Israeli air strikes killed seven Hamas militants in the first targeted killings in Gaza and the West Bank in months Friday, as a five-month-old ceasefire which had been crumbling since a suicide bombing Tuesday seemed to have collapsed, dpa reported. One month before Israel's planned unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, internal violence in the Strip also left two Palestinian teenagers dead. Israeli helicopter gunships fired four missiles at a car in the northern West Bank in the afternoon, killing three Hamas militants, the radical Islamic group confirmed. Minutes later and air strike on a car in Gaza City killed four other Hamas members, Shiffa hospital said. An Israeli army spokeswoman in Tel Aviv confirmed the air strikes, which meant a return to Israel's policy of assassinating militants. As part of the ceasefire he declared with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in February, Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon promised to end all military activity and refrain from targeting militants, except in cases of "ticking bombs" or impending attacks. --More 2336 Local Time 2036 GMT
