rockets at open areas of northern Gaza used by Palestinian rocket crews to fire into Israel, military sources said. No one was hurt.