Gaza/Tel Aviv - An Israeli helicopter gunship fired a missile at a group of Palestinian fighters in northern Gaza who were about to launch a rocket at southern Israel Friday morning, wounding all four of them, Palestinian officials said. One of the injured was in critical condition, the other three were moderately wounded, said the officials of the Islamist Hamas movement ruling Gaza.
An Israeli military spokesman in Tel Aviv said the four had a launcher with a rocket ready for launch inside it and were hit near the Jabaliya refugee camp, north of Gaza City.
He said the militants belonged to a radical, previously unknown Palestinian armed faction inspired by al-Qaeda, calling itself "Jaljalatt."
The military said one militant was killed in the airstrike, but the Hamas officials did not confirm this.
"Earlier today, in a joint activity of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) and Shin Bet (internal security organization), the Israel Air Force attacked a group of terror operatives on their way to fire rockets from the northern Gaza strip into Israel. Accurate hits including the rocket launcher were identified," said the military spokesman.
"We see Hamas as responsible for keeping the peace in the south and the IDF will respond to any attempts to disrupt the calm in the south," said the military spokesman.
Hamas has largely observed an unofficial truce since last winter's Gaza war, but some militants acting independently have continued sporadic rocket and mortar fire from Gaza at southern Israel, to which the Israeli military has responded with single airstrikes.
