Helicopter gunships fired missiles at a car carrying alleged Hamas gunmen in the Gaza Strip today, killing an elderly bystander, as Israel pressed on with one of its bloodiest hunts for militants in three years of violence.
The strike, the third in less than a week, demonstrated Israel's resolve to keep up attacks on Hamas after a suicide bombing killed 21 people, including six children, on a Jerusalem bus, shattering a ceasefire central to a US-led peace plan.
The helicopters fired a salvo of missiles at the car during the evening rush hour in Jabalya refugee camp near Gaza City. The occupants, two alleged members of the military wing of the militant Islamic group Hamas, survived the strike, with one of the men sustaining only light injuries, Hamas sources said.
But the blasts killed a 64-year-old man passing by and injured 20 people, including six children, medics said. "There was enormous panic, women and children screaming and weeping," said Mr Akram Lubad, his t-shirt stained with blood from helping the injured, including his brother.
Minutes after the strike, Palestinian youths jumped on top of the battered white Renault, flashing V-for-victory signs and chanting "Revenge, revenge".
The attack was carried out days after Israel assassinated a senior Hamas leader last week and killed four militants in response to the Jerusalem bus bombing.
Israel has said it will continue tracking down and killing Hamas leaders, many of whom have now gone into hiding. Hamas has vowed revenge attacks. Earlier today, Israeli troops snatched two injured militants from their hospital beds in Nablus in the West Bank.