Gaza City: An Israeli air strike on Gaza City killed the wife and infant daughter of elusive Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, the Islamist group said early today.

"The wife of the great leader was martyred with his daughter," in a strike last night, Hamas's exiled deputy leader Mussa Abu Marzuk wrote on Facebook while saying nothing about the fate of Deif himself. He said that Israel had been looking for "an excuse to target a big Hamas leader".