At least six Palestinian militants were killed in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday in air strikes.

Five of them died as the vehicle they were in was attacked from the air near the southern town of Khan Younis. All of them were reportedly senior members of the Islamist Hamas movement that controls the Gaza Strip. Locals said they had just returned from training in Syria or Iran, but died in the air strike which was a joint operation of the Israeli military and the Shin Bet intelligence service.

However, Abu Ubaida, spokesman of Hamas's Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, denied that the five men traveled outside Gaza, The Washington Post wrote on its Web site.

The five burned bodies in camouflage uniforms were still visible in the white minivan after the explosion. Two other Hamas militants were injured in the strike, said Hamas and Dr. Moaiya Hassanain of the Gaza Health Ministry.

"This is a new Israeli crime. It shows the bloody-mindedness of the occupation," said Hamas spokesman Taher Nunu according to the Associated Press.

There was also a second explosion second later that targeted another minivan, but nobody was injured in the second air strike.

According to the Israeli military intelligence, several Gaza militants who had gone to train in Syria and Iran in “various areas of terror expertise” took advantage of the fact that Egypt, which closed the border at Rafah, allowed the Palestinians who had crossed into its territory to go back to the Gaza Strip.

The air strike was the latest incident in the series of violence between Hamas and Israel and came as a new poll showed nearly two-thirds of Israelis support cease-fire talks with Hamas.
The Israeli army officials confirmed the air strike, which it said targeted vehicles transporting militants.

The corpse of another Palestinian militant was brought to the Gaza hospital on Wednesday morning. The member of the Islamic Jihad group was killed overnight in a clash with the Israeli military.