TEHRAN, May 27 (Xinhua) -- Three Palestinian Islamic Jihad militants were killed Sunday by Israeli artillery fire in the Gaza Strip, an attack that came in response to planting an explosive device near the border fence between Gaza and Israel.
The bombardment came hours after Israeli fighter jets struck a compound belonging to Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs Gaza.
Health ministry in Gaza confirmed the death of the Palestinians killed in the Israeli shelling that targeted an Islamic Jihad military post in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah.
The three were identified as Marwan al-Amor, 25, Samir al-Amor, 25, and Abdul Karim al-Naqa, 28.
Palestinian security sources said that the Islamic Jihad monitoring post was targeted by two Israeli tank shells.
Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad group, also announced in a statement the death of three of its militants.
Islamic Jihad spokesman, Dawoud Shehab, said in a statement that his movement "knows how to respond to the Israeli escalation against the Palestinian people."
He stressed that the Islamic Jihad has the right to respond to the Israeli "aggression," affirming that his group will never give up this right.
"We know what are supposed to do to remind the Israeli terrorists that the blood of the Palestinian people is not cheap," he said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army announced that the bombardment was a response to an explosive device placed on Saturday near the border fence between Gaza and Israel.
"The device was placed last night near the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip in attempt to harm forces operating in the area and was neutralized this morning by Israeli troops," said the Israeli army's statement.
Before the Israeli bombardment on the Islamic Jihad post, Israeli war jets launched several missiles Saturday night at a Hamas military training facility in Rafah.
The war jets also targeted another military facility west of the town of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip.
The two Israeli airstrikes were carried out in response to an earlier infiltration of four Palestinian youths who cut the fence of the border between eastern Gaza Strip and Israel.
Israeli and Palestinian media reported that the young men entered Israel, burned an Israeli army military post and returned to Gaza.
Israeli air raids on Gaza have been common over the past few weeks. The strikes usually target military facilities belonging to Hamas movement, which has been ruling Gaza since it routed forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority in 2007.
Israel says the attacks come in response to field developments along the borders with Gaza.
Violence erupted on the border between Gaza and Israel since the start of the mass Palestinian rallies on March 30, during which 116 Palestinians were reportedly killed and thousands of others injured.
The rallies demand the return of Palestinians refugees who were forced to leave their cities during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948 as well as lifting the blockade Israel has been imposing on Gaza since 2007.
Commenting on the recent escalation, Gaza-based political observer and writer, Adnan Abu Amer, said the Israeli army continues to impose its field equation in Gaza without hesitation.
"The Israeli army realizes that the Palestinian options are extremely difficult, that is why Israel is exploiting this situation," Abu Amr told Xinhua.
Israel understands that the resistance in Gaza is living in extremely difficult conditions due to the ongoing Israeli blockade on Gaza, Abu Amer said, therefore Israel is imposing "a decisive deterrent equation."
