Israelis Strike Home of Hamas Leader

Just one problem. He wasn't home at the time.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israel threatened Sunday to keep attacking Islamic militants in response to rocket fire from Gaza and hours later, an air force plane fired a missile at the house of a Hamas leader and killed eight people, witnesses and hospital officials said.

Israeli air attacks on Islamic militant targets earlier in the day killed another three Palestinians.

The attack on the house was the deadliest airstrike since last Tuesday when Israel started reprisals for the rocket barrages.

Residents said the house belonged to a Hamas lawmaker Khalil al-Haya, and six of the dead were members of his family. Al-Haya was not at home and was not harmed, they said. He was one of the Hamas representatives in cease-fire talks with
Fatah and was attending an Egyptian-sponsored truce meeting just before the strike, residents said.

The missile hit a room used as a meeting place for the extended family, relatives said. Hospital officials said eight people were killed and 13 injured.

Speaking from a twisted, alternate universe, a Hamas mouthpiece decried the alleged targeting of civilians.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said those killed were civilian members of the al-Haya family, and the attack was a sign that Israel is targeting "everyone — civilians and leaders."

"This escalation is very serious," he said. "All options are open" for responding to this.

The Israeli military confirmed it carried out an airstrike but gave no details.

Also targeted by a tank shell was a house in northern Gaza, wounding three.

Meanwhile, Hamas and Fatah have (stop me if you've heard this one before) agreed to what is now their at least their fifth ceasefire in the past eight days. Surely, this one will stick.

Rival Palestinian factions agreed on Sunday to end all hostilities, calling an end to about 10 days of intensive fighting in the Gaza Strip, the head of the Egyptian delegation of mediators announced.

The deal between Fatah and Hamas factions cements a ceasefire struck on Saturday that has largely held. "We have managed by the efforts of all honest people to restore matters to where they were" before the figting erupted this month, Burhan Hammad, the Egyptian delegation head, said.

The previous four ceasefires agreed on last week quickly fell apart as factional fighting erupted a few hours after the agreement had been reached.