By RIA Novosti,
Gaza/Tel Aviv : Palestinian militants launched more than 40 rockets at southern Israel early on Wednesday in response to Israeli army raids on the Gaza Strip making a four-month ceasefire increasingly fragile.
Israeli troops clashed with Hamas militants on Tuesday night, killing one gunman, after they entered Gaza to destroy a tunnel, which Israel said Hamas planned to use to kidnap its soldiers.
In response to the Israeli operation and an airstrike that killed five Palestinians in southeast Gaza, Hamas fired rockets into southern Israel.
The Israeli army press service said that “the construction of a tunnel near the border intended for abduction of Israeli soldiers was a serious violation of the ceasefire,” adding that the military operation was aimed only at destroying the tunnel.
The press service also said that four Israeli soldiers were wounded in the military operation but no one was hurt as a result of Palestinian militants’ rocket attacks.
Israel and Hamas-led militants reached a truce agreement on June 19. Under the six-month deal, Hamas agreed to stop firing rockets into Israel, which in turn agreed to reopen its border crossings with the Gaza Strip to allow supplies of essential goods into the Palestinian territory.
Since then, Gaza militants have occasionally launched rockets at Israeli territory, prompting Israel to close the border crossings in response.