GAZA, March 28 (Reuters) - Gunmen shot and wounded a senior Hamas commander, his wife and two of their children in an ambush in Gaza on Wednesday, witnesses and hospital officials said.

The militant, head of Hamas's armed wing in the northern Gaza town of Beit Hanoun, was travelling in a car when gunmen opened fire from another vehicle, Hamas officials said.

Witnesses and hospital officials did not disclose the severity of his wounds or those of his wife but said the two children were in critical condition.

No one claimed responsibility for the shooting, an incident that seemed certain to raise tensions between rival factions in the Gaza Strip.

Violence has flared recently in the territory despite the establishment of a unity government by Hamas Islamists and the secular Fatah movement.

AlertNet news is provided by