Israeli airstrike hits Gaza again

Two Palestinians were found dead after an overnight Israeli air strike on Gaza strip on Monday. The strike was targeting militant groups and came two days after Israeli rocket attacks and airstrikes on an Islamic Jihad training camp that killed 6 members of the group.

The Israeli military said in a statement that Monday’s airstrike was in response to a rocket that been fired into Israel by what it said was a Palestinian militant group.
Palestinian security officials said the two bodies found at the scene of the attack were dressed in the uniform of al-Ahrar, or “The Free People,” a group with little ties to Gaza’s armed Hamas rulers. The men were unarmed and no rocket launchers were found in the area.

Escalating violence between Israel and Gaza’s armed groups raged over the weekend. Ten fighters and an Israeli civilian were reportedly dead in an exchange of rockets and airstrikes. Most of the violence this weekend has been between Israel and Islamist Jihad, an Iranian-backed group.

Meanwhile, Hamas has denied being part of any relation to the attack saying its fighters were not responsible for the recent violence.

Israel, however, says it holds the group accountable for attacks from Gaza.

Hamas, which overran Gaza in June 2007, lost hundreds of men in a fierce Israeli war three years ago and has since largely tried to maintain calm.