Israeli air strike kills Gaza security chief

Gaza, June 9 : A senior Palestinian security official in the Hamas government was killed today in an Israeli aerial attack on a militant camp in the southern Gaza Strip, witnesses and medics said.

They said Jamal Abu Samhadana, also a veteran of the Popular Resistance Committees militant group, was among four people killed in a PRC-run camp near Khan Younis.

An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed the strike, but said it targeted the camp rather than any specific militant.

Hamas appointed Abu Samhadana as supervisor over the Interior Ministry, which oversees security services, in April.

The move angered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been trying to salvage peacemaking with Israel since Hamas crushed his long-dominant Fatah faction in January elections.

The PRC is a coalition of militant groups that have spearheaded a more than 5-year-old Palestinian uprising. Since Israel quit Gaza last year after 38 years of occupation, it has played a leading role in cross-border rocket launches.

The PRC vowed fresh attacks on Israel to avenge Abu Samhadana's death.

''The Zionist entity and Zionist settlements near Gaza will not feel security and safety anymore. Our rockets will rain into the Zionist entity and our heroes will blow themselves up among their dirty bodies,'' said a spokesman for the group.

Reuters