JERUSALEM: Israeli jets bombed several targets along the Gaza Strip yesterday after a day of mortar and rocket fire into southern Israel.

Three Palestinian men were killed and one wounded in the air strikes, Palestinian medics said. There were no reports of injuries in Israel.

The Palestinian Popular Resistance Committee claimed responsibility for the mortar and rocket attacks, which it said were in response to the assassination of two of its members this week by an Israeli aircraft.

Hamas leaders said they tried to prevent the attacks, for fear of a severe Israeli reaction. In the past month, Hamas is believed to have thwarted several attempts by Islamic Jihad to fire rockets at Israel.

On Thursday, one Qassam rocket landed near the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon, while mortars fell in open fields near the Gaza Strip.