Air Force bombed smuggling tunnels in Gaza
Air Force bombed smuggling tunnels in GazaIsrael News Photo: Flash 90

Israel Air Force planes bombed six terrorist smuggling tunnels in southern Gaza Tuesday afternoon, shortly after United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni completed their first official face-to-face discussion since Clinton took office. Arab sources said seven men were wounded.

Secretary Clinton said after her meeting with Livni that the first step towards peace is for Hamas to halt the rocket strikes, which she said no nation would tolerate.

It was the first time in several days Israel has retaliated for continuing rocket attacks despite an escalation in missile strikes since the Sabbath and a previous policy of responding to every attack. 

Planes struck smuggling tunnels along the Philadelphi Route, which includes the border at Rafiah.

Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the Cabinet Sunday morning that Israel’ s response would be “painful,” but the IDF did not take any action until Tuesday afternoon.

The lull in a military response coincided with the international donors conference in Sharm el-Sheikh Monday, where the international community pledged more than $4 billion for Gaza.

Terrorists in Gaza fired more than 120 rockets and mortar shells on southern Israel the past week, returning the region to the routine of fear and panic which prevailed before the IDF launched Operation Cast Lead in late December.

Knesset Member Dr. Yuval Steinitz (Likud), former chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, has dismissed the IDF tactics of hitting tunnels as ineffective. He said that the only way to stop the smuggling is to close off a security zone in the area of the Philadelphi Route, along the Egyptian-Israeli border.

Channel 2 television reported last week that Hamas is continuing to smuggle advanced rockets through the tunnels despite occasional Israeli attacks.