Israeli air strike kills civilian in Gaza - officials

GAZA, July 9 (Reuters) An Israeli aircraft fired a missile at a Palestinian car carrying militants in the southern Gaza Strip today, killing a bystander and wounding at least four other civilians, Palestinian security officials said.

The Israeli military said it carried out an air strike against ''a terrorist group on the outskirts of Rafah and apparently one person was hit''.

Residents of the village of Shuka near the town of Rafah said the missile struck a vehicle in which two gunmen from Hamas's armed wing were travelling.

The two militants jumped clear before the missile hit and fled the scene. Initial reports said they escaped injury but blood near the car suggested they may have been wounded.

The aircraft then fired a second missile, which security officials said killed one bystander and wounded at least four other civilians.

Israeli forces entered the southern Gaza Strip on June 28, three days after militants from Hamas and two other factions abducted an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid.

Reuters PKS DB1952