Israeli warplanes pounded a building in Gaza City on late Monday night, wounding four Palestinians, witnesses and Palestinian security sources said.

Israeli aircraft fired at least one missile at the four-storey building in Sheja'ya neighborhood in Gaza City and a huge explosion was heard, said the witnesses.

Smoke could be seen billowing out of the building, which was badly damaged in the strike, they added.

Palestinian security sources said that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had warned the owner of the building earlier on Monday that the Israeli army might target the structure.

Omer al-Mamlook, the owner, along with his family managed to evacuate the building just before it was hit by the Israeli missile, they added.

Meanwhile, an Israeli army spokesman confirmed the airstrike to Israel Radio, saying that the building was used by the Islamic Jihad (Holy War) militants to store weapons and rockets.

But a spokesman for Jihad, who identified himself only as Abu Ahmed, denied the Israeli allegation, saying that Jihad had never used the house or any other in the densely-populated neighborhood in Gaza City.

Earlier in the day, six Palestinians including a five-year-old girl were killed in the Israeli shelling on the Gaza Strip.

Israel has continued an almost one-month-old air and ground operation in the Gaza Strip in a bid to bring home a soldier kidnapped by Palestinian militants on June 25 and halt Palestinian rocket attacks.

Source: Xinhua