Israeli helicopter gunships fired missiles into two cars in the Gaza Strip today, killing two Palestinians including a woman and wounding 16 people, Palestinian witnesses and security sources said.
They said the air attack in the village of Abassan east of the city of Khan Younis in southern Gaza had apparently targeted Mr Mohammed Seyam, a member of the Islamic militant group Hamas, who was wounded in the leg.
Earlier in the day, Israeli troops killed two suspected Hamas militants in a Gaza gunbattle as a US envoy held talks nearby with the Palestinian prime minister in efforts to prop up a peace plan battered by violence.
The latest bloodletting deepened doubt as to whether Hamas, the main group behind a campaign of suicide bombings against Israelis in 33 months of violence, would soon call a temporary ceasefire to give the peace plan a chance to work.