Israeli Missile kills Activist

The attack came as the Palestinian leadership, under U.S. and Israeli pressures, began its own crackdown on the Islamic resistance group, freezing bank accounts of charities linked to it and firing at activists who had launched the rockets into Israel.

Palestinian security forces said Kalakh belonged to the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

One of the three people injured was said to be in critical condition.

Israeli military radio confirmed that Kalakh had been targeted in the attack.

Describing him as an "expert terrorist," it said he had been preparing to fired rockets on the nearby Gush Katif Jewish settlement bloc.

An officer was quoted as saying the army would "pursue its targeted killing operations against terrorist chiefs to stop the firing of Qassam rockets on Israeli territory and on Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip."

Kalakh’s death brings the total number of people killed since the start of the Palestinian Intifada against Israeli occupation in September 2000 to 3,436, including 2,576 Palestinians and 799 Israelis, according to an unofficial AFP count.

A home-made Qassam rocket were fired on the outskirts of the major port city of Ashkelon.

No one was injured in that strike, on wasteland near a brewery, but it was the first time an improvised rocket fired from the Gaza Strip had reached so far into Israel.