Israeli Missile Strike in Gaza Kills 3 Militants

JERUSALEM —  Israeli missiles slammed into a car carrying members of the militant group Hamas along a dirt road in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday, incinerating the three men inside, causing farmers in nearby fields to dive for cover and sending black smoke billowing into a cloudless sky.

It was the second deadly airstrike in five days against Palestinian militants in Gaza, signaling a clear revival of Israel’s controversial tactic of so-called targeted killings of Palestinian militants. Three members of Islamic Jihad were killed in a similar raid Saturday in a Gaza refugee camp.

The Israeli government defends such killings as a deterrent to suicide bombings and other attacks. International and Israeli human rights groups say the tactic amounts to execution without trial.

Under U.S. pressure, Israel for several months had quietly halted targeting of militant leaders, but in recent weeks officials declared their intention to resume the campaign against the leadership of groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Palestinian officials condemned Wednesday’s airstrike. “The Israeli government’s aim is to kill any attempt to restore quiet and revive the peace process,” Prime Minister Ahmed Korei told Reuters.

Israel charges that Korei has failed to crack down on militants, as mandated under a U.S.-backed peace plan.

In the aftermath of the missile strike, bystanders rushed to the burning car, trying to douse the leaping flames by flinging handfuls of sand on them. Medics pulled the remains from the wreckage.

“The bodies were in pieces, completely burned,” said ambulance driver Khaled abu Zeid.

The Israeli army confirmed that it had carried out the strike, describing the targeted men as senior Hamas operatives who were “involved in numerous terrorist attacks ... and planning additional attacks.”

The men were identified as Ibrahim Diri, Amar Hassan and Terad Jamali. Palestinian security sources confirmed that the three were members of Hamas’ military wing, the Izzidin al-Qassam, and that two held the rank of commander.

Hamas is believed to have played a role in two recent suicide bombings in Jerusalem -- bus attacks less than a month apart that killed 19 passengers -- although the bombers were members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, an offshoot of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s Fatah faction.

Unlike many of Israel’s airstrikes targeting militants, Wednesday’s raid took place in a relatively isolated area, a stretch of scrubby fields, vineyards and sandy wasteland near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim. Israel has been criticized for launching missile attacks in densely populated areas that have killed or maimed passersby.

Hamas vowed revenge for the strike.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, meanwhile, fended off criticism Wednesday after a newspaper reported that he had close and previously undisclosed ties to the family of Elhanan Tannenbaum, an Israeli businessman and colonel in the military reserves who was freed in a prisoner swap with the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The bodies of three Israeli soldiers killed along the Lebanese border also were returned as part of the agreement.

Tannenbaum, who has been in the custody of Israeli authorities since he was handed over Jan. 29 in exchange for more than 400 Arab prisoners, is suspected of having been engaged in a drug deal with a Hezbollah-linked associate at the time of his abduction. His interrogators reportedly fear he may have disclosed sensitive military information to Hezbollah during his three years of captivity.

The newspaper Maariv reported Wednesday that Sharon had a business relationship dating to the 1970s with Shimon Cohen, Tannenbaum’s father-in-law. That sparked accusations from opposition lawmakers that Sharon had concealed his personal motivation for striking a lopsided deal with Hezbollah.

The prime minister, addressing lawmakers, dismissed the report as a “wild attack.” He said he had not been in touch with Cohen in many years and was not even aware that he was related to Tannenbaum.

Critics of the prisoner exchange said Israel paid far too high a price for the freedom of Tannenbaum.

Opposition lawmakers said they would demand a vote of confidence in Sharon’s government next week. The prime minister also has been buffeted by corruption scandals and faces possible indictment in connection with one of them.

Right-wing allies have threatened to bolt his government if he moves to evacuate any settlements.

Special correspondent Fayed abu Shammalah in the Gaza Strip contributed to this report.