Israeli warplanes raid Gaza Strip

[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

GAZA CITY - Israeli warplanes Saturday launched three strikes against the southern Gaza Strip, killing one,

The air strikes follow the firing of a rocket from Gaza into Israel

One killed, three injured in three Israeli air strikes targeting smuggling tunnels at Rafah, former Hamas base.

wounding three and leaving one more missing, Palestinian medical and security sources said.

Two raids targeted smuggling tunnels running under the border with Egypt at Rafah, wounding two people.

One of the tunnels collapsed, killing one person. Another person was missing and a third was seriously injured, witnesses said.

The other raid targeted a former base used by the armed wing of the Islamist movement Hamas that seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007.

An Israeli military spokesman confirmed the three raids, saying that one was aimed at "a tunnel dug in the direction of Israeli territory" for attacks across the border.

The air strikes follow the firing of a rocket from Gaza into Israel by Palestinian militants on Saturday, which caused no casualties or damage, according to the Israeli military.

The incidents follow the meeting Thursday in Washington of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to relaunch direct peace talks following a 20-month hiatus.

Hamas threatened Thursday to keep up its attacks on Israel after carrying out Thursday two attacks against Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank that killed four people and cast a pall over the relaunch of the talks.