Sunday September 05, 2010 12:47 by Circarre Parrhesia - IMEMC News and Agencies

Two Palestinian men have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern part of the Gaza Strip, Saturday night. The assault was focused on the smuggling tunnels between the besieged Gaza Strip and Egypt, and injured three others.

The smuggling tunnels are a vital life line for the area due to the Israeli occupation forces siege of the Strip, imposed by the Israeli occupation government since June 2007. The siege restricts products allowed into Gaza, including healthy food and concrete needed to rebuild Gaza’s damaged infrastructure following Operation Cast Lead.

The Israeli military stated that the attack came in response to attacks, including one rocket fired from the coastal enclave earlier in the day; an attack that was claimed by the Popular Resistance Committee.

Furthermore, four Israelis were killed, and two injured, in two attacks earlier in the week

The Popular Resistance Committee are a coalition of armed groups, based in the Gaza Strip, who have claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against Israel, since their inception in 2000.

Several wounded, missing amid three Israeli raids in S. Gaza

 [ 05/09/2010 - 01:02 PM ]

KHAN YOUNIS, (PIC)--

Five Palestinians were injured and several missing after Israeli occupation forces launched three warplane raids late Saturday night against the southern Gaza Strip.

Medical crews evacuated two wounded Palestinians to the Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital in Rafah after an Israeli F-16 warplane fired a missile at a tunnel in the Salam neighborhood of south Rafah, medical sources reported.

The sources added that one of the victims was in critical condition while the other sustained moderate injuries.

Adham Abu Salmiya, media coordinator for the military medical services, told the PIC that Israeli planes launched three raids, the first targeting a free zone in Abu Tu’aima, east of Khan Younis. No injuries were reported. The second attack targeting a tunnel in the Salam neighborhood of Rafah left one injured and three missing. No injuries were reported in the third raid against another tunnel in the Al-Abd Jabr region in the Yeban refugee camp in Rafah.

According to local sources the aerial bombardment started a fire inside a tunnel causing injuries to several workers inside and around the tunnel. Two workers were removed while at least three were stranded in the tunnel to be evacuated by medical services and civil defense.

Victims were unable to evacuate the area ahead of the sudden bombing, the sources said.

The Israeli planes later returned for a second raid on the Egyptian-Palestinian border in Rafah. Medical personnel rushed to the scene after fire ignited in what is believed to be a tunnel in Yebna.

Prior to the Rafah bombing, an air raid carried out by an Israeli military aircraft targeted a piece of agricultural land east of Khan Younis. No injuries or damages were reported.