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Middle East
Israeli aircraft bomb Gaza targets
Four people reportedly injured in raids Israel says were in response to rocket fire.
Last Modified: 20 May 2009 06:20 GMT

A rocket fired from Gaza on Tuesday damaged
a home in the Israeli town of Sderot [Reuters]

Israeli aircraft have bombed several targets in the Gaza Strip several hours after a rocket was fired at an Israeli town.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Gaza city, said at least four people, including two civilians, were injured in the Israeli raids.

The Israeli military confirmed the air raids on Tuesday, saying it targeted four border tunnels and two sites in Gaza City where weapons were produced, in response to rocket and mortar fire aimed at Israel from Gaza.

The air raids came as Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister on a visit to the US, was being pressed by the Obama administration to stop Israeli settlement activity and back a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

Earlier on Tuesday, a rocket fired from Gaza damaged a home in the southern Israeli town of Sderot.

The rocket caused no injury and there was no claim of responsibility.

It was the first rocket to strike inside an Israeli town in several weeks.

Most of Tuesday's air raids apparently targeted smuggling tunnels beneath the Gaza-Egypt border, near the town of Rafah.

Israeli warplanes frequently target the tunnels, saying that fighters use the tunnels to smuggle arms into the Hamas-governed territory.

With Israel and Egypt enforcing a tight blockade on Gaza, smugglers also use the tunnels to bring in food, medicine and even livestock.

Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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