GAZA CITY (CNN) -- Israel retaliated Thursday against two days of Hamas rocket attacks by launching airstrikes on Hamas targets in Gaza, killing two people and leaving more than 30 wounded, Palestinian security sources and an Israeli security source said.
The first Israeli strike, on Hamas' executive force compound, killed one person and wounded 30, Palestinian medical sources said. A later Israeli airstrike targeted and hit a car in Gaza City, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said.
Palestinian security sources said one member of Hamas' Izzedine al Qassam brigades was killed in that attack and another was wounded.
The IDF also confirmed a third strike on a Hamas post in northern Gaza City, but Palestinian sources said the strike was in northern Gaza outside the city. No casualties were reported in that attack.
And Palestinian sources said that an Israeli airstrike on a second car killed one Hamas militant, but IDF officials said there was not an attack on another car.
The strike on Hamas' military wing headquarters came as violence ratcheted up between the warring Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah and between Palestinians and Israeli forces, claiming the lives of more than 40 Palestinians since Sunday.
The Israeli security source said Israeli forces have "more strategic targets" they can hit.
"We want to show the terrorists we know where they are," the source said.
Israeli airstrikes Wednesday on Hamas headquarters in the town of Rafah, near the border with Egypt, and other targets around Gaza killed at least six Palestinians, Palestinian officials reported.
Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said Thursday that Palestinians were "very angry" that the "Israelis (were) trying to take advantage of internal fighting."
"Israel has decided to escalate this and this could lead to disaster... we have no peace partner," he added.
Three Qassam rockets fell in the Israeli town of Sderot on Thursday morning -- one of which fell on a school and left one person lightly wounded, Israeli officials said.
Since Monday, as many as 80 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel, an IDF spokeswoman said. More than two dozen rockets rained down Wednesday, injuring at least 17 people, Israeli authorities said.
A statement from the Israeli government said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni "decided to allow the IDF and the security establishment to carry out a series of actions in order to hit those who launch Qassam missiles and their commanders, to disrupt launch capabilities and to strike at terrorist infrastructures."
"The prime minister made it clear that Israel cannot continue to show restraint when its citizens are being attacked; therefore, a harsh and severe response was decided upon," the statement said.
The IDF told CNN there was normal military activity near the border with Gaza, and a limited Israeli force inside Gaza near the northern section of the border.
Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza in September of 2005, ending their 38-year occupation of the region.
A Hamas official from the Izzedine Al Qassam brigades said it's the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves against Israeli crimes in any way they see fit.
But even as they defend themselves, Palestinians loyal to Fatah and those loyal to Hamas are fighting each other.
At least 19 Palestinians were killed Wednesday in the fourth day of heavy fighting between the two parties.
Palestinian security sources in Gaza said gunmen fired on guards protecting Prime Minister Ismael Haniya's residence. Haniya, of the ruling Islamic party Hamas, was home at the time of the shooting, the sources said, but there was no report of injuries.
The latest cease-fire between the two groups took effect at 8 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) Wednesday, but sporadic gunfire could be heard into the night as Hamas fighters clashed with gunmen from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction. It was the fourth attempt at implementing a truce in as many days.
Abbas canceled a planned trip to Gaza on Thursday because of the violence, his office said.
Elsewhere, Palestinian security sources confirmed one person was killed when clashes broke out during a funeral Thursday in Rafah.
In a sign of the heightening chaos, fighting in central Gaza City on Wednesday forced dozens of journalists to take cover in the studios of the television news network Ramattan, a 15-story building that came under fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.
Fatah-affiliated security personnel on the building's roof were taking fire from Hamas-affiliated gunmen below, the journalists reported. Video from the building showed the journalists inside huddled together closely, wearing bulletproof vests and helmets as explosions could be heard outside.
The Palestinian government is struggling to quell the latest round of fighting, which has highlighted the weaknesses of the Hamas-Fatah unity government formed earlier this year. Abbas spoke to Hamas' exiled leader, Khaled Meshaal, on Wednesday and both pledged to do everything within their power to end the fighting between their rival movements, Barghouti said.
Hamas came to power in parliamentary elections in January 2006 after more than a decade of Fatah rule over the Palestinian Authority. But the United States and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization, and the European Union joined them in cutting off aid over the group's refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist explicitly.
