Two People Killed as Smuggling Tunnels Destroyed in Renewed Israeli Air Raids

Sunday December 28, 2008 22:15 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC&Agencies

Renewed Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip this evening resulted in the death of two people, and the injury of at least twenty others, medics and witnesses reported.

Israeli warplanes this afternoon raided the Egyptian-Palestinian border lines in the southern Gaza Strip, destroying scores of underground tunnels used by Palestinians to bring in essential goods that a prolonged Israeli closure has made scarce.

Medics said that pillars of smoke filled the sky as some of the tunnels that were hit had been used to bring in gasoline from nearby Egypt. Many of the people on the border line with Egypt escaped the fire to the Egyptian side of the border, witnesses said. Witnesses added that Egyptian security personnel opened fire towards the crowds, causing the many Palestinians to be injured.

Also, Israel sealed off the Rafah crossing terminal following the incidents, after it was reopened yesterday to let wounded cross. A few hours later, Israeli warplanes attacked three other targets; a Hamas-run security post, a car and an apartment. Witnesses in Gaza city said that the attacks hit the post and an apartment in the Tal-Alhawa neighborhood, while the third attack struck a car on the outskirts of the Nuseirat Refugee camp in central Gaza. 

Commander of the Gaza region in the Israeli Army, Moshe Livy, was quoted by Israeli media sources saying that the army operations in Gaza will continue without a specific timetable. He added that the operations are aimed to undermine the infrastructure of the Hamas party in Gaza in order to stop what he called "firing homemade rockets from Gaza into nearby Israeli towns."  Meanwhile, medics said that for the past couple of days Israeli attacks on Gaza have claimed the lives of about 292 Palestinians and have wounded more than 1000 others, including 180 critically.

gaza strip | israeli attacks | news report rami at imemc dot org