Israel: Airstrike prevents planned attack

An Israeli airstrike early Friday prevented a terrorist attack on Israel from Gaza by killing the man who was planning it, military officials said. Another man was killed and a third injured in the strike, which hit a car in Gaza, officials said. The Israeli military said the would-be attacker was Zuhir al-Qaisi, who was also known as Abu Ibraim, secretary-general of the Popular Resistance Committees, Ynetnews reported. Qaisi was planning an attack that would have been aimed at Israeli communities near the Egyptian border, officials said. The military said he was the political head of the PRC and carried out a terrorist attack on the border last year that killed eight Israelis and an attack on a fuel terminal as well as being involved in rocket fire from Gaza into Israel. Palestinian sources told Ynet another senior PRC leader, Ahmad al-Khanini, was also killed. He was freed from a prison in Israel last in the exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been captured by militants and held for five years. Israeli officials say Khanini's cell planned a suicide attack in 2006 that was prevented.