Two Palestinians were killed and one was critically wounded on Wednesday night in an Israeli airstrike on a car that drove in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah, medics and witnesses said.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the Hamas-run ministry of health, told reporters that two were killed and one was critically wounded when two air-to-ground missiles hit a civilian car that drove in one of the town's neighborhoods.

Witnesses said that shortly before the car was hit, two Palestinian rockets were fired from the area at southern Israel the time that an Israeli army reconnaissance drone hovered over the area.

The witnesses added that the three men were in a car that drove in al-Jneina neighborhood in the town when two explosions were heard after their car was hit with two Israeli missiles. They also said that the three are employees in the Hamas-run ministry of interior, adding that one of the two killed is called Ashraf Yousef Saleh and the other Anis Abu al-Einein.

While, the Israeli Television Channel 10 reported that the two militants were members of the worldwide Islamic Jihad. But the report was denied by the ministry of interior of Hamas government that rules the Gaza Strip.

Ihab al-Ghissein, spokesman of the Hamas-run ministry of interior, said in a press statement that the two killed are employees in the interior ministry and were killed "while they were doing their job in protecting our people."