The Israeli military confirmed it struck and killed two militants in the northern Gaza Strip overnight Wednesday, claiming one of them was involved in a string of rocket attacks on southern Israel in recent years, including one carried out during the funeral of former prime minister Ariel Sharon last week.

The airstrike in Beit Hanoun, which came shortly after midnight, targeted Ahmed Za'anein, 21, a senior operative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who perpetrated numerous cross-border attacks, the military said in a statement.

According to the army, it operated in order to eliminate an imminent threat to the lives of Israeli civilians. Za'anein, a former member of Islamic Jihad, planned to launch rockets in the near future. His most recent attack involved firing two rockets as Sharon was being buried at his Negev farm on Jan. 15 in a ceremony attended by US Vice President Joe Biden and Israel's top leaders.

Since 2009, he was also involved in sniper and explosive attacks against Israeli troops on the Gaza border, the army said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman would not confirm reports that a second militant, a relative of Za'anein, was killed in the strike. Witnesses said that the two men were sitting in a car when it was struck by a missile and that rescue teams and ambulances took their bodies to a hospital.

Officials at Kamal Odwan Hospital in northern Gaza released a statement, saying the second passenger in the car was Za'anein's 23-year-old cousin, Mohamed.

On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike seriously wounded Ahmed Sa'ad, 22, a senior Islamic Jihad operative who Israel said was personally responsible for launching six rockets towards the coastal city of Asheklon on Jan. 16 that were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system.

Two other people, including a 12-year-old boy, were injured in that strike, Palestinian sources said.

On Tuesday, Hamas, the group that took over the Gaza Strip by force in 2007, said they were taking measures to preserve a shaky ceasefire with Israel in the Gaza Strip, after a flare-up of cross- border violence in recent days.

The ceasefire has held fragilely, but in recent days, there have been more rocket attacks on southern Israel and the Israeli airplanes have responded with strikes on training sites for militant groups that Israel says were weapon storage facilities.

On Monday, Israeli media reports said that Hamas deployed forces along Gaza's northern and eastern fence to stop and thwart rocket attacks.

Despite Hamas' measures, three rockets landed in Ashkol Regional Council in Western Negev Wednesday morning, Israel Radio reported, and earlier on Tuesday, militants fired three more rockets into the western Negev. Both attacks caused no injuries or damage.

Also on Tuesday, the armed wing of the leftist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine detonated an explosive device 200 meters away from the border fence in southeast Gaza Strip without causing injuries or damage.

Following the recent escalation in attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon have vowed to respond forcefully to the rockets, including preemptive action.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Netanyahu said Israel has "a very clear policy of foiling terrorist attacks."

"If Hamas and the terrorist organizations have forgotten this lesson then they will learn it, with great force, in the near future," he said.