An Israeli air strike on northern Gaza late Thursday killed at least seven people, including a leading member of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War), local medical sources said.

Shadi Mohanna, the field commander in the northern Gaza Strip, along with his assistant, Mohammed Ghazaineh, were among the dead, said security and medical sources.

Palestinian security sources said that the two were members of Saraya al-Quds, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad.

Israeli missiles hit their car, a white Subrau, when they were driving just outside the Jabalia refugee camp, said witnesses.

They added that Israeli helicopters hovered over northern Gaza and fired at least two missiles, which caused powerful explosions in the area.

The other five killed were civilian bystanders who walked closed to the car that drove in one of the streets outside the refugee camp.

Ambulances and firefighters arrived at the scene immediately and rescue teams took the bodies of the two outside their car and evacuated the other five killed bystanders to hospital, said the witnesses.

The Israeli air strike came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed a broad offensive after an Islamic Jihad suicide bomber killed five Israelis in the northern Israeli town of Hadera on Wednesday.

The Islamic Jihad said the suicide bombing was a revenge for Israel's killing of a West Bank leader of the group earlier in the week.

Source: Xinhua