Ten Palestinians were killed and 43 wounded so far early Wednesday morning in unprecedented Israeli army strikes on Gaza Strip militants, eyewitnesses and medical sources reported.

Moa'weya Hassanein, chief of emergency at Gaza Shiffa Hospital told reporters that ten Palestinians were killed and 43 wounded in three separate Israeli ground and air strikes on eastern Gaza City and southern Gaza Strip.

Eyewitnesses reported that two Palestinian militants were killed and three other civilians were injured as an Israeli army tank shell hit a house in Sheja'eya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City. The two dead are members of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, Fatah movement's armed wing, said residents in eastern Gaza City.

A senior Palestinian militant, member of the Islamic Jihad ( Holy War) armed wing, was killed as his car he drove in Gaza City was hit by one air-to-ground missile fired by an Israeli aircraft, said the eyewitnesses.

The witnesses also said that several Israeli tank shells were fired at the neighborhood fronting Karni crossing on the borders between eastern Gaza City and Israel, leaving four people killed, and 40 wounded.

Hassanein confirmed that Shiffa Hospital received seven people killed and 40 wounded in two separate Israeli army attacks on Sheja'eya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City.

Meanwhile, three more Palestinian militants were killed east of the town of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip, one of them belongs to Islamic Jihad and the other is a Hamas member.

Eyewitnesses said the two were killed in an exchange of fire with an Israeli army force that entered into the village of Khuza' a, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza Strip.

They also said that a third member of Hamas executive force was killed in a bomb explosion, which was apparently a work accident.

However, the Islamic Jihad armed wing, al-Quds Brigades, took responsibility for launching two homemade rockets at the town of Sderout in southern Israel, but no injuries were reported.

The Israeli army actions are the toughest since Islamic Hamas movement had taken control of President Mahmoud Abbas security headquarters including his home and office nearly in Gaza Strip two weeks ago.

Source: Xinhua