Last update - 00:00 26/09/2006
Medics: 14-year-old girl killed, ten hurt in IAF strike in Gaza
By Gideon Alon, Mijal Grinberg and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents and The Associated Press
Israel Air Force early Wednesday targeted a house in the in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah early Wednesday, killing a 14-year-old girl and wounding ten others, hospital officials said.
Also Wednesday, Israel Defense Forces troops operating in the Balata refugee camp in the West Bank seized a 10 kg explosives belt. Three Palestinians were injured in an exchange of fire with troops.
Earlier Wednesday, IDF troops shot and wounded three Palestinian militants during an arrest raid in the West Bank city of Nablus, the IDF said.
The air raids on Gaza came several hours after a rocket fired from Gaza wounded a woman soldier in the western Negev town of Sderot.
The attack targeted the house of Sammy al-Shaer, a weapons dealer, witnesses said. The army called al-Shaer 15 minutes before the initial raid, they said, and told him to clear out of the house, which he did.
There were no major injuries in the initial strike, which leveled the house. However, as children gathered to look at the rubble, a second air strike hit the house, killing a 14-year-old girl and wounded at least seven other children, hospital officials said.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had attacked a house used as cover to dig a weapons smuggling tunnel under the border with Egypt.
In Nablus, the army said troops were arresting Palestinian suspects when an exchange of fire erupted with Palestinian gunmen. According to the IDF, Palestinians hurled explosives at the troops during the exchange.
The soldiers identified hitting three militants and no soldiers were hurt, the IDF said. Palestinians sources, however, said they did not know of any casualties.
IDF troops arrested 19 wanted Palestinian militants overnight in arrest raids throughout the West Bank.
PA policemen uncover tunnels along Gaza's border with Egypt
Palestinian security forces discovered two underground tunnels along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt on Tuesday that they suspect were dug to smuggle weapons and other contraband.
The tunnels was dug 25 meters underground and reached Egypt.
Security forces prepared to seal the tunnel later in the day. They said they suspected the tunnel was dug for criminal purposes, not militant activity, but noted its investigation was still in a preliminary stage.
Smuggling of weapons between Egypt and Gaza is not uncommon. Since Israel pulled out of Gaza last summer, turning over control of the border to Egypt and the Palestinians, cross-border smuggling of weapons and explosives has increased considerably, the IDF says.
Qassam rockets wounds woman soldier in Sderot
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired two Qassam rockets at the town of Sderot early on Monday, wounding a woman soldier, who was hit by shrapnel.
The woman was taken to Barzilai hospital in Ashkelon with moderate wounds.
Several Sderot residents were treated for anxiety following the attack, in which one of the rockets hit a crowded area in the center of the city.
The attack also disrupted electrical power in parts of the city.