A Palestinian man inspects the entrance to a smuggling tunnel following an Israeli airstrike in Rafah near the border between Egypt and the southern Gaza Strip on October 14, 2009. An early morning Israeli air raid on smuggling tunnels between Gaza and Egypt killed a 23-year-old Palestinian man and wounded four other people, Palestinian medics said.
GAZA, Oct. 14 -- Israeli war jets struck early on Wednesday the borderline area between southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, killing one person and destroyed at least two smuggling tunnels, witnesses and security sources said.
The witnesses said that after F16 warplanes hovered over the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah near the border with Egypt, they heard two huge explosions at the borderline area, leaving two tunnels were targeted and destroyed.
Security sources of Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, said that ambulances and rescue teams arrived at the targeted area, after it was struck by two Israeli air-to-ground missiles, and there were casualties according to initial reports.
Gaza emergency chief Mo'aweya Hassanein told reporters that a 23-year-old Palestinian worker was killed and three others injured in the Israeli air strike on Rafah town.
The Israeli air strike at the borderline area came few hours after anonymous militants launched one homemade rocket from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel. Israeli radio reported that there were no injuries or damages caused.
Israel has been targeting tunnels used for smuggling that dug under the borderline area between Rafah town and Egypt. Thousands of tunnels were dug after Israel tightened its blockade on the Gaza Strip more than two years ago.
The blockade was tightened after Hamas movement seized control of the enclave by force and routed west-backed Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas security forces and cracked down on his Fatah party.
Israel says the tunnels are used to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip, however, Palestinians say the tunnels to defy the Israeli blockade and smuggle the needed goods for the population to survive.
(Xinhua)
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