Two Palestinian members of Islamic Jihad were killed in a Zionist air raid in the Gaza Strip overnight.

Two Palestinian members of Islamic Jihad were killed in a Zionist air raid in the Gaza Strip overnight, witnesses and medical sources said Wednesday.

Ahmad al Zaaneen, 21, and Mohammad al Zaaneen, 23, were martyred when the car they were travelling in was hit near Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, the sources said.

The Zionist army said in a statement that "a terrorist involved in recent rocket attacks against Israel" had been the target, adding that Zaaneen had been a key figure in the far-left Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and had been involved in the firing of rockets during the burial this month of former Zionist prime minister Ariel Sharon.

Hours before the Israeli raid on Tuesday Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to teach Gaza's ruling Hamas movement a lesson "very soon" following a surge in militant rocket attacks on the entity of occupation.

His warning was issued shortly after Hamas said it had deployed forces in Gaza to "preserve the truce".