Gaza, January 11, 2010 (Pal Telegraph) - Israeli warplanes killed three Palestinian resistance men Sunday night. The airstrike struck a group of Palestinian resistance men in the central Gaza Strip, killing them with an air-to-ground missile, Palestinian medics said.

The three martyrs are Awad Abu Nasir from Dair Al Balah, Hasan Al Qatrawi from Al Nosairat camp and Hozyfa Al Hams from Rafah city. The three martyrs belong to Islamic Jihad movement.

The Israeli occupation forces claimed that the three men were hit as they were preparing to fire rockets into the occupied territory.

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the IOF would respond harshly to rocket and mortar fire from Gaza.

Muawiya Hassanein, chief of Gaza emergency services, said the bodies of three men were taken to a hospital in the town. They were all members of the Islamic Jihad movement, he said.

The Israeli occupation forces stated one of the martyrs, Awad Abu Nasir, was a senior Islamic Jihad field commander behind a string of attacks on Israel. Islamic Jihad issued a call for all Palestinian resistance factions to unite against the Israeli enemy.

Netanyahu warned earlier on Sunday that Israel would react quickly to any renewed rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza. He claimed that more than 20 rockets and mortar shells had been fired in the past week.

Photo Mohammed Asad