A car exploded outside police headquarters in the city of Gaza, killing one Palestinian [REUTERS]

A car has exploded outside a police headquarters in Gaza City killing one Palestinian and wounding another, Hamas officials and medics say.

Nadim Baba, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza, quoted local sources on Wednesday as saying that "the man who was killed was 27-year-old Muhammad Jamal Nimnim.

"He was a member of Jaish al-Islam [Islam Army], a hardline group which was linked to the kidnapping of BBC journalist Alan Johnston in 2007."

Medical officials said a second Palestinian was wounded in the blast.

'Israeli air strike'

Hamas authorities said that the explosion was caused by an Israeli air strike which targeted a silver Daewoo car, outside the main police compound in the city.

Ihab al-Ghussein, from the Hamas-run interior ministry, said: "Investigations show that the explosion was caused by missile fire from an Israeli drone".

In a statement, the ministry said the "civilian vehicle was targeted as it passed by the local security services authority in central Gaza."

Witnesses said they saw a hole in the ground near the blast site, consistent with a missile strike.

But Israel Radio said that it may have been the result of the premature detonation of a car bomb.

The Israeli military, which has targeted Palestinian cars in air strikes in previous rounds of fighting, had no immediate comment on the incident.

"So far it's not clear whether it was in fact an Israeli air strike that killed him," Nadim Baba said. 

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