(Adds Israeli military confirms killing militant) GAZA, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Israeli fire killed a Palestinian militant who was on a mission on Monday to attack an Israeli patrol along the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, the Islamic Jihad group said. Israel's military, revising an earlier statement, said its forces killed a gunman who tried to infiltrate through its Gaza border fence. Islamic Jihad identified him as a member of its armed wing and said he was killed near the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun while trying to attack Israeli troops along the frontier. Earlier, Israel launched air strikes against what the military described as Hamas outposts in Gaza, saying this was a response to a Palestinian rocket salvo on Sunday. Palestinians said at least one Israeli missile hit a building used by Hamas police. There were no casualties. A fragile ceasefire has been in place since Israel ended a 22-day military offensive in Gaza on Jan. 18 that was designed to punish the Islamist Hamas group for cross-border rocket and mortar bomb attacks. Egypt is trying to secure a lasting ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, which holds a parliamentary election on Tuesday. Diplomats said the Egyptian proposal includes a prisoner exchange and the initial opening of at least two of the enclave's border crossings. With his opinion poll lead narrowing ahead of the election, right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu has pledged to end Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip and proposed focusing peace talks with the Palestinians on economic issues. His main opponent, the centrist Kadima party leader Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister, said she would continue U.S.-sponsored land-for-peace talks, an outcome favoured by the new Obama administration in Washington. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Writing by Dan Williams)
Palestinian relatives of Islamic Jihad militant Khaled al-Kafarnah mourn during his funeral in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun February 9, 2009. Israeli fire killed Palestinian militant al-Kafarnah who was ...
