A LOCAL Islamic Jihad commander has been killed and four people wounded in an Israeli air strike on a car driving through Gaza City.
The aircraft fired at least one missile at the car as it drove through northern Gaza City, witnesses said.
The dead man was named as Hossam Harb, 32, a local leader of the Al-Quds Brigade of the hardline Islamic Jihad, medics said. Two of the wounded were members of the same group.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed that the aircraft "launched a raid against the Gaza Strip".
"It targeted a cell of Islamic Jihad responsible for firing rockets against Israel... and which was planning to launch other terrorist activities," she said.
Islamic Jihad has said the car was carrying people on a "holy mission", which is code for an attack on Israel, the Associated Press reported.
Hamas television footage showed a rocket inside a burning car.
The raid was the first of its kind since the Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip from rivals Fatah.
"Israeli attacks are continuing on Gaza, and there are responses from the resistance to these attacks," a Hamas spokesman was quoted as saying by AP.
Islamic Jihad has claimed responsibility for more cross-border rocket attacks against southern Israel than any other group since that time.
A summit will be held in Egypt tomorrow between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II.
The summit is aimed at bolstering the position of Mr Abbas, of Fatah, in the group's fight with Hamas, which is shunned by the west for its refusal to drop a pledge to destroy Israel.