GAZA, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- Three Islamic Jihad (Holy War) militants were killed late Friday when an Israeli warplane hit their car in eastern Gaza City by an air-to-ground missile, medics and witnesses said.

    The witnesses said they heard a sudden explosion in al-Tufah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, and they saw flames of fire and smoke come out from the targeted car.

    Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein told reporters that local ambulances and rescue teams took three people killed in the car and three injured civilian bystanders to Shiffa Hospital in Gaza City.

    The three killed are members of Islamic Jihad armed wing Sarayaal-Quds, the group said in a statement, adding that their car was targeted by one Israeli missile.

    The group said one of the three killed is Kamle al-Dahdouh, the son of the group's armed wing commander Khaled al-Dahdouh "Abu al-Walid," who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City more than three years ago.

    It is the first Israeli airstrike on Gaza militants' car since the 22-day Israeli large-scale military offensive on Gaza that ended on Jan. 18 and left around 1,400 people killed.

    Meanwhile, Interior Ministry of deposed Hamas government spokesman Ihab al-Ghusein told reporters that three Palestinians were killed by the Israeli airstrike on their car in al-Tufah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City.