3rd Palestinian killed in Israeli air raids on Gaza: medic

GAZA: A Palestinian died in an Israeli air strike on the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, a medic said, bringing to three the number of militants killed in overnight raids on the territory.

The latest air strike, on Rafah in the south, targeted members of the Popular Resistance Committees who were firing rockets into Israel, the medic said, adding that another militant was wounded in the raid.

Two Israeli air strikes on northern Gaza Strip late on Tuesday killed two Palestinians and wounded seven more, said a health ministry spokesman.

A statement from Hamas, which controls Gaza, said those killed were members of its military wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

An Israeli army spokesman said of the earlier raids that the air force had attacked two groups of Palestinians who were about to fire rockets into southern Israel.

"More than six rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip in three hours," said the spokesman, who later confirmed a third raid said which he said targeted militants preparing to fire rockets into Israel.

The spokesman added that at least 60 rockets have been fired from Gaza since the beginning of the month.

The air raids came after a bomb on Tuesday wounded an Israeli army officer on patrol along the border with the Gaza Strip, in an attack claimed by leftist group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

The military said the soldier had been wounded during a routine patrol along the fence in the Kissufim area of Gaza early on Tuesday.

Military officials were initially unsure what had caused the explosion, but eventually established it was "an explosive device."

Defence Minister Ehud Barak noted the explosive device was rigged to a gate on the fence, and said Israel takes the attack "very seriously."

The latest incidents came as the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, made a landmark visit to Gaza where he inaugurated a multi-million dollar project to rebuild the impoverished Palestinian territory.