Israeli airstrike kills 1, critically wounds another

A fighter from the armed wing of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine was killed, and another critically injured, as Israel launched an airstrike on the Gaza Strip hours after a ceasefire truce was agreed upon by Gaza militants. Medical spokesman in the Gaza Strip Adham Abu Salmiya said that one man was killed in the airstrike on Rafah. The victim was identified as Ahmad Jarkhoun. Another man was critically wounded and rushed to hospital, he added. The National Resistance Brigades, the armed wing of the DFLP, announced in a statement that Jarkhoun was one of their leaders. They confirmed that he was killed in the Israeli airstrike. The statement called on resistance factions in Gaza to retaliate for "this cowardly crime." The Israeli army confirmed the strike, claiming that militants in the southern Gaza Strip were preparing to fire projectiles, a statement said. The latest strike on the coastal enclave comes as the Islamic Jihad movement confirmed earlier on Sunday that it would abide by truce efforts. "Islamic Jihad is committed to the truce as long as the occupation commits to it," an official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. "This decision comes after Egyptian efforts to convince the resistance factions, especially Islamic Jihad leaders in Damascus," he added. Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip killed nine fighters from Islamic Jihad's armed wing on Saturday, and Gaza militants fired a volley of rockets and mortars into southern Israel, killing one Israeli in Ashkelon. The most recent flareup in violence is the worst since August, when clashes in and around the Gaza Strip killed 27 Palestinians and an Israeli. The confrontations erupted when Israel launched airstrikes on the coastal enclave after blaming a militant group for an attack in Israel which killed eight people.