Two Palestinians, including an Islamic Jihad (Holy War) movement militant, were killed and seven others wounded in Israeli strike against north Gaza on Wednesday, the Israeli army confirmed.

A wounded Palestinian boy is carried into Beit Hanoun hospital, northern Gaza Strip, July 21, 2010. At least one Palestinian militant was killed and about seven others were wounded Wednesday afternoon in an Israeli artillery shelling in northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, witnesses and ambulance officials said. [Xinhua]

A spokesman for the Israeli army told Xinhua that the army fired several shells at a group of Palestinian gunmen who were spotted approaching the fence that separates Gaza and Israel in eastern Beit Hanoun city.

The spokesman said that the shells killed one member of the group who was carrying a suspicious object suspected to be a rocket launcher.

Meanwhile, Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein told Xinhua that a seriously wounded Palestinian died of his sustained wounds later in the hospital, adding that "the toll of the Israeli strike increases to two, while seven wounded."

Relatives mourn during the funeral of Islamic Jihad militant Mohammed al-Kafarnah who was killed by Israeli shelling in Beit Hanoun town, northern Gaza Strip, July 21, 2010. [Xinhua]

Palestinian witnesses said one of the Israeli missiles landed on a house owned by Al-Massri family, wounding a boy and a young man.

Meanwhile, witnesses said that a group of gunmen fired a home-made rocket at Israel from eastern Beit Hanoun and the Israeli army responded with artillery fire, killing a gunman.

Medical sources identified the dead as Mohammed Al-Kafarana, while other security sources said Al-Kafarana was a member of the Islamic Jihad movement.

Islamic Hamas movement, which controls Gaza, maintains a ceasefire with Israel since the end of Gaza war in January 2009. However, Hamas failed to broker full commitment from other factions.

Gaza's northern and eastern borders with Israel witness violent incidents from time to time as the Jewish state imposed a 300- meter-wide buffer zone along the borders.