Zaytoun, 28 May (AKI) - Israeli warplanes carried out an aerial attack against an alleged mortar-launching squad, killing two militants from the Islamist Hamas movement on Wednesday.

The official Israeli army website called the operation "an Israel Defence Force activity against terror threats."

In addition to the two militants dead, nine people were injured, three of them civilians.

Meanwhile also on Wednesday, an Israeli soldier was wounded during a military operation inside the Gaza Strip.

The clashes take place as an independent UN fact-finding mission, led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Professor Christine Chinkin of the London School of Economics is visiting the area of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.

The Fact-Finding Mission was established by the UN Human Rights Council in November 2006 following an Israeli attack that resulted in 19 people, including 7 children, being killed.

For the two-day mission from 27-28 May, Archbishop Tutu and Professor Chinkin will enter Gaza from Egypt.

They are scheduled to hold a range of meetings in Gaza, including a session with survivors and witnesses of the attack on 8 November 2006.

The mission will submit a final report to the September session of the HRC.

Last June, the mission submitted a report to the Council in which it said that “significant” human rights violations occurred there and called for an independent probe by national authorities.

The report noted that “it is clear that significant human rights violations resulted in Beit Hanoun from the activities of the Israel Defence Force on and around 8 November,” and that those events must be investigated by an independent, impartial and transparent process, preferably at the national level.