Israel kills 13 'militants' in Gaza

Israel killed at least 13 Palestinian militants in air strikes in the Gaza Strip today.

Israel killed at least 13 Palestinian militants in air strikes in the Gaza Strip today.

It was Israel's most deadly military response in months to frequent rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled territory.

Islamic Jihad, the group behind many of the rocket launchings, said four of its members were killed as they walked out of a mosque in the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

Hours earlier, air strikes killed seven Islamic Jihad militants, including a senior Gaza commander, prompting the group to threaten suicide bombings inside the Jewish state.

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Israel has not been hit by a suicide bombing in 11 months, a respite that has helped pave the way for renewed peace efforts with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who opposes such attacks.

Palestinian officials said Majed al-Harazeen, one of the Islamic Jihad dead, was the most senior militant commander to be killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip in more than a year.

In the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis, an Israeli air strike on a Hamas security position killed at least two members of the group, Hamas officials said.