By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - A senior commander of the PalestinianIslamic Jihad movement was among seven people killed and 40wounded in an explosion in the Gaza Strip late on Friday, agroup spokesman and local medics said.
The spokesman accused Israel of mounting an air strike thatdestroyed a house and vowed revenge for the death of AymanFayed, better know as Abu Abdallah. But an Israeli militaryspokeswoman denied that there had been any attack in the area.
Among the dead were Fayed's wife, a son and a daughter aged6 and 5 respectively and three other militants, medics andrelatives said.
"It was not us," the Israeli spokeswoman said. "There havebeen no actions in the Gaza Strip."
She said the explosion could have been the result offactional disputes: "Most likely it was an internal matter."
Israeli ministers said this month they may step up effortsto kill senior Gaza militant leaders. Israeli forces havecarried out a number of air strikes on Gaza militants in carslately, but not since 2006 have they bombed a house.
Some local residents said they believed there had been anair strike but others said they had not been aware of anyaircraft noise or other indications before the explosion.
Another senior Islamic Jihad leader linked the incident tothe killing this week of a top commander of Lebanon'sHezbollah, for which Israel also denied responsibility despiteaccusations of Israeli involvement from Hezbollah and othergroups.
"We will respond to this Zionist massacre painfully," AbuAhmed, the spokesman for Islamic Jihad's armed wing said.
"We will strike the enemy everywhere."
Medics said at least 40 people had been wounded in theexplosion at the al-Bureij refugee camp.
The Gaza Strip is ruled by Islamist Hamas, which seized thecoastal enclave in June from Palestinian President MahmoudAbbas's secular Fatah. Islamic Jihad operates in a loosealliance in Gaza with Hamas.
A senior Islamic Jihad political leader, Khaled al-Batsh,also said Israel was behind the bombing of the house and linkedit to the car bombing in Damascus this week that killed topHezbollah commander Imad Moughniyah.
"This escalation by Israel will not bring security to thesettlers, it will not bring security to Zionists anywhere,"Batsh told Reuters.
"We will not meet the escalation against us with roses butwith more resistance and jihad," he said.
Referring to the killing of Moughniyah, for which Israelhas officially denied responsibility, he added: "It seems thatIsrael has decided to escalate its aggression against theresistance in Palestine and Lebanon. We will stand fast."
Israeli ministers have said this month that they may stepup action against militants who fire rockets into Israel fromGaza.
(Additional reporting by Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Writing byAlastair Macdonald; editing by Dominic Evans)
