Israeli Airstrike Destroys Car in Gaza Strip, Killing 6

An Israeli aerial strike in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday night incinerated a car the army said was carrying Palestinian militants. Palestinian medics said six people were killed, including at least one child who was in or near the vehicle.

More than a dozen people were wounded in the attack outside the town of Khan Yunis, hospital officials said.

Israeli forces have mounted intensifying strikes in recent days, including naval barrages, artillery shelling, tank fire and air attacks, against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. Most of the strikes have occurred in a narrow band in the north that militants use to fire rockets toward Israel, but several sites in densely populated Gaza City have been targeted as well.

Palestinian sources said those killed Friday included a leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, an umbrella organization that has drawn support from various militant groups in Gaza and has frequently claimed responsibility for homemade-rocket attacks on Israelis.

The Israeli military confirmed that an airstrike was launched late Friday against a vehicle carrying “a number of terrorists.” An army spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the car was leaving what was described as a militant base where weapons training was being conducted.

The missile strike came amid growing tensions over the policies of the new Hamas-dominated Palestinian government, sworn in just over a week ago after the militant group won parliamentary elections in January.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, elected separately last year and considered a pragmatist, was in Gaza on Friday for talks with Ismail Haniyeh, the new prime minister. The two have clashed over a variety of issues, including Hamas’ refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

Hamas, which carried out a concerted campaign of suicide bombings against Israel during the last five years but halted such attacks when it entered politics last year, faces a government near bankruptcy as a result of a dramatic drop in international aid to the Palestinian Authority.

Two major donors, the United States and the European Union, on Friday announced they were halting hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Hamas-led government, but said they would seek to funnel some of that assistance to the Palestinian people via humanitarian projects.

Haniyeh said at an inaugural meeting of his Cabinet on Wednesday that the Palestinian Authority had been unable to meet its payroll, leaving more than 140,000 civil servants without paychecks that should have been issued nearly a week ago.

As much as a third of the Palestinian population is sustained by the government payroll. International aid groups and Palestinian officials have said that with many Palestinians already living in poverty, severe financial hardship will quickly set in unless money can be found to pay government salaries.

Since taking power, Hamas has been seeking to soften its stance toward Israel without alienating its core constituency. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Friday that Hamas was prepared to accept in principle a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a move that would implicitly recognize Israel.

Israeli officials, now forming their own new government, have thus far dismissed conciliatory Hamas statements as an effort to camouflage the group’s true aims. The centrist Kadima party, which won the largest number of seats in Israeli elections last month, has been cutting ties with Palestinian officials in the wake of the Hamas takeover.

Times special correspondent Fayed abu Shammaleh in Gaza City contributed to this report.