Two Palestinian civilians were killed and five others wounded in an air strike that hit a tunnel in Gaza near the Egyptian border.

It was unclear who launched the attack on Thursday. A Palestinian official blamed Israel; however, a military spokeswoman denied any knowledge of the strike.

Ashraf al-Qedra, Gaza's health ministry spokesperson, said in a statement the two men were "martyred and five other people were wounded as a result of being targeted by an Israeli warplane along the Palestinian-Egyptian borders".

According to al-Qedra, the two men killed were identified as Hossam al-Sufi, 24, and Mohammed al-Aqra, 38.

An Israeli military spokeswoman said she was unaware of the attack, which happened pre-dawn between the Gaza Strip and Rafah on the Egyptian side of the border.

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The incident took place after at least three rockets were fired from the Sinai peninsula into Israel's southernmost resort city of Eilat late on Wednesday.

The Israeli army said in a statement its missile defence system, known as the "Iron Dome", intercepted the rockets, preventing any casualties or damage.

Israeli media reported a group affiliated with the Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack on Eilat.

Gaza has been under a decade-long siege imposed by Israel following Hamas' election victory and subsequent takeover of the enclave in 2007.

Since 2013, Egypt has largely shut off its border with Gaza, blocking nearly 2,000 tunnels connecting Gaza with Rafah, stemming the flow of much-needed goods and resources.

Egypt recently eased some border restrictions with Gaza.</s>GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Palestinian officials say an Israeli airstrike has killed two Gaza residents in a smuggling tunnel along the border with Egypt.

Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Kidra says Thursday's pre-dawn airstrike wounded five others.

The Israeli military had no immediate comment. But on Wednesday the military said its missile defense system intercepted several rockets fired from militants in Egypt toward the southern Israeli city of Eilat — a relatively rare occurrence.

The bombing appears to be the first to target smuggling tunnels since the 2014 war between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers.

Earlier this week, Israel carried out several strikes on Hamas targets after a rocket landed in Israel. Israel holds Hamas responsible for any fire originating from Gaza.</s>Alwaght- Israeli Regime's airstrike against Gaza has claimed lives of at least two Palestinians.

Palestinian sources said the attack targeted a tunnel which Gazans use to bring basic needs into the coastal enclave in the border town of Rafah early on Thursday, leaving two Palestinians dead and five others injured.

The sources identified the deceased as 24-year-old Hessam Hamid al-Soufi and 38-year-old Mohammad Anwar al-Aqra’, both residents of Gaza City. Two of the injured are in critical condition.

The victims have reportedly been taken to the Youssef al-Najjar hospital in Rafah to receive treatment, Arabic-language Palestine al-Yawm news agency reported.

The airstrike came shortly after the Israeli military claimed that it had intercepted several rockets fired from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula at the southern resort town of Eilat. The projectiles did not cause any casualties.

On Monday, two Palestinians were injured when Israeli warplanes struck a farming land in the center of Khan Yunis city, located about 25 kilometers south of Gaza City.

A Palestinian fisherman was also injured after two Israeli airstrikes struck an open area and a Hamas position west of the city of Beit Lahia, located about five kilometers north of Gaza City.

The Israeli military frequently bombs the Gaza Strip, with civilians being the main target of such attacks. In July 2014, Israel waged a war on the Gaza Strip which killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children.

The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli siege since June 2007. The blockade has caused a decline in living standards as well as unprecedented unemployment and poverty.</s>GAZA: Two Palestinians were martyred and five others injured when Israeli jets attacked southern Gaza Strip close to border with Egypt.

According to officials, the Israeli jets launched the strike on Gaza Strip late Wednesday night martyring two Palestinians and wounding five.</s>Two Palestinians were killed and five were wounded Thursday in a pre-dawn Israeli air strike on the border between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, medical sources and witnesses said.

 

 The casualties occurred when Israeli war jets struck an underground tunnel with air-to-ground missiles, the Health Ministry in Gaza said in an emailed press statement.

 

 Israeli media quoted Israeli army officials as saying the air strike was retaliation for rocket attacks on Eilat that were launched from Sinai.

