Israel kills four in Gaza City airstrike

GAZA, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Israeli warplanes killed four Palestinian militants and injured six people in a Gaza City strike Sunday, a Palestinian official said.

Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, a Palestinian organization based in Gaza, told Ynetnews.com that Israel Defense Forces fighter jets killed several senior members of its Salah al-Din Brigades in the airstrike.

Israeli military officials said the Palestinians were launching rockets into Israel. The airstrike came after two Qassam rockets landed near a kibbutz in southern Israel.

It was unclear if the violence would affect efforts by Israel and leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, to start talks aimed at extending a cease-fire agreement, Ynetnews.com reported.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said the "Palestinian resistance" would respond to "the enemy's crimes," Ynetnews.com reported.

"The occupier violates the lull and we are certain that the resistance will respond to this crime as it has done in the past," Barhum said.