CNN's Ben Wedeman, Nidal Rafa, Michal Zippori and Shira Medding contributed to this report.
The first Israeli strike, on Hamas' executive force compound, killed one person and wounded 30, Palestinian medical sources said. A later Israeli airstrike targeted and hit a car in Gaza City, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces said.
Palestinian security sources said one member of Hamas' Izzedine al Qassam brigades was killed in that attack and another was wounded.
The IDF also confirmed a third strike on a Hamas post in northern Gaza City, but Palestinian sources said the strike was in northern Gaza outside the city. No casualties were reported in that attack.
And Palestinian sources said that an Israeli airstrike on a second car killed one Hamas militant, but IDF officials said there was not an attack on another car.
The strike on Hamas' military wing headquarters came as violence ratcheted up between the warring Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah and between Palestinians and Israeli forces, claiming the lives of more than 40 Palestinians since Sunday.
The Israeli security source said Israeli forces have "more strategic targets" they can hit.
"We want to show the terrorists we know where they are," the source said.
Israeli airstrikes Wednesday on Hamas headquarters in the town of Rafah, near the border with Egypt, and other targets around Gaza killed at least six Palestinians, Palestinian officials reported.
Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa Barghouti said Thursday that Palestinians were "very angry" that the "Israelis (were) trying to take advantage of internal fighting."
"Israel has decided to escalate this and this could lead to disaster... we have no peace partner," he added.
Three Qassam rockets fell in the Israeli town of Sderot on Thursday morning -- one of which fell on a school and left one person lightly wounded, Israeli officials said.
Since Monday, as many as 80 rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel, an IDF spokeswoman said. More than two dozen rockets rained down Wednesday, injuring at least 17 people, Israeli authorities said.
A statement from the Israeli government said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni "decided to allow the IDF and the security establishment to carry out a series of actions in order to hit those who launch Qassam missiles and their commanders, to disrupt launch capabilities and to strike at terrorist infrastructures."
"The prime minister made it clear that Israel cannot continue to show restraint when its citizens are being attacked; therefore, a harsh and severe response was decided upon," the statement said.
The IDF told CNN there was normal military activity near the border with Gaza, and a limited Israeli force inside Gaza near the northern section of the border.
Israeli troops withdrew from Gaza in September of 2005, ending their 38-year occupation of the region.
A Hamas official from the Izzedine Al Qassam brigades said it's the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves against Israeli crimes in any way they see fit.
But even as they defend themselves, Palestinians loyal to Fatah and those loyal to Hamas are fighting each other.
At least 19 Palestinians were killed Wednesday in the fourth day of heavy fighting between the two parties.
Palestinian security sources in Gaza said gunmen fired on guards protecting Prime Minister Ismael Haniya's residence. Haniya, of the ruling Islamic party Hamas, was home at the time of the shooting, the sources said, but there was no report of injuries.
The latest cease-fire between the two groups took effect at 8 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) Wednesday, but sporadic gunfire could be heard into the night as Hamas fighters clashed with gunmen from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction. It was the fourth attempt at implementing a truce in as many days.
Abbas canceled a planned trip to Gaza on Thursday because of the violence, his office said.
Elsewhere, Palestinian security sources confirmed one person was killed when clashes broke out during a funeral Thursday in Rafah.
In a sign of the heightening chaos, fighting in central Gaza City on Wednesday forced dozens of journalists to take cover in the studios of the television news network Ramattan, a 15-story building that came under fire from small arms and rocket-propelled grenades.
Fatah-affiliated security personnel on the building's roof were taking fire from Hamas-affiliated gunmen below, the journalists reported. Video from the building showed the journalists inside huddled together closely, wearing bulletproof vests and helmets as explosions could be heard outside.
The Palestinian government is struggling to quell the latest round of fighting, which has highlighted the weaknesses of the Hamas-Fatah unity government formed earlier this year. Abbas spoke to Hamas' exiled leader, Khaled Meshaal, on Wednesday and both pledged to do everything within their power to end the fighting between their rival movements, Barghouti said.
Hamas came to power in parliamentary elections in January 2006 after more than a decade of Fatah rule over the Palestinian Authority. But the United States and Israel consider Hamas a terrorist organization, and the European Union joined them in cutting off aid over the group's refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist explicitly.
CNN's Ben Wedeman, Nidal Rafa, Michal Zippori and Shira Medding contributed to this report.
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