GAZA CITY, 2 March 2006 — Islamic Jihad’s top military commander in Gaza Khaled Dahdouh was assassinated yesterday in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. Islamic Jihad said an Israeli missile killed Dahdouh, but the Palestinian Authority reported no sign of a missile and Israel denied involvement.

Islamic Jihad vowed painful revenge.

Violence also hit the West Bank, where one Israeli was killed and another seriously wounded in two shooting attacks claimed by an offshoot of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah movement.

The deadly airstrike and attacks on Israelis came as Hamas prepared to take over the Palestinian Cabinet after sweeping parliamentary elections.

Dahdouh, Islamic Jihad’s chief rocketmaker, helped orchestrate the daily barrages of rockets from Gaza at Israel. The homemade rockets have increased their range in recent weeks, reaching a sensitive industrial area near the Israeli city of Ashkelon, 9 kilometers north of Gaza.

Dahdouh, 45, was a frequent target of Israeli forces — Islamic Jihad said he survived nine assassination attempts. The Israeli military said it did not set off the explosion that incinerated Dahdouh’s car, killing him instantly and wounding two bystanders. When Israel has assassinated Palestinians in the past, it has quickly claimed credit.

Palestinian police, witnesses and Islamic Jihad gave conflicting accounts of Dahdouh’s death.

The Palestinian Interior Ministry said no missile parts were found in the car, but said Israeli drones were in the sky when the blast went off.

A witness, Ahmed Abdel Khalouk, said he was sitting about 100 meters from Dahdouh’s car, which he said was parked at a speed bump, when he saw a large man walk over to it and open the driver’s door.

“There was a huge ball of fire, and debris from the car covered the entire area,” he said. “I think the car was booby-trapped.”

Islamic Jihad said Israel killed Dahdouh in a missile attack and vowed retaliation.

“The Zionists will swallow the same bitter drink that each Palestinian family has drunk from before,” said Abu Dajana, a spokesman for the group.

The blast shook a busy street in a residential area between Islamic University and the Finance Ministry compound in Gaza City. It knocked out electricity and damaged several parked cars.

Samira Daoud, 32, was standing on her balcony waiting for her children’s school bus when the blast went off.

“The explosion shattered all the windows of my apartment, and some of the flying shrapnel from the windows hit me in the face,” Daoud said, her face splattered with blood. “I ran to the street to see if my children were there, and I saw a man lying outside of the car with a big white beard, and he was bleeding.”

Islamic Jihad — unlike Hamas, which swept Jan. 25 Palestinian elections — has ignored a year-old informal truce with Israel, carrying out all six bombings in Israel since February 2005. Israel has been targeting the group’s leaders in Gaza airstrikes. The last one was in early February.

After sitting out the January election, Islamic Jihad rejected a Hamas offer to join the new Palestinian government that it is expected to form this month. Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in bombings, has largely stuck to the truce, though it has not renounced its violent campaign against Israel.

In the northern West Bank yesterday, Palestinian fighters killed one Israeli and wounded another.

Gunmen approached a gas station on foot and shot an Israeli dead near the settlement of Tapuah, the military said.

The Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades took responsibility. Israeli troops were searching for two gunmen, Israel Radio said.

In the second attack, a drive-by shooting, a man was seriously wounded near the settlement of Karnei Shomron. Israel Radio attributed the second shooting to Al-Aqsa.

Also yesterday, three masked gunmen kidnapped the director of the Palestinian Lands Authority in Gaza, witnesses said. The motive was not known. Such kidnappings have become increasingly common in Gaza in recent months, with the perpetrators often demanding jobs or other favors from the government.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, in Vienna on a first stop of a European tour, warned European leaders of the danger of funding a Hamas-led government.

“Part of the idea of the free world fighting terrorism is not to welcome terrorists, not to give money to terror,” Livni said. “This is part of European legislation, Israeli legislation, United States legislation.” However, she said, humanitarian aid should continue.

Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip last summer, ending 38 years of occupation.

— With input from agencies