Tunnel
TunnelIsraell news photo: Flash 90

The Israeli Air Force bombed two terror tunnels before dawn Wednesday, several hours after two mortar shells struck in one areas south of Ashkelon and after a bomb exploded near the Gaza security fence. Sources in the Hamas-controlled Gaza region reported 15 people were wounded in the retaliation, but there was no confirmation of the number of wounded or the extent of their injuries.

The bombed tunnels were located in the northern and southern parts of the Gaza region, and were dug half a mile from the security fence. They were intended for infiltration into the Western Negev and executing terror attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF soldiers, according to the IDF.

The immediate response to the mortar shelling continues a government policy of reminding the de facto Hamas authority in Gaza that terrorist attacks will not be ignored, as was the policy before the Operation Cast Lead counterterrorism war last year.

Four rockets and mortars were fired from Gaza in the past week, and approximately 50 rockets have exploded on civilian and military targets in the Negev this year. Since the end of Cast Lead, Hamas and allied terrorists have fired more than 330 rockets.

Last month, Gaza terrorists fired nearly 20 rockets and mortars, one of them killing a man on Moshav Netiv Ha’Asara.