Angry Palestinians held funerals on Sunday for four people killed in an Israeli air strike on Saturday in the Gaza Strip, which is torn by both Israeli targeted killings against militants and internal violence between rival Palestinian factions.

The mourners buried Mohammed al-Dahdouh, 32, a top leader of the Islamic Jihad's armed wing Saraya al-Quds, together with a 4- year-old boy, the boy's mother and grandmother.

On Saturday, al-Dahdouh was driving his silver Mitsubishi jeep in Gaza City where it was hit by a missile fired by an Israeli drone.

Al-Dahdouh was killed directly while the three others who were inside a nearby moving car were seriously wounded, said security sources and witnesses.

The boy and his mother and grandmother died on the way to hospital, according to the sources.

Israel accused al-Dahdouh, whose two brothers were also killed in the past two years by Israel in separated attacks, of heading the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad and being responsible for firing Russian-made Katyusha rockets into southern Israel.

Unlike ruling Hamas, the Islamic Jihad chose to stay away from January's parliamentary elections and has been behind recent bloody attacks against Israel.

Saturday's targeted killing against the Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip came as internal tension between rival Hamas and Fatah groups has been running high over security control and power sharing.

Shortly after Palestinian intelligence chief Tarek Abu Rajab, a Fatah member, was critically wounded in an explosion, which was said to be an assassination attempt, another high-ranking Fatah security official, Rashid Abu Shbak, who is heading the internal national security, also escaped a potential roadside bomb attack close to his house.

Both Abu Rajab and Abu Shbak are Fatah members loyal to moderate President Abbas, who is involved in power struggle with the Hamas-led government ever since Hamas installation in late March.

Abu Shbak was appointed as chief of internal national security ahead of the formation of the Hamas government on March 29.

Hamas strongly opposed Abu Shbak's appointment, terming it as a move to strip the government of power.

Earlier on Sunday, Dubai-based al-Arabiya channel reported that a statement issued by the al-Qaida group claimed responsibility for trying to kill Abu Rajab, who was said to be an apostate from the Islamic religion.

However, the authenticity of the statement could not be verified immediately and there were no immediate comments from the Palestinian officials over the statement.

Source: Xinhua