May 2, 2012


GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli forces bombed an open area in the northern Gaza Strip at dawn Wednesday, with no injuries reported.

Later Wednesday morning, Israeli military vehicles entered a border area in southern Gaza, and locals reported the sound of heavy gunfire.

An 200-square-meter area near the border was leveled by 15 Israeli military vehicles, near Khuzaa village east of Khan Younis, eyewitnesses said.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was looking into the incident.

At dawn in the northern Gaza Strip, Israeli military aircraft fired on open lands near the border area, the army and locals said.

An Israeli military statement said the airstrike targeted a tunnel used by militants, and was in response to two rockets fired from Gaza into southern Israel on Tuesday night.

Earlier Tuesday, Israeli military vehicles opened fire on a border area near Khuzaa, trapping journalists at the scene for over an hour and setting crops ablaze, witnesses said.

The Israeli military said in a statement that Palestinian militants opened fire at Israeli soldiers who were "performing routine operational activities" near the border. Soldiers and Israeli aircraft returned fire "towards suspicious locations," the army said.

Source