 

 Overnight, Hamas fighters in the Egyptian Peninsula of Sinai fired about seven makeshift rockets into southern Israel, according to an Israeli army spokesman, adding that Israel's Iron Dome defence system intercepted three rockets.

 

 The spokesman said the other four rockets landed at empty areas in the suburbs of the southern Israeli city of Eilat, close to the border between Israel and Egypt, adding that no injuries were reported.

 

 Two days ago, Israeli warplanes carried out about 17 successive airstrikes on Gaza military posts and facilities belonging to the Hamas movement's armed wing and other armed groups.

 

 Egypt brokered a ceasefire agreement between Gaza Hamas-led groups and Israel in 2014 to end 50 days of a large-scale Israeli air and ground military offensive.

 

 Some 2,200 Palestinians and 70 Israelis were killed in that conflict.</s>The Palestinian Health Ministry said two Palestinians were killed and five injured in an attack that occurred early Thursday morning on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. Israel Defense Forces have denied carrying out an attack overnight.

Health Ministry spokesman Dr. Ashraf al-Qudra confirmed the details and noted that the attack targeted a commercial tunnel between the Strip and the town of Rafah on the Egyptian side of the border. The two bodies and the injured were taken to a hospital in Gazan Rafah.

Eyewitnesses saw an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at the opening of a tunnel on the Egyptian side. This kind of attack is likely to hurt anyone inside the tunnel.

According to al-Qudra, the two men killed in the attack were 24-year-old Hossam Asofi of Rafah and Mohammad al Aqra, 38, from Gaza. The five wounded were not identified.

However, Al Jazeera reported an official Israeli denial of being behind the attack, and, instead, it accused Egypt of responsibility.

Egypt remained silent about its role, direct or otherwise behind the attack, and whether Israel has violated Egypt’s territorial sovereignty by striking a tunnel on the Egyptian side of the Rafah Gaza border.</s>Two Palestinians were killed and five wounded overnight near the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, the Islamist movement Hamas which runs the Palestinian enclave said Thursday, blaming an Israeli strike.

Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf Al-Qudra said they were hit by an Israeli strike on the Egyptian side of the border in Sinai.

The circumstances of the deaths of the two men were unclear however.

The incident comes after several rockets were fired Wednesday evening from Sinai at the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat.

The Israeli military had not confirmed by early Thursday that it had carried out retaliatory strikes.

Sinai borders Israel and also the Gaza Strip for a few kilometres at the northern end of the peninsula.

The Palestinian deaths occurred much further north than the scene of the rocket fire on Wednesday, which the Israeli army said did not cause any injuries.

