JERUSALEM (AP) – Israeli missiles twice hit a house in a Gaza refugee camp on the beach, wounding a militant Palestinian leader and two other people, a spokesman for a Palestinian group said.

The two airstrikes, one on Monday afternoon and the other after midnight on Tuesday, targeted the same house in the Shati refugee camp next to Gaza City on the Mediterranean, said witnesses and a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committee.

White smoke rose into the sky from the building, and a large crowd quickly gathered around the house at the Shati refugee camp next to Gaza City.

The Israeli military refused to comment. During four years of conflict, Israeli helicopters have targeted dozens of Palestinian buildings and vehicles in Gaza, aiming for militant leaders, headquarters and weapons workshops.

In Gaza City, the Popular Resistance Committee spokesman said the airstrike was aimed at a house used by Abed Quka, the group’s leader in northern Gaza. He was wounded in the attack, but his condition was not known. There was no word on who else was wounded.

The Popular Resistance Committee is an umbrella group of militants who left other Palestinian factions. Its militants do not answer to outside authorities and often carry out attacks against the wishes of others.

Some believe the group was responsible for killing three American security guards in a diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip last October. No arrests have been made in the bombing, and the U.S. government has expressed dissatisfaction with the Palestinian inquiry.

The Israeli military refused to comment on either airstrike. During four years of conflict, Israeli helicopters have targeted dozens of Palestinian buildings and vehicles in Gaza, aiming for militant leaders, headquarters and weapons workshops.

In other violence, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 17-year-old Palestinian in a refugee camp next to the West Bank city of Nablus. Palestinians said he was throwing rocks at soldiers. The Israeli military said he was holding a rifle.

Also Monday, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat moved to defuse three days of tension and violence over his appointment of a relative, Moussa Arafat, as head of security in Gaza. Arafat reinstated the officer his relative replaced – Abdel Razek al-Majaide – but retained Moussa Arafat in a powerful position, satisfying some critics but infuriating others.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia said Monday he is intent on resigning but made no move to leave office. He told reporters that in a phone call to Arafat, he said, “It is time to reactivate all our security branches based on the correct principles. It is now time to appoint the right man to the right position.”

Tension in Gaza has also been heightened by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to pull Israeli forces and settlers out of the seaside territory by the end of next year – a “unilateral disengagement” plan that has rival Palestinian groups jockeying for position.

However, Sharon lost his parliamentary majority because of opposition in his own government to the proposal, and has approached opposition parties to join his coalition.

In a second day of talks with Sharon’s team, Labor Party representatives said they want the parliament to quickly approve compensation for settlers who are evacuated – a sign that Sharon is serious about implementing the plan.

Labor favors giving up all or most of the West Bank and Gaza in exchange for peace with the Palestinians – a position opposed by many members of Sharon’s Likud Party.

Some Labor activists suspect he is using Labor to control his own rebels and has no intention of bringing the dovish party into his government.

On Monday, the parliament debated six motions of no confidence in Sharon’s government. The votes were close, but none won the required absolute majority of 61 of the 120 seats needed to pass.

AP-ES-07-19-04 2012EDT

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