The Israeli military confirmed it carried out an airstrike and said it targeted two who were planning to infiltrate Israel.

Hamas radio identified the dead as brothers Essam Al-Batsh and Sobhi Al-Batsh, from Hamas' armed wing.

The airstrike set off an explosion that turned the car into a ball of fire. Onlookers arriving moments later saw the body of a man sprawled near the vehicle with much of his head missing. A dismembered leg and hand of a second person lay on the ground nearby. Five bystanders were wounded.

Meanwhile in a move sure to raise religious passion, Jerusalem's City Council on Wednesday ordered the closure within a week of a wooden access ramp to the sensitive Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City, saying the structure is "a threat to public safety."

The wooden structure has been at the center of a complex row between the city council and the Jewish and Muslim groups which respectively oversee the Western Wall plaza and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound next to it.

The city says the ramp poses a fire hazard and could collapse onto the women's prayer section by the Western Wall.