Five Palestinians, including a senior Islamic Jihad (Holy War) militant, were killed on Monday night in two separate Israeli airstrikes on northern and southern Gaza City, hospital officials told Xinhua.

In the latter Israeli airstrike, two Palestinian militants, both from the Islamic Jihad armed wing Saraya al-Quds, were killed when an Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a group of militants in the southern Gaza City neighborhood of Sheikh Ejlin before midnight, they said.

It was the second Israeli aerial strike within hours in the night. An earlier Israeli air strike killed three Palestinians, including two Jihad militants.

The two Jihad militants, including senior commander Majed al-Harazeen, were killed when an Israeli warplane fired an air-to-ground missile at a local car that was driving in northern Gaza City's neighborhood of Sheikh Radwan.

Earlier, a spokesman for Saraya al-Quds denied the Israeli army report that the Israeli airstrike had killed al-Harazeen, adding that he instead survived in the strike.

A third bystander was also killed in the Israeli airstrike at the car.

An Israeli army spokesman told Israel Radio in Arabic that Israeli aircraft had targeted a car in Gaza City and one of the dead was a senior militant in Jihad's armed wing.

The witnesses said they had suddenly heard a huge explosion that struck northern Gaza neighborhood of Sheikh Radwan, adding that they saw a car was struck by an Israeli air-to-ground missile.

They also said no one dared to approach the car in fear of getting hurt, but they saw flames of fire and smoke came out from the smashed car, adding that ambulances and rescue craws were called to the scene.

Palestinian paramedics said that the two young men who were inside the car were killed, adding that they found it very difficult to rescue them, as they were burning inside the destroyed car.

Israel had earlier warned that it will strike Palestinian militants, whenever they launch homemade rockets from Gaza at southern Israel.

Israel has been blaming Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip since mid-June, for the ongoing rocket attacks against Israel.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2007)