Gaza militants to avenge Israeli attack

JERUSALEM, April 28 (UPI) -- Palestinian militants said Monday they would exact revenge against the "Zionist enemy" in response to an Israeli attack on a house in Gaza.

The Israeli military launched a strike Monday on a home in the northeast Gaza city of Beit Hanoun, killing a family of four and wounding several others. Israeli military officials said they were responding to rocket fire allegedly coming from the house.

"This massacre reflects the Zionist enemy's criminal way of thinking and its efforts to undermine the prospects for a lull and the attempt to bring stability and security to the region," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum, adding, "the Zionist enemy will pay a heavy price for the massacre in Beit Hanoun. "

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas criticized the operation, saying "it does not serve the efforts to achieve calm and undermines the peace process," Ynetnews reported.

Islamic Jihad and militants from Hamas launched several rocket attacks on Sderot and Ashkelon on the Israeli border with Gaza in response to the Beit Hanoun attack, the Jerusalem intelligence news agency DEBKAfile said.