(dpa) - An Israeli aircraft launched a missile at a squad of militants about to fire rockets into Israel from the northern Gaza Strip Wednesday, an Israeli military spokesman said.
One Palestinian was critically injured in the airstrike near the Jabaliya refugee camp, north of Gaza City, Palestinian hospital officials said.
It was not immediately clear whether and which militant faction the casualty belonged to.
The radical Islamic Hamas movement however claimed responsibility for firing a series of rockets and mortar shells at southern Israel.
In an earlier Israeli airstrike Tuesday afternoon, eight Hamas policeman were killed at a Hamas police station near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. Six were killed instantly as they were holding their afternoon prayers, while two died of their wounds later, hospital officials said.
Some 13 others were injured, two of them critically.
Israel earlier Tuesday killed two more Hamas militants in a clash with a ground force east of Rafah on Gaza's border with Egypt, bringing the total of members of the movement killed since Monday morning to at least 10.
The Israeli strikes were in response to ongoing rocket fire from Gaza. A military spokesman said at least 15 Gaza-made Qassam rockets and 21 mortar grenades were fired at Israel Tuesday.