Israel bombs Gaza militants' homes, two hurt

GAZA - Israeli aircraft bombed the homes of two Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, wounding two people, witnesses said.

One missile struck the house of the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, the coalition of militants said. Flying debris and glass wounded the militant's brother and sister-in-law in a neighbouring house.

Israel had warned the Popular Resistance leader to leave his home half an hour before the strike, witnesses said.

"It was a facility used to store weaponry," an Israeli army spokeswoman said, confirming the attack.

In a separate strike, Israel fired a missile into the home of a member of Islamic militant group Hamas in Gaza City. The house was destroyed, but there were no casualties.

An Israeli army spokeswoman confirmed an air strike had targeted a structure used by Hamas, without elaborating.

Witnesses said the Hamas member had received a warning call from the Israeli military shortly before the attack and evacuated his family and alerted his neighbours.

Later on Sunday, two missiles hit the garage of a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood which is a known Hamas stronghold. Nobody was injured in the attack, witnesses said.

An Israeli army spokesman confirmed the strike and said the missiles were aimed at a workshop for the manufacture of Hamas munitions.

At least 150 Palestinians, around half of them gunmen, have been killed in Israel's month-long assault on Gaza to recover a captured soldier and end cross-border rocket attacks.

On Saturday, Israel bombed a suspected weapons factory in Gaza City used by Hamas, which controls the Palestinian government and whose charter seeks Israel's destruction.

Israel has rejected demands for a prisoner exchange by the gunmen who captured Corporal Gilad Shalit by tunnelling under the border on June 25. Some of the gunmen came from Hamas.

Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles entered the Erez industrial zone in north Gaza on Saturday near the town of Beit Lahiya looking for tunnels and explosives.

Palestinian security sources said the Erez incursion could be a prelude to a raid on Beit Lahiya.

Two people were injured by shells the tanks fired which landed near residential areas, witnesses said.

- REUTERS