REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, GAZA - Israel killed two Gaza men in an air strike on Wednesday, blaming one of them for firing rockets across the border during former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's funeral last week.

Palestinian residents initially identified the slain men as members of Islamic Jihad, an armed faction that has sometimes chafed at efforts by the Gaza Strip's Hamas government to preserve a ceasefire with Israel. But the Israeli military, confirming the air strike in Beit Hanoun, said it targeted Ahmed Al-Za'anin, a former Islamic Jihad member who had joined the more secular Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). 

Za'anin and the second man were sitting in a parked car when it was hit by the missile, locals said.

Israeli military said Za'anin had carried out numerous attacks, including the launch of rockets into southern Israel as Sharon was being buried there in a January 15 ceremony attended by US Vice President Joe Biden and other foreign dignitaries. There were no casualties in that salvo.

Wednesday's air strike could complicate efforts by Egypt, a frequent mediator between Israel and Gaza, to talk Islamic Jihad, Hamas and other Palestinian factions into a truce.

According to Israel, After a stretch of unusual quiet around Gaza, there have been some 20 Palestinian rocket or mortar launches over the last month. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed preemptive action against such threats.

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