Two killed as Israeli airstrikes blast cars

ISRAELI airstrikes blasted two cars carrying Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza City last night, killing two people and wounding one other.

One strike hit a small car driving down a main street in Gaza City.

A simultaneous strike hit a second car about 70 yards away on a side road. The vehicles carried a total of five people.

The Islamic Jihad militant group said the cars belonged to militants from the group. Palestinian security officials said three missiles were fired at the cars.

The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the explosion. Earlier, an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian militants in Gaza.

The men’s bodies were badly burned. Islamic Jihad identified one of the dead as Adnan Bustan, a senior militant in charge of producing home-made rockets, according to Abu Ahmed, a spokesman of Islamic Jihad’s military wing.

Islamic Jihad militants gathered outside the hospital calling for revenge.

Earlier, the Israeli authorities agreed to make a crucial payment of €45 million in tax and customs revenues to the Palestinians, but officials said future transfers will be halted once Hamas militants form the next Palestinian government.

Israel collects millions of dollars in taxes and customs duties for the Palestinians, transferring the funds to the Palestinian Authority each month.

Israel delayed the most recent payment last week to protest Hamas’s victory in Palestinian legislative elections, deepening a financial crisis for the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority.

Israeli cabinet minister Zeev Boim said before yesterday’s government vote that the money was being transferred because Hamas is not part of the Palestinian government yet.

The cabinet said it would review the payments each month. Mr Boim said the funds would be cut off if Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings, does not change its ways.

“If and when Hamas rises to power and supports policies according to its jihad principles of destroying Israel, not another dollar will be transferred,” he told Israel Radio.

The United States and Europe have also threatened to cut off tens of millions of dollars in aid.

Last night’s rocket attack was the second such Israeli attack over the weekend. In the early hours of yesterday, aircraft fired three missiles at a facility of the militant Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades in Gaza City, killing three militants and wounding five.

Later in the day, a Palestinian assailant killed one woman and wounded four other people in what police have called a politically motivated stabbing in central Israel.