Israeli air strike expires three militants in Gaza

GAZA CITY (AFP) The Israeli air force expired three Palestinian gunmen in southern Gaza Strip on Saturday morning, medical officials and the Israeli army.

Residents said the planes fired on a car in which three men were traveling in the city of Khan Younis.

An Israeli military spokesman said the airstrike was aimed at "a team of terrorists planning to kidnap Israelis during the Jewish Passover holiday to come. "

Hamas, the extremist leaders in Gaza, said the three men killed were members of his group, but officials declined to comment on the allegations made against them by the Israeli army.

An Israeli airstrike in the same area of Gaza on Wednesday killed a Palestinian gunman on a motorcycle.

In a surge of violence last month, Israel conducted a series of airstrikes and Palestinian militants have fired salvos of rockets into the Jewish state.

Hamas has proposed a truce, but exchanges of fire between Israel and other militant groups have persisted.