Israelis launch new Gaza strike

Casualties also included about a dozen people who were injured

Israeli forces have launched a fresh air attack on the Gaza Strip, killing two Palestinians and wounding 12.

Israeli officials said missiles hit targets from the Palestinian militant group, Islamic Jihad.

It was the latest assault following a double suicide bombing in the Israeli port city of Ashdod on Sunday that killed 10 Israelis.

Israel's security cabinet has approved an army plan to step up action against Palestinian militants.

Sunday's attack was carried out by two teenagers from Gaza.

They were the first suicide bombers to come out of the fenced-in Gaza Strip and strike targets within Israel since the start of the current Palestinian uprising more than three years ago, correspondents say.

In a first military response hours after the Ashdod bombing, helicopters launched an air strike on Gaza City. Israeli officials said two weapons factories were destroyed.

In the past three years, Israel has deliberately killed dozens of wanted Palestinians in air strikes and other attacks.

'Completely burned'

In the latest operation on Tuesday, witnesses reported that the Israeli military helicopter fired three missiles into a building in the north-west of Gaza City.

When the second and third missiles hit, people among the rescuers were wounded Ahmed, witness

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed that members of the radical Islamic Jihad group were the target.

"In an operation this evening in the northern Gaza Strip, IDF [Israeli Defense Forces] forces targeted a structure in which Islamic Jihad terrorists involved in attacks against Israelis were present," he told the French news agency AFP.

Islamic Jihad said one of the dead belonged to its military wing, but that another militant had survived the attack.

Palestinian sources said the dead included a passer by.

About a dozen people were also injured in the strike.

One witness, named Ahmed, told Reuters news agency he had rushed into the house with others to try and rescue those inside.

"When the second and third missiles hit, people among the rescuers were wounded," he said.

"I saw three people completely burned as well as many other people wounded just outside the house," he said.

Islamic Jihad vowed revenge for the attacks.

Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat denounced the air strike.

"What's needed to break the vicious cycle of violence is not the mentality of revenge but the mentality of reconciliation and negotiations," he said.

'Intensified operations'

The BBC's David Chazan in Gaza says people there are braced for more Israeli military action expected after the Ashdod attacks.

After the bombing, the Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, cancelled a meeting with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, which had been tentatively set for this week.

Mr Sharon said on Monday he had ruled out peace talks with the Palestinians and that his country would be forced to act as it saw fit while attacks on Israelis continued.

At a meeting with close advisers on Tuesday, it was decided to approve a number of military operations against specific targets in Gaza.

The BBC's Wyre Davies in Jerusalem says it is not yet clear if the Israeli operation - which security sources say will involve armoured incursions as well as air strikes - will be a limited attack or a prolonged attempt to weaken the armed Palestinian groups and their leadership.