The air strike occurred at about 1:30 a.m. By the time CNN arrived a few hours later, a bulldozer was moving piles of dirt into what neighbors said had been a crater left by the blast.

A few streets away, people were picking through a similar landscape. The roof of a three-story building lay on the ground.

A few yards away, a man in a green T-shirt held his head in his hands as he surveyed the wreckage. He said he had been warned. "The Israel Defense Forces called us," he said. "At first, we didn't believe them. Then they hit us with a small rocket on the roof. Ten minutes after that, they hit the house."

By then, the residents of the house had evacuated. Still,15 neighbors were wounded in the ensuing attack, he said.

The Israeli military said it could not confirm it was responsible for either hit in a neighborhood known for having launched rockets toward Israel.

CNN personnel saw rockets blasting from the area, leaving a trail of smoke over the neighborhood mosque.

A building that housed a center used by some media outlets was also an apparent target of Israeli missiles. Witnesses said three explosions were followed by a ball of flame from the third floor at 3:20 p.m.

At least two people were killed, Palestinian sources said. Ramez Harb, information leader of the military media office of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, was among them, the sources said. In addition, two children were wounded, the sources said.

Journalists inside the building had also been warned to leave. They did so, staying out for several hours, after which a few returned. That's when it was hit.

The building had also been struck on Sunday.