Special report: Crisis between Israel and Palestine

    GAZA, July 2 (Xinhua) -- One Hamas militant was killed and three others wounded when a Hamas security force post in the northern Gaza Strip was hit by an Israeli airstrike on early Sunday, Palestinian witnesses said.

    An Israeli army helicopter fired two missiles at a post of the Auxiliary Force led by the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry in the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya, said the witnesses.

    The attack came as Israeli military planes pounded Gaza City and the office of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haneya was hit by an Israeli missile and was set on fire.

    Another missile hit a Hamas lawmaker's office in Gaza City.

    Three Palestinian militant groups including Hamas' armed wing launched a deadly attack on an Israeli army post near the Gaza border on June 25, killing two Israeli soldiers and kidnapping a third.

    The attack prompted Israel to launch a broad ground offensive into the Gaza Strip last Wednesday in an effort to rescue the abducted soldier.

    Mediation efforts are under way to find a solution to the Gaza crisis.

    Israel has held the Hamas-led Palestinian government responsible for the fate of the kidnapped soldier.

    The Palestinian government, however, said that it did not order the abduction and had no foreknowledge of the June 25 attack.

    Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement which calls for Israel's destruct, has took the reins of the Palestinian government since late March following a sweeping January election victory. Enditem