Eilat bomb mastermind killed in Gaza strike: Israel

Two Gaza militants were killed in an Israeli strike on Thursday, Palestinian medics said, with Israel saying one of them had planned a deadly bombing in Eilat in 2007.

The two men had also been planning another attack on southern Israel by infiltrating from the Sinai peninsula, the Israeli military said in a statement issued shortly after it targeted a car in Gaza City, killing the two men and injuring four others, medics said.

The military said it had targeted Issam al-Batsh, a senior member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed off-shoot of the Fatah movement, “as well as an additional terrorist.”

“These terrorists were both affiliated with a terrorist squad that intended to execute a terrorist attack against Israeli civilians and Israeli Defence Forces soldiers via the western border,” the statement said.

Earlier this week, Israeli security sources said troops were on very high alert along the Egyptian border over fears a cell of gunmen had crossed into southern Israel.