Egyptian forces have been battling an Islamist insurgency in northern Sinai which escalated after the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Israel has also denounced the movement of men and weapons between Sinai and the Gaza Strip, which is governed by one of the Jewish state's major enemies, Hamas.</s>Two Palestinians were killed and five were wounded Thursday in a pre-dawn Israeli air strike on the border between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, medical sources and witnesses said. The casualties occurred when Israeli war jets struck an underground smuggling tunnel with air-to-ground missiles, the Health Ministry in Gaza said in an emailed press statement.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Al Bawaba.</s>Egypt President Mohamed Morsi says 'perpetrators will be punished'; Palestinian Hamas condemns blast; unconfirmed reports 'Islamists' orchestrated episodeAttacks by unknown assailants on Egyptian border guard in the turmoil-hit Sinai left at least 16 dead and seven injured on Sunday, with Egyptian and Palestinian authorities responding fast to the incident.According to media reports on Sunday evening, the attack involved a military vehicle, reportedly hijacked earlier, which exploded around 7pm. Others were injured after the attackers opened fire on them.Investigations by authorities into the attack have been immediately opened as no group has claimed responsibility yet.However, the Egyptian state TV claimed that elements of Islamic extremist groups situated in the Sinai peninsula had carried out the attack by iftar (the hour when people have their meal that breaks the fast during Ramadan), but provided no details.An anonymous Egyptian security official was quoted by Egypt's state-run news agency, MENA, as saying that Islamist elements who infiltrated Egypt from the Gaza Strip through tunnels are behind the attacks, along with other Islamists situated in the areas of El-Halal Mountain and El-Mahdia in eastern Sinai.For their side, however, Gaza strip rulers Hamas stressed it has not been involved in the attacks, saying it would never infiltrate Egypt’s borders nor use its weapons against its army in the wake of a deadly attack that left 15 Egyptian soldiers dead on Sunday."Hamas has nothing to do with the border tensions. On the contrary, it cares about the Egyptian national security and would never use weapons against the Egyptian army," the faction’s senior leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar told Ahram Online.Infuriated at the incident, hundreds of Rafah residents (on the Egyptian side of the Egypt-Gaza border) gathered at the Sadat Square and blocked the road, preventing trucks heading to the port of Rafah and tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.Some of the protesters told Al-Ahram's Arabic news portal that they refuse seeing the Egyptian army insulted, and that they would sacrifice their blood "to defend the Egyptian soldiers."The site also reported that hundreds more headed to the Arish hospital, where the injured soldiers were admitted, to donate blood.Back in Cairo, according to Egypt's health ministry, at least 15 Egyptian soldiers were killed and seven injured in the explosion that went off at a military zone on Sunday, near the city of Rafah, according to Al-Ahram Arabic-language news portal.Later on, Egyptian state TV reported the death toll has risen to 16.Ahmed El-Ansari, vice-president of the health ministry-affiliated Egyptian Ambulance Organisation, said that those injured in Sunday's attacks near Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip had been rushed to a hospital in the nearby city of Al-Arish.According to state news agency MENA, El-Ansari also said that the injured had suffered bullets wounds to the head, chest and arms.Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has held an emergency meeting with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the chief of intelligence, and the interior minister to discuss the deadly attacks."The martyrs' blood will not be in vain… Orders were given to the armed forces to take strict measures to impose full control on Sinai," Morsi told Egyptian state TV after the meeting."Those who did this will be punished, everyone will see how the new procedures will be like," he added.Egypt's presidential office echoed the same sentiments, stated that those responsible for the attacks on Egyptian border guard in Sinai will be punished for their actions as their crime will not be tolerated."The security apparatuses are working in full power to reveal the identities of the culprits of the attacks executed in Rafah soon," presidential office spokesman Yasser Ali told Egyptian state TV.The Admin of the Official Page of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the second official page of the SCAF, published a more strong-worded statement, vowing that the death of Egyptian soldiers will be avenged."Those are religion-less and infidels; the days have proven that only force will stop them. Anyone who has harmed our armed forces will pay the price," read the post on the page, which was titled "We swear to God that we will avenge."Since Egypt's 2011 uprising, the country has witnessed vast security vacuum, especially in Sinai where a gas pipeline – which used to carry gas through Sinai into Israel and Jordan – was blown up fifteen times since the revolt.Source :</s>TIJUANA – Authorities discovered the entrance to a tunnel Friday in a parking structure near the Otay Mesa border crossing.

The tunnel was found in “Parking-2 Angelito,” a structure near the intersections of calles Lopez Portillo and Juan Ines in the Nueva Tijuana neighborhood, according to military authorities.

A joint patrol of military and state police were patrolling the area after receiving information that a tunnel was under construction. They saw a man acting suspiciously who appeared to be guarding the entrance to the parking structure, according to a news release. The man tried to run when he saw the officers, but they caught him. When they searched him, they found a .32-caliber handgun and nine bullets.

Police said the suspect as a 34-year-old man from the state of Nayarit. He told them he had been contracted to guard the outside of the parking structure, because there was a tunnel inside.

Police found a vertical shaft inside the structure. As of Friday afternoon, they were waiting for a search warrant to enter the tunnel.

It was not clear if the tunnel reached the U.S. side of the border or if it was still under construction.
An airstrike hits a tunnel in the Gaza Strip near the Egyptian border, killing at least two people and injuring five more. It is unclear who launched the airstrike.