GAZA, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Two Palestinian militants, members of Hamas movement, were killed Sunday by Israeli artillery shelling in east of the northern Gaza Strip town of Jabalia, medics and witnesses said.

Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hasssanein told reporters that two Palestinians were brought dead to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as after being hit by Israeli army artillery shells in northern Gaza Strip.

He said the two killed were identified as 25-year-old Abdel Hafez al-Silawi and 23-year-old Mahmoud Nuseir, and both are from northern Gaza Strip.

A third Palestinian was critically wounded, he added.

Witnesses said Israeli soldiers at the borders between eastern town of Jabalia and Israel in northern Gaza Strip fired two tank shells at a group of Palestinians, killing two people.

The Israeli artillery shelling came after militants fired earlier Sunday two homemade rockets from northern Gaza Strip to Israel. Israeli radio reported the two shells landed at an empty area, causing no injuries or damages.

A radical Jihadi Salafi armed group claimed responsibility in a statement sent to reporters of firing the two rockets at Israel, saying it is a response to the Israeli violation against the residents of Jerusalem.

Al-Qassam Brigades, Islamic Hamas movement's armed wing said in a statement sent to reporters that two of its members were killed in the Israeli artillery shelling and one was critically wounded.

Hamas movement had accepted an unwritten and an undeclared ceasefire with Israel since the end of the 22-day Israeli war on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip that ended on Jan. 18, leaving around 1,450 Palestinians killed.