Gaza City: Israeli warplanes launched three
strikes against the southern Gaza Strip, killing one,
wounding three and leaving one more missing, Palestinian
medical and security sources said.
Two raids targeted smuggling tunnels running under the
border with Egypt at Rafah, wounding two people.
One of the tunnels collapsed, killing one person.
Another person was missing and a third was seriously injured,
witnesses said.
The other raid targeted a former base used by the armed
wing of the Islamist movement Hamas that seized control of the
Gaza Strip in 2007.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the three raids
yesterday, saying that one was aimed at "a tunnel dug in the
direction of Israeli territory" for attacks across the border.
The air strikes follow the firing of a rocket from Gaza
into Israel by Palestinian militants yesterday, which caused
no casualties or damage, according to the Israeli military.
The incidents follow the meeting Thursday in Washington
of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to relaunch direct peace talks
following a 20-month hiatus.
Hamas threatened Thursday to keep up its attacks on
Israel after carrying out Thursday two attacks against Israeli
settlers in the occupied West Bank that killed four people and
cast a pall over the relaunch of the talks.
PTI
