Gaza City: Three Palestinians were wounded
early on Tuesday as Israel carried out three air strikes on
Hamas-run Gaza in response to rocket fire from the enclave,
witnesses, medics and the army said.
Two of the raids struck smuggling tunnels on the border
between Gaza and Egypt and one hit east of Gaza City,
witnesses and medics said. The three wounded were caught in
the tunnels' strikes, medics said.
An army spokesman said the air strikes were carried out
in response to two rockets that were fired from the territory
late yesterday, without causing injuries or damage.
He said the strike near Gaza City targeted a "weapons
manufacturing facility."
It marked the latest violence along Gaza's border, which
has been mostly quiet since a war that Israel launched on
Hamas in Gaza on December 27 in response to rocket fire ended
with mutual ceasefires on January 18.
The ceasefires have largely held despite violations by
both sides.
Since Israel and Egypt sealed Gaza off to all but basic
goods following the Islamist movement Hamas's seizure of the
territory in June 2007, a vast trade in goods through hundreds
of tunnels has developed along the border.
More than 130 Palestinians have died in cave-ins or been
killed by Israeli operations targeting the network since the
Hamas takeover of Gaza, medics say.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, 15:29