By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Eight people were killed, including acommander of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, and some40 were wounded when an explosion destroyed a house in the GazaStrip late on Friday, a group spokesman and local medics said.
The Israeli army denied any involvement. Islamic Jihad saidan air strike caused the blast, which also killed three othermilitants as well as the wife and two young children of thecommander, Ayman Fayed, better known as Abu Abdallah.
"We will respond to this Zionist massacre painfully," AbuAhmed, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad's armed wing said.
"We will strike the enemy everywhere."
A senior figure in the movement linked the incident toIsraeli threats to kill senior militants it holds responsiblefor rockets fired into Israel -- and to this week's killing inDamascus of a top commander of Lebanon's Hezbollah group.
An Israeli military spokeswoman denied any role in the Gazablast, saying: "The Israeli army spokesman announces that themilitary has no connection to this matter."
Relatives said a son and daughter of the 41-year-old Fayed,aged 6 and 5, were killed. Three of his other children werewounded.
Rescuers combing the rubble in the dark found one bodythree hours after the blast, which also damaged surroundinghomes.
Some residents of the al-Bureij refugee camp said theybelieved there had been an air strike. Others said they heardno aircraft noise or other indications before the explosion.
Witnesses at the scene said they saw debris among therubble of what looked like the locally manufactured rockets theIslamic Jihad and other groups fire at Israeli towns.
Israel has used air strikes on cars in Gaza to kill anumber of militants lately but has not bombed a house theresince 2006. Militants have also been killed in accidentalexplosions and faction fighting, while some Palestinians alsoaccuse Israel of using undercover methods to set off explosionsin the enclave.
PRESSURE
A rocket strike on the Israeli town of Sderot a week agowounded an 8-year-old boy, increasing popular pressure on theIsraeli government to respond to the daily attacks. Ministershave said they may step up attacks on senior leaders in Gaza,where Hamas Islamists, allied to Islamic Jihad, seized controlin June from the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
A senior Islamic Jihad political leader, Khaled al-Batsh,said Israel was behind the bombing that killed Fayed and linkedit to the car bomb in Damascus that killed Hezbollah commanderImad Moughniyah -- for which Israel also denied responsibility.
"It seems that Israel has decided to escalate itsaggression against the resistance in Palestine and Lebanon," hesaid.
"We will stand fast."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is pursuing a new,U.S.-sponsored peace process with Palestinian President MahmoudAbbas, based in the occupied West Bank. Both Israel and Abbashave refused to talk to Gaza's Hamas leaders, and Israel hasall but sealed the enclave's 1.5 million people inside itsborders.
Three weeks after Hamas breached the territory's southernborder with Egypt, creating a brief opportunity for people tostock up on supplies, Hamas officials said they told Egyptiancounterparts at a meeting on Thursday they were ready for atruce with Israel if the Jewish state ended its blockade ofGaza and all military operations in the West Bank and GazaStrip.
(Additional reporting by Ori Lewis in Jerusalem andAlastair Macdonald in Gaza; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
