- Title: GAZA: Israeli strikes on Gaza tunnels caught on camera
- Date: 23rd February 2009
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) RESIDENT OF RAFAH, UM WALID, SAYING: "Planes bombed, rockets fell near the house. My husband with the children were in the car just five minutes before the strike. They would have been attacked if they had stayed in it."
- Embargoed: 10th March 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA3KYQ8VTV14SEG43PDVK1QDIS9
- Story Text: Israel strikes tunnels in southern Gaza said to be used for smuggling of weapons from Egypt.
Israeli aircraft bombed smuggling tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border on Wednesday (February 25), after two rockets hit southern Israel, an Israeli military spokeswoman said.
There were no reports of casualties in either incident.
"Planes bombed, rockets fell near the house. My husband with the children were in the car just five minutes before the strike. They would have been attacked if they had stayed in it," one Rafah resident told Reuters television.
The attacks were videotaped by a Reuters cameraman. Black smoke billowed into the sky over the site of the attacks.
An Israeli army spokeswoman said the air force attacked seven tunnels near the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Secondary explosions after the air strikes showed the tunnels contained weapons, she said.
The spokeswoman also said that the strikes were a response to two Qassam rocket attacks earlier Wednesday, and continued rocket fire by Palestinian militants in the Hamas-run territory.
Egypt has been trying to broker a long-term ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip in the aftermath of a 22-day offensive that Israeli forces launched in Gaza on December 27.
The military offensive, which Israel launched with the declared aim of halting rocket attacks from Gaza, killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, destroyed some 5,000 homes and ruined much of the enclave's infrastructure, local officials say.
Thirteen Israelis were killed during the conflict.
Since the end of the operation, Palestinians have been rebuilding a network of tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt frontier used for smuggling in goods and weapons.
Israel tightened its blockade of the Gaza Strip after Hamas Islamists took control in 2007. Egypt also limits movement through its border crossing with the territory